Case Studies Flashcards
1
Q
The Netherlands
A
- Sea Level rising by 3mm per year (highest since measurements started in 1890)
- Watersquares: public spaces that serve as water containers to prevent flooding
- Maeslantkering (1997): storm surge barrier protecting Rotterdam, 2 6000 ton gates with computers that monitor sea levels, cost: €450 million.
- Delta Works Project (1950s): 6 dams, 4 storm surge barriers, to block entrance of North Sea into the land.
- 26% of the country located under sea level.
2
Q
Bangladesh
A
- 2050: Up to 13.3 million Bangladeshis may become displaced due to climate change.
- Strategies: hard engineering ineffective - can worsen the salinity problem. Using oyster reefs as a natural breakwater.
- Floating seedbanks (stacked layers of water hyacinth and bamboo, to create a 2-4ft high raft).
- GDP per capita: $1750
- Cost to defend coastline: $50-100 billion
- Salt-resistant rice developed by the Bangladesh Rice Research Insitute (to switch to aquaculture). Bangladesh - 3rd highest producer of rice.
3
Q
2011 Japanese Tsunami
A
- Economic loss: $210 billion, total damages: $360 billion.
- MMS 9.1
- 19,000 + deaths
- Destructive/convergent plate boundary
- Explosions at Fukushima nuclear reactors caused 8 reactors to be immediately shut down in 2011.
- Huge impact on the global supply chain for component parts. 1 destroyed factory made 60% of global car engine airflow sensors. Another supplied all brakes for Toyota (had to shut all factories for 2 weeks - $300m+ loss)
4
Q
London
A
Services: 75 5-star hotels, 30 million visits a year.
TNCs: 87 HQs of companies.
Diversity: 300 + languages spoken in the region, 287 ethnic groups and nationalities.
Airports: 6 major (Luton, Heathrow . . .)
5
Q
The Rustbelt, USA
A
- 17,000 abandoned buildings (heroin made in some of these)
- Average house price: $10,000
- 2006-08: GM closed 4 plants in Michigan
- Derelict factories pollute the environment as chemicals leak into the ground
- Detroit population (1995: 1.1 million, 2018: 600,000)
- New regenerated areas with casinos
6
Q
The Maldives
A
- 80% of 1,190 corals islands less than 1m above sea level.
- 80% could be uninhabitable by 2050.
- Malé (capital): cannot change shape in response to rising sea level (surrounded by sea walls and reliant on expensive engineering solutions). National Adaptation Programme: wall built around Malé and refurbished ports.
- World Bank: Sea level predicted to rise by up to 100cm. Entire country could be submerged by 2100.
- By 2021, 90% of islands had experienced severe erosion.
7
Q
Australia
A
- Migration is increasing Australia’s GDP per person.
- 1996: Skills-specific ‘Skilled Independent Visa’, allocates points per category (age, ability, employment experience)
- Temporary work visas (3 months) if people have been invited by a company who will employ them.
- Each person who gets a permanent visa pays AU $55,000 (bringing $9 billion per year into the AU economy)
- 2017-18: total of 80,649 people from 180 countries became Australian citizens.
8
Q
Germany
A
- Immigration encouraged to resolve fertility rate (1.4)
- 2000: foreigners could become citizens after 8 years (had been 15 years)
- 2017: 23.6% of German population had a migration background
- 2015: Germany accepted 1.1 million Syrian refugees, 4-fold increase in anti-immigrant crimes.
9
Q
Pacific Basin
A
- El Nino (every 4-7 years): trade winds weakened normal westward movement (water unusually warm west of South America - low pressure + high rainfall). Near Asia, normally low pressure is high (lower rainfall than usual).
- Normal year: Ocean circulation brings cold water up the west coast of South America (cooling air above the ocean - high pressure and low rainfall). Ocean circulation moves water west across the Pacific with trade winds, warming water north of AU + S.E Asia (low pressure + high rainfall).
- La Nina: East to west winds stronger pushing warm waters further west. Causes cold water to upwell from ocean depths. SSTs cooler in the east Pacific.
10
Q
The Sahel
A
2010 drought: affected Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali, 10 million affected by food shortages.
- Contributing factors: over population in Chad (1990s: 6m, 2009: 10m), conflict in Sudan, deforestation, poor farming management).
11
Q
Mumbai, India
A
- Economic boom: 1896 opening of the Suez Canal.
- Rural to urban migration
- 40% of foreign trade
- HQs include Tata Group (revenues of $71 billion in 2013)
- Between 1971-81, the population grew by 38%
- Large areas of slum and informal housing do not conform to building regulations and are vulnerable to seismic shocks
12
Q
California
A
- Median age: 37.6 years
- ENSO: risk of floods
- August Complex (2020): wildfires, over 1m acres
- Drought (2011-15): economic impact was $2.7 billion, crop revenue - $900 million
- 70% of CA population live within 50km of a fault line
- Economy the size of high-income country, can afford economic losses (gross state product in 2022 - $3.7 trillion)
- 25 counties have per capita incomes of $65,000 pa
- Northern CA: Cascadia Subduction Zone (risk of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes), Cascade Range (part of the Pacific Ring of Fire) - volcanoes due to the subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate under the North American plate
- Southern CA: conservative plate margin (Pacific and North American plates), San Andreas transform fault zone)
13
Q
Nigeria (youthful population)
A
- Housing: Only 32.8% of the population had access to improved sanitation sources, many slums due to rapid growth.
- Reasons for growth: culture (promotes marriage and large families), education (lack of, related to population education and the lowering of infant mortality and birth rates), male-child preference (women with female children try to have male children).
- Economic: working age to non-working population ratio to rise to 2:1 by 2050, economy could be 4.02% per year from 2010-30. Oil rich.
- Education: Literacy rate (59.6%), 70% of population lives below poverty line.
- Health services: strain on maternal services (fertility rate - 5.5).
14
Q
Japan (ageing population)
A
- Workforce 2.5% smaller than its peak (in 1999)
- Dependency ration was 56.2% in 2015
- 65+ (27% of the population in 2016, predicted to be 40% by 2060)
- Life expectancy (1960: 68, 2016: 84)
- Number of Alzheimer and dementia cases has risen
- Fertility rate (1960: 2.0, 2016: 1.4)
- Healthcare costs expected to rise by 14-40% by 2060
- Increase in inflation and interest rates –> shrinking tax base, reduced work pool –> increased wages, decreased productivity.
15
Q
The Artic
A
- Northern Sea Route (NSR): shipping lane between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean along the Russian coast of Siberia to the Far East.
- Container trade from Europe to E. Asia takes 30 days via Suez Canal, NSR cuts down to 18 days. Shorten distances by 40%. Could save companies $300,000 per vessel.
- Estimated that 5600 trans-Artic transits could occur by 2040.
- Artic has 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 1669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
- Increased access for tourism.
- Ships will emit black carbon reducing albedo effect.
- Melting Artic ice releases methane gas.
