Geography - case studies Flashcards
Gender Based Discrimination (2 examples)
1)In Sri Lanka, one in four women have been subjected to violence because of their gender at some point in their lives. The upward trend of violence against women and girls had become more prominent in the estate sector among plantation workers, where one-third of women had experienced physical violence.
2) 76% of girls in Niger are married before their 18th birthday and 28% are married before the age of 15. In comparison, 6% of boys in Niger are married before the age of 18. Girls as young as 10 years in some regions are married, and after the age of 25 only a handful of young women are unmarried. A 2017 World Bank study estimated that ending child marriage in Niger could generated more than USD$ 188 million in additional gains and productivity
Examples of corruption (3)
1.A contractor hands money to a worker in the public sector to be favoured in a contract bid.
2.An office worker takes stationary supplies from his office to give to an underfunded remote school.
3.Electoral workers (who count the votes) are provided food and drink by a political candidate. However, interactions between electoral workers and political candidates are not allowed.
🌍Singapore: Crime-Riddled in the 1950’s to Rooting Out Corruption Today
● Corruption was rampant in Singapore prior to the 1950’s. However, after independence in 1959, the ruling party led by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, passed laws to strengthen the CPIB (Corrupt Practices
Investigation Bureau).
● In 2022, Singapore was ranked the 5th least corrupt country in the world by Transparency International. Other organisations whose work relates to corruption have also rated Singapore amongst the top 10 least corrupt countries in the world. It has been labelled amongst the top 10 since 1995
● Today, any citizen can report any incidents to the CPIB. If any person is found to be guilty of corruption (in the case of bribery, this includes those who give the bribe and those who receive the bribe), they have to pay a fine of up to Singapore dollars SGD$100,000 and can be jailed for up to 5 years. Those who work in the government are also scrutinised - they can be fined up to SGD$100,000 and be jailed for up to 7 years.
🌍Hungary: Is Victor Orban’s Grip Too Tight?
- Rewritten the constitution of the country to promote his political party’s agenda that Christianity is the main religion
- Changed the voting system so that his Party can win votes easily
- Forced judges to retire from the Supreme Court and replaced them with those loyal to his party.
- News agencies and radio broadcasts that oppose Orban’s agenda do not receive advertisement revenue from the government and have been outright banned by the government.
- Ensured the loyalty of friends and followers by giving them government contracts and selling state assets (such as apartments and farms) at a discount. In contrast, politicians who are not aligned with Orban are threatened and made to sell their businesses. Currently, Hungary is the 77th least corrupt country in the world, according to Transparency International, with a score of 42/100 (100 being the least corrupt).
Selyn Foundation
Selyn foundation is a fair trade organisation of mainly women, producing/buying products from rural areas, helping people with disadvantaged products to earn profit. Selyn Foundation also recycles items into products. Selyn produces clothes, toys, necklaces, house essentials, etc.
Sri Lanka Aid case study - highway
Southern Transport Development Project
● Project Description: ‘E01’ Expressway is a highway between Colombo and cities in the Southern Province.
● Project Aims:
○ Cut travel time between Colombo and cities in the Southern Province. ○ Improve trade and commerce.
● Cost & Funding: The 29-km southern section of the highway was funded by a loan from ADB - totaling $180 million - while the northern 66-km stretch was funded by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with additional funds from the Government of Sri Lanka.
● Impacts:
Reduced travel time from 3-5 hours to one hour between Colombo to Galle.
Reduced travel time between various cities in the Southern Province.
Allows faster trade of perishable goods such as fish and vegetables from Galle to Colombo. Generates profit: over 9,000 vehicles - mostly cars - ply the expressway each day, netting toll fees of around SLRs 2.5 million ($19,000).
Highway is accessible to public transport:
Opportunities for business growth:
Relocation of houses and villages
Sri Lanka Bilateral Aid - airport
Project Description
- located in a forested area
-250km drive from Colombo
Project Aims
-Sri Lanka needed a second international airport as
(1) traffic through Colombo was getting too heavy and
(2) the country was in the active process of trying to develop its rural areas to reduce the social and economic inequality that was growing between the nation’s capital and everywhere else.
-The idea was that Hambantota would be transformed into Sri Lanka’s second most prestigious city.
Reason for Location
-Sri Lanka chose this region rather than developing an already established city because this was the home region of then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Funding
○ The airport cost $209 million, $190 of which came in the form of loans from China.
- China was interested in funding this airport as the airport would support its Maritime Silk Road Project
- Today, the cost of paying of Mattala Rajapaksa airport is 17m dollars per year
UN warns Sri Lanka food aid running out and offers conditional aid
In 2007, amid the 30-year civil war in Sri Lanka, the U.N. World Food Programme imposed conditions on some of the food aid given to the refugees of the war as
(1) donor countries were worried about the two sides in the conflict diverting aid away from civilians affected by the war and
(2) the United Nations was concerned about reports of forced resettlement of displaced people by the government. These conditions were that the food aid must be given to the civilians affected by the war and that it should not be used as a tool to create further conflict or used for the military.
Earlier in May 2007, Britain suspended around $3 million of debt relief aid to the government, citing human rights and defence spending concerns during the war. The United States did the same, announcing that it had suspended an aid project given “the security situation and the human rights situation in Sri Lanka”.
🌍Case Studies: Barefoot College - multilateral
Project Description:
An NGO called Barefoot College has been working on a program that trains mostly illiterate women to become solar engineers – which brings a renewable source of energy and light to their villages.
Method:
○ Over the course of six months, these “Solar Mamas” learn to build, install and maintain solar panels and batteries. Because the majority of these women are illiterate, the program uses mostly visual learning tools, like colour-coded pictures and manuals.
○ In addition to teaching the women engineering skills, Barefoot College works with them on their aspirations and confidence by teaching them soft skills such as budgeting and accounting, the use of technology, awareness around reproductive health and entrepreneurship skills.
● Costs and Funding:
○ Barefoot College has received funding from various governments, banks, multilateral organisations (like UN Women), and foundations (Coca Cola, Frey and Erol).
○ Other organisations around the world also help out in other tasks, such as the global law firm Hogan Lovells which has been assisting Barefoot College with free legal advice to open four new training centres in Africa.
● Impact:
Once the women return to their villages, they become a source of power, literally, by installing the hardware.
According to the India-based NGO, every woman electrifies 50 homes on average in her village. By catalysing employment, boosting income and providing self-reliant solutions, the initiative works towards several of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including “No Poverty”, “Gender Equality” and “Affordable and Clean Energy”.
Today, there are training centres across India, Zanzibar, Burkina Faso and Madagascar. Several others are in development in Liberia, Guatemala, Fiji and Senegal.
Sri lanka’s Economic Crisis
Main Causes:
-civil war
-significant tax cuts
-covid19
-ban on imported fertilizers
-protests for gota go home
-food inflation
Details of rise in global temperature
The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.18 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century. The ocean has absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 100 metres of ocean showing warming of more than 0.33 degrees Celsius since 1969. Earth stores 90% of the extra energy in the ocean.
Details of melting sea ice and glaciers
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. Data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show Greenland lost an average of 279 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2019, while Antarctica lost about 148 billion tons of ice per year.
Details of rise in sea levels
Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and accelerating slightly every year.
Case Study: Qantas Fly Carbon Neutral Program
Qantas launched its Fly Carbon Neutral program in 2009, offering customers an innovative carbon offset program that educates and enacts measurable environmental, social, and biodiversity outcomes.
-Qantas is promoting sustainability through initiatives such as conserving native forests, distributing fuel-efficient cooking stoves to Cambodian families, and protecting tropical rainforests in Papua New Guinea and Peru. The company’s Fly Carbon Neutral program educates staff about climate change and supports corporate efforts. Qantas has also launched a corporate carbon offsetting product, Future Planet, allowing customers to commit to sustainability.
