Geography in the news Flashcards
What is over fishing?
Overfishing is where humans catch too much fish from the oceans, in such massive quantities and at such a fast pace, that nature cannot replace them fast enough. We take out more fish from the oceans than we can replace. Causes and impacts of overfishing are:
Oil used to keep these fishing boats moving and functioning can pollute the oceans and marine life.
There are a number of Communities that rely on fish as their primary resources of food. Overfishing has caused a serious threat to these Communities because they rely on fishing for their livelihoods.
Large fishing nets also catch a lot of other sea animals other than fish (turtles, crabs, sharks, starfish). These sea animals are thrown back into the sea, dead or alive.
Large fishing companies use huge nets that can catch tonnes of fish at one time.
90,000 dolphins are killed per year in tuna fisheries due to being caught in nets.
Small fishing companies have had to close because if large fishing companies coming into their waters and taking all the fish.
Ways to make overfishing sustsinable
Ways we can make overfishing sustainable is by creating Marine Protected Areas, where fishing cannot occur. These are important because they protect habitats such as coral reefs from destructive fishing practices. No-fishing zones allow fish populations to recover. Protected areas allow stressed reefs the ability to recover from climate change impacts, such as bleaching. This will protect marine ecosystems, produces healthier fish and benefit local people.
Ways India can be sustainable.
India is the biggest consumer of plastic cutlery. Companies have started making edible cutlery from rice and wheat.
What are Seabins?
A Seabin is a floating rubbish bin that is located in the water at marinas, docks and harbours. They move up and down with the range of the tide collecting all floating rubbish.
How is San Diego sustainable?
In January 2019, San Diego joined a growing number of cities to ban containers made of polystyrene. This includes food and drink containers, egg cartons and Aquatic toys for swimming pools.
How are supermarkets sustainable?
Supermarkets in the UK started charging 5p for plastic bags from October 2015.
How is Norway sustainable?
In Norway, a deposit is charged on each drinks bottle. The deposit is refunded when the bottle is returned.
What is another way the UK is sustainable?
A ban on sale of products containing microbeads came into force in 2018 in the UK. Products containing microbeads include face scrubs and toothpaste.
How is Kenya sustainable?
As of August 2017, anyone in Kenya who is found using, producing or selling a plastic bag faces up to 4 years in jail, or a $38,000 fine.
Name another way to reduce plastic.
A ban on items such as plastic straws. Alternatives such as paper decompose faster.
What is plastic pollution?
An estimated 12.7 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans each year. Plastic waste builds up in the ocean and is trapped by Whirlpools of water at different points all around the world.
What is deforestation?
Forest where the land is then used for non-forest use, such as the planting of palm oil plantations, cattle ranching, urbanization, medicinal purposes, and logging. Borneo is a location that has seen a lot of deforestation. In 1975, 73.5% of Borneo was covered in rainforest, but not it’s only 43.5%.
What is
Drought is a long period without rainfall. Causes of drought include:
Deforestation can help trigger drought due to the widespread cutting down of trees. This reduces the soils ability to hold onto water, as water is stored in the tree’s roots and leavedhara, so the ground is dried out and this leads to desertification.
Land and water temperatures can cause drought. As overall temperatures increase, more water can evaporate. As temperatures increase, crops need more water to survive. This demand for water increases.
What is oil exploitation?
It is a problem that Antarctica might start to face. The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 by 12 countries, to ensure that it could only be used for peaceful, scientific purposes. No one owns Antarctica, therefore all countries involved have to agree before anything is changed. The amount of oil in Antarctica could be up to 200 billion barrels, so there are a lot of debates over whether we should be able to drill for this oil. There are differing opinions.
Give arguments for drilling for oil in Antarctica.
Oil companies- Antarctica is home to 2 billion barrels of oil, which would supply the global demand for oil for an extra 9 years. Oil reserves are set to have completely run out by 2050 and there are over 2 million people employed in the oil industry:
from drilling the oil, turning the oil into products, selling the oil and doing research into where all can be found. It is 62 times the size of the UK, yet no one lives there, so there will be no disruption to livelihoods.
Individuals like us - oil supplies are estimated to run out by 2050 and people’s quality of life might start to change as oil prices rise. This will mean that fuel is more expensive to buy and the price of products will also increase, such as plastic.
American Government - America relies heavily on exported oil. The success of their economy relies on the amount of oil they have access to. The more oil they have, the cheaper they can sell it for. Cheaper oil means cheaper goods, cheaper Shipping and cheaper transportation.
