The 'global commons'

Question 1

The global commons

Answer 1

Areas that aren’t owned by any one country or organisation.

They belong to everybody so should be available for everyone’s use and benefit.

Question 2

The four global commons

Answer 2

Antarctica
The high seas - seas that do not belong to any country. They tend to be more than 200 miles away from land.
The earths atmosphere
Outer space

Question 3

Government of global commons

Answer 3

The global commons are governed by different pieces of international law.
e.g. the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) governs the high seas.

Question 4

NGOs

Answer 4

Protect the commons from exploitation, as they offer unique habitats for wildlife and have a positive impact on environmental systems. They are also valuable for scientific investigation.

Question 5

Pressures - Exploitation

Answer 5

Countries and organisations may feel that they can exploit the global commons without dealing with the consequences as the costs are shared by everybody. This is known as the ‘tragedy of the commons’.

Question 6

Pressures - industrialisation

Answer 6

There is an increasing demand for resources e.g. food, oil, minerals.
Many of these are extracted from the global commons> Industrialisation and development also create waste that is pumped into the atmosphere e.g. carbon dioxide or into the oceans e.g. waste.

Question 7

Pressures - technology

Answer 7

Technology makes it easier to the high seas, outer space and Antarctica. These places were relatively inaccessible before, so they are now more vulnerable to exploitation.

Question 8

Pressures - global

Answer 8

Over fishing has knock-on effects on other animals in the food chain and the methods used can damage coral reefs.
Atmospheric pollution causes climate change.
Increased carbon dioxide leads to acidification of oceans.