People and the Planet

Revision – Long answer questions

Qu 1) Population Dynamics

Problems of youthful populations• High cost of schools / nurseries –

high cost of child benefits and medical care

• High youthful dependent population – Few people working and paying taxes needed for services (schools etc) for the young.

• Future rapid population growth – as the young people grow up there will be an increased demand for resources and services. E.g. housing

Impacts of an ageing population (Japan)• Social:

• Younger people need to care for ageing relative – This takes up time

• Demand to increase immigration – This can lead to tensions

• Economic• Lack of economically active (people

working) who pay taxes – This leads to difficulty paying for care homes / medical care / pensions for the elderly – Could increase taxes

Qu 2) Resources

• Pessimistic Malthus view Vs more optimistic Boserup.• Malthus believed population would outstrip food supply, whereas Boserup

believed food production could keep pace with population.• Malthus believed exponential population growth would outstrip the steady

(arithmetic) food production increase, leading to a crisis (famine or war) followed by checks (positive and preventative) and population reduction.• Boserup believed ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ . Population growth

would spur new ways of farming – e.g. fertilizers, use of machines (combine harvesters). These would increase productivity and enable food production to keep up with population growth.• Boserup believed that people would develop new technology to enable the

supply of resources to keep up with population (e.g. new deep sea mining techniques have increased the amount of oil we are able to extract or Genetically Modified (GM) crops e.g. drought resistant crops• Malthus’s theory is much older (industrial revolution), is it still relevant today?

Qu 3) Globalisation• Transport technology has vastly improved and

because of this the cost has reduced, especially due to container ships. This has made it easier and cheaper to produce goods in places like China and export them to countries like the UK and USA.

• TNCs have also led to increases in international trade. This is because have supply chains which include many countries around the world (e.g. Apple produces many goods in China and then sells them in developed countries like the UK and USA). The larger TNCs will also often merge and buy out companies in other countries to increase their trade (e.g. Sony bought Ericsson in order to increase its sales of mobile phones).

• The internet has also made it very easy for companies to reach customers and increase trade in any location around the world.

• State led investment: Countries like China have set up Free Trade Zones (FTZ). These offer incentives to TNCs such as reduced taxes, few regulations on health and safety and banning unions.

Positives• Jobs – Increased incomes in developing countries

e.g. manufacturing in China (Nike), services in India (BT); focus on employment for women.

• Rising incomes bring increased living standards and quality of life. Also leads to MULTIPLIER EFFECT and benefits others

• Globalisation results in TNCs developing infrastructure, which benefits all in the area

Negatives• Exploitation - Low wages, long hours, lack of

unions in developing world factories; relatively short working lives as younger women favoured; child labour is common.

• Job losses in the developed world especially males in traditional manufacturing (e.g. NE England).

• Pollution and other environmental issues in the developing world.

• Globalisation has bypassed some groups e.g. sub-Saharan Africa.

Qu 4) Development Dilemmas

Top Down Project: Narmada River Scheme - India• Positive impacts:

• Jobs: Created in construction and running of the dam. These will increase incomes in the area and create the multiplier effect.

• Local farmers will benefit from irrigation for their crops

• Local people will no longer suffer from flooding• Local people will benefit from improved water

supplies and electricity (from the HEP). • Negative impacts:

• People moved from their homes (234 villages flooded to create the reservoir)

• Farmers will have to pay for fertilisers as the river no longer floods (expensive and causes pollution)

• Different groups of people: Those in urban environments (electricity, water supply). Large companies might be seen as benefiting from construction contracts. Governments may be viewed as seeing large projects as beneficial to the economy in general. Environmentalists will oppose large projects.

India - Urban core (Maharashtra) and Rural periphery (Bihar)• Rural areas – lower levels of development:

• Reliant on subsistence farming – low incomes (often made worse by hazards like drought or floods)

• Isolated, with poor infrastructure, low levels of literacy and healthcare. Very little investment from TNCs

• Cycle of poverty created – many young people migrate to cities making the situation worse.

• Urban areas – higher levels of development:• More investment from TNCs because of

better infrastructure, education and healthcare. This creates jobs, increases incomes – Multiplier effect.

• Governments give more funding to urban areas.

• However … shanty towns

Qu 5) Changing economy of the UK

Industrial structure - North East and South East Regions• NE

• Most employment is in manufacturing (secondary industries)

• De-industrialisation led to high levels of unemployment

• Reliant on public sector jobs (tertiary) although due to the recession the govt have cut many of these jobs

• Some call centres (Orange) have located here due to the low wages in the region - tertiary

• SE• Has become a centre for quaternary industries:

Due to educated / skilled workforce. The M4 corridor (near London, Heathrow, motorway). This has created a centre for research due to its favourable location and skilled workers.

• Large number of banking and finance jobs (tertiary) in London due to the skilled workforce and links with Europe and the rest of the world.

Brownfield Site – Fort Dunlop, BirminghamBrownfield costs• Expensive to develop, e.g. costs of demolishing

existing buildings, cleaning up contaminated land. Sites are often difficult shapes and access may be poor (inner city). Planning/zoning/listed building restrictions on what can be done.

Brownfield benefits• Seen as a greener alternative/form of recycling.

Possibility of grants or other financial incentives available may reduce overall costs.

Fort Dunlop created jobs in an area affected by de-industrialisation. It also created green space and improved the environmentGreenfield costs• The cost of developing new infrastructure/utilities.

Potentially controversial and NIMBY attitudes against developing sites. Urban sprawl destroys habitats.

Greenfield benefits• Land is often cheap to develop as site does not

have to be cleared first, may be more accessible, e.g. on city edge. Sites have fewer restrictions in terms of size and shape so any form of development is possible. Healthier environment

Qu 7) The challenges of an urban worldDeveloped World – New York, Developing World – Rio de Janeiro New York: • Food: meeting the needs of a large number of wealthy

consumers in developed cities. Most food is imported – pollution (food miles) also issues of too much food being wasted.

• Energy: the huge demands placed on developed cities for electrical power (air conditioning, appliances)

• Transport: Large volume of vehicles (high car ownership) leading to congestion and gridlock – air pollution and health problems, although some developed cities might have good metro and rail systems.

• Waste disposal: Large amounts go to landfill sites which are becoming full

Rio de Janeiro:• Slum housing: in developing cities, this is a huge

problem, e.g. Rochina, as there is not enough formal housing to meet demand. There are health and sanitation problems.

• Informal economy: Low / unreliable incomes• Urban pollution: Development has led to increased

wealth and car ownership – air pollution / health issues

Some overlap of problems: i.e. both types of city face the same challenges – examples might be waste disposal, water supply or traffic congestion.

London:• Reducing transport pollution with the introduction

of the Congestion Charge which has had some success at reducing traffic volumes

• London’s Low Emission Zone which bans the most polluting vehicles from the city in order to improve air quality

• Attempts to increase cycling with a network of cycle routes and ‘Boris bikes’.

• Underground systems could also be considered e.g. extensions such as the Jubilee line or even Crossrail to encourage more people to use public transport

• The introduction of cleaner vehicles such as buses and infrastructure for electric cars e.g. charging points

• Masdar City (UAE) – Planned from scratch to be as low pollution as possible, but which are costly to implement. It has renewable energy and electric cars to reduce pollution