subject: human geography
TRANSCRIPT
Subject: Human Geography
Year: 12
Dear Students,
We hope you are all well. Please be reminded that it is an expectation that you are completing the work that we
have set. Please can students email their geography teachers with an update of their progress. You could include
photographs of your work or upload documents you have made in the email.
Each week in Geography you will be expected to complete a piece of Geography work that should take you between
1 to 2 hours. This is the minimum expectation and there are lots of other useful things you could spend your time
completing in your free time as listed below:
Watching Documentaries:
Chasing Ice
Blue Planet
Planet Earth
Life Severn Worlds One Planet
Horizons: We need to talk about population
National Geographic
Explore the following websites:
BBC Bitesize
Geoguessr
Google Maps
Gapminder Kids World Travel Guide
World Atlas
Earthtime.org
National Geographic
Twitter: @BCGeogDept
Read the following books:
Our Place by Mark Cocker
Adventures of a young naturalist by David Attenbrough
Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall Population and Development – Tim
Dyson
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
Adventures through the Anthrpocene by Gaia Vince
Week Title of work Learning Intentions: Deadline for work
1 Transnational Corporations
To be able to describe the characteristics of Transnational Corporations (TNC) and discuss the benefits and costs. To be able to explain the changing nature of TNC’s in the 21st century in that they are no longer just originate from more developed regions. To be able to explain the practices of one particular TNC in detail (Apple Inc.)
Friday 8th May 2020
2 World Trade: Fair trade
To be able to discuss trading relationships and patterns and the conflicts which can result from these. To be able to describe the world trade of a food commodity (banana).
Friday 15th May 2020
3 Unequal flows within the global system
To be able to explore the unequal flows within the global system, in particular unequal flows of labour, money, ideas and technology. To analyse the unequal power relations within the global system between and within countries, specifically studying the Chinese expansion of the South China Sea and Yamal megaproject in Siberia.
Friday 22nd May 2020
4 Global food systems
To understand what the global food system encompasses. To describe and explain the impacts of palm oil trade on lives across the globe. To evaluate the geographical consequences of the global food systems.
Friday 29th May 2020
5 Global Governance
To be able to outline the role of the United Nations To be able to understand the need for global governance and be able to give recent examples. To be able to discuss some of the negative issues associated with global governance.
Friday 5th June 2020
6 Global Commons
To be able to understand the concept of the global commons. To be able to explain the Tragedy of the commons and the principle of common heritage. To be able to evaluate the case study Antarctica as a common resource which is being overexploited.
Friday 12th June
If you have any questions about your work please email your class teacher and they will get back to you as soon as
they can.
Mr Mullins ([email protected])
Mrs Dawson ([email protected])
Mrs Tahir ([email protected])
Mr Tsintas ([email protected])
Mr Reed ([email protected])
Please follow us on twitter: @BCGeogDept
Week 1:
Title: Transnational Corporations
Transnational corporations (TNCs) are companies that operate in at least two countries, with a headquarters based
in one country but with business operations usually in a number of others.
There are certain characteristics thought to be common to TNC organisations, including:
• Maximising global economies of scale by organising production to reduce costs
• Sourcing raw materials or components at the lowest cost
• Controlling key supplies
• Control of processing at each stage of production
• Branding of products/services so they are easily recognisable
• Outsourcing of production
TNC’s re-locate their manufacturing plants to take advantage of cheap labour, lower-land costs, available land,
relaxed environmental laws.
Costs vs benefits
They operate in numerous countries for various
reasons:
• To escape trade tariffs- e.g. Nissan’s
decision to produce cars in Sunderland
was largely to gain barrier-free access to
the lucrative EU market.
• To find the lowest cost location for their
production-e.g. Hewlett-Packard in
Malaysia
• To reach foreign markets more
effectively-e.g. McDonalds
• To exploit mineral or other resources
available in foreign countries-e.g. BP in
Azerbaijan
Spatial Organisation
TNC’s have become increasing flexible in the global location of their assets.
• Traditionally the company headquarters were based in one city in their home country. Now most TNCs have
subsidiary headquarters in each continent, or in countries where their main operations are based.
• In order to maintain their position competitively, they engage in research and development activities. They
tend to be located near centres of higher education to take advantage of the graduate labour market or to
make use of university research facilities.
TNC’s can be founded in the primary sector (farming, mining, quarrying), secondary (manufacturing/assembly line)
or service sector (retail, banking, finance). Production of TNC’s in the primary sector is where there are unexploited
resources, mainly in the developing world as the reserves are depleted in the developed world. TNC’s in the
secondary sector are mainly located in the developing regions (see common characteristics section). TNC’s in the
tertiary sector tends to be footloose and locate where there are low labour costs and high level of education.
Linkages, trading and marketing patterns
One of the features of TNCs is the ability to expand and gain more control of their industry and markets. They do this
by integrating different parts of the business through investment, takeovers and mergers.
Two types of integration:
• Vertical integration: An arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is owned entirely by that
company, from raw materials through to the finished product, e.g. BP owns over 40 oil and gas fields, oil
pipelines, shipping fleet, their own refineries, and retail service stations.
• Horizontal integration: A strategy where a company diversifies its operations by expansion, merger or
takeover to give a broader capability at the same stage of production, e.g. Kraft foods takeover of Cadbury.
They later merged with Heinz to diversify their grocery and confectionary market.
TNC- Coca Cola Inc
Activities
1. Research about the TNC Coca Cola. Split your page into four and research about the following sections:
background, spatial organisation, production and impacts.
2. Suggest why Coca Cola is a one of the world’s most successful global product.
3. Summarise attitudes to Coca Cola. Try to identify specific groups of people in your answer.
4. Discuss the social and economic impacts on TNC’s on the countries in which they operate.
Week 2:
Title: World Trade: Fair trade?
Having access to a trading bloc increases the potential for trade, and so for economic and social well-being. Not
having access to a trading bloc or trading agreement, limits the potential trade of a country which has implications
for social and economic well-being.
Trading bloc-A trading bloc is an arrangement among a group of nations to allow free trade between member
countries but to impose tariffs (charges) on other countries that may wish to trade with them. Also, they are
protected from external trade to some degree.
Different trading bloc functions and integration levels
Free-trade: In these unions, members abolish tariffs and quotas on trade between themselves but have restrictions
on imports from non-member countries. NAFTA is a good example of a free trade area.
A customs union: Is a closer form of economic integration. As well as having free trade between members, all
members operate a common external tariff on imports from abroad. Mercosur is a good example of a customs
union.
An economic union: are groups of nations that not only allow the freedom of trade, and movement of people and
capital, but also requires members’ common policies on such as, agriculture, industry and regional development. An
example is the EU.
Conflict and Co-operation
• Tensions have arisen between trading entities as they all want to ensure the best deals for their citizens,
workers and businesses.
• Failure to achieve an outcome from the WTO’s Doha Round is largely because of disagreements between the
EU and USA arguing with emerging economies, such as EU and USA.
• Banana trade escalated into a war trade between the EU and USA, with the latter backing their home based
TNC’s and accused the EU of trading unfairly.
Food Commodity-Bananas
• Bananas are one of the world’s favourite fruits and globally one of the most commonly eaten. Of all fruits it
is the greatest in terms of volume produced and is one of the five most consumed fruits on the planet. It
contains large quantities of energy (90 calories) and one banana provides an adults daily potassium
requirements. It is the 5th most traded agricultural commodity.
The Banana Industry:
Banana plantations cost the environment in terms of:
Deforestation (land is cleared)
Waste (1 tonne of bananas produced: 2 tonnes of waste)
Soil fertility (contaminants)
Loss of biodiversity (aquatic life as pollutants run off in water courses)
In the past 80% of the banana trade was dominated by four companies.
These companies used to own banana plantations, have their own sea transport, ripening facilities and their own
distribution networks in consuming countries. This chain allowed them to sell bananas in the USA and EU markets at
very low prices.
Now, these companies do not own the banana plantations due to legal and economic problems at the plantation
level. They now have supply contracts with producers from Ecuador, Costa Rica and Colombia. These countries sell to
TNC’s (table) or directly to retails, such as Wal-Mart and Tesco.
This has resulted in a shift in power as retailers are dominating the supply chain and suppliers have little choice but
to accept conditions, such as low prices, discounts and delayed payments or otherwise risk being taken from the
supplier list.
Bananas are produced in developing regions and consumed in developed countries.
Around 90% of the price paid by the end consumer stays in the richer ‘north’ and never reaches the producer, who has most of the risks of producing a perishable fruit. The largest slice is taken by retailers and bananas are one of the biggest profit-makers in supermarkets.
Activities:
1. Study figure 7.31 and describe the world trade of bananas.
2. Create a poster to describe the world trade of the banana food commodity. You must include sections on
nutritious value of the banana which makes it a valuable product, the climatic conditions in which they are
grown, the environmental costs, the largest banana producers, exporters and consumers, the growth of
fairtrade related to bananas and its importance.
Week 3:
Title: Unequal flows within the global system
Globalisation enables workers to move freely around the world. There are both positive and negatives of
international migration.
Table 1
Reduces geographical inequality
between workers.
Loss of skilled workers causes a training
gap.
With greater movement of labour there
is a greater risk of disease pandemics
(global outbreak of an illness or
disease).
Reduced unemployment where there is
a lack of work – opportunities to seek
work elsewhere.
Countries find it difficult to retain their
best talent – attracted away by higher
wages.
Some workers return to their country
of origin with new skills and new ideas.
Addresses important skill and labour
shortages (i.e. the UK has recruited
nurses from the Far East).
Outsourcing of production from high to
low wage economies causes
unemployment in HICs.
Qatar-an example of uneven benefits of migration.
• Highest proportion of migrant workers to domestic population in the world – 90% of 2 million population are
migrant workers.
• Approx. 400,000 Nepalese workers along with 1.4 million migrant workers working on a $137 billion building
programme.
• 9 state of the art football stadia, $20 billion new roads, high speed rail network, 55,000 hotel rooms to
accommodate visiting fans and a new airport.
• Many migrant workers have borrowed money to travel to Qatar, they find themselves indebted to
recruitment agencies and the conditions of their employment are altered.
• Some pay back loans with an interest rate of over 35% -> work for very little pay.
• During 2012-2013, nearly 1000 workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh died whilst working in Qatar,
partly as a result of the working and living conditions.
• They have few, if any rights and are forbidden to form trade unions. Under the Qatari Kafala system, workers
are unable to change jobs without their employer’s permission.
• An Amnesty International investigation revealed:
Evidence of forced labour, salaries withheld, passports and ID confiscated, overcrowded accommodation and poor
access to drinking water.
Inequality
Globalisation should increase prosperity for all and make the planet more equal in terms of income distribution.
There are two measures of inequality to consider:
• The difference between richer countries and low-income countries and whether the difference between the
two is increasing or decreasing
• The inequality in incomes that exist within each country and how this is being affected by globalisation.
Studies suggest that globalisation is increasing inequality within countries as richer members of societies cope better
with the changes in jobs and technology.
Unequal power relations
Unequal power relations enable some countries to drive global systems to their own advantage and to directly
influence geopolitical events, while other are only able to respond or resist in a more constrained way.
Examples of this are:
-Chinese expansion in the South China Sea
-Yamal megaproject in Siberia.
Chinese Expansion in the South China Sea-unequal power relation between countries
• China is actively building artificial islands in the South China Sea, turning them into military and logistical
bases.
• China’s government had started its land reclamation and construction efforts on the reefs in early 2014.
• The main reason for such actions by China, is the US intention of controlling international trade in the Indian
Ocean and the Pacific or even monopoly of trade control in those waters.
• The US strategists are concerned about the rise of Chinese naval forces and Chinese expansion in the Pacific
Ocean.
• Particularly, they aimed to prevent a situation where China will be able to defend particular zones of sea
communications from foreign intervention.
Yamal Megaproject-Unequal power relations within a country
Activities:
1. Study Table 1, Identify the positive and negative impacts of international migration.
2. How is Qatar an example of uneven benefits of migration? Use the information provided and you could also watch the video Qatar World Cup 2022: migrant workers forced to work for no pay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5R9Ur44XV8 3. Read the information about the expansion of the South China Sea and watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luTPMHC7zHY to answer the following questions:
Why is China expanding in the South China sea?
Why does China’s behavior need to be moderated?
How can power relations influence geopolitical events between countries?
4. Research about the Yamal Megaproject in Russia and answer the following questions:
Read the short case study on development in Yamal, Russia.
Why is the Russian government interested in this region?
What is the Russian government doing in this area?
How are the people of Yamal being affected?
How has this megaproject affected the environment of the Arctic and Siberia?
Week 4:
Title: Global food systems
Activities:
1. What influences your choice when buying a food product? Rank the following in the order of importance:
price, quality, brand, justify your choice.
2. Sort the impacts of palm oil cultivation into primary and secondary impacts.
3. With reference to figure 9, comment on changes in to oil palm consumption.
4. Suggest reasons why supply chains (the global systems that move palm oil from tropical plantations into
the products onto the supermarket shelf) do not always meet principles of sustainability.
Week 5:
Title: Global Governance
Global governance refers to the ways in which global affairs affecting the whole world are managed.
Generally decisions are made by individual nations and co-operation is negotiated between countries.
BUT as the world in being interdependent, global economic governance is increasingly important for achieving
sustainable development across all nations.
International Development Agencies
A number of organisations take responsibility for promoting growth, stability and the development of all regions
sustainably, both economically and environmentally.
1. UN: has a main advisory role; its purpose is to foster co-operations between state governments, rather than
exerting authority over them.
2. International organisations: such as WTO and World Heath Organisation (WHO) exist to take responsibility
for managing specific aspects of an increasingly interrelated world, e.g. managing trade or public health
issues.
3. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs): vary with objectives but aim to ensure justice and equality for
people across the world or to campaign for environmental sustainability.
Non-governmental Organizations
As part of the globalisation process, NGO’s has expanded their scope from local, national to international
organisations.
In the 21st Century NGO’s have emerged as a global force:
• Democratise decision-making (for example, persuading the governments to consider ‘bottom up’
approaches)
• Protect human rights
• Provide essential services to the most needy
There are two types of NGO’s:
Operational NGOs-These providing frontline support services to the needy (for e.g. Oxfam); tend to raise money for
each project they undertake.
Advocacy NGOs-Those who focus on campaigns to raise awareness to gain support for a cause (for e.g. Friends of
the Earth); derive money from donations and, in some cases, from membership subscriptions.
Activities:
1. Look at figure 1. Describe the viewpoint taken by the cartoonist.
2. The key gaps in global governance cover jurisdiction, incentive and participation. For each theme:
Explain the terms
Illustrate it with a specific example
Week 6:
Title: Global Commons
What is the ‘global commons’?
The ‘global commons’ refers to resource domains or areas that lie outside of the political reach of any one-action
state. It is a term used to describe supra-national ‘spaces’ in which common shared resources can be found.
The international law recognises 4 global commons:
1. The high seas (ocean not within any country’s jurisdiction)
2. The atmosphere
3. Antarctica
4. Outer-space
Principle of common heritage
The principle of common heritage is established by international law which states that some localities belong to all
humanity and that the resources there are for everyone’s use and benefit. It also includes future generation and
needs for developing countries.
The ‘Tragedy of the Commons’
This concept explains why shared ‘common access resources’ of any type are likely to be overexploited. If individuals
act individually or for their own self-interest, then the shared resources will become depleted.
It is important for international law and clear global governance to protect the commons from over-exploitation.
• The high seas-UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
• The atmosphere by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• Antarctica by the Antarctic Treaty Systems (ATS)
• Outer-space by the Moon Treaty which governs exploration and exploitation of its resources
Historically, access to these resources have been difficult (exception of fishing and whaling on high seas)
Advancement in technology and greater scarcity of resources = more pressure on global commons to meet human demands of a developing world.
Activities:
1. Using an Atlas, locate the three research stations in Figure 5 using the latitude and longitude references.
2. Draw climate graphs for each station (months of year along the x-axis, weather variables along the y-axis).
For each month, plot the mean monthly temperatures as points connected on a line, and mean monthly
precipitation as bars. (Hint: you need two y-axis scales for plotting temperature and precipitation and
each graph should have identical scales).
3. For each station, calculate the mean annual temperature, total annual precipitation and the mean annual
wind speed. Also, identify the minimum and maximum values for each variable and calculate the annual
ranges.
a. Compare and contrast the climate at the three named stations.
b. Analyse each of the different weather variables with reference to latitude, altitude and proximity to
the Southern Ocean.
c. Explain which research station’s statistics are most reliable.
4. Describe and suggest reasons for the trends in Antarctic visitor number over the past four decades.
5. Outline the arguments for and against the promotion of tourism in Antarctica.
6. Create a case study grid for Antartica, using information above and from the website:
https://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/science/government_antarctica.php to find
the following information: