ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Miss Adriana Di Deo

BIOSPHERE:

Unit 4.1: Ecosystems: their function operation and resource potential.

Ecosystems:

 Large scale ecosystems: Tropical rainforest, monsoon forest, savanna, desert,

taiga, and tundra = BIOMES.
 Small scale ecosystems: lakes, swamps, woods and sand dunes.

Components of ecosystems:

 Climate
 Vegetation
 Soils Interactions
 Animals
 People

The living and non-living components of an ecosystem:

Living factors (biotic):

 Animals
 Competition
 Human activity

Elements:

 Plants
 Animals
 Micro- organism

Non- living factors (abiotic):

 Soil
 Climate
 Local factors

Elements:

 Soil
 Atmosphere

Organization of ecosystem:
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Population: total of all the individuals of the same species,
ECOSYSTEM
Community: when the populations of all species are added together.
Comprises the living part of the Ecosystem.

Habitat: organism´s natural home (unique combination of rock, soils, sloped and
drainage under particular climatic conditions).

Competition: between living organisms

Niche: function or role of each organism in the Ecosystem. Interact with others as part
of a working system.

Adaptation to physical factors:

 All life depend on SUN energy source. It controls temperatures and variations.
Influence over physical factors as water, humidity, nutrients and soil.
 Plants and animals adapt to climatic conditions-CHAGES IN ORGANISMS- ex
plants adapted to place where physical factors= unfavorable,
Eg 1: poor minerals.
Eg 2: animals change their way of finding food. Without this adaptation they can´t
survive.
Eg 3: tropical rainforest- different niches.

Example- adaptation to hot desert environments:

Plants adapted to survive in deserts- by developing deep, efficient roots systems,

having succulent stems with thorns, and producing incredibly strong seed. The camel
is a desert animal, adapted to survive in hot, dry and sandy environment.
Physiological and physical adaptations.

Relationship of living organisms

1. Interdependence: organisms depend on each other to survive, grow and

reproduce.
2. Pollination: birds and insects transfer pollen between plants
3. Dispersal of fruits and seeds: birds and animals: carry these away from the
plant competition for light reduced
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4. Vegetation succession: plant species improve the environment for living
5. Food supply: food chains

Pollination

- Flowering plants need fertilization before they can produce seeds

- Insects and birds transfer pollen from the others of one flower to the stigma
for another to complete pollination

Dispersal of fruits and seeds

- Seeds nature fall from parent plant to the ground, were may germinate.
- In many plants, fruits and seeds adapted in such way carried long distance
away from parent plant to avoid competition

Vegetation succession

- Change in vegetation species improve living environment

- Succession ends when tallest plants have invaded and become established

Producers, consumers, food chains, and webs

 Green plants: producers – sun´s energy: produce food from co2 and water
through photosynthesis. They are primary producers (produce their own food)
 Animals: consumers. Plant-eating animals: herbivores. They are primary
consumers. Long periods of droughts: competition between species become
more critical.
 Primary consumers are eaten by the carnivores, secondary consumers. Some
kill and eat small carnivores: tertiary consumers = predator.

Food chains

Nutrients and energy are passed along a chain of living things.

Organisms at the bottom: numerous. At the top: large and few
Land food pyramid: plants; zebra; lion. Ocean: plankton; sardines; dolphins;
shark

Food webs

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 Incorporates different food chains and shows more of the relationships between
living organisms.
 More complex
 If an event interferes all the organisms will be affected
 Change at the bottom affects all other levels

Energy flows

- Organisms: need food to build new cells growth and source of energy
- Energy to “drive” the systems comes from sunlight.
- Green plants: CO2, H2O and sunlight glucose: photosynthesis
- Chlorophyll-bearing organisms in plant cells absorb light energy from the Sun to
become CO2 and H2O into carbohydrates,
energy=chemical form.
Oxygen is released.

- Process: cells of the leaves.

- Air: CO2 absorbed. Land: water absorbed.
- H2O + CO2: combined in the cells = sugar.
- Energy: sunlight: absorbed by chlorophyl.
- Hydrogen: added to CO2 molecules = sugar, while O2 is released.
- During daylight: plants take CO2 and give out O2
- Respiration: exchange of gases.

Energy flows in food chains

 Trophic level: each stage where energy is exchanged

 Every stage: great loss of total energy passing along the chain
 Energy is used in life process (breath, heat, grow, move)
 Trophic level 1: Green plants
 Trophic level 2: Herbivores
 Trophic level 3: Carnivores

Nutrient cycle

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 Nature supplies a constant flow of solar energy but proved no new input of
material must be reused or recycled (hydrogen, O2, CO2)
 Decomposers: bacteria and fungi break down dead remains and release
the chemicals for plants to use again.
 Tropical rainforest: fastest and largest nutrient recycling
 Dead leaves and branches, dead bodies, microorganisms: fall to the ground
surface decay rapidly in hot humid conditions
 Decomposer organisms break down the continual supply of organic matter
 Nutrient stock small quickly and continuously recycled
 All the elements are recycled

The carbon cycle

 Carbon- present in all living organisms. Obtain by plants during photosynthesis.

 Animals tissues; carbon atoms from PLANTS

Carbon added to atmosphere in three main ways:

1. Respiration: plants and animals obtain energy by oxidizing carbohydrates in their

cells to carbon dioxide and water, which are excreted. Carbon returne to
atmosphere
2. Decay: organic matter from dead plants and animals is used by descomposers
as a source of energy. Micro organisms turn carbon into carbone dioxide, goes
back into atmosphere.
3. Combustion: (burning)- wood, coal, oil and natural gas (fuel contain carbon).
Oxygen needed for burning, during this carbon oxides and formed carbon
dioxide.

Nitrogen cycle:

 Nitrates added from the atmosphere, dissolved in the rain.

 Formed by high temperatures lightning.
 Plants and animal die- released ammonia (NH3) (Composed of
Nitrogen).
 Nitrogen is removed from from the soil in three main ways:
1. Uptake by plants-absorbed in the roots and combined with
carbohydrates to make proteins.
2. Leaching-nitrates are soluble, they dissolve in rain water as it seeps
down through the soli and are carried away.
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3. Denitrifying bacteria- to obtain energy they breack down nitrates to
nitrogen gas which then escapes from the soil into the atmosphere.

Resource potential of biomes:

Biomass: total weight of all the organisms in a population, community, or habitat.

Biodiversity: refers to the number and variety of living species, plants and animals,
and includes the whole range of species in the world.

 Diversity of species.
 Clearing natural vegetation and replaced for farmland is essential for human
supplies but produce loss of species and reduce productivity.

Biodiversity as a genetic resource:

Selective breeding: improvements in technology and in the knowledge of genetics

have allowed the adoption of a more scientific approach to crops develops.

Unit 4.2 Human activities and their impacts on the Earth´s enviorment
 Human- hunter-gathererers.
 Humans are OMNIVORES at the top of the food chain- they feed both plants and
meat.

1. PRIMARY: Hunting, fishing and farming come first.

2. SECONDARY: manufacturing goods come second after

raw materials were obtained.
URBAN-BASED

3. TERTIARY: the need for services grew from the other two.

Changes in farming and the natural environment:

 Thousand year ago: humans = HUNTERS and GATHERERS

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Dependent on the plants and animals of natural
ecosystems.

 DOMESTICATION: people began to keep animals (food supply)

 1980 Afghanistan NOMADIC
 Today: NOMADIC PASTORALISTS - Move seasonally with their animals in
search of water and pasture.
 First place grow crops: IRAQ.
 GROW CROPS= more reliable food supply.
 1970 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION – (machinery)
 Major technological developments in agriculture:
1. Domestication of plants and animals
2. Irrigation water used
3. Terracing of hill slopes
4. Age of discovery
5. Industrial revolution
6. Green Revolution

Genetic engineering and GM crops

Genetic engineering: process of altering the genetic composition of an organism by

modifying its own genes or introducing genes from a different species. It involves to
transfer genes from one organism to an unrelated species.

Biotechnology: is the use of living organisms or biological processes for industrial

agricultural or medical purposes.

The great GM debate:

Environmentalists:

- Genetic scientists are altering life itself – modifying genes to produce plants and
animals never evolved naturally
- Fear: creation of “super weeds”: no natural control
- Replace existing varieties of plants and animals from the ecosystem
further reductions in biodiversity
- Seeds developed use in the food-rich developed world.

Scientists:

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- “sowing the seeds of a better future”
- Convinced: GM crops will help feed the world
- Engineering varieties: resistant to diseases, pests, drought and salinity
revolutionize farming and herald a 2nd Green Revol.
- Hope of keeping up population growth tinker with genes.

Habitat destruction and its effects on species:

Species becoming extinct is a natural process—part of the evolution (result of human

action)

 Increase in human population: expense of other species. In order to obtain land

for agriculture, industry and cities, natural vegetation has been cleared and
neighbouring habitats changed or destroyed.

Deforestation:

 Wood is useful for construction, shelter, furniture, paper, fuel

 Once cleared: it can be used for cultivation and food supply

Loss of wetlands:

 Presence of water (swamps, lakes, deltas)

 Water can be flowing and fresh
 Threats to wetlands—increased due to intensification of agriculture and the need
for more land.
 Water-drained, sea walls and dams: built to keep out the water and the land to be
reclaimed is surrounded by dykes

Flooding:

 Dam construction
 Habitats lost, rotting vegetation flooded by rising lake waters releases methane
and CO2 into the atmosphere
 Decomposing vegetation: rich supply of nutrients

Tourism and its impacts

Tourisms: service sector activity and a mayor grown industry

-rote to economic development for some countries.

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Advantages:

Economic:

 Earns foreign currency

 Provide many jobs in hotels, transport, shops and making craft goods
 The infrastructure (airports, roads,water and electricity supplies) improved for
tourist can also benefit local people.

Social:

 Migration lost is reduced because of jobs

Environmental:

 Greater awareness of landscapes, habitats and wildlife is created

 Entrance fees to parks and revenues from tourism can pay for management,
conservation and repairs.

Disadvantages:

Economic:

 Income varies as the number of visitor goes up and down

 Many jobs are unskilled (no calificado), poorly, and available only in on season of
the year.
 Tourism development replace farming and fishing taking over their space

Social:

 Local traditions and cultures are destroyed

Environmental:

 Destruction of habitats to build the new infrastructure of hotels, airports etc

 Pollutions problems (litter, noise and untreated waste going into the sea)

Unfavorable environmental impacts:

 1960: tourism in developing countries

 Mass tourism = coastal location (environment are fragile and habitats vulnerable)

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Unit 4.3 Strategies for conservation:

CONSERVATION OF SPECIES:

Indigenous continued used sustainable harvesting

New technology= ECOSYSTEM RISK

Ideas

1) set up GENE BANCKS: preserve range of plants (hereditary material) but is

NOT PERFECT because are vulnerable to disease, human error and accidents.
2) MORE PROTECCION for future- conservation of biodiversity = BIOSPHERE
RESERVES
 Conservation of natural and semi natural ecosystem
 Development of areas for ecologically and socio- culturally sustainable
available to be used.
 Provide logistic support (education).

AREAS OF LAND AND COASTAL ECOSYSTEM SUPPORTED by UNESCO (united

nations scientific and cultural organization). Part of MAB (man and biosphere).

HOW ARE BIOSPHERE RESERVES ORGANIZED?

 Core area: landscape, ecosystem and species conservation. Need legal

protection.
 Buffer zone: including experimental research – preserving biodiversity and soil
resources. Education, tourism.
 Transition area: area of cooperation – local communities, benefit to people lives
here.

Natural reserves and national parks:

Nature reserves cover small areas. Where demand for strong protection is
undeniable.

Some countries interest in nature conservation quite recent. Some land are
protected for economic value or such as religious and historical sites.

NATIONAL PARKS:
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Protected areas, larger scale and hundreds of square kilometers.

Without this Galapagos Islands would have already vanished.

Measures used for coral reef:

 Programmers for boat owners

 Boat licensed so that number can be controlled
 Restricted access to some parts of the reef
 Floating buoys (boyas) fir boats in the most popular diving

ECO-TURISM:

National parks. Charge entry fees. To protection for natural environment and
ecosystem.

Tourism that is environmentally sound.

 Natural environments and wildlife are safeguarded.

 Natural resources are protected in a sustainable manner.

Tourism that is socially sound:

 Local communities are not damaged

 Local people can share the benefits
 Ways of life and traditions are maintained

Eco-truism should lead to sustainable tourism.

CASE STUDY: NATIONAL PARKS AND NATIONAL WILDLIFE RESERVES IN

KENYA.

 Big animals and grazing – the “big five” elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo and rhino.
 Across the East African savannas
 Coastal wetlands of mangroves and coral reefs in Indian Ocean.
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 Nairobi National park 1946.
 Country of tourist safari
 Mountains
 Tourism activity specially on coastal area (white coral sand) .

1970-1990—Kenya elephant amount fallen (170. 000 to 20. 000) because habitat
destruction. Whith rhino (20.000 to 300)

 Population doubled.
 Forest are felled
 More agriculture in wetlands
 Coral reefs damaged by marine pollution and tourists
 Protect area- extensive
 Environmental in protected areas can be a problem
 Environmental education low to people living next to reserves.
 Animals destroyed farmer’s possession. Not money of tourism.
 Best hope= ecotourism (Kimana Natural Reserve).

WORLD CONSERVATION STRATEGIES:

TWO DIFFERENT INTERNATIONAL APPROACHES TO SPECIES CONSERVATION:

1. HABITAT CONSERVATION
2. BAN THE HUNTING COLLECTING AND TRADING OF RARE SPECIES.

HABITAT CONSERVATION:

Habitats everything from a patch of tropical rainforest a small lake.

International organizations as for example:

 UNEP (united nations enviormental programme) provides the world community

with enviormental information.

Focus on:

 Enviormental assessment
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 Freshwater
 Energy
 Business and industry
 Atmosphere
 Land
 Urban issues
 Governance and law
 Marine and coastal areas
 Biodiversity
 Sustainable consumption
 Civil society and NGO´s

 WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)

“taking action for a living planet”
 CITES (convention on international trade in endanger species of Wild fauna and
flora)
 Agreement of 80 countries
 Cooperation, regulation
 Protection more than 30 000 today.

Unit 4.4 Biomes and their distribution:

Biomes: large scale ecosystems identified by their dominant vegetation cover.

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Tundra biome:

 Cold
 Restrict all types of vegetations growth.
 Surface= snow cover
 Absence of trees because:
o Growing seasons in summer is to short
o Is too cold in winter
o Strong winds
o Soils above the permafrost are waterlogged
 Low biological diversity
 Plants slow- growing
 Abundant species: mosses and lichens

Taiga: coniferous forest:

 Coniferous trees (pine and spruce) dominated surface vegetation

 Noth America and Eurasia.
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 Reproduce from cones which protects their seeds.
 One layer of vegetation is present (tree layer)
 Trees growing close together
 PINE: characteristics:
 Conical shape: flexible and bend in the strong winds
 Downward sloping branches: snow slides off them more quickly
 Evergreen
 Needle leaves: reduce water loss transpiration, necessary when
water not available.
 Think bark (corteza): this protects trunk from winter cold

Tropical rainforest:

 Evergreen trees
 Straight slender trunks
 Thin smooth bark
 Branches and leaves concentrated in the crown at the tip
 Buttress- like roots at ground level
 Trees NOT grown together
 Density and complexity of trees: lianas, epiphytes and parasites
o Hot all year (27°C)
o Low annual temperature
o Wet all year
o High annual rainfall total

Importance of nutrient cycling

 New nutrients: not available in hot wet tropics.

 Heavy rain falls: leaching and rapid removal of any soluble minerals
 Soil store of nutrient low
 Nutrients stock quikly recycle because in the absence of seasonal
variations in climate, the process can be continuous.

Monsoon forest:

 High temperatures all year (20°C)

 One very wet season and one dry
 Annual precipitation
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 Trees can reduce water losses by transpiration from their leaves during a time of
shortage

Savanna grassland:

 High temperatures all year ( 25-35°)

 Moderate total annual rainfall
 Rain falls in summer only (wet seasons)
 Long dry seasons in winter
 Describe as a “grasslands with trees”
 Tall grasses growing from tufted clumps and occasional trees dotted around
landscape such in Africa
 Trees= droughts resistant’s

Hot desert:

 Very hot in summer (40°)

 Annual rainfall less than 250 mm
 Plants cannot exist unless adaptation =strong sunlight (droughts)
 Roots= system are the key to survival for many plants
 Leaves reduced to SPINES to minimize transpiration.
 Leaves REDUCED TRANSPIRATION

Unit 4.5 Deforestation and sustainable management of forests

Clearance of natural vegetation:

1/3 natural forest have been destroyed by felling, burning or grazing.

1950 impact on Europe and North America and monsoon Asia.
Industrial revolution: growth industry and population with their increasing
demands for natural resources and food.
Forest cleared: to make farms, factories, and cities.
Most tropical rainforest are in the developing countries governments view
their unstrapped resources as the passport to economic development.

Means of rainforest destruction:

A. Cultivation: responsible of forest losses.

Traditional subsitence—small plots of land by slash and burn

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Population pressure—larger plots and used more frequently, so that farming in
many areas become more permanent than shifting.

B. Ranching: (estancia)
major clearance America (Brazil)
Tropical pastures are easily damaged and new forest id cleared.

C. Logging:
Multinational companies have the technology to clear extensive areas.
Commercially

D. Energy:
Forest for Fuel wood

Summary of the consequences of clearances of natural vegetation:

Physical impacts:
a. Impacts on atmosphere:
 Decreased rainfall
 Tree-burning releases CO2, contributing to global warming
 Reduce production of oxygen
b. Impact on water cycle:
 Less precipitation intercepted and transpired
 Increased surface run-off
 Increased flood risk from rivers
c. Impacts on soil:
 Increased soil erosion through surface run-off and gulleying
 Increased leaching causing loss of soil nutrient
 Disruption of nutrient cycle
 Reduce soil fertility
d. Impacts on plants and animals:
 Reduce biodiversity
 Threatened extinction of species
 Forest replaced by anything from bare ground to species- poor forest

Human impacts:

e. Local people:
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 Indigenous people displaced from their lands
 Loss of traditional way of life
 Lack of fuel wood
f. All people in the world:
 Genetic pool of plants reduce
 Loss of climatic stability

CASE STUDY OF DEFORESTATION: Indonesia

 Hot and wet equatorial climate

 Rates of deforestation are increasing an tropical rain forest destruction: issue
 Responsible:
o Government (large scale development projects)
o Logging Companies
o Population growth (expansion of slash and burnt faming to increase food
supply)

Causes of deforestation:

Political: role of government

a) Government´s transmigration policy: aim: relieve overcrowding from big cities by

clearing forests for settlements and farmland.
b) Military government 1998: concessions to logging companies which are run by
powerful people ( political influence)
c) Little attempt: stop illegal logging and enforced selective or replanting schemes.

Economic: need to develop

a) Indonesia: major exporter of wood and wood products

b) Money is needed to pay off international debts and to develop economically
c) High rates of unemployment= rapid population growth

Social: growing population

a) More people= more food, work and public services

b) Slash and burn farming= increasing number of plots used in a non- sustainable
manner.

Effects:

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1. Biosphere: reduced biodiversity and biomass, lower rates off primary productivity
and loss of animals habitats
2. Indigenous people: conflicts
3. Environment: increase soil erosion, silting of rivers, air pollution from forest fires.

Sustainable forest management techniques:

 Softwood from conifers is valuable for making construction timber and for pulp
and paper.
 Other uses: resin from their trunks: glues, cleaners, turpentine
 Coniferous forests with relatively low levels of biodiversity compared with tropical
forests, reforestation cannot restore what the original ecosystem possessed.

Management in tropical forests:

 Short-term economic gains are dwarfed by the sustainable long-term value of

benefits from the forest products, tourism and absence of environmental
damage.
 Research, education and training: make local people aware of how forests work
and why they are important.
 Local peoples in managing and developing forests si crucial
 Encouraged to practice agro-foresty
 Commercial loggins is less easy in tropical than in temperate forests: hardwood
tress of greates value: dotted around
 Forest can be destroyed to take just a few commercially desirable trees.

Global issues:

- Beginning to switch from clearance and back to conservation

- “debt-for-nature” swaps: mooted

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- Developing countries debt to developed countries: put money value on their forests
as “ecological capital assets”

Unit 4.6 soil erosion, desertification and conservation

Soil erosion: loss of topsoil by wind and water (natural process)

Rates

Highest in dry climates: little surface vegetation to shelter the soil against wind

Bad farming practices: speed up the process of erosion

Human causes:

 Clear natural vegetation creates surface bare of vegetation.

Clearances of trees on slopes risks:

- Tree roots will no longer be present to hold the soil in place

- Tree leaves and branches: not be there to break force of falling rain
- Obstructions: trees stems: no available to restrain surface water flows down the
slope
 Farmers overexploit their land without taking precautions

Consequences:

Crops yields go down

Pasture land: less productive
Farmers: buy and use fertilizers
Incomes go down. Cost of farming grow
Environment suffers: trees will be cut down
Crop stubble: removed for livestock feed
Land degradation: severe: point of no return
Eroded topsoil: ends in rivers: increase amount of sediments
Rivers overflow the top of their banks: flooding frequent

Strategies to prevent soil erosion:

 Vegetation planting: winds and rains

 Certain planting activities: tillage/cropping
 Sustainable use for fertilizers
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Desertification: process: land is turned into desert because of human activity

- Soil erosion – Salinization: processes that result in desert

Decline in
- Risk areas: semi-arid regions vegetation
- Natural process: decline in rainfall: drought cover:
- Human activity: overgrazing, over cultivation, irrigation and Salinization increased soil
erosion by
- Population grow: demand for food, fuel wood
wind and rain
Example: the Sahel in Africa:

 1970s -1980s: drier

 Great numbers of people: affected by famine
 1980s: UNEP: Sahara was advancing southwards 6-10km
 West Africa: 250000 hect: lost to desertification
 Average yields of staple crops: down
 Slash and burn techniques: destroyed the trees, perennial bushes.
 Region began to receive normal average rainfall, and clear evidence:
desertification reserved
 Strategies:
o Research in field stations
o Advice and giving demonstrations to farmers
o Providing farmers new seeds
o Return some vegetation
 Sustainable environmental management is what region needs
 Stabilize the soil erosion, improve its fertility, become a potential resource for
wood for fuel and building materials.

Causes of desertification:

Cause:

 over cultivation: higher yielding/drought resistant seeds

Crop rotation
 overgrazing: reduce numbers of cattle (higher yielding breeds)
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Rotate grazing land
 deforestation: tree planting schemes
Alternative to fuel wood (biogas plants)
 population pressure: policies of reducing birth rates
Alternative employment (tourism)

Soil conservation: prevention of soil erosion so that the fertile topsoil is retained.

Mechanical methods:

 Main strategy: terracing (terraces built across slopes hold the soil on flatter land)
 Needed most in tropical lands
 Farmers: contour ploughing block the downward movement of water slopes
 Planting trees in lines: windbreaks

Changes in farming practices:

 Rates of erosion: low when the soil is covered

 Strategy: system of mixed cropping
 Crop rotation can help in the same way if crops of different sizes and periods of
growth are planted in neighboring fields
 Maintenance of soil fertility
 Using grass as one crop in a system of rotation: helpful: maintains a surface
cover all year (soil nutrients)
 Grass increases the humus content
 Maintaining soil fertility is crucial; adding organic matter
 Animal manure, crop strubble, straw

Community solutions:

 Tree planting on slopes in and next to farming areas

 New plantations as a resource: invaded for fuelwood and wood for sale.
 Local people are allowed to harvest grass and other-low level vegetation from
within the forest plantations
 Soil conservations: integrated with agricultural change to increase food output
and improve rural standards living
 Burning issue: land ownership
 Needed: land reform

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 Less interested in supporting community projects than in making money for
themselves

Unit 4.7 world population growth

Future rates of population grow.

Birth rates:

Developed countries: 12 13 per 1000

Developing countries: 26-27 per 1000

European countries: are low because:

 married couples: planning family

 Woman well educated
 One or two suns per family
 Economy children =cost

Africa and Middle East 40 per 1000:

 Not always planning

 Little education
 More suns=common
 Children’s work =economically

Demographic transition model:

Stage 1: Before 1750 (industrial revolution): all countries.

Death rates high- without medical care, epidemic diseases=kill, close relationship
between population size and food output.

Stage 2: death rise=fall because

 Improved medical care (hospitals, clinics)

 Cleaner water supplies and improve sewerage system
 Increased food output

Birth rate = high

 Economic: children = workers in fields
 Social- large families are the normal
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 Political- government reluctant to provide education and facilities for family
planning

Stage 3: birth rate start to fall

 Death rate is continuing to follow.

 Family planning and birth control polices = birth rate: fall
 Raising levels: economic development: help
 People living in cities= high cost

Stage 4: close relationship between birth and death rate

 Both low = low natural increased or steady population

Population structure: make-up of a country´s population by age and sex.

Population pyramid: data collected.

Subdivide the structure of a country´s population: young (0-14); middle-aged (15-64)

and old (above 65)

Middle-aged: working or independent population

Young and old: dependants

Young and ageing populations

Pakistan: young population

Germany: ageing population

Difference: size of the fertility rate (average number of children born to a woman in
her lifetime infant mortality rate)

Life expectancy: high (over 75 years)

Developing countries: reduction in infant mortality rates: contribute to the increased

size of young population

Number of deaths of children under 1 year old per 1000 people

Life expectancy: average numbers of years a new - born baby is expected to live.

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Migration

Movement of people to live in a different place

Factors: mixture of push (forcing people out of the area where they live) and pull
(attracting people into a new area to live)

Push factors: dislikes about where they live.

- No work, work badly paid

- Public services and utilities (schools, hospitals, etc) no widely available
- Natural disaster

Pull factors: attractions of the place.

- Physical advantages (wetter climate, fertile soils)

- Economic advantages, work opportunities, improved standard living

Obstacles: border controls, availability and cost of transport, social: leaving family.

Types of migration

 Voluntary
Reasons:
o For work improved standards of living
o Joining up with relatives or friends
o Retirement

Examples:

o Rural to urban (developing countries)

o Rural to rural (new land for settlement)
o Urban to rural (developed countries)
 Forced
Reasons:
o After a natural disaster
o After a human disaster (revolution, war)
Examples:
o Movement to camps and temporary shelters
o Refugees to other countries
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Rural to urban migration

 Widespread type of migration before the industrial revolution

 Growth of industry and services: alternative types of work to farming and
speeded up the growth of cities: urbanization
 People “pushed” out of rural areas: poverty, limited opportunities
 “pulled” towards urban areas: dream of wealth and improvement

Urbanization

- increase in the % of people living in urban areas

- rural to urban migration
- high rates of natural increase population
- in-migrants (people moved into the cities from the countryside): 15-25 age range

Urban problems

 Relentless population growth is a mass of urban problems

 Economic: finding work, money to pay essential services
 Social: housing and the effects upon health for those living in squatter and shanty
settlements
 Asia, Africa, and South America: % of people living in self-helping housing: high
and increasing. Lack of safe water supplies.
 Environmental problems: rivers and seas: used as dustbins for human wastes,
destroying plants and fishes life.
 Underground water supplies: alarming rates. Mexico City.
 Air and noise pollution: dangers to health.

Implications of population growth

Rapid population growth: increased demand for food, water, fuels, etc. Increased
population pressure and damage to the environment in rural areas are contributory
factors to migrations, and the mushroom growth of big cities in developing countries:
Asia, Africa and South America.

Rural to urban migration: transfers the poverty of the rural areas into the cities.

Environmental problems in rural areas:

a) Soil damage from over cultivation and overgrazing:

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- Loss of nutrients and fertility
- Soil erosion (water & wind)
- Desertification
- Salinization (overuse of irrigation)
b) Water sources:
- wells are overused and dry out
- pollution of surface streams
- demand for water leads to new reservoir construction
c) Natural vegetation:
- Deforestation for new farmland
- Clearing of land for fuel wood supplies
- Overgrazing by livestock preventing new growth

Environmental problems in and around urban areas:

a) Loss of woodland, and habitats, are replaced (shanty towns, factories, squatter
settlements)
b) Pressure on water supplies (emptying of aquifers, reduced water levels in
surface streams leading to an overconcentration of pollutants, need to build
dams in distant location)
c) Centers for all types of pollution

Implications of population structure

- Young people: expensive in their needs for services, health, education

- Governments and local authorities in developing countries: facing it
- Old people can be equally expensive.
- Governments in developed countries: responsibility for pensions
Strategies for managing population growth

Developing countries: policy to reduce bith and fertility rates.

Ways of reducing birth rates:
 Family planning information and services
 Better education, literacy
 Improved health care fewer children die
 Better employment prospects
 Later marriages
 Migrations to cities
 Education and careers for woman
 Incomes distributed more equally, rising inving standards.
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China and its “one child” policy:

Communist government “one couple, one child”
- It is illegal to have more than one child.
- With one child, education = free, parents benefits priority housing, enhanced
pensions.
- With two or more = education no longer free, allowances are stopped and
money is taken from earnings as a fine, parents criticized and made feel
uncomfortable.
- Chinese live in the countryside: are allowed to have two childs
- Girls babies are killed because they wanted a boy so much.
- Everything in china is centrally panned.

Policies in other countries:

Thailand:

 Family planning programmers’.

 The immediate benefits of lower fertility are stressed
 Farmers registered for family planning are given financial benefits.

Singapore: “Stop at two”

 Tax breaks have been introduced and progressed increased.

Strategies for managing urban problems:

Cairo: one of the world´s most populated cities

Organization ex: train services well organized, quick and comfortable.

 Providing work opportunities as well as modern services in seen as essential if

people are going to be persuaded to move out of Cairo.
 Help to attract new residents, loans and mortgages on favorable terms

Improving housing in developing countries: half of the city dwellers in developing

countries live in substandard housing. Which makes the housing crisis the most
serious problem.

Strategies for management: housing problem city authorities

 Poor people are simply shifted from one slum to another

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 Not possible to relocate all the inhabitants in cities with large areas of slums
 Positives strategies adopted.
 One policy: aided Self- Help (ASH for short)
o Governments giving legal title to the land
o Linking up to essential services such as water, electricity and roads
o Providing small loans, building materials, and technical help.

CASE STUDY- Chnnai in India:

 Housing improvements in Chennai

 Policy: build tenement block up to six storey’s high
 Failed: due to poor maintenance and lack of uptaken as rents could not be
afforded.
 Policy: upgrade slums in existing shanty town areas.
 Self- help schemes were supported by loans, made to the community
 Site and service schemes finance provided for buying the land
 Greater community involvement, more schemes have been successful. Loans
are now being paid back. Boards to re-invest their funds in other schemes to help
poor families.
 Some house sold
 Campaigns were targeted at improving health and nutrition and reducing drug
action.

Unit 4.8 world inequalities trade and aid

Contrasts in development between rich and poor

Economically developed: “north”

Economically developing: “south”
Development: wealth. Rich country. Satisfying everyday needs (water, food,
clothes). People have money left to buy other things
Developing countries: survival is the main priority. Insufficient food. Without
access to clean water. Primitive conditions in rural areas.
Poverty trap:

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Less food per head because family size is increasing low income: farmer
struggles to grow enough for self and family little or no money to buy seeds
and fertilizers output of crops remains the same or even declines in years of
poor weathers

Measuring economic development

 GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per head: total value of goods and services
produced in a country in 1 year, divided by the number of people living in that
country.
 It can be shortened to average income per head
 Best way to compare relative wealth between countries

Other measures of development

 Variations in wealth: social effects: responsible for great differences in people´s

quality of life.
 Less well-off are more likely to live in inadequate housing to have poorer nutrition
and to suffer from higher levels of disease
 Social measures of development:
Housing:
- Number of persons per room
- % of houses with access to electricity
- % of houses with running water

Health:

- Infant mortality rate

- Life expectancy at birth
- Number of people per doctor
- % of population without access to health services and safe water

Education:

- Overall % of literacy
- Primary school enrolment %

Nutrition:

- Average calorie intake per person per day

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Environmental consequences of poverty

 Pressure on people, families and communities: increase pressure on

environments: efforts to produce more food
 More intensive use of farmland: over cultivation, overgrazing, Salinization, soil
erosion, desertification
 Conservation of wildlife habitats and natural landscapes: well down in their list of
priorities

The need for fair trade

 Trade: exchange of goods and services between countries

 Sell its surplus products and spend the money on other goods
 Route economic development: oil-rich countries in Middle East
 Pattern or world trade favours developed countries
 Developing countries export 1° goods (natural resources): bulky to transport, low
in value and fluctuations in market price
 Developed countries export manufactured goods: higher prices
 “trade trap”: developing countries pile up debts that need to be paid back with
interest

The fair trade movement

- Ensures that crop producers receive a fair price

- Fair trade: giving farmers a guaranteed minimum price, even when world prices
fall
- Lines now available in European supermarkets
- Until pressure from environmentalists and the public: fair trade will remain a tiny
part of all trade.

Aid

Money or help given to a country in need. (food, medical supplies, goods,

equipment or people with skills)
Short-term aid: given immediately after an area has benn affected by natural
disaster. It satisfies the urgent need for food, water, medical, etc. but is not
intended for sustainable future dev.
Long-term aid: provide local people with more sustainable future
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1° task: Identify a real local need. Next: provide practical help.
Aim: make changes that are sustainable for the local community so that its self-
sufficiency will increase where aid will no longer be needed.
Types of help:
- Technical training in new farming practices
- Provision of new seeds suitable for local conditions
- Construction of simple water storage systems (collect rain water)
- Community projects for providing loans and credit (tools, seeds)
- Setting up co-operatives to market production surpluses
Local needs are going to be different from one community to another within the
same country

Think local – the case for local food supplies

 Rural areas: big farmers: swallowing up the land of small farmers, farming the land
more intensively, growing only one different crop, selling it to large companies
(operations in many countries, and work on global scale)
 Land: being turned over to crops for export for short-term financial gain
 Main losers: land and rural communities. Soil: degraded by intensive use and
greater mechanization. Rural communities: sapped of life.
 Swell the numbers of people divorced from their own food supply and add to the
many economic, social and environmental problems in urban areas.

Go local

o Globalizing and industrializing: food supply: foolhardy and reckless

o Benefits:
 Local food = fresher food = healthier
 Local marketing: reduced number of middlemen: increases farmers incomes
 Local economies: jobs, local shops, keeping money
 Local food systems: farmers diversify their production (less pesticides)
 Local farmers: diversify less likely to suffer heavy losses from infestations
and bad weather than those who rely upon just one crop

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