GCSE Case Study Guide – UNIT 2: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Foundation Version

Revise these case studies foryour examination

Extreme environments and the Antarctica Case Study

Antarctica is the World’s southern most continent. It is a land made up of mainly ice (99% of the continent is covered inice sheet) and is uninhabited (barely anyone lives there) aside from a few thousand scientific researches. The lowest ever temperatures recorded on Earth have been recorded here, atVostok, Antarctica, where it dropped to nearly -89.2°C

These temperatures make it a truly EXTREME environment, very dangerous for humans to visit and live. You can also witness the Aurora Australis or southern lights here, and a huge range of wildlife from emperor penguins, seals to whales.

The environment is also incredibly sensitive. It can take many hundreds of years for rubbish to decompose because of the extremely low temperatures, and the food chain is also delicate because most of the marine life rely upon Krill as their primary source of food.

Antarctica is becoming an increasingly popular destination for tourists. Indeed, tourist numbers have gone from 9,000 in 1992-93 to 46,000 in 2007-8 with over 100 companies being involved Visitors are mainly from rich nations (39% American, 15% British).

Few visitors go on the ice as it is too hazardous, however, there are some very accessible sites and boats tend to stop there. These are Honey pot sites and the animals get disturbed from their usual feeding and breeding routines. In addition, many ships have run aground and had accidents and oil spills are an increasing hazard. Waste from tourist boats is also a problem, and by law ships are required to discharge waste well away from the edges of Antarctica.

The Antarctic is protected in many ways, but people are concerned that tourism and its increasing numbers could become unsustainable.

The IAATO(International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators) is an organisation which rules the companies and tries to be environmentally friendly.

Indeed, boats are limited to 500 passengers which should reduce the impact of tourism.

  • In addition, Tourism has to follow the rules of the Antarctic treaty, signed in 1961, where many countries promised to demilitarize Antarctica, to establish it as a zone free of nuclear tests and the disposal of radioactive waste, and to ensure that it is used for peaceful purposes only;
  • to promote international scientific cooperation in Antarctica;
  • To set aside disputes over territorial sovereignty.

Visitors cannot visit SSSIs or Sites of Special Scientific Interest which often contain vulnerable wildlife, again reducing the impact of tourism.

Permits must also be obtained to go, and these permits include sections on waste management, risk management and how the applicant will minimise their Environmental Impact whilst in Antarctica.

The Antarctic Act of 1994 is a UK act which supports the Antarctic Treaty of 1961 and makes environmental damage in Antarctica by any British citizen punishable by law.

National Parks – the Lake District case study - A case study of a UK National Park

The Lake DistrictNational Park is England’s largest park and includes Scafell Pike - its highest mountain, Wastwater - its deepest lake and thriving communities like Keswick and Bowness-on-Windermere. There are 42,400 permanent residents and a huge amount of activities for visitors on offer, including walking, climbing, cycling, boat cruises and various museums. Current surveys show that at least 8 million visitors come to the Lake District each year. Most come to enjoy the scenery, peace and quiet and walking but many others visit specific attractions or take part in an outdoor activity. They stay in a mixture of self-catering and serviced accommodation. The National Park Authority's current challenge is finding ways of encouraging sustainable tourism without further damaging the very landscape which visitors come to enjoy. Indeed public access to the uplands or fells is unrestricted, and this can pose problems

LakeWindemere attracts over 1 million visitors on its own each year! This makes sustainability difficult to achieve with such large visitor numbers.

Problems in the Lake District and attempts at management

Limited supply of property

The limits placed upon development in the Lake District means that new houses are rarely built. There has also been a rise in the number of people from outside of the Lake District buying up property for a second home they can use to holiday in. These 2 factorshave pushed up house prices in the Lake District and made it very difficult for local people (especially those on low wages) to own their own property in the Lake District. The ownership of second homes (15% of homes in the Lake district are second homes of holiday lets) has knock on or secondary problems because holiday homes are unoccupied for most of the year – this can increase crime and means people are not in the towns and villages using local services. This has a bad effect on the community and means that local services such as schools and shops can be under pressure for closure. Housing is private, so there is very little local councils can do apart from build more properties to rent to locals.

Traffic problems

89% of visitors come to the Lake District by car, often just for the day. In a region where roads are often narrow and winding, and towns were constructed before the invention of the motor car this can pose massive problems. Congestion, traffic jams and parking are major issues, and people can park on grass verges in desperation, narrowing the road and making congestion even worse. These problems can be overcome in 2 ways – improving the road network and improving public transport.

Environmental problems

There is a wide array of environmental problems associated with tourism in the Lake District. Aside from common problems with litter, there exists footpath erosion, lakeside erosion and air pollution. The increased number of cars damages the air from car exhausts, and also people park on grass verges, damaging the ground parked upon. Footpath erosion occurs because of the sheer numbers of people using popular routes. According to the Park Authority, 4 million people walk an average of 6km each year. The pressure of these people’sfeet damages plants and soil,making soil erosion possible. These issues are worst in Honey pot or popular areas, which also suffer from the stresses of overcrowding, parking problems and second homes.

Jamaica – an example of a country that has Mass Tourism

Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean Sea within the Tropics. It has mass tourism because many people visit every year (1.3 million people in 2001). People visit for the beaches such as Montego Bay, deep sea fishing at Port Antonio, caves at CockpitCounty, golf courses such as next to KingstonTownand water sports in Montego Bay. More cultural activities include various historic plantation houses such as at Port Maria and there are environmental tourist attractions such as bird sanctuaries inland from Montego Bay and Botanic Gardens and a National Park in the Blue Mountains. Mass Tourism also brings problems and positives to the Island.

POSITIVES

Tourism brings in money to Jamaica – 20% of its GDP – this money can be spent on essential services such as health care and education which can boost the overall level of development. This does have a downside however, as Jamaica is dependent upon this income and if tourist numbers fall the economy would be affected.

220,000 Jamaicans work in tourism – it is a vital employer. People work in a wide range of jobs, from the construction of hotels and tourist facilities, to service work cleaning, working in bars, caddying on golf courses amongst other jobs.

Tourism benefits many sections of the economy as people spend money in bars, restaurants, and other local businesses, so tourism has a positive multiplier effect.

NEGATIVES

Many of the jobs created are seasonal, so people can become unemployed

Large TNCs (Trans National Companies) such as Thomas Cook organise the holidays and make most of the money, so the profits go out of Jamaica and into MEDCs

Local employees are paid low wages, whereas managers from other countries tend to earn more.

There is cultural pollution/dilution; Jamaica has a problem with sex tourism and a problem with drugs.

Land for the massive hotels takes away land from famers. Water use also increases for drinking water, washing and recreation, taking water from local people.

As a response to some of the problems and in an attempt to become more sustainable, Jamaica is branching tourism out into community tourism were tourists stay with locals in their homes, directly benefitting locals, and ecotourism, in the inland area of the Blue Mountains with low densities and tourist lodges.

The Galapagos Islands – A case study of Ecotourism and benefits to the environment, the local economy and the lives of the people.

The Galapagos Islands are a small chain of islands found 1,000km from the West coast of South America. They are home to an incredible array of animals and plants. This is because the islands are isolated or cut off from the rest of the World’s land mass by the Pacific Ocean, allowing the plants and animals to EVOLVE in their own way for hundreds of thousands of years. Approximately 90% of the Islands are designated as National parks and there are only 20,000 permanent Human residents (this is up from 9,700 in 1990), allowing for a high degree of protection of the environment.

The Galapagos Islands represent a place in the world were ECOTOURISM takes place. This is environmentally friendly tourism where the people involved seek to protect the environment as much as possible and to allow for some level of education as well. In many cases of ecotourism, some of the profits go back into protecting the environment and the tourism is small scale, with low visitor number densities and environmental approaches to accommodation and food.

The Galapagos are run along these lines because;

  1. Tourists visit under strict rules
  2. They can only visit on small ships of 10 to 16 tourists, most of which are owned by local people
  3. The tourists can only visit a limited number of places on the Islands, thus protecting the rest of the Islands
  4. The tourists are only allowed to visit in small numbers.
  5. Visitors also receive information on how to conserve the Islands prior to their departure to the Islands.
  6. They also have to pay a £25 fee to promote conservation on the Islands

Despite all of this, there are still some problems from the overuse of some sites (honey pot sites), oil spills from boats, and pollution to the Islands water supply and the water supply is put under pressure from the tourists use.

However, local people make a valuable living from tourism and there are few other employment opportunities available. Tourists also generate a lot of businesses in the local economy as guides, restraints, hotels, boats owners and cleaners all benefit.

Impact of Government strategies from the 1990s on the inner city – Newcastle Upon Tyne

Tyne and Wear Development Corporation (TWDC)

The riverside areas of Newcastle upon Tyne were responsible for the cities incredible growth and wealth during the industrial revolution. Heavy industries such as the Armstrong armaments works and ship building (e.g. Swan Hunters) employed tens of thousands of people from riverside communities in Newcastle such as Elswick and Scotswood. Overseas competition in these industries in the 1960s, 70s and 80s led to the decline and closure of these industries and the communities suffered as a result.

The graph shows this decline in these riverside areas in comparison to the rest of Newcastle. The graph shows that the West End is a poorer area than Newcastle overall. There are a lot more people who live in a council property in the West End than Newcastle. This could be because of low monthly wages given to the people at the West End, this might be because of the people being under qualified in the area from lack of education. This also could be proven by the 30% of students still at school at the age of seventeen compared to the Newcastle area of 41%. This means that the area overall is under qualified and a lot poorer than Newcastle.

Tyne and Wear Development Corporation (TWDC) – large scale regeneration / West EndCity Challenge
Aims / Create new business districts or modern offices and industrial estates
Increasing employment through grants and training
Reviving riversides as a place to live
Improving environment and landscaping / Create new jobs
Improve educational achievements
Support training and employment opportunities
Funding / £430 million of government money attracting £1,114 million of private sector money / £37.5 million of government money over 5 years, which attracted £80 million of private cash.
Projects / Mainly Flagship projects including:
Newcastle Business park - £140 million development of 25ha of offices on previous derelict land British Airways have offices there.
Newcastle Arena
Newcastle quayside – cost £170 million / Local community based projects including:
Extension to Newcastle Breweries – creating 280 jobs
Renovation and gentrification of old Scotswood housing
Employing extra teachers and free alarm clocks for students
John Marley community centre for training
CCTV to combat crime
Evaluation / TWDC has transformed the Newcastle Quayside but has been less successful at regenerating housing estates. Many local communities had to be relocated to make way for the big developments. / WECC has tried to benefit local people in improving their local environment. Despite strides being made in local housing many properties remain derelict and children still fail to achieve in school

China’s attempts to control population

Populations can grow or decline, and China is an example of a place that passed through a period of huge population growth. China has the world’s largest population and a history of very strict controls on that population. The Communist government of the 1960’s had to cope with a massive famine which killed over 30 million people. This led to 2 important changes – a government led farming policy and also a heavy handed approach to controlling population. China’s “one child per family” policy was introduced in the 1970s amid fears of another 1960s style famine and changes to society as it moved from an agricultural to industrial economy. Population growth in China is shown below.

ThisOne child policy started in 1979 and is where every family can have only one child, but they must ask permission from their bosses at work.

They also have to be over 24 before they can get married.

If allowed to have a baby the family are issued with a card; this card is very important, as the child cannot be registered without it.

In addition, some women where sterilised (made infertile) after their first child and incentives were offered such as a 5 to 10% salary rise if the couple stuck to just one child.

However families were allowed to have a second child, but the family must pay for everything; unlike the first child, where the government pays for everything. Salaries could also be cut, and the second child could not become a Chinese citizen. There were “granny police” who snooped on their neighbours and on people at work, checking the women of child bearing age.

Some people do not agree with China’s crash programme. If the new regime is followed for around 100 years china’s population will have halved.

Problems with the policy / Benefits
People were pressured by the Granny Police
Women could be persuaded to have an abortion as late as 7 months – this would be illegal in the UK
Female Infanticide, where girls are aborted, was practised. This is because Chinese society favours sons. This has created a gender imbalance.
Chinese boys became spoilt – they were knick named “little emperors”
Children had no aunts or uncles, no cousins, no brothers or sisters / The forecast famine never happened
An estimate of 400 million fewer people have been born
Controlling population has allowed China to develop and reduced strain on public services such as schools and hospitals
Standards of living have increased

Recent changes

The policy has been relaxed in recent decades and in the last few years it has been withdrawn in major cities to prevent a shortage of labour. Young couples can now have 2 children, but government workers must stick to the policy in some areas. However, the policy will persist because in 2008 China had 1 million more births than deaths every 5 weeks and 600 million people living on less than $2 a day (the UN’s measure of poverty).

The UK - a EU country with an ageing population.

Many countries across the world have what is known as an ageing population. This involves an increasing proportion of people living to old age (and in many cases extreme old age above 85 years), increasing life expectancies and decreasing numbers of children as a percentage of the population. Many of the countries in the EU have very low birth and fertility rates (the number of babies per woman) as shown below;
France - 12.43 births per 1000, 1.97 births per woman
Germany - 8.21 births per 1000, 1.41 births per woman
UK - 10.67 births per 1000, 1.66 births per woman
(Source: CIA fact book 2010)
The replacement rate for a country to have a population of a stable size is 2.1 births per woman. It is clear from the table that many of these countries have fertility rates well below these levels. Coupled with the ageing of these populations, this poses massive problems for the governments of these countries because they have naturally decreasing and ageing populations.
The UK is a good example of one of these countries as is shown in the graph below;

So, what is the UK's solution to having an ageing population?
Dealing with ageing - the state pension age for females has already risen to be in line with males at 65 and both will rise to 67.There has been extra money set aside for care of the elderly, including things like the winter fuel allowance and free flu jabs for all elderly.
Dealing with low fertility rates - There are many pro natal policies in the UK designed to boost the fertility rate. These include child benefits (a weekly payment to people who have children), improved maternity leave for women and men, health in pregnancy grants and child trust funds (which are about to be phased out).
The other way of dealing with the increasing dependency ratio of the UK and the rise in the number of elderly relative to the number of working age has been to allow unlimited immigration from the EU and controlled migration of peoples from outside of the EU. This is a controversial issue, for example, many of our health care workers come from poorer nations such as India. Should we take the skilled workers of poorer nations?