COMPETITION for ENTRY INTO the INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY OLYMPIAD (Igeo) 2014

COMPETITION FOR ENTRY INTO THE INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY OLYMPIAD (iGEO) 2014

Introduction

The Worldwise Team of the Geographical Association has re-launchedits competition designed especially for post-16 geography students. The top four entries in the competition will win places to participate in the International Geography Olympiad 2014 (iGeo) to be held in Krakow,Poland from 12 and 18 August 2014.

If you are successful in becoming part of Team UK it is an expectation that you will have no other commitments between 12 and 18 August 2014

The Olympiad involves teams from more than30 countries across the world, who come together to take part in a range of geographical activities and excursions and to share their culture and friendship. It contains three elements: a written response test, a multimedia test and a fieldwork test.

The official language of the iGeo is English and a country's team will be made up of four secondary school/college students who are aged between 16 and 19 (inclusive) on 30 June 2014. The UK team will be accompanied by two adults who are teacher volunteers with the Geographical Association.

GA Worldwise International Competition

TheWorldwise International Competition consists of a decision making activity found on pages 4-5 of this document. Completed answers must be returned to the GA gether with the completed cover sheet (Section 1).All entrants must meet the age requirements and are asked to make their geography teacher aware of their application.

Unless we can obtain sponsorship for this event, all participants will be asked to pay for transport and accommodation for the iGeo competition. We expect this to amount to around £1000 and as such participants should plan to raise funds through their own sponsored events.

Please read through the resources and instructions and complete Sections 1 and 2.

Your written answer must be no longer than 1000 words and should be completed in Arial size 12 font.

When you are ready to submit, delete the resources pages and email your cover sheet and application to . The closing date for entries is Monday 4 November 2013. The winners who will be invited to be part of Team UK in Kyoto will be contacted in mid – November 2013.

Section 1 – Cover Sheet

Name

Home address

Email address

School name and address

Geography teacher's name

I confirm that my geography teacher is aware of my application

GCSEs and grades (if known)

AS subjects and grades (if known)

Date of birth Age on 30June 2014

Interests & hobbies

Why would you like to be considered as part of TEAM UK for the Geography International Olympiad?

Section 2 - Worldwise International Competition Activity

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015

Since 1966, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been partnering with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of live for everyone. UNDP works in four main areas: poverty reduction and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); democratic governance; crisis prevention and recovery; environment and sustainable development.

World leaders have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (shown below), including the overarching goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015.

The MDGs were agreed by 189 countries in 2000 and the MDGsreport 2012analyses progress towards the goals. A summary and links to the full report and other related resources are given below;

The report presents the yearly assessment of global progress towards the MDGs, highlighting several milestones – three important MDG targets have been met well ahead of the target date of 2015. The report says that meeting the remaining targets, while challenging, remain possible – but only if Governments do not waiver from their commitments made over a decade ago.

Based on a master set of data compiled by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on MDG indicators led by DESA’s Statistics Division, the 2012 report outlines gains in poverty reduction and access to safe drinking water, and an improvement in the lives of slums dwellers in urban areas. The report also highlights important gains towards gender parity in primary education, a decline in levels of child mortality, a downward trend of tuberculosis and global malaria deaths and an expansion of treatment for HIV sufferers.

For the first time since records on poverty began, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen in every developing region, including sub-Saharan Africa. Preliminary estimates indicate that the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 per day fell in 2010 to less than half the 1990 rate and during the same period over two billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources. The share of slum dwellers in urban areas declined from 39 per cent in 2000 to 33 per cent in 2012, improving the lives of at least 100 million people.

A lot has been achieved and significant strides have been made, however some impediments to reaching all the MDGs by 2015 remain. The 2012 report spells out that recent natural disasters and the global financial crisis has slowed progress and that inequality remains. A particular area of concern includes the slow decrease in levels of vulnerable employment, defined as the share of unpaid family workers and own-account workers in total employment.

Lastly, and perhaps most concerning is the fact that hunger remains a global challenge. The most recent FAO estimate of undernourishment set the mark at 850 million living in hunger in the world in the 2006/08 period, 15.5 per cent of the world population. Additionally, progress has also been slow in reducing child under-nutrition, with close to a third of children in Southern Asia deemed underweight in 2010

‘Achieving the MDGs by 2015 is challenging but possible. Much depends on the fulfillment of MDG 8 the global partnership for development. The current economic crisis besetting much of the developed world must not be allowed to decelerate or reverse the progress that has been made’.(Millennium Development Goals report 2012).

The targets for MDG 8 are as follows in italics. For each a set of indicators are provided;

1Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system

• Developing countries gain greater access to the markets of developed countries
• Least developed countries benefit most from tariff reductions, especially on their agricultural products

2Address the special needs of least developed countries

• Net Official development assistance (ODA), total and to the least developed countries, as percentage of OECD/DAC donors' gross national income
• Proportion of total bilateral, sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to basic social services (basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation)
• Proportion of bilateral official development assistance of OECD/DAC donors that is untied
• Market access
• Debt sustainability

3Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing States

• Official development assistance (ODA) received in landlocked developing countries as a proportion of their gross national income
• ODA received in small island developing States as a proportion of their gross national incomes
• Proportion of bilateral official development assistance of OECD/DAC donors that is untied
• Market access
• Debt sustainability

4Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries

• Total number of countries that have reached their HIPC decision points and number that have reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative)
• Debt relief committed under HIPC and MDRI Initiatives
• Debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services

5In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries

• Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a sustainable basis

6In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

• Telephone lines per 100 population
• Cellular subscribers per 100 population
• Internet users per 100 population

United Nations Development Programme Home page

Overview of the 8 Millenium Development Goals for 2015

Human Development Report 2013

Question

For two of the MDG 8 targets outlined above, how can countries successfully work together to ensure that, by 2015 this goal is met, securing the success of the other MDG goals? Give specific examples on UNDP’s work to support your answer.

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Begin your written answer here:

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