Discuss the reasons for and consequences of social and economic groupings of nations (40)

Discuss the reasons for and consequences of social and economic groupings of nations (40)

Global social and economic groupings of nations contain within them, a vast amount of power, which can influence, under the correct circumstances, the way the world and society functions. Examples of these include the Organisations of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the European Union (EU). There are reasons for why they are formed and I will discuss these and their relevant consequences in the following essay.

OPEC, for example, is a producer cartel founded in 1960s, with 12 members in major oil producing countries within Africa (Algeria, Angola, Libya and Nigeria), South America (Ecuador, Venezuela), but also half of them in the Middle East; Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. It's aim is simple; to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of member countries and ensure the stabilisation of oil markets in order to secure an efficient and regular supply to consumers, to provide a steady income to producers and have a fair return to the capital.

Consequently, there have been positive socioeconomic impacts surrounding their formation, OPEC has control over 2/3rds of global oil reserves. According to the Energy Information Administration in the USA in 2010, the OPEC crude oil production, being such a large organisation has been an important factor which affects global oil prices. It had set production for its member nations and generally, when OPEC production targets are reduced, oil prices increase. Ultimately as they are a large organisation, they have a major influence on the price of oil on a global scale.

While I understand there are positive socioeconomic impacts, I need to highlight the negative consequences, which have arisen fro OPEC. In 2008, for example, Indonesia opted to leave OPEC and succeeded. I feel that this was entirely proportional to the aims in which they proposed, providing a 'fair return' to member states- leading me to question what determines a fair return and who decides what goes back to member states. When they left in 20008, there was a lot of speculation as to why they had left, certain analysts, who spoke on behalf of OPEC's analytical team had stated that Indonesia had left due to unhappiness upon certain OPEC regulations, specifically, their reluctance to increase the output in the face of the price surge in 208- which took the cost of a barrel of oil above $135.

Like other global social and economic groupings, regulations set by these organisations pose problems for member states. Gabon and Ecuador, for example, had left OPEC by 1995, simply because of the $2 million membership fee, as well as wanting to produce more out than was allowed by the OPEC Quota. Personally, I think that OPEC is a cartel, with monopolistic and price controlling power- which brings about consequences, although they have been doing well- despite the demand for crude oil increasing by 45% over the past year.

Other global social and economic groupings, such as the OECD (organisation for economic cooperation and development) have been established and have relevant consequences. It was set up in 1961, and is, essentially, a group of 34 of the richest, most powerful countries, the top 8 are the G8- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, USA and UK. Their main objective, was for the organisation to promote free market and trade. Essentially, the OECD members had ambassadors who attend yearly meetings- and have an annual budget of about $10 million.

There have, of course, been criticisms against the OECD, where there is almost a sense of peer pressure from G8 states (particularly UK, USA and Japan- coincidentally the three countries with the three major world cities- London, LA and Tokyo) to improve policy and implement 'soft law; (that which has no legal binding force) in order to get their policies across.

During the setting about of the guidelines of the OECD, it was found that there were no delegates from low income countries- it leads me to question how they can make global decision policies without consulting other leaders in other countries. Membership is entirely proportional to wealth, depending on their GDP- and I feel as though there is a contradiction, because if the OECD members, like UK and USA were really set on protecting the rights of the people in low income countries from "corporate impunity", then they should have at least invited the third world countries to participate in drafting the guidelines.

In my opinion, their 'guidelines' are simply a cosmetic tool for western countries like the UK and USA to try and portray empathy for third world countries, about their fundamental rights, while in reality, these same western countries are major contributors of the profits made by large corporations from investing in third world countries through hook or crook. This is only another example of the consequences of global social groupings on countries.

The European Union, established in 1957, had its main aim to establish a single market. It is an economic and political union of 29 member states in Europe. It was formed to create a single market, and have a free circulation of goods, capital, people and services within it.

There have been positive, political impacts as a consequence of the EU. Firstly, there is a sense of European harmony, EU countries are no longer loggerheads like they were in the past. With the exception of civil war in Yugoslavia (which wasn't in the EU at the time), Europe has managed to heal the divisions which were so painfully exposed in the two World Wars  in the 20th century that they even won the Nobel Peace prize in 2012 for helping promote peace and international corporation.

From an economic aspect, the EU is one of the strongest economic areas in the world. With 500 million people, it has 7.% of the world's population, but accounts for 23% of nominal global GDP. Free trade and removal of non-tariff barriers have helped reduce costs and prices for consumers.

There are benefits of EU membership, the intention behind the cohesion of these member states are that they will reduce the gap between the rich and poor, The EU's regional policy is used to achieve these aims by investing in people. 36% of the EU's budget between 2007-2013 (around 340 billion Euros) will be used to help the poorer regions of development enjoyed across the rest of Europe. There are three sources of funding; The European Regional Development fund (ERDF)- which invests in infrastructure and innovation, the European Social Fund (ESF) which incests in skills training, job creation and support. The Cohesion Fund- invests in the development of renewable energy, environmental and transport infrastructure projects. This is reserved for countries whose living standards are below 90$ of the EU average. Together, these funds are designed to keep the EU attractive for investment, enhance accessibility and provide high quality services. I feel that it has been successful as a whole, particularly in encouraging innovation in the economy.

However, there are drawbacks of EU's policies in certain industries such as the Common Agricultural Policy, which subsidises EU farmers, introduced in 1962. It is, arguable, the most controversial concern surrounding the EU particularly because at its peak, the EU spent around 2/3rs of the EU budget on agricultural production. As of the April 2015 report from the Times Newspaper, the CAP accounts for 40% of EU budgetary expenditure.

I strongly feel that the EU should significantly reduce the amount it spends on agricultural production subsidies- particularly because developing countries cannot compete. Due to subsidies given to EU farmers, the farmers left in developing countries in Africa, such as Uganda and Nigeria, are unable to sell their products to EU countries at competitive prices. The World Trade Organisation has recently released a report in their March blog- that the tariffs that developing countries face prevents the expansion of production, which could have lead to an increase in prosperity for much larger, rural populations, especially in Africa, Uganda and Nigeria being targeted specifically in the blog. EU farmers, on the other hand, are protected because of the subsidies they receive. I feel as though liberalisation of trade between the EU and developing countries could arguably be more valuable than Western aid to the developing world.

Furthermore, when researching statistics, I found that farmers in the EU represent 5.4% of the EU's population- they generate a mere 1.6% of the unions GDP- yet receive 40% of the EU's total budget through CAP handouts. Ultimately, it costs Europe's taxpayers £58 billion in subsidies to this tiny, unproductive minority. It strikes me, that this is still the case, despite times of economic hardship- only making the rich farmers richer, swimming in wine lakes and hiking through food mountains.

Conclusively, I feel that global social and economic groupings do serve purpose in today's global economy- though it is questionable whether the policies of free trade are justifiable in certain groupings as they impact negatively on developing countries that would serve better purposes if they had less trade restrictions, yet, overall, they are important in the running of today's global economy.

COMMENT: 36/40 Needs a better conclusion, possibly more synoptic opportunity to spice it up. 

Using examples, evaluate the relationship between economic development and urbanisation (10)

Using examples, evaluate the relationship between economic development and urbanisation (10)

The relationship is not straightforward. At a global scale, rapid urbanisation has occurred over the last 50 years. 50% of the world population lives in towns and cities; over 20% of the population live in cities over one million. The most urbanised continents are Europe, North America, South America and Oceania (mostly developed); the least urbanised are Asia and Africa (mostly developing). However, in terms of urban growth, the number of urban dwellers is by far the largest in Asia, with 1.6 billion people living in towns and cities, which is over 40% of the population. 

Urbanisation is increasing most rapidly in Africa and Asia- economically developing areas. This trend is expected to continue, so that by 2025, almost half the population of these continents will live in urban areas and 80% of urban dwellers will be in these areas of the world, most of which are currently developing. However, a consequence of the most rapid economic development that is taking place in most parts of China, India and south east Asia is that the level of urbanisation is increasing very rapidly. Rates of economic development and rates of urbanisation are rising simultaneously in these countries. 

Large cities, mostly in developing nations, have been faced with problems, which include inadequate infrastructure (housing, sewage and water supply) and lack of employment are rooted in their explosive population growth over the last 4 decades; a growth so rapid that it outstrips the resources or urban authorities to provide even the most basic needs to millions of their citizens. The result is poverty on an unimaginable scale. 

Although world cities also suffers problems of pollution, unemployment and housing shortages, their scale and severity is much smaller than in mega cities in the developing world. Ironically, world cities face challenges due to their success in the international economy. Most obvious one being, the growing income inequality between the minority of workers engaged in the global service economy and the majority who are excluded. The outcome has been the emergence of 'cities within cities'.

COMMENT FROM ME: Again, I don't see how it answers the question entirely, but this is taken directly from the mark scheme, it makes more sense than my previous post though, I will give it that. Happy revising! :-) 

Discuss the planning and management issues that have arisen in areas that have undergone urbanisation in recent years (10)

Discuss the planning and management issues that have arisen in areas that have undergone urbanisation in the recent years (10)

Urbanisation is an increase in the proportion of a country's population that lives in towns and cities. Recently, there have been countries which have undergone rapid urbanisation in the recent years, and there are relevant planning and management issues which arise as a result of it. 

An example of an area which has had massive urban growth in the recent years is Kibera, on the outskirts of Nairobi. It faces huge social, economic and environmental planning and management issues. 

The average population density in Kibera exceeds 3000 people per hectare. It comprises of housing which are usually makeshift shacks built from corrugated iron, mud, timber and any other materials that are to cheap to hand, as the majority of the population of Kibera are not at a high state of economic development which means that people cannot afford better quality building materials for housing. 

Kibera is unplanned and lacks even the most basic infrastructure. There are open sewers along the street and roughly one million people use the 600 pit latrines. Most households have no piped water and rely on standpipes, tanks or water vendors, who would sell water door-to-door, by carrying it on their head or in a cart. Women and children would sometimes have to queue for hours to buy water. There is no organised rubbish collection, and garbage is thrown in the streets, into watercourses and along railway tracks. Only 20% of households are connected legally to the electricity grid. 

The narrow, uneven and unpaved roads are inaccessible to vehicles, which is a problem, if ever there needs to be emergency aid that needs to be provided, there are no access points for them to enter. Half of Kibera's inhabitants are HIV positive, and there are thousands of abandoned children whose parents have died from AIDS. It is through the unsanitary and overcrowded conditions that promote the spread of waterborne disease, diarrhoea and TB.

Nearly four fifths of the population is unemployed, and most people rely on self employment. Jobs in the formal sector (construction) are concentrated in Nairobi's city centre, and along the commercial/ industrial spine of Mombasa Road. Several people cannot afford transport and walk long distances to work.

Like many slum areas in the cities, Kibera suffers from high crime rates as people feel they need to resort to crime in order to obtain money to feed their families. This is due to the scarce job opportunities available to them as most of them are unskilled. 

COMMENT FROM ME: oOkaay, so I got this answer directly from the Mark Scheme of the Jan 2012 paper, I don't really see how it answered the question, if I am completely honest... but I guess that if the mark scheme says this, it must be okay? The question is about planning and management issues, I would maybe talk more about government involvement in this? A good website I found is here, which may improve this answer slightly. 

Outline the processes of counter-urbanisation and descirbe its effects (8)

Outline the processes of counter-urbanisation and describe its effects (8) 

Counter urbanisation is the process of migration of people from major urban areas to smaller urban settlements and rural areas. The process of counter urbanisation began as there was an increase in the number of people who wanted a better quality of life, away from inner cities, which suffered from a lot of air and noise pollution, as well as busy traffic, dirt and the crime of urban environments. Additionally, as GNP was rising, most people wanted larger homes, with a lot of land, which is found in rural fringes. 

The process continued developing as land on the rural fringes was a lot cheaper than in inner cities, which meant that employers were also starting to move to rural areas, and thus attracted people to move too. Between 1981 and 1996, rural areas gained more than 1 million jobs. Improvements in telecommunications, and faster Internet has also allowed people to work from home, which allowed them to move away from the louder towns and cities. Additionally, there has also been a rise in demand for homes to be bought by elderly retirees, who have higher levels of affluent. This also links with the need for rural areas to attract more incomes, for example agricultural businesses are struggling and one way for them to make money is by selling unwanted land or buildings as residential properties. 

There have been effects, of counter urbanisation, for example, the change in the layout of rural settlements. Modern housing estates are built on the edges of small settlements, and small industrial units on the main roads leading into the settlement. Former open areas are built on, old properties and some agricultural buildings are being converted and modernised. As with the gentrified areas in inner cities, there is thus tension between the newcomers and the locals. Additionally as more people want to move to urban areas there is a higher demand for housing, and so house prices increase, while this is a positive impact for landlords who live in the rural area, young people from the same area may not be able to afford that housing, and thus, the population would then be dominated by older people. 

Explain the process of suburbanisation and describe its effects (8)

Explain the process of suburbanisation and describe its effects (8) 

Suburbanisation describes the growth of the suburbs through the decentralisation of population, industry and other business activities such as retailing. In the UK, large-scale suburbanisation was essentially a twentieth-century phenomenon, though it started in the late nineteenth century. Suburban development mainly comprised low-density housing and industry on greenfield sites.

The process of suburbanisation has resulted in the outward growth of urban development that has engulfed surrounding villages and rural areas. During the mid- to late-twentieth century, this was facilitated by the growth of public transport systems and the increased use of the private car. The presence of railway lines and arterial roads has enabled relatively wealthy commuters to live some distance away from their places of work but in the same urban area. The edge of town, where there is more land available for car parking and expansion, became the favoured location for new offices, factories and shopping outlets. Suburbanisation has led to the creation of residential estates – often with associated services: schools, GP practises, pubs, parks and playgrounds, etc. In a number of cases, the ‘strict control’ of the green belts was ignored (or at best modified) in the light of changing circumstances. More recently, there has been the development of new housing areas on ‘previously developed land’, leading to the infilling of large areas of private gardens and other open spaces in urban areas, such as school playing fields.

Consequently, suburbanisation had led to the urban sprawl, and loss of countryside amenity, like farmland and wildlife, in the rural-urban fringe. In England, between 1997 and 2010, around 150 km2 of greenbelt were lost to urban development and nearly 45000 houses were built in the suburbs. As more people began to commute back to inner cities, there were longer journeys to work, which in the past five decades have led to increasing problems of traffic congestion and pollution at peak times.

There has also been a demographic and economic decline of central urban areas- as population moves to the suburbs, and many services, such as retailing and office businesses have moved there too. Commercial activities in suburbs, however, offer greater accessibility as there is more space, and lower rents compared with more central urban locations which is a positive impact for the people there, as it also creates an increase in employment.

With reference to two seismic events that you have studied from contrasting areas of the world, compare the ways in which earthquakes and their impacts have been managed. (10)

With reference to two seismic events that you have studied from contrasting areas of the world, compare the ways in which earthquakes and their impacts have been managed. (10)

In 2010, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale caused massive destruction on the Caribbean island of Haiti. This was caused by the North American plate sliding past the Caribbean plate, but travelling at different speeds, albeit going in the same direction.

A similar scaled earthquake occurred in 2003 in California, with a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter Scale. This was along along the conservative plate margins that run parallel to the San Andreas Fault. 

Both events were similarly scaled, however, it was their impacts which had varied at a very large scale, and how they were managed which made a difference. 

In Haiti, more than 300,000 people were killed and a further 1 million were made homeless, as several buildings, including the President's Palace and 60% of the government buildings were either destroyed or badly damaged. With no strong government, nor a running police force, crime had gone up immensely, on top of the underlying problems such as diseases spreading, as more than 50 hospitals were destroyed and education neglected with more than 1500 schools collapsed. 

The effects in California, contrastingly, were far less destructive, as there was relevant planning beforehand, as they are an area prone to earthquakes. Buildings were rebuilt with reinforced concrete in order to withstand earthquake energy. So, in 2003, the death toll was one person- due to the pre-planning by scientists and government officials passing a law that buildings have to have certain features (reinforced steel and concrete, only be at a certain height, have support of ball bearings, and an earthquake panic room in schools and hospitals).

Haiti,, ultimately received millions of pounds in foreign aid, and due to its level of development (LIC), and how the media had portrayed the situation, had heightened the amount of aid it had received. Most of the recognition of Haiti came from celebrities raising awareness to the impacts, even recording a chart topping song to raise awareness for the people of Haiti,

California, however did not receive any aid due to its planning beforehand, and its level of development, being an HIC, and shows that due to its level of preparedness, as they are prone to seismic activity and so there was much better management about the consequences of earthquakes.

With reference to 2 volcanic events you have studied, from contrasting areas of the world. Compare the ways in which their impacts have been managed (10)

With reference to 2 volcanic events you have studied, from contrasting areas of the world. Compare the ways in which their impacts have been managed (10)

In the past few decades, there have been several volcanic events that have occurred and the way their impacts have been managed have differed around the globe.

The eruption of Mt. Nyiragongo, Congo, January 2002 had killed 147 people and over 350,000 people had fled the area. The local authorities initial response was to initiate a 'red alert'. This enabled Goma and the surrounding area to be evacuated and the prompt response was one of the key factors in keeping the death toll relatively low. 

The eruption of Mt. Etna in Sicily also took place in the same year as the eruption of Mt. Nyiragongo but the death toll was less than half of Congo- at 77 confirmed deaths. Although government intervention is rare, a significant early intervention did occur by the authorities. Initial attempts at halting lava flows via hastily constructed earth barriers on the approach to the town, proved to be unsuccessful. 

Two days after the eruption in Goma, humanitarian aid was provided by the United Nations. Emergency rations were initially provided, this included high energy foods like chocolates and biscuits and it was only later that more substantial food were given to local people (maize, beans, cooking oil) as communication and transport accessibility to affected areas had improved. 

However, unlike Nyiragongo, Etna has had a long history of people living nearby the mountains and consequently have gained much experience of managing the impacts. As a result, no humanitarian aid was provided by overseas agencies. 

To disrupt and redirect the lava flow, explosives were detonated near the source of the lava to break up the very efficient 'lava tube system' which was guiding the lava for some 7km down slope. None of Etna's slopes were damaged however there was some damage to the agriculture and tourism in nearby area. The Italian government had pledged immediate financial assistance of £5.6 million and tax-breaks for three months for all of the villagers. 

In Congo, however, the financial situation was not quite the same, The UN had estimated the cost of providing food, clean water, shelter, medical attention and blankets to be about $15 million.

An even higher cost was incurred to Goma's infrastructure, rebuilding homes and livelihoods. The lava flows had destroyed many businesses resulting in massive increases in unemployment in the area. So, though they had received aid from overseas, they consequently had a much harder time getting back on their feet than Sicily- and this, to a great extent, is largely due to their lack of management and awareness during the time of the eruption. 

Describe and explain the characteristics of earthquakes (8)

Describe and explain the characteristics of earthquakes (8)

Earthquakes occur when a build-up of pressure within the Earth's crust is suddenly released and the ground starts shaking violently. The point within the crust, at the lithosphere, where pressure is released is called the focus. The focus in an earthquake, can be found at a range of depths, at a shallow focus, which is 0-70km deep, at an intermediate focus which is 70-300km deep and at a deep focus, at 300-700km deep. The focus is not necessarily at a single point- it could be along a fault line. It is near the focus, where waves are stronger and cause more damage, as that is where there is the highest level of energy. 

The place at the Earth's surface immediately above the focus is called the epicentre, it is where the earthquake is felt first. It receives the highest amount of energy and so is the most potentially hazardous location.

From the focus, there are seismic waves which travel out. There are three main types: Primary (P) waves, which are the fastest, are those that can travel through solids and liquids, they can travel through the mantle and the core. The waves push and pull the earth in the same direction as the wave is travelling. Secondary (S) waves can also travel through solids, but not through liquids- so they can travel through the mantle but not the core, so they cannot be measured at a point opposite the focus or epicentre. They move the earth at 90 degrees (at a right angle) to the direction of travel. They do a lot more damage than P waves due to their shearing effect. Surface waves travel the slowest, but cause the most damage. They are further split into surface love (L) waves- which are the slowest waves and cause most damage or Rayleigh waves, which radiate from the epicentre in low-frequency rolling motions.

Comments: 8/8 well done. Some sort of conclusion would help, if time permits. 

Describe and explain the characteristic features of various types of volcanoes (8)

Describe and explain the characteristic features of various types of volcanoes (8) 

There are a variety of diverse volcano types which vary in characteristics. 

Composite volcanoes, sometimes called Strato cones, occur on destructive margins and are the classic pyramid-shaped volcanoes consisting of layers of ash from initial explosive phases of eruptions and subsequent layers of lava from the main eruption phases. The eruptions from these volcanoes may be from pyroclastic flows rather than a flow of lava. A pyroclastic flow is a super heated mixture of hot steam, ash, rock and dust. It can travel down the side of a volcano at very high speeds with temperatures over 400 degrees Celsius. The eruptions are fairly explosive due to the thick, highly viscous lava. An example of this is Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines.

Secondly, there are shield volcanoes, which often occur at constructive plate boundaries, formed mostly from basaltic rock, which thus produce fast flowing (less viscous) lava that can flow for many miles, They are low lying, with gently sloping sides, with eruptions that are typically non-explosive, frequent, but relatively gentle. These eruptions can destroy property, however, due to how predictable they are, injury and death to humans is rare. They can sometimes be found at volcanic hot spots, including Mt, Kilauea in Hawaii.

A third type of volcano is a dome volcano (acid volcano), which are steep-sided, convex cones, consisting of viscous lava- which is mostly rhyolitc- very thick and sticky, which does not usually flow far, before t cools and hardens. An example of this is Puy de Done in the Auvergne region of France, which last erupted over a million years ago.

Another type of volcano is caldera, which forms when the build-up of gases beneath a blocked volcano vent becomes extreme and a huge explosion removes the summit of the cone, leaving an opening several kilometres in diameter. Calderas volcanoes, such as Krakatoa in Indonesia have large, deep openings, filled with water. Calderas have steep slopes due to rhyolitic lava- which is erupted from them. They frequently emit smoke and ash, but erupt irregularly and violently, due to how viscous they are.

Comments from sir: If you can revise all of this within the time allocated, then you have nailed it. Well done. 8/8
Characteristic features are common to all and must be mentioned: shape, ferocity, viscosity etc. 

Geography A Level Revision

Hey guys!

In order for me to properly revise, I've decided to type up all of my good answers, including the feedback I've gotten from Mr. Pinto, I plan on doing at least one Plates, World Cities and Globalisation and possibly unit 4 investigation answers too.

These may or may not help you, but they are here for you guys to look at, if you like :-)

Hope they help!

Sheena xx