Paper 3: global risks and resilience

Geography IB paper 3 core unit 6 global risks and resilience HL only

Define cybercrime

Define cybercrime

Criminal activity using the internet (eg. stealing intellectual property, creating/distributing viruses, posting confidential material and disrupting computer services)

Define phishing

The fraudulent practice of sending communications pretending to be from a reputable company in order to obtain personal information.

Define identity theft

The fraudulent practice of stealing another’s identity in order to get credit, loans, etc.

Risk of cybercrime: stats

• Identity theft costs the UK $1.5B annually

• Cybercrime costs the UK around 0.13% of GDP annually

• Finance services, utility and energy companies are the industries most at risk of cybercrime

Give an example of a country that censors/ restricts internet access

China

How does China censor/ restrict internet access?

• Employs 2m people to manually police the internet

• Wiretaps phones

• Private phone calls cut off automatically for words like “protest“ etc

• Citizens are given a ‘social credit score‘ based off private interactions that can help or hinder them getting a job, loan, visa, etc

How do many TNCs avoid tax?

They own various subsidiaries in jurisdictions where the tax level is lower. They artificially transfer money to these companies in the guise of licence fees, debt repayment and rent to avoid the much higher rates of tax in the UK.

What is the case study for TNC tax avoidance?

Nando’s

TNC tax avoidance case study: Nando’s

• Nando’s has subsidiaries in Guernsey, the Netherlands, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands

• Eg. money for rent goes to Jersey

• They effectively pay their workers’ taxes but not their own

• Companies are separate legal personalities

• All the companies are owned by Nando’s global

What is a shell company?

A company that only exists on paper, acting as a vehicle for movement of capital.

What is a subsidiary?

A company controlled by another company

Disruptive Technological Innovations

An innovation that creates a new market and value network, displacing established market leading firms products and alliances

What are some examples of disruptive technologies?

Drone technology, 3D-printing

Advantages of 3D-printing technology

• Potential in medicine and engineering

• Construction and architecture

• Education

• Designs can be shared online

• Convenient and produces little waste

Disadvantages of 3D-printing technology

• Could be used to create weapons and counterfeit goods (eg. a German lock-picking group published a design for a key to unlock Dutch police handcuffs)

• May replace labour in complex tasks

Benefits of drone delivery technology

• Quick delivery time

• Cuts labour costs for company

• Convenient

• Feasible with existing tech

Disadvantages of drone delivery technology

• May result in unemployment

• Drones can get shot down

• Disruptive to air traffic

Nationalism

Support for political independence (excluding the interests of other nations)

What country can be used as a case study for Nationalism?

Russia

Nationalism in Russia case study: causes

• 70% of Russians are Orthodox Christians and there is no separation of church and state so Christian values are Russian values

• Faith synonymous with patriotism

• Collective identity

• Mainstream “manufactured“ Russian identity

• On the day of the annexation of Crimea Putin gave an anti-Western speech calling on religious, historical and cultural values

Nationalism in Russia case study: effects

• Annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine

• Reignition of the cold war

• Kicked out of G7

Point source pollution

Pollution with a single identifiable source

Non-point source pollution

‘Diffuse‘ pollution or pollution which occurs over a wide area and is not easily attributable to a single source

Transboundary pollution

Pollution which affects a wide area, or more than one country.

Dry deposition

Pollutants remain close to the source and damages nearby buildings and structures

Wet deposition

Pollutants dissolve in precipitation and may fall great distances from the source

What are the natural and human sources of acid rain?

Natural- volcanoes, rotting vegetation

Human- combustion of fossil fuels

What is the case study for acid rain pollution?

East Canada in the 1970s

What was the problem with acid rain in Canada?

Disrupting freshwater and ocean fish species, including salmon. Acidic rock could not neutralise the pH. Loss of calcium- decline of Daphnia (plankton-like crustacean)- loss of food source for other organisms.

What were the solutions to the Canada acid rain problem?

Signed the Eastern Canada Acid Rain programme in 1985

Signed the US-Canada air quality agreement in 1991

Created the Canada-wide acid rain strategy in 1994

Global flows

The movement of something from one place to another over a large distance (goods, capital, people)

Global flows: shipping- MSC Zoe (named example)

A container ship heading from German to Portugal was hit by a storm. 270 containers of shoes, car parts, toys, lightbulbs and other things went overboard and were stolen. Three containers contained toxic polluting substances.

Global flows: advantages of locally-sourced food

• Eating local food reduces “food miles“

• Eating native seasonal produce means that no carbon is expended on greenhouses or refrigeration

Global flows: disadvantages of locally-sourced food

• Out-of-season produce is produced in oil-heated greenhouses or fields treated with fertilizers and machinery

• By July a chilled British apple has emitted more carbon dioxide than an apple flown to the UK from New Zealand

Give an example of a product with a lot of food miles

• Scottish seed potatoes are exported to Egypt

• They are grown in desert sand packed with Irish peat

• They then make a 2-week journey to UK supermarkets: an 11500 km round trip

Global flows: advantages of imported food

• Trade of produce can help reduce some countries’ dependence on aid and support their development

• Export of fresh fruit and veg from sub-Saharan Africa to the UK supports 1 to 1.5m livelihoods

• The Kenyan climate naturally lends itself to the production of fruit/veg which are grown with a zero-carbon footprint

Global flows: disadvantages of imported food

• Association with food miles

• Can outprice local farmers, undercutting them

Agribusiness

The form of modern farming that refers to the industrialised production of livestock, poultry, crops and fish. It is typically large scale and capital intensive.

Named example: centre of agribusiness

The Pampas in Argentina or the corn/wheat belts in the USA

Why has agribusiness developed recently?

• Economies of scale (reduced cost to both the producer and the consumer)

• Increased demand for food especially in HICs

• Demand for year-round food and perfect produce

• Technological innovation

• Falling transportation costs

Problems with agribusiness

• Monoculture/loss of biodiversity

• Eutrophication: nitrates in fertilizers run off into lakes and increase algal growth

• Intensive use of chemicals

• Poor conditions for animals

• Negative externalities

What is an externality?

A cost or benefit caused by a producer, which is not financially incurred or received by that producer.

Outsourcing pollution: named example

E-waste in China: Guiyu e-waste dump

What is the Kuznets curve?

A graph showing the relationship between per capita income (x axis) and environmental degradation (y axis). Environment worsens as GDP increases until a ‘turning point’, then environment improves as GDP continues to increase.

What is croudsourcing?

The process of sourcing ideas, service, finances and information from the public via the internet

Named examples of croudsourcing

-Crowdfunding raised 20m dollars for the Nepal earthquake in 60 days

-Wikipedia is crowdfunded

-Crowd creation: the Bill and Melinda gates foundation offered a prize of 100,000 USD to someone who could design a toilet that would work without a tank or outdoor septic water supply. The winning design was solar powered and broke waste into fertiliser and hydrogen.

What are the risks associated with crowdsourcing?

-Fraud

-People might vote to call your train Trainy McTrainface because the public have a sense of humour

What are the seven ways of improving cyber security?

Monitoring and assessment, policies and controls, hiring experts, software, firewalls, passwords, encryption

Named example of an industry/company that reshored

Trunki

Advantages of e-passports

• If someone loses their e-passport the data can be retrieved from a database

• Improved security as they are difficult to forge

• Faster check-in and border clearance

Disadvantages of e-passports

• If stolen the data could be used illegally

• It could be possible for the server to be hacked and the data changed

• The person who owns the passport does not have access to their own data

Factors influencing supply chains

• Physical environments and natural hazards

• Political factors including protectionism, trade restrictions and conflict

• Currency fluctuations

• Transport and ICT networks

Named example for the disruption of a supply chain

Shortage of PPE in the UK in 2020

Shortage of PPE in the UK in 2020: details

• Shortage of PPE endangered healthcare workers worldwide

• WHO called on industries and governments to increase manufacturing by 40%

Shortage of PPE in the UK in 2020: reasons for supply chain disruption

• Rising demand due to pandemic

• Panic buying and hoarding

• Depleting supplies

• Supplies can take months to deliver

Shortage of PPE in the UK in 2020: impacts of supply chain disruption

• Prices of surgical gowns rose by 2x, respirators 3x and surgical masks 6x

• WHO working alongside governments, industries and the supply chain network to boost production