H2 Geography Cluster 1: Development, Economy and Environment

Comprehensive Question and Answer flashcards covering the H2 Geography Cluster 1 curriculum at Temasek Junior College, including development classifications, indicators, global shifts, GPNs, TNCs, state/labour/multilateral actors, resource classification, population-resource theories, and transboundary water conflicts.

What is the primary distinction between standard of living and quality of life?

Standard of living refers to the living conditions in which people live, whereas quality of life refers to the degree of satisfaction with one's living conditions above and beyond basic needs.

What line is depicted in the diagram, and what are its main limitations in classifying global development?

The Brandt Line (separating the Rich North and Poor South). Limitations include spatial reductionism (oversimplifying world complexity) and failure to account for temporal unevenness in economic growth and decline since 1980.

Which economies comprise the first wave of Newly Industrialising Economies (NIEs) known as the Four Asian Tigers?

Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.

What macro-region in Europe is known as the "hot banana" or "blue banana", and what are its main characteristics?

The economic core stretching from London to Milan (including Frankfurt). It contains major cities, corporate headquarters, financial facilities, and highly developed tertiary industries.

According to the World Bank (2023), how are global economies classified based on Gross National Income ($\text{GNI}$) per capita?

Low income ($\le US\$1085$), lower middle income ($US\$1086 - US\$4255$), upper middle income ($US\$4256 - US\$13,205$), and high income ($\ge US\$13,205$).

What are the three crucial pillars of sustainable development as defined by the United Nations?

Economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection.

How do the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) differ in scope from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)?

The MDGs ($2000-2015$) comprised $8$ goals, $21$ targets, and $60$ indicators. The SDGs ($2015-2030$) expanded to $17$ goals, $169$ targets, and $244$ indicators.

What four weighted indicators make up the Human Development Index (HDI)?

Life expectancy at birth, expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling, and Gross National Income ($\text{GNI}$) per capita adjusted by Purchasing Power Parity (\text{PPP } \).

According to the Clark-Fisher model, how does employment structure change across economic development stages?

Primary sector employment declines, secondary sector employment rises during industrialisation and then declines, while tertiary and quaternary sector employment increases steadily.

What distinguishes the First Global Shift from the Second Global Shift in economic geography?

The First Global Shift ($1970\text{s}-1980\text{s}$) involved the relocation of manufacturing operations from developed countries to NIEs/LDCs. The Second Global Shift ($1990\text{s}$ onward) involved the global outsourcing of service and back-office functions.

According to the value-added curve in global production networks, which stages capture higher economic value versus lower economic value?

Pre-production intangible activities (R&D, Design) and post-production intangible activities (Marketing, Services) add high value, whereas tangible production/assembly adds the lowest economic value.

What are the primary functional spatial units that make up a Transnational Corporation (TNC)?

Corporate/Main Headquarters, Regional Headquarters, Research and Development (R&D) centres, Marketing and Sales units, and Transnational Production Units.

What are Export Processing Zones (EPZs), and what incentives do host governments offer to attract TNCs?

Specialized industrial zones designed to attract foreign investment for export manufacturing. Incentives include tax exemptions, elimination of import/export customs duties, provision of infrastructure, and relaxed labor/environmental regulations.

When was the World Trade Organization (WTO) established, what did it replace, and what is its main function?

Established on January $1$, $1995$, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of $1948$. Its main function is to administer trade agreements, negotiate trade liberalisation, and settle international trade disputes.

What are Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) introduced by the World Bank and IMF?

Conditional loans requiring borrowing countries to restructure their economies toward a market-oriented model by reducing state intervention, cutting public spending (austerity), privatising state enterprises, and promoting export production.

What is the New International Division of Labour (NIDL)?

A spatial division of labour where low-cost, routine assembly tasks are offshored to LDCs with cheap labour, while high-skilled R&D, management, and control functions remain in developed core countries.

What issue in the Sialkot soccer ball cluster in Pakistan prompted international consumer boycotts, and how was it addressed?

Widespread child labour (about $7,000$ children in hand-stitching). It led to the $1997$ Atlanta Agreement involving the ILO, UNICEF, SCCI, and WFSGI to eliminate child labour and provide social protection.

How does Immanuel Wallerstein's World-Systems Theory divide the global economy?

Into Core regions (high-value industries, financial centres), Semi-periphery regions (emerging manufacturing/service hubs), and Periphery regions (resource and low-cost labour exporters).

What are the four stages of regional spatial development in John Friedmann's model?

Stage 1: Pre-industrial independent local centres; Stage 2: Transition economy with a single strong core; Stage 3: Industrial economy with core and peripheral sub-centres; Stage 4: Post-industrial functionally interdependent system.

What are the four main categories of ecosystem services defined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment?

Provisioning services (food, raw materials), Regulating services (climate/flood regulation), Cultural services (recreational/spiritual benefits), and Supporting services (photosynthesis, soil formation).

How are natural resources broadly classified based on renewability?

Non-renewable/stock resources (consumed by use, recoverable, recyclable) and Renewable/flow resources (critical zone requiring management vs non-critical perpetual zone like solar/wind).

According to the McKelvey Box, how are mineral occurrences classified based on discovery and profitability?

Discovered deposits are classified as Reserves (Proven or Conditional). Undiscovered deposits are classified as Resources (Hypothetical or Speculative).

What is the key difference between proven reserves and conditional reserves?

Proven reserves are discovered deposits known to be economically extractable under current market and technological conditions. Conditional reserves are discovered deposits that are not currently profitable to extract at present price levels or with available technology.

What is the core premise of Malthusian theory regarding population growth and food supply?

Population grows geometrically (2, 4, 8, 16 \bimod \bimod \dots), whereas food production grows arithmetically ($2, 4, 6, 8 \dots$), leading to an inevitable Malthusian catastrophe unless controlled by positive or preventive checks.

What is Ester Boserup's perspective on the relationship between population growth and resource production?

Population growth stimulates agricultural innovation and technological development ("necessity is the mother of invention"), increasing the land's carrying capacity through induced intensification.

How do the doctrines of Absolute Territorial Sovereignty and Absolute Integrity of the River differ in transboundary water management?

Absolute Territorial Sovereignty grants upper riparian states the right to use water freely within their borders regardless of downstream impacts. Absolute Integrity of the River grants lower riparian states the right to an undiminished, natural flow from upstream.

What two key principles were established by the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention (UNWC) for shared rivers?

"Equitable and reasonable utilization" and the "obligation not to cause significant harm" to other watercourse states.

Which countries are full members of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), and what is a major limitation of its governance?

Full members are Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. A major limitation is that upper basin states China and Myanmar are only dialogue partners and not bound by MRC decisions.

Why have historical Nile water agreements (1929 and 1959) been a major source of conflict for upper riparian states like Ethiopia?

They allocated nearly all of the Nile's discharge ($55.5\text{ billion m}^3$ to Egypt and $18.5\text{ billion m}^3$ to Sudan) and gave Egypt veto power over upstream projects, ignoring upper riparian development needs.

How do offshoring, nearshoring, and friend-shoring differ in global supply chain organisation?

Offshoring relocates production to low-cost foreign countries; nearshoring shifts production to geographically close countries; friend-shoring reorganises supply chains around politically aligned or trusted partner nations.