Paper 1: Options A, F and G CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDIES ONLY using Power, Places, People, Processes, Possibilities structure

Mekong: power

Mekong: power

• countries upstream have power over the water supply of downstream countries

• Dams built by China

• access to water fuels industry, health

Mekong: places

• China, Laos PDR, Cambodia, Vietnam, Tibet

• 7th longest river in Asia, 12th in world

• drains 810,000 km2 from plateau of tibet to south china sea

Mekong: people

• Mekong River Commission- all countries members help to regulate, manage and hold each other accountable

• yet everyone only helps themselves

Mekong: processes

• construction of dams to be used for hydroelectricity, support 80% of rice fields in china

• release of dams may swamp homes eg Xayburi dam affected 1571 families

  • in Laos, funded by Thailand, affected Vietnam

Mekong: possibilities

• Integrated Water Resource Management Plan (IWRM) created by mekong river commission

• water utilisation project enables 4 member countries to undergo data exchange, water use monitoring, consultation and agreement before projects, maintenance of downstream flow, water quality regulation.

Three Gorges Dam: Power

• Generates energy for China.

• Considered a monument of national pride, Political.

• Move signals commitment to clean energy.

• China's technological strength. 

• However, wreaks ecological damage downstream, including silt deposits in Shanghai and many landslides. 

Three Gorges Dam: Places

• Spends the Yangtze River downstream of the Three Gorges Dam,

• China's world's largest hydroelectric dam

• Dam sits on a seismic fault line. Vulnerable to earthquake damage.

• Prompts erosion in the Yangtze River basin, creating silt deposits downstream. Sedimentation along base of river. 

Three Gorges Dam: People

• Ministry of Environmental Protection, China

• United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

• Fishermen, locals, farmers.

Three Gorges Dam: Processes

• Generates electricity with large water turbines.

• Ship lift to transport goods along river, protects plane from floods. 

Three Gorges Dam: Possibilities

• Hydroelectricity reduces greenhouse emissions. Alternative to coal.

• Increased risk of landslides.

• Settlement deposition onto the deposition bank that Singapore rests on.

• NASA calculated that shift of water mass stored in this dam would increase the total length of Earth's day by 0.6 microseconds, make Earth rounder and flatten poles, change local seismicity. 

Masdar, UAE: Power

• An example of a sustainable city from its genesis, yet it is hard to implement sustainability into preexisting cities.

• Ability to function without cars. Cars are parks, outskirts and trams are used.

• A hub of new tech. Developed to assist with local climate.  

Masdar, UAE: Places

Masdar City is close to the UAE capital of Dubai. 

Masdar, UAE: People

• Mazda Institute, a graduate research facility.

• 150 lived there. Currently the city can house 90,000.

• UAE government.

Masdar, UAE: Processes

• Sustainable energy

• Solar panels have sunlight reflected and then onto them with mirrors.

• Waste is regulated environmental control.

• Buildings oriented 45° off sun's path.

• Light management. Air compression.

• Conserves power, motion sensing, light, battery grid.  

Masdar, UAE: Possibilities

• Expand city to a full capacity.

• Demonstrates how to incorporate traditional knowledge of how to work with local climate with technological advancements,

• car free, people centered city development, walking space, shared zones,

• challenges. Very expensive. 

Hukou System, China: Power

• High regulation of people, movement,

• push factors, demolished village, less access to services, no jobs.

• Pull factors Ability to send money. Greater connection to society.  

Hukou System, China: Places

• East Coast of China has high density of mega cities.

• coastal location gives access to shipping ports

• many rural villages are demolished to make way for agriculture or industry  

Hukou System, China: People

• 70% of China will live in cities.

• If government hits its goal, 1 billion Chinese will live in urban areas in 20-30.

• Male demographics tend to move to cities. 

Hukou System, China: Processes

• Hukou system household registration for home province and therefore where they have rights

  • designed to get people to not migrate all at once.

• Rural urban migration. 

Hukou System, China: Possibilities

• Chinese population in cities will swell, causing potential overpopulation, congestion and strain on resources in cities.

• Increased labor force in cities equals increased productivity. 

Dharavi, Mumbai, India: Power

• Internal informal economy of small businesses.

• Recycling industry.

• Large labor force lives in Dharavi

  • only slum with billion dollar economy. Worker earns $3 per day.  

Dharavi, Mumbai, India: Places

• mumbai is a mega city in india

• dharavi is tin shacks with tarp and tin roofs. 

Dharavi, Mumbai, India: People

• 45% of Mumbai lives in slums.

  • Dharavi is the largest over 175 hectares.

• Lots of intergenerational living young families seeking money to send home. 

Dharavi, Mumbai, India: Processes

• Water flows for two hours per day.

• Communal toilets,

• Meals shared at home. 

Dharavi, Mumbai, India: Possibilities

• Development of housing, sanitation and water access in Dharavi

• increased local education. Free government education until the age of 14.

• Make use of sense of community. 

Detroit’s Vehicle Industry, USA: Power

• Power in early to mid 20th century due to success of Packard Auto plant

  • 3.5 million square feet, 36,000 employed.

• Closed down in 1958 due to over streamlining of process.

• Riots in 1967 due to economic downturn. 

Detroit’s Vehicle Industry, USA: Places

• Packard Auto Plant.

• Detroit, MI in USA

• high poverty rates. 

Detroit’s Vehicle Industry, USA: People

• Population of 2 million in 1950. Declining ever since.

• Many single parents,

• high crime rates. 

Detroit’s Vehicle Industry, USA: Processes

• Social and economic deprivation equals

• bad education equals

• low work prospects equals

• relationship turmoil equals

• poor parenting equals

• social emotional deprivation, etcetera. 

Detroit’s Vehicle Industry, USA: Possibilities

• Urban renewal,

  • developing housing, urban gardens and local empty lots.

• Yet many people will still move away. 

Malaria (Vector Borne Disease): Power

• Climactic conditions

  • Warm, humid equals breeding grounds and mosquitoes.

  • Stagnant water equals improper sanitation equals let's larvae form.

  • Monsoonal rain. 

Malaria (Vector Borne Disease): Places

• Africa, Asia, Latin America have the highest death rates.

• The areas that experience monsoonal rainfall are often tropical or LICs. 

Malaria (Vector Borne Disease): People

• High mortality rate.

  • Particularly infants, children, elderly or people with reduced immunity.

• This burdens healthcare financing. 

Malaria (Vector Borne Disease): Processes

• Vector borne

• spread by living organisms such as blood transmitting insects or vermin. 

Malaria (Vector Borne Disease): Possibilities

• Mitigation strategies include

  • protection against bites,

  • vaccination with. anti Mosquito formula

  • education,

  • high quality medical care and

  • also education on safer water management practices. 

Cholera (Water Borne Disease): Power

• Diarrheal infection caused by contaminated water equals dehydration.

• High mortality and morbidity. 

Cholera (Water Borne Disease): Places

• Affects highly and densely populated areas such as slums,

• continents with overall worse sanitation,

  • Africa, South Asia, Latin America, Middle East. 

Cholera (Water Borne Disease): People

• Strains on healthcare systems.

• Inadequate number of doctors

• affects infants and elderly the most. 

Cholera (Water Borne Disease): Processes

• Inadequate water treatment and sanitation equals transmission.

• Disease acts quickly,

• creates economic disruption. 

Cholera (Water Borne Disease): Possibilities

• Improved hygiene, sanitation and access to healthcare.

• Improved water management by boiling water.

• Less contamination. Containment of contamination,

• education, outreach, disease prevention. 

Famine in the Horn of Africa: Power

• Drought equals impossible crop growth.

• Conflict equals civil war.

• Al Shabaab militants blockaded food aid, killed aid workers, damaged crops.

• Poverty, lack of agriculture tech, high prices. 

Famine in the Horn of Africa: Places

• East Africa, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia.

• Famine began in 2011, but warning signs present as early as 2010. 

Famine in the Horn of Africa: People

• Affected 13 million East Africans.

• Approximately 250,000 died in Somalia. 50% of deaths were children under 5. 

Famine in the Horn of Africa: Processes

• IPC integrated food security Phase classification.

  • five out of five catastrophe rating in Somalia and Ethiopia

  • and a stage 3 out of five in Kenya.

    • One is the worst, three is malnutrition, 5 is starvation. 

Famine in the Horn of Africa: Possibilities

• Slow response to crisis of six months

  • many donors were waiting for evidence of an issue before providing aid.

• Oxfam funding raised over 100 million for emergency support and food

• NGO's such as the. WFP, WHO, UNICEF, Central Emergency Response Fund provided food aid funding for vaccines and sanitations. 

Irrigation in West Africa: Power

• Irrigation equals greater crop yield equals less poverty, higher income, less malnutrition.

• Impoverished West African areas have less financing to undergo big irrigation projects. 

Irrigation in West Africa: Places

• Only 4% of sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated using solar panel.

• Solar powered drip irrigated gardens in West Africa's Sudano Sahel region.  

Irrigation in West Africa: People

• Solar Electric Light Fund SELF is rolling out solar powered irrigations.

• Small holders equals individuals or groups who organize this. 

Irrigation in West Africa: Processses

• Implementation of irrigation equipment increases crop yield equals less direct malnutrition.

• Farmers can sell vegetables for profit and therefore invest in small business equipment. 

Irrigation in West Africa: Possibilities

• Different types of water sourcing

  • groundwater, rainwater, surface water. Artesian wells

• prioritised detailed hydrological mapping to identify best types of irrigation.

• Community involvement to see results.

• Adapt local self-sufficiency.

• Greater overall sustainability contributes to fighting climate change. 

COVID-19: Power

• If China reported virus 3 weeks earlier, number of cases cut by 95%.

• Power for. Whoever creates the vaccine,

• countries desire to look good versus do the right thing and report the virus. 

COVID-19: Places

• Began in a wet market in Wuhan province, China. When a person ate an infected bat,

  • wet markets spread zoonotic diseases.

• Many countries reacted too late. 

COVID-19: People

• 3/4 of people hospitalized had another underlying disease.

• Men were more likely to die as well as elderly.

• 7 million deaths. 

COVID-19: Processes

• COVID-19 comes from SARS COV 2 bacteria and is spread by contaminated droplets in body openings.

• “Flatten the curve” equals social distancing, lengthens the pandemic with less deaths. 

COVID-19: Possibilities

• Race for COVID-19 vaccinations.

  • AstraZeneca, Pfizer. Moderna.

• Create herd immunity where enough are immune that disease won't spread.

• Invest in public health during pandemic- free times to prep for inevitable

• Take animal disease samples to predict next virus.