IB Diploma Geography Study Guide: Global Trends and Resilience

Spatial Patterns: Favor coastal areas (75% within 1,000 km of sea), low-lying ground (90% below 500 m), and the Northern Hemisphere (80%+).
High Density Highspots: South East Asia, North-east USA, and Western Europe.
Constraints: Extremes of cold, aridity, steep relief, and soil infertility.
Human Factors: Resource availability (minerals), government policies (new towns, Apartheid), conflict-driven displacement, and international migration.

Economic Categories: World Bank classification based on GNI per capita: Low-income (LIC) $\le \$1,025$; Middle-income (MIC); and High-income (HIC) $> \$12,475$.
Alternative Groupings:
- NICs: Newly Industrializing Countries (e.g., BRICS, MINT).
- LDCs: Least Developed Countries (e.g., Afghanistan, Somalia).
Limitations: Development is a continuum; dichotomous labels (North/South) are often simplistic overgeneralizations.

China: Highly uneven distribution (East vs. West) due to physical geography. Experiences the world’s largest internal migration from rural areas to coastal industrial hubs.
South Africa: Concentration in core economic regions (Gauteng) and ports. Historically shaped by forced migration (Apartheid homelands) and post-Apartheid rural-urban shifts.

Stages:
- Stage 1: High Birth Rate (BR) and Death Rate (DR); stable population.
- Stage 2: Rapidly falling DR; rapid population growth (e.g., Afghanistan).
- Stage 3: Falling BR; slowing growth (e.g., Brazil).
- Stage 4: Low BR and DR; stable population.
- Stage 5: DR exceeds BR; population decline (e.g., Japan).
Alternative Pathways: Events like the Irish Potato Famine can force unique transitions (falling BR + rising DR).

Fertility: Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is higher in LICs due to social/economic needs for children.
Life Expectancy: Higher in HICs; impacted by wealth, gender, and infectious diseases (e.g., HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa).
Dependency Ratio: Relates the working population ($15\text{--}64$) to dependents ($<15$ and $>64$).

Definitions:
- Refugee: Outside country of origin due to fear of persecution.
- IDP: Displaced within their own country.
- Asylum Seeker: Claim for refugee status pending.
Case Examples: Syria (civil war, 10m+ displaced), Nigeria (Boko Haram conflict).

Older Dependency Ratio (ODR): Increasing in HICs (e.g., Japan) and rapid-growth MICs (e.g., China).
Challenges: Healthcare burden, pension funding gaps, and shrinking workforce.
Opportunities: "Grey economy" and intergenerational child-rearing.

Anti-natalist: China’s One-Child Policy (1979–2015) successfully reduced growth but led to gender imbalances and workforce shortages.
Pro-natalist: Russia’s incentives to counter low fertility (child benefits, tax on childlessness).
Empowerment: Kerala (India) shows that improving women's status (literacy, healthcare) effectively lowers BR despite low GDP.

Definition: Accelerated economic growth potential when the proportion of working-age people rises relative to dependents.
Case Study: South Korea (1960–1990) utilized this through education investment and family planning.

Insolation: Incoming short-wave solar radiation.
Outputs: Re-radiation of long-wave terrestrial radiation.
Albedo: Reflectivity of surfaces (Snow: $75\text{--}90\%$; Water: low). Melting ice creates a positive feedback loop of further warming.

Gases: $CO_2$ (fossil fuels, deforestation), Methane (cattle, rice fields), and CFCs (man-made).
Global Dimming: Cooling effect from man-made pollution/ash reflecting sunlight.

Hydrosphere: Steric expansion and ice melt leading to sea-level rise ($40\text{--}80\,$cm by 2100).
Biomes: Latitudinal and altitudinal shifts in species; potential extinction of up to $40\%$ of wildlife.
Societal Impact: Hunger, water scarcity, and “environmental refugees” (e.g., Kiribati, Bangladesh).

Mitigation: Reducing GHG emissions (Carbon taxes, Kyoto/Paris agreements, Geo-engineering).
Adaptation: Living with change (flood defenses, drought-resistant crops, vaccination for spreading diseases).

Ecological Footprint: Area required to sustain resource needs. HICs have footprints several times their land area.
Global Middle Class: Rapid growth, especially in Asia, leads to massive increases in consumer demand.

Interdependence: Water is needed for energy (cooling, HEP) and food (irrigation). Energy is needed for water (pumping, treatment).
Security: Risks in one sector (e.g., landslide damaging HEP in Nepal) affect the entire nexus.

Strategies: Reduction at source, Re-use, Recovering value (Recycling), and Landfill (last resort).
E-waste: Significant flows from HICs to NICs (e.g., Guiyu, China) causing toxic environmental impacts.

Linear vs. Circular Economy: Shifting from "take-make-dispose" to systems where waste becomes raw material for new products.
Malthus vs. Boserup: Pessimistic view that population outstrips food (Malthus) vs. optimistic view that population growth drives innovation (Boserup).

Superpowers: Global influence (USA as current, China as rising).
Soft Power: Influence through culture and values; Hard Power: Use of force.
Organizations: G7/G20 (governance), OPEC (oil), IMF/World Bank (finance).

FDI: Foreign Direct Investment is concentrated in growth regions (Asia).
TNCs: Drive globalization through outsourcing and supply chains (e.g., Apple, Tata).
Remittances: Financial transfers from migrants to home countries; often larger than aid (e.g., India, Philippines).

Transport: Standardized containers and jet engines reduced the frictional effect of distance.
ICT: Digitization and social media enable instantaneous global data exchange, though access remains unequal.