Geography of Asia

Asia is the largest of the world’s continents, covering approximately 30 percent of the Earth’s land area. It is
also the world’s most populous continent, with roughly 60 percent of the total population.

Asia makes up the eastern portion of the Eurasian supercontinent; Europe occupies the western portion.
The border between the two continents is debated. However, most geographers define Asia’s
western border as an indirect line that follows the Ural Mountains, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Caspian
and Black Seas. Asia is bordered by the Arctic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

Asia’s physical geography, environment and resources, and human geography can be considered separately.

Asia can be divided into five major physical regions: mountain systems; plateaus; plains, steppes,
and deserts; freshwater environments; and saltwater environments.

Area
Asia covers an area of about 49.7 million km² (19,189,277 square miles), which corresponds to about 30
percent of the Earth's total land area.

Regions of Asia
There are 48 countries in Asia today, according to the United Nations.

Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Eastern Asia:, China, China Hong Kong, China Macao, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, South Korea, Republic of Korea

Southern Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

South-Eastern Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,
Timor-Leste, Viet Nam

Western Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, United Arab Emirates
Top 12 Largest Countries in Asia by Land Top 13 Largest Countries in Asia by
Area (United Nations): Population (United Nations 2021):
1. Russia* — 16,376,870 km2 (6,323,142 mi2) 1. China — 1,444,216,107
2. China — 9,388,210 km2 (3,624,807 mi2) 2. India — 1,393,409,038
3. India — 2,973,190 km2 (1,147,955 mi2) 3. Indonesia — 276,361,783
4. Kazakhstan — 2,699,700 km2 (1,042,360 4. Pakistan — 225,199,937
mi2) 5. Bangladesh — 166,303,498
5. Saudi Arabia — 2,149,690 km2 (830,000 6. Russia* — 145,934,462
mi2) 7. Japan — 126,050,804
6. Indonesia — 1,877,519 km2 (724,914 mi2) 8. Philippines — 111,046,913
7. Iran — 1,628,760 km2 (628,867 mi2) 9. Egypt* — 104,258,327
8. Mongolia — 1,557,250 km2 (601,257 mi2) 10. Vietnam — 98,168,833
9. Pakistan — 770,880 km2 (297,638 mi2) 11. Turkey* — 85,042,738
10. Turkey* — 769,630 km2 (297,156 mi2) 12. Iran — 85,028,759
11. Myanmar — 769,630 km2 (297,156 mi2) 13. 13. Thailand — 69,950,850
12. Afghanistan — 652,230 km2 (251,827 mi2)

Religions
Asia is the largest and most populous continent and the birthplace
of many religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism,
Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and
Zoroastrianism. All major religious traditions are practiced in the
region and new forms are constantly emerging. Asia is known for
its diversity of culture. Islam and Hinduism are the largest religions
in Asia with approximately 1.2 billion adherents each.
Climate of Asia
The climate of Asia is dry across its southwestern region, with dry across much of the interior. Some of the
largest daily temperature ranges on Earth occur in the western part of Asia. The monsoon circulation
dominates across the southern and eastern regions, due to the Himalayas forcing the formation of a thermal
low which draws in moisture during the summer. The southwestern region of the continent experiences low
relief as a result of the subtropical high pressure belt; they are hot in summer, warm to cool in winter, and
may snow at higher altitudes. Siberia is one of the coldest places in the Northern Hemisphere, and can act as a
source of arctic air mass for North America. The most active place on Earth for tropical cyclone activity lies
northeast of the Philippines and south of Japan, and the phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation modulates
where in Asia landfall is more likely to occur.

10 Richest Countries in Asia

1. China - $11.22 Trillion
2. Japan - $4.94 Trillion
3. India - $2.26 Trillion
4. South Korea - $1.41 Trillion
5. Indonesia - $932.26 Billion
6. Turkey - $863.71 Billion
7. Saudi Arabia - $639.62 Billion
8. Iran - $425.40 Billion
9. Thailand - $407.03 Billion
10. United Arab Emirates - $348.74 Billion
Asia's wealthiest countries, ranked by GDP
Legend:
GDP - Gross Domestic Product
PPP- Purchasing Power Parity
IMF - International Monetary Fund
GNI- Gross National Income

Top 10 Richest Asian Countries (2020 Top 10 Richest Asian Countries (2020
GDP, Int$ PPP- World Bank) GDP per capita, Int$ PPP - IMF)

1. China - $24.27 trillion 1. Singapore - $107,680

2. India - $8.91 trillion 2. Qatar - $100,040

3. Japan - $5.33 trillion 3. United Arab Emirates - $74,240

4. Indonesia - $3.30 trillion 4. Macao (China) - $67,470

5. Turkey - $2.37 trillion 5. Brunei - $65,670

6. South Korea - $2.23 trillion 6. Hong Kong (China) - $65,400

7. Saudi Arabia - $1.63 trillion 7. Taiwan - $61,370

8. Thailand - $1.3 trillion 8. Bahrain - $53,130

9. Iran - $1.1 trillion 9. Saudi Arabia - $48,910

10. Pakistan - $1.08 trillion 10. South Korea - $48,310

Top 10 Richest Asian Countries (2020 GNI per capita, Atlas method, current US$ -
World Bank)
1. Macau (China) - $75,610

2. Qatar - $56,210

3. Singapore - $54,920

4. Hong Kong (China) - $48,630

5. United Arab Emirates - $43,470

6. Israel - $43,070

7. Japan - $41,580

8. Kuwait - $36,290

9. South Korea - $32,860

10. Brunei - $32,230

 Assignment in the Contemporary World
(Set B 9:30am-10:30am)

The Continent of Asia & 10 Richest Countries

of Asia

Submitted by: Espelembergo, Jonathan P.

BSED1-Filipino

Submitted to: Dr. Romeo Agus

 Global Warming and Climate Change

Global warming - is the long-term heating of Earth’s surface observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850
and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in
Earth’s atmosphere. This term is not interchangeable with the term "climate change."

Q: What causes global warming?

A: Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) and other air pollutants collect in the atmosphere and absorb
sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the earth’s surface. Normally this radiation would escape into space,
but these pollutants, which can last for years to centuries in the atmosphere, trap the heat and cause the planet to get
hotter. These heat-trapping pollutants—specifically carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and synthetic
fluorinated gases—are known as greenhouse gases, and their impact is called the greenhouse effect.

Q: What are the other effects of global warming?

A: Each year scientists learn more about the consequences of global warming, and each year we also gain new evidence
of its devastating impact on people and the planet. As the heat waves, droughts, and floods associated with climate
change become more frequent and more intense, communities suffer and death tolls rise. If we’re unable to reduce our
emissions, scientists believe that climate change could lead to the deaths of more than 250,000 people around the globe
every year and force 100 million people into poverty by 2030.

Climate Change - is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local,
regional and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term.
The potential future effects of global climate change include more frequent wildfires, longer periods of drought in some
regions, and an increase in the duration and intensity of tropical storms
 Impact of Global Warming and Climate Change in Global
Economy
 The largest impact of climate change is that it could wipe off up to 18% of GDP off the worldwide economy by 2050
if global temperatures rise by 3.2°C, the Swiss Re Institute warns.

The global economy could lose 10% of its total economic value by 2050 due to climate change, according to new
research.

Data Source: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/impact-climate-change-global-gdp/

There were significant regional variations in the data. Advanced Asian economies are predicted to see GDP losses of
3.3% in case of a below-2°C rise and 15.4% in a severe scenario, while ASEAN countries are forecast to see drops of 4.2%
and 37.4% respectively.

China is at risk of losing nearly 24% of its GDP in a severe scenario compared to forecast losses of 10% for the US,
Canada and the UK and 11% for Europe.

The Middle East & Africa, meanwhile, would see a drop of 4.7% if temperature rises stay below 2°C and 27.6°C in the
severe case scenario, the report added.

Many Asian economies most vulnerable to physical risks

Data showed that economies in South and South-east Asia were the most susceptible to the physical risks associated
with global warming.

Countries most negatively impacted – including Malaysia, Thailand, India, the Philippines and Indonesia – were often the
ones with the least resources to mitigate and adapt to the effects of global warming.

However, such nations also have the most to gain from global efforts to reduce temperature rises, the report added.
Climate change is now considered one of the greatest threats to economic stability. As well as its serious impact on the
environment and people

According to Keith Wade, Chief Economist and Strategist and Marcus Jennings, Economist
The 4 main issues that need to be address as the climate change on the global economy will continue to arise are:

1. The effect on growth and inflation

Global warming will primarily influence economic growth through damage to property and
infrastructure, lost productivity, mass migration and security threats. The balance between winners and losers
turns increasingly negative as temperatures rise.

2. Climate damage functions: quantifying the impact on activity

Early estimates of the cost of global warming on world GDP emerged in the early 1990s and since then
there have been a number of studies that have both agreed with and contradicted the initial assessments.
Covington and Thamotheram (2015) base their analysis on so called “climate damage functions” that quantify
the risk the economy faces as a result of climate change. Economic climate damage is defined as the fractional
loss in annual economic output at a given level of warming compared to output in the same economy with no
warming. Climate damage functions plot the level of output lost over a range of warming estimates, with all
functions predicting a greater loss in annual economic output as the level of warming rises. However, among the
estimated climate damage functions there is a lack of consensus as to how damages evolve as warming
gradually increases.

3. Regional effects

The effects of climate change will not be uniformly distributed across the globe and there are likely to be
winners and losers as the planet warms. Applying a broad brush to climate effects, developing countries are
more likely to disproportionately experience the negative effects of global warming. Not only do many
developing countries have naturally warmer climates than those in the developed world, they also rely more
heavily on climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture, forestry and tourism. As temperatures rise further,
regions such as Africa will face declining crop yields and will struggle to produce sufficient food for domestic
consumption, while their major exports will likely fall in volume. This effect will be made worse for these regions
if developed countries are able to offset the fall in agricultural output with new sources, potentially from their
own domestic economies as their land becomes more suitable for growing crops. Developing countries may also
be less likely to create drought resistant harvests given the lack of research funding

4. Policy responses

Climate change calls for a collective effort from governments, firms, shareholders and individuals to both
adapt and implement measures to mitigate its effects. As carbon dioxide emissions are the main culprit for
global warming, any policy response must effectively target reduced emissions. Since free markets fail to
incorporate and price the negative externality2 of global warming, government intervention is required to
realign resource allocation. Without public policy looking to change private sector behavior, economies run the
risk of continuing to pollute to a point where it is too late and the economic costs are catastrophic.
Intergovernmental agreements that encompass all major economies will be the most effective in tackling climate
change. Without a collective policy response, the efforts of only a handful of countries looking to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions will fall short of what is needed to make a material impact on a global level. We touch upon
some popular policy responses below.
 Climate Policy Recommendations
The climate science is clear—the world must slash greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, and reach net zero
emissions by 2050. As such, we need practical policy solutions that will mitigate the impacts of climate change by quickly
cutting and capturing carbon pollution and ensuring we are able to adapt to the impacts we cannot avoid.

CLIMATE MITIGATION: MOVING TOWARD A NET ZERO CARBON ECONOMY

 Advance Market-Based Solutions To Reduce Emissions

 Invest In Climate-Smart Infrastructure And Clean Energy
 Enhance Carbon Removal And Sequestration
 Meet Climate Goals With Administrative And Congressional Actions

CLIMATE ADAPTATION

 Craft Adaptation And Resilience Plans To Reduce Risks From Climate Impacts
 Promote The Use Of Nature-Based Solutions To Protect People, Property, And Wildlife
 Adopt Climate-Smart Approaches For Managing Land And Water
 Enhance And Restore Habitat Corridors And Connectivity
 Discourage Development In Hazardous Areas
 Reform Flood Insurance And Disaster Response Programs
 Ensure Adaptation Benefits Vulnerable Communities
 Maintain A Strong Scientific Basis For Adaptation And Resilience

As An Individual We Can Start With Ten Impactful

Actions
Our lifestyles have a profound impact on our planet. Our choices matter. Around two-thirds of global greenhouse gas
emissions are linked to private households. The energy, food, and transport sectors each contribute about 20 per cent of
lifestyle emissions. From the electricity we use, to the food we eat, the way we travel, and the things we buy, we can
make a difference.

Take a look at the action guide and start with these ten actions to help tackle the climate crisis.
 Project in the Contemporary World
(Set B 9:30am-10:30am)

Climate Change and the Global Warming

Submitted by: Espelembergo, Jonathan P.

BSED1-Filipino

Submitted to: Dr. Romeo Agus