CAMBRIDGE IGCSE GEOGRAPHY

CASE STUDIES
Contents
UNIT 1 – POPULATION DYNAMICS
• Overpopulation in Bangladesh
• Underpopulation in Canada
• China’s one child policy
• Botswana - HIV and AIDS
• Japan: population distribution in a densely populated country
• Transmigration in Indonesia

UNIT 3 – PLATE TECTONICS

• Chaiten, Chile - Volcano
• Haiti heartquake

UNIT 5 – RIVER PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS

• Flood Bangladesh 2004
• Mozambique - floods

UNIT 6 – MARINE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS

• Managed retreat and conflict – Happisburgh, Norfolk

UNIT 7 & 8 – WEATHER AND CLIMATE

• Myanmar - cyclone Nargis
• Australia - drought
• Madagascar – rainforests
• Sahara and the Sahel – deserts
• Mali - desertification

UNIT 9 - AGRICULTURE
• India – subsistence farming
• New Zeland – commercial agriculture
• Food shortages in Sudan

UNIT 10 - INDUSTRY
• Toyota
• Bangalore – hi-tech industry
• Pakistan – steel industry
• Seychelles – tourism
• Dubai – tourism
 UNIT 1 – POPULATION DYNAMICS
OVER POPULATION IN BANGLADESH

Lack of resources
poor infrastructure
under-developed technology
high population

Seventh largest population in the world 158 million

Few natural resources and relies on subsistence farming
85% population are Muslim, what does this mean forthe BR?
Low GDP US$1700 per person: poor standard of living
40% population unemployed
Poor healthcare: infant mortality rate of 5.07%

Problems of overpopulation
-Overpopulation in Bangladesh resulted in overcrowded areas with traffic congestion as there
are too many vehicles on the the roads, especially in cities such as Dhaka.
-Vehicle emissions, industrial discharge and burning of fossil fuels have resulted in air pollution
-Ground water has been polluted due to arsenic.
-Shortage of food lead to overcultivation on the flood plains of the Ganges river, causing lower
yields and soil exhaustion.
-Deforestation for firewood on the slopes of the Himalayas.
-The capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, also suffers from severe housing shortages due to mass
urbanisation.

UNDER POPULATION IN CANADA

Canada is regarded as an underpopulated country as the carrying capacity is much higher than
the current population. The 35 million people in Canada can not fully exploit the available
resources and technology.

Problems of underpopulation in Canada:

-Labour shortage: 32% of Canadian employers are encountering difficulties in hiring workers due
to a lack of applicants
-Services (eg. schools, hospitals and transport) close down as there are not enough customers.
-Less innovation and development (less brain power)
-Difficulties in defending the country

Canada has tried to promote immigration to maintain the fairly high standard of living, but in the
previous decades less people are migrating to Canada, than during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Solutions:
-relaxing immigrant policies and visa requirements to encourage migration
-Pro-natal government support to increase the birth rate e. subsidies and parental leave
programs
-allow pensioners to continue working
urbanisation.
CHINA’S ONE CHILD POLICY

China is world’s most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people in 2014. Representing
20% of the world’s people, China suffers from extreme overpopulation.

China became overpopulated since 1960 because of:

-social/cultural desire to have a son
-economical bonus: men could work in the field
-children considered to be social security
-politics: stronger China against America
-previously poor medical infrastructure- high infant mortality rate
-flood 1959-1962: 20 million died

In 1965 the birth rate had grown to 40 births per 1000 until politicians realised the growing
problem and launched the:

One Family One Child Policy in 1979

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO LIMIT TO ONE CHILD PENALTIES

· 5-10% salary bonus · fines: US$ 400-US$ 1400

· free education and health care · 10% salary reduction

· free contraception · no free education

· preferential employment · no free access to health care

· preferential housing · forced abortion

· not allowed to buy a house

Positive consequences of the policy

-better education
-skilled workforce
-average fertility reduced to 1.7
-low urban poverty

Negative consequences of the policy

-forced abortion
-abnormal sex ratio/imbalanced
-more divorce: desire to have a boy
-lack of working population to support old dependents
-girls abandoned, killed, in orphanages
BOTSWANA – HIV AND AIDS

Botswana is a landlocked country, north of South Africa.

UNAIDS estimates that 380,000 people in Botwana live with HIV

HIV/AIDS is transferred through bodily fluids:

-sexual intercourse
-from mother to child during pregnancy
-contaminated blood transfusions
-contaminated needle use (drug users)

Why is Botswana vulnerable to HIV?

-poor sex education (people are unaware of the consequences of unprotected sex)
-low availability of contraception: many people have unprotected sex
-low status of women: women can not disapprove of unprotected sex, as they are perceived as
child bearers
-low availability of medical treatment and testing: many people are unaware that they are
infected so the disease spreads easily
-poverty: few people can afford anti-retroviral drugs to control the severity of the symptoms

Consequences of HIV/AIDS:
-High death rate and lower life expectancy, especially in economically active population
-Falling birth rate due to abstinence (fear of becoming infected), so people have less children
-Decreased labor pool reduces agricultural and industrial output, causing food shortages and
poverty, thus preventing economic growth

Solutions:
-AIDS education programme: used mass media to reach 500,000 students and teach them about
HIV/AIDS
-Offering free condoms to population
-Improvements in HIV testing and anti-retroviral drugs in government clinics
JAPAN, POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN A DENSELY POPULATED COUNTRY

With a population of around 130 million (2015), and a population density of 336 people per km²
(2015)
Sparsely populated rural areas: very few people live on the mountainous slopes in the centre of
Honshu island and the south of Shikoku island, because of:
-Lack of flat land for cultivation
-Thin, infertile and acidic soils
-Extreme climate: long cold winters with heavy snow
-Remoteness and isolation: transport and communication are difficult
-Few jobs available (only in forestry/ primary sector)
Densely populated rural areas: many people live on the flat valleys and gentle slopes of Honshu
and Kyushu islands because they:
-provide fertile land for cultivation attracted many farmers
-attract commuters who work in the cities: high standard of living and services (out-of-town
shopping malls and sports facilities).
Densely populated urban areas: many people live in towns and cities along the coast, especially
on Honshu island, in the conurbation of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka; because of:
-flat land with mild winters
-good service provision like universities and technologically advanced hospitals and health
facilities
-good transport facilities such as the Port of Tokyo to facilitate the import of raw materials and
the export of manufactured goods

TRANSMIGRATION IN INDONESIA

-Source: Over populated islands of Indonesia, for example, Java.

-Destination: Under populated outer Islands such as Maluku.
Reasons:
-Government incentives to ease population pressures on Islands such as Java.
-Possibility of spreading development to more remote Islands.
Consequences for area they arrive in:
-Thousands of acres of rainforest have been cleared and this has led to soil erosion.
-Large quantity of the land soon becomes unsuitable for farming.
-Shortage of tool and destruction of crops by wild animals.
-Remoteness of Islands makes commercial farming very difficult.
-Friction with the migrants and the indigenous population.
-Trans-migrants receive two hectares of land as an incentive to move. Indigenous people see this
as government favouritism.
-In some of the least populated Island migrants threaten to completely out
number locals.
Consequences for area they leave:
-The population on main Islands like Java is continuing to grow rapidly and the trans-migration
scheme is providing minimal relief. Also many trans-migrants are returning after having little
success on the outer Islands. Transmigration has done little to remove the problems of over-
population.
Consequences for the migrant:
-Many migrants failed to make a living in the outer Islands finding
life more difficult than that in Java. Indeed, average earnings were
higher in rural Java than any re-settlement Island.
 UNIT 3 – PLATE TECTONICS

CHAITEN, CHILE - VOLCANO

-2 May 2008 Chaiten Volcano erupted – previously thought to be dormant Caldera volcano

-Formed at a convergent boundary

-- sits on edge of South American and Nazca plates (beneath because sea plate)
-- subducting plate melts and pressure builds up due to friction between plates
-- magma tricked through plate boundary and built up huge chamber under crater

-4000 people fled homes

-- evacuation was difficult because of terrain - evacuated by Naval ship

-Ash went 20km up and settled over Chile and Argentina

-Town coated in ash 15cm thick
-Forests set on fire Schools used as shelters

HAITI EARTHQUAKE

-Haiti lies on the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden Fault which is a product of the transform plate
boundary between the North American plate and the Caribbean plate.

- these plates, after much friction, moved violently apart, creating the earthquake Death toll
was so high due as the earthquake took place during the evening rush hour

- lots of children coming back from school (unsupervised)

- workers coming home from work
- crossing unstable bridges and going past unstable buildings

- unstable because there was not enough money in the country to build stable buildings as the
country is nearly always in major debt due to the common nature of hazards in the country

-Epicentre right underneath the capital city, Port-au-Prince – most densely populated part of
Haiti – many tall buildings affected by the earthquake

-7 on the Richter Scale

-It was not the major earthquake that caused the damage, but the smaller scale aftershocks
which collapsed all of the ready weakened buildings
UNIT 5 - RIVER PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS

FLOOD BANGLADESH 2004

characteristics of bangladesh
-lays mainly on foodplains, so flat land
Most of the land lies 6 metres below sea
-3 main rivers: the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna
-Monson season every year-high concentrated rainfall in a few months (June to September)
-1,800mm and 2,600mm rain a year
-Poverty is a huge issue in Bangladesh-low literacy rate
-Flooding occurs naturally in Bangladesh
-Snow from the Himalayas melts each year and increase river discharge
-Sediment blocks up the river and causes flooding
-Deforestation in the forest increases run off and reduces lag time
-Cyclones occur in the Bay of Benegal and causes coastal flooding
-Densely populated areas meaning increase in deaths

social impacts
-36 million people were made homeless
-People died as a result of disease because they had no access to clean water
-Impacted on rural farmers and urban slum dwellers the most
-Over 800 died with many more from disease

environmental impacts
-During July and August approximately 38% of the total land area was flooded including 800,000
ha of agricultural land and Dhaka
-Floods caused river bank erosion especially on embankment areas close to the main channels,
soil erosion, water-logging, water contamination

economic impacts
-Serious damage to infrastructure- roads, bridges, embankments, railway lines, irrigation
systems
-All domestic and internal flights had to be suspended during July
-Value of damage was assessed as being in region of $ 2.2 billion of 4% of total GDP for 2004

response and management

-Reliance on Ngo support-financial and emergency supplies- UN disaster management support
-Self help schemes promoted
-Local community early warning system implemented, plus shelters
-increasing use of levees to protect field and villages
-Increasing monitoring to reduce the impact as happens every year
-Encourage farmers to build homes on stilts
 MOZAMBIQUE - FLOODS

-February 2000: Zambezi, Limpopo and Save rivers flood

Many of the country’s 19m people live on the floodplains of these rivers
-most of the population are farmers, and these are the most fertile soils
-The banks of the Limpopo river burst, causing severe flood damage
-About 2 weeks later, Cyclone Eline hit the Mozambique coast near Beira, north of the areas
previously affected by flooding
-Flash floods inundated low farmlands around Chokwe + Xai-Xai – more than 180,000 people
affected
-Dirt roads easily turned to mud + so it took 2 days for a food lorry to travel 200 miles from the
port at Beira to Caia, the town used as a food distribution centre

UNIT 6 - MARINE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS

MANAGED RETREAT & CONFLICT - HAPPISBURGH, NORFOLK
-A small village with a pub, tea shop, lighthouse, church and homes
-850 population
-Mainly farmland
-No main roads
-Historic records indicate that over 250m of land were lost between 1600 and 1850
-the cliffs are soft clay, so erode very quickly. weathering increases the erosion rate. the location
of Happisburgh causes increasing problems with powerful waves from the North sea, which
creates landslides from eroding the base of the cliff
-by 2055, loss of 20 more properties
Loss of caravan park and farmland

old management (all 40 years old)

-Revetments-now damaged (from a storm) and not effective
-Groynes were placed to stop the rate of erosion, however they are not helping enough
-Rock Armour-now little effectiveness
-Increasing climate change and sea level rise are impacting and increasing erosion

conflict from managed retreat

-To repair revetment cost £5 million, not cost effective
-Farmers lose land and livelihood
-Insurance companies won’t pay out
-Increasing protest from locals to central government but g’ ment has said no
-Defences would cost more than the land and homes are worth
-Locals want compensation for the lack of management and for their homes collapsing into the
sea
-The historical lighthouse has had to be moved further back from the edge of the cliff
-Local campaign ‘buy a rock for Happisburgh” to raise money for private defences
 UNIT 7 & 8 – WATHER AND CLIMATE
MYANMAR – CYCLONE NARGIS

-3rd May 2008 – Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar

-Wind Speeds between 200-300km/h Flooding & mudslides due to heavy
-rainfall.
3.6 meter storm surge flooded
-Irrawaddy Delta
-2.4 million people affected
-140,000 people killed or missing
Infrastructure damage Agricultural damage

long term damage

- homelessness
- lack of food and clean water supply
- rise in food prices

tropical storm – how is it formed

-Warm air from North meets warm air from South in tropics
-Sea temp. 27oC and sea 60m deep, winds begin to circle anticlockwise due to the Earth’s
rotation
-Intense low pressure creates the eye of the storm as the spiraling air rises to create low
pressure along the equator.
-Tropical storms develop as depressions and wind speeds

AUSTRALIA - DROUGHT

-The Murray-Darling rivers provide over 70% of irrigation to the farming areas which produce
40% of Australia’s food (New South Wales and Victoria)
-Since 2002, rainfall has been well below average and rivers + reservoirs are too low to provide
enough water for crops and livestock to survive
- Average rainfall in outback can be 336 mm per year - very low
In Goulburn, farmers cannot keep livestock in the hills as the Pejar reservoir has

-run dry
-- abattoirs and wool plants cut consumption by 30%
-- tap water is unfit for human consumption, so bottled water must be bought
-In Melbourne, residents are fined or imprisoned if they wash their cars, fill swimming pools or
sprinkle gardens
-In Sydney, after 4 years of drought, the main reservoir is at 40% capacity + bush fires regularly
occur due to the dry weather
MADAGASCAR - RAINFORESTS

-9th poorest country in the world

-78% of workers work in the primary sector
-Deforestation people have used land for agriculture
-- lots of species under threat because of deforestation (eg. flying fox) – LOSS OF
-Biodiversity
-People are cutting down rainforests because countries exports rely on agriculture (70%) so need
to grow fast crops like rice in more areas
-Woods such as ebony and rosewood can be sold worldwide at a high price Trees are burned to
create farm land
- ash supplies nutrients for a while
- crops grow well for number of years
- heavy rainfall washes away nutrients – SOIL EROSION - crops no longer grow because all
nutrients used up
- FARMERS MOVE ON – SHIFTING CULTIVATION
-Animals lose food and habitat

SAHARA AND THE SAHEL - DESERTS

-The Sahel: the transitional zone between the true desert to the north and the savanna
grasslands to the south – currently moving further south
- average rainfall of 300-600mm per year
Desertification: the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically
-as a result of drought, or inappropriate agriculture - overcultivation
- overgrazing
- deforestation
- overpopulation - climate change
-Topsoil erosion by wind due to lack of rain + lack of vegetation protecting it

MALI - DESERTIFICATION

-Largest country in West Africa but one of the poorest in the world 80% of Mali’s population
work in agriculture
65% of Mali’s land is desert or semi-desert
-large amount of drought and food shortages in these areas Overcultivation in
the areas south of the SAHEL (due to a population growth rate of 3%) leads to LAND
DEGRADATION
- results in topsoil erosion by wind due to a lack of vegetation +
-moisture to protect it- extends the SAHEL south
 UNIT 9 - AGRICULTURE
INDIA – SUBSISTENCE RICE FARMING

-Rice is the staple of the diet in SE Asia Grown to feed themselves and their families
- labour intensive and requires the whole family
The farmer would also grow a secondary crop on the same land – beans,
-lentils or peas. They may also keep chickens for eggs or meat
-Grows best in the heavy monsoon seasons or where irrigation water can be provided
-The floodwaters are usually useful from the Ganges however
-- floods can be catastrophic + destroy the rice crop
-- some years rainfall is lower than expected + the crop is ruined
-Rice gives a high yield per hectare
-Heavy alluvial soils provide an impervious muddy layer

NEW ZEALAND – COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE

-Warm, wet climate ideal for growing grass – great for pastoral farming HARWOOD’S FARM,
NORTH CANTERBURY
- over 1500 hectares in size – mostly hill country or rolling downs
- special grasses planted on this land, providing high quality feed
-for large herds of sheep + cattle during the winter
-- fed on hay + silage when it snows in winter
- Corriedale sheep: provide good quantity of meat + wool
- Hereford cattle: sold for meat in October to save the cost of feeding
them over the winter
- Rabbits are regularly culled to stop them from eating large quantities of grass

FOOD SHORTAGES IN SUDAN

Causes/Effects:

Physical:
-long term decrease in rainfall and rain uncertainty
-flooding
-land degradation

Social:
-3% population growth > overgrazing, over cultivation to provide
-female literacy = 65%
-poor infant health
-increased threat of AIDS

Agricultural:
-decrease in crop yields - no fertiliser use
-lack of food surplus in case of crisis
 UNIT 10 - INDUSTRY

TOYOTA

-40% of Japanese market

-sells to 170 countries
-employs 300,000 people
-6th largest company by value of sales

In Japan:
-centred operations in ‘Toyota city’ - 12 plants here, employing 43,000, highly skilled and
motivated workforce
-head office in Tokyo
-Steel: Nagoya and Kimitsi
-completed vehicles shipped to Kanto district. Fleet of 4 vessels do shipping

Inputs: Rubber, land, capital

Processes: Research & development, assembly, painting
Outputs: cars, profit (which is then reintroduced to system as capital

BANGALORE – HI TECH INDUSTRY

One of India’s largest industrial cities. In 1991 a Software Technology Plant was created and
since then multinational IT companies have set up their offices in Bangalore

Due to:
- pleasant climate conditions: 900km above sea level making it cooler than most of India
- dust-free environment
- the state government having a long history of support of science and technology
Companies OUTSOURCE to India because:
- labour costs are considerably lower
- many high skilled workers available
- India has a large English speaking population (about 50m)

925 software companies

80,000 ICT workers
21 engineering colleges – workers taken straight from these colleges
>100 electrics companies in The Electronic City
PAKISTAN – STEEL INDUSTRY

-First steel factories were built in Pakistan in 1973 in order to develop the industrial sector of
their
economy
-Built on cheap flat land at Pipri near Gharo Creek in Karachi, out of the way so no residents of
the city could see it
-Also build downwind from Karachi so noise and air pollution would not blow into residential
areas
-In the past few years, Pakistan steel have reforested the area around the factories and set new
targets for waste and pollution reduction
-Water has been treated in freshwater supplies that feed lakes and reservoirs
-Also created a cricket ground, lakes, bird sanctuaries and a running track for employees
-Creates more jobs – benefits the city of Karachi

SEYCHELLES - TOURISM

-Made up of 115 islands in Indian Ocean, 1500km east of Africa Tourism industry provides the
islands with 70% of total income Money raised is invested back into the country-
Tourism employs about 30% of the labour force – many jobs created Over-tourism results in
drought + this can affect sanitation
-The drought is made worse by 75% of the water being lost through old and leaking pipes
-Due to the drought, the government are forced to take out a $25m loan to pay for a
desalination plant which is not only expensive, but takes away from the natural beauty of the
island
-Management: The minister of tourism for the Seychelles wants to limit the no. of
tourists to 200,000 per year to ensure stability and sustainability in the industry

DUBAI - TOURISM

-1 of the 7 Emirates that make up the UAE

-Subtropical climate – Arid – Infrequent rainfall (5 days of rain per year) – Mean daily
temperature
of 30oC in January, rising to >40oC in July
-Tourism makes up 30% of Dubai’s GDP
Hotels and Apartments recorded 6.5m guests in 2006 with a revenue of >US$3 billion
-Tourism has transformed an area of desert into one of the world’s top tourist destinations of
the
21st Century
-However, tourism stretches water supply and the rapid growth could lead to the place losing
some
of its attractive aspect that first brought tourists there
-But tourism provides a medium to long term addition to Dubai’s oil and gas exports