IB Geography: Resources Vocab
27 flashcards · Other · by Gabrielle Wong
Biocapacity: The land and water needed to provide resources to humans
Even though the size of the earth is largely fixed, the theories of Boserup suggest that the biocapacity of the earth is not because humans are able to innovate to increase biocapacity. An example of this is the development of High Yield Variety crops.
Global hectares: Unit of measurement for ecological footprint, productivity-weighted land
Ecological footprint: The land area necessary to fulfill resource needs and manage waste, measured in global hectares A calculation of biologically productive land needed to produce materials consumed and to absorb waste – includes six areas of biocapacity: carbon footprint, crop lands, grazing lands, forests, oceans, and built-up land, measured in gha
The earth’s biocapacity allows for an ecological footprint of 2.1 gha per person, but we are currently using about 2.6 per person.
Biocapacity creditor: A country that isn’t using up all of its biocapacity, typically larger countries with less dense populations such as Canada or LICs
A biocapacity creditor is not necessarily a better actor for the environment; per-capita measurements are more reliable in this sense.
Biocapacity debtor: A country that is using all of (or exceeding) its biocapacity, typically more wealthy countries with dense populations such as South Korea or Qatar
Biocapacity debt is a problem because on a large scale, it means that humans are using more resources than the earth can sustainably provide
Food security is the state in which all individuals in a country have access to sufficient, nutritious, culturally acceptable and safe food that can be acquired in socially acceptable ways, meets their dietary preferences/needs, and is adequate to meet their needs for a healthy and active lifestyle
About 1 in 9 individuals are food insecure · Rich meat/dairy diets require much more land to feed people o 1 hectare of potatoes = 22 people o Rice = 19 people o Lamb = 2 people o Beef = 1 person
Energy security: Access to clean, reliable, and affordable energy sources
Energy security is not just a problem in LICs; it can also be difficult for impoverished families in HICs where energy costs and bills tend to be high.
Water security: Access to safe water for drinking and sanitation within 1 km of location, 20 L per head
Increasing water security is a good way to encourage the development of an area as it is an indicator of better infrastructure and allows women/children to pursue activities (such as getting an education) outside of fetching and boiling water · 1.6 million people per year die from diseases caused by contaminated water, such as diarrhoea and cholera o 6 million are visually impaired by schistosomiasis o 133 million suffer from intestinal infections o 1/3 of the world lives in countries where con…
Economic water scarcity: Lack of access to water because it isn’t affordable, often due to water privatization, common in LICs
Economic water scarcity was a problem in Bolivia because of water privatization (owned by a subsidiary of Suez, a French company)
Physical water scarcity: Lack of access to water because it is not physically in the environment (if more than 60% of the water replenished by nature in an area is consumed)
Physical water scarcity is most common in arid and semi-arid areas, such as the deserts of sub-Saharan Africa.
WFE Nexus: The relationship between food, energy, and water.
Albania is an example of a country that is particularly vulnerable due to the WFE-nexus. Their energy is 95% hydroelectric, so decreasing water availability due to climate change is a large concern not just due to water shortages but also because it may lead to energy shortages. A 20% decrease in runoff could mean a 60% decrease in energy production.
Virtual water: The ways in which water is transferred from one country to another through exports
The movement of water through the concept of virtual water can be problematic for populations from which water is taken. For example, Coca-Cola removes 3 L of water from the groundwater of Rajastan, India for every 1 L of coke, and because Coke is exported around the world, that water doesn’t stay in that system and is lost to farmers and other citizens.
Conservation: The efficient and non-wasteful use of resources
Conversation is also a good business model because it allows for optimization of costs as resources can be used more efficiently.
Preservation: Not using resources (opposes any form of exploitation)
National parks are an example of preservation and can often be good for the tourist industry, although this sometimes contradicts the purpose of preservation. (for example, the destruction of beaches in the Philippines due to tourist activity)
Stewardship: A combination of conservation and preservation that sees humans as the caretakers of the world so that it is available for the future.
Stewardship tries to strike a balance between conservation and preservation.
Sustainable development: Developing economically, environmentally, and socially in a way that will last (people-planet-profit)
Masdar City in the UAE was built as sustainably as possible by considering what would be best for people (design of ways to keep the city cool), planet (using renewable energy such as solar panels to do this), and profit (encouraging the growth of a knowledge economy in the city)
Circular Economy: A model that envisions the economy acting like an ecosystem; instead of buying products, they are leased to people and returned to the company after use for disposal/reuse
Although the circular economy model isn’t very practical, in non-service sectors of the economy, such as technology and manufactured goods, it could be a way to incentivize the design of more reusable goods.
PEAK oil: The concept that the earth’s oil production will reach a peak and then begin to decline, the maximum amount of oil extractable at one time
PEAK oil worries many countries in the Middle East because their economies are currently very reliant on oil; to change this, UAE has begun to invest in sustainable development and Saudi Arabia has launched tourist initiatives (ex. Open heats open borders, allowing foreigners to apply for visas for non-religious travel) o World Oil Reserves = 57% Middle East, 16% North America, 9% Africa § Iran, Kuwait, Russia, UAE, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia may produce 37% of the world’s oil by 2050 · Taking grea…
Poverty: The state of being extremely poor
The definition of poverty and what it looks like is very location-dependent.
The Poverty Line refers to the amount of money an individual makes in a day that is the barrier between being considered to be living in extreme poverty, currently $1.90 a day
The extreme poverty rate has dropped from 42% in the 1950s to only 10% today. There are curently 0.75 billion people in poverty.
Global Middle Class: Refers to individuals who earn between 11 and 110 dollars a day
The Global Middle Class has a large impact on resource consumption because individuals are able to consume more (meat, products etc.) as they have more discretionary income. o By 2030, over 40% of the Global Middle Class will live in Asia
Resources = something useful for humans – variable depending on the human
Pigs are a much more useful resource for a Chinese person compared to a Muslim.
Carbon offsetting refers to when companies identify their carbon footprint, then pay money to absorb an equivalent amount
Carbon offsetting is not an effective way of developing sustainable because pollution still happens; instead, it allows companies to factor in the costs of polluting into their projections and swallow that cost to continue polluting anyways.
Types of waste management: remove, reduce, re-source, reuse, recycle, recover, return Conservation, minimization, change materials, reintroduce into same flow, use in a different flow (may be downcycling), capture some value, return to environment
Removal is the best form of waste disposal because it doesn’t create any waste to be disposed of in the first place.
Malthus: · Believed that their was a fixed ceiling to population growth o Population grows geometrically, food production only grows arithmetically · Would lead to famine Neo-Malthusians: belief that consumption and population are related; population/economic growth are checked by these limitations
Has given way to the Club of Rome and people like Paul Ehrlich: · The population bomb” · Thought the world would undergo famine in the 1970s The Club of Rome: makes reports called “The Limits of Growth” Based on simulations of resource consumption Predicted a massive population decline around 2050 Have been all wrong so far
Julian Simon: · Believed humans were the ultimate resource · Scarcity isn’t the physical quantity, but the price of a resource · For almost every natural resource, the price has decreased over time ·
Made a bet with Ehrlich that the price of any 5 commodities Ehrlich chose would fall o He won, but in any year after 1994, Ehrlich would have won o Graph shows price may be determined by economic flows · Before his death: o Material conditions of life will continue improving o But people will still say life is getting worse
Boserup: · Believed population growth stimulated resource development o Incentive and pressure to innovate · The need to accommodate more people would lead to sudden leaps forward in the scale of food production
Example of this: development of HYV crops