Brazilian Deforestation

What Is The Brazilian Government Doing To Reduce Deforestation Rates Within The Amazon And How Successful Has It Been?

During the years 1996 to 2005 the average yearly deforestation rate was around 19,500 square kilometres. Since 2005 the rate has been drastically reduced to around 7000 square kilometres a year or around 40% of the 1996-2005 average.  The government has helped achieved this vast reduction in a number of ways. The first key government actions to reduce the deforestation rate were the expansion of land designated as national park or indigenous reserves.  By stamping government ownership on much of the Amazon people have been deterred from taking land and clearing it by the prospect of potential government sanctions.

Asian Megacities

Lahore

Holding the prestige title of capital of Punjab province and boasting the second largest population for a city in Pakistan Lahore is classified as a mega-city. The population of Lahore is around 10 million and is growing rapidly.




Lahore is a historically diverse area within its region. Being the capital to the Ghaznavid's, Ghurid's, Mughal's, Sikh's and the British Empire. It is the 40th most populated urban area in the world and accoridng to the guardian it is the second best tourist destination in the whole of pakistan.

 The economy of Lahore in PPP GDP figures was around $40 billion with an average annual growth rate of around 5.6%.  Lahore contributes around 13.2% of Pakistan's total national GDP. Around 42% of Lahore's workforce is employed within the service sector of the economy. For such a large and rapidly growing city infrastructure is generally good and communications are up to date with most businesses being able to access high speed internet.

Lahore is described as Pakistan's most accessible city, with an abundance of public transport and private transport. Roads are being expanded every year and are well maintained. 75% of citizens have their own means of transport but many choose public transport as it is often cheaper or quicker and sometimes the government gives incentives for its use.

Lahore is overwhelmingly Muslim with around 94% of people being so. The rest are mainly Christian or seek. Lahore is also described as the cultural heart of Pakistan due to its rich history spanning many empires. Lahore is also well known for its abundance of schools, colleges and universities which provide the city with the skills it requires to pursue a service based economy.

Chinese Megacities

Chongqing, China

Chongqing is a very large inland city in South-West China. It is one of only 4 municipalities in China controlled directly by the central government. It perhaps sums up quite well Chinese development, the city has grown exponentially and the municipality of Chongqing now has a population of 31.4 million. It is quoted by many sources as being the worlds largest municipality in both physical size and in terms of population.

The city of Chongqing served as China's capital city during World War II and the war against the imperial Japanese armies. Today it serves an economic purpose, being the hub of economic activity in the upper Yangtze region. The urban population or the actual city population is around 5 million at a density of 382 people per square kilometer. The cultural background of Chongqing is mainly "Han" with around 91% of people being of Han ascendancy.

Chongqing has a sub-tropical climate with its summers being among the hottest in the whole of China around 34-35 degrees. The economy is Chongqing is growing rapidly with 137,000 square meters of floor space being added to the city everyday for commercial, industrial and residential purposes. The city grows by about 1300 people every day which adds approximately $15 million to the economy daily. It is China's third largest automobile producing region, producing 1 million cars and 8.6 million motorcycles.

The Chongqing Iron and Steel Company is Asia's largest Aluminum  manufacturing factory. The current GDP stands at around $90 billion with $3300 per capita and about 15% annual growth. Unlike Lagos, Chongqing is a well planned city, transport and infrastructural needs are planned for to prevent problems.

Other problems include organized crime, in 2009 4893 suspected criminals were arrested for organized crime. However, Chongqing's most prevalent problem is its huge water pollution levels in the nearby rivers and tributaries in addition to the heavy air pollution which both the UN and the EU quote as being unsafe.

African Megacities

Lagos

The megacity of Lagos stretches along the South-West Coastline of Nigeria. Stretching 389 square miles with 8 million residents at a mind boggling density of 7941 people per square kilometre Lagos is the fastest growing city in Nigeria and is fueling the process of rural-urban migration within Nigeria.

Formerly known by the name Eko, Lagos was the capital of Nigeria from 1914 to 1991. It was stripped of its capital status after the capital was shifted to Abuja since Lagos was criticised for being "too Christian" and Abuja is a balance between the Islamic North and the Christian south.

The size of the Lagos metropolitan area totals 15.5 million. By a conservative estimate Lagos grows by 275,000 people every year. The economic effects of Lagos growing rapidly is of a chinese essence. Large supplies of cheap rural migrant labour, inflows of foreign investment and accumaltions of industry, technology and commerce all keep business costs low and potential for profit high.

20% of Lagos' GDP is provided from petroleum based services or exports. Lagos port is Nigeria's largest port and one of the largest in Africa, it brings Lagos exclusive trading opportunities and a constant supply of imports to fuel sectors of the economy where Nigeria is not self sufficient.

However, Lagos has a rapidly rising slum population and its government has been slow to improve transport infrastructure (the Lagos light rail project is not due for completion until 2012) and education is still for the elites or highly skilled. Lagos only has 7 secondary, University and college institutions. Tourist attractions include Oba's Palace, the Nigerian National Museum, Shrine of Fela, the beach resorts and Prophet T.B. Joshua's Synagogue and the Church Of All Nations.

Geography Courses

 UCAS Geography Courses

There are many types of geography based courses at British universities. There are the more standard geography courses and then the more obscure parts of geography plus geography courses integrated with other subjects.
These are the core geography courses:
Geography F800
Geography L700

There are Human geography courses:
Human Geography L701

And Physical Geography Courses:
Physical Geography F840

As well as geography with other subjects here are a few more examples:
Geography with Study in Continental Europe (F801)
Geography and Environmental Management (FF89)
Geography and History (LV71)
Geography with Animal Science (F8D3)
Geography and Sociology (FL83)
Geography with French (F8R1)
Geography with Psychology (F8C8)
Geography with English (F8Q3)
Geography and Economics (LL71)

The Millenium Development Goals

The Millenium Development Goals

The MDG’s are a set of 8 international development goals that all 192 UN nations and 23 international organisations aim to achieve by 2015.

They are as follows:

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Halve the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day, achieve decent employment rates for men women and young people and halve the number of people who suffer from hunger.

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

By 2015 all children will have the opportunity to complete a full primary education.

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality And Empower Women

Eliminate the gender disparity in the education systems of the world by 2015.

Goal 4:  Reduce the child mortality rate

Reduce the under 5’s mortality rate by 66% by 2015.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Reduce the maternal motality rate by 75% by 2015 and get access to contraception for all women.

Goal 6: Combat Major Diseases

Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV by 2015,  achieve universal access by 2010 to HIV drugs to all who need it and have halted and begun to reverse the incidence of major diseases like malaria and sleeping sickness by 2015.

Goal 7: Environmental Sustainability

Integrate the principles of sustainable development into every countries policies and begin to reverse the process of environmental degradation. Have a significant decline in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.  Improve access to sanitation and clean water and improve the lives significantly of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership For Development

Develop a non discriminating trading and financial system. Address the needs of LDCs. Address the special needs of landlocked or island underdeveloped states. Deal with worldwide debt problems. Make medicine and new communication technology available to developing countries by negotiating with large providers.

Problems With The MDGs

The major problem with the MDGs seems to be the fact they provide targets that for many nations are unattainable. For example a certain level of forest cover (around 50% is the average target) is almost impossible for an industrialized nation to achieve.  And some gender equality targets are almost impossible for hard line Islamic states like Iran to achieve since women always play a more traditional role in society. As well as the fundamental problems of the objectives themselves the whole project is under-funded, the 0.7% of GNP agreed by the industrialized wealthy nations isn't being paid and some are refusing to give that much.

Progress

Progress is difficult to generalise some nations are doing well and others are progressing badly or even regressing. Check the progress of a nation of your choice from here:

http://www.mdgmonitor.org/

The World Bank

What Is The World Bank?

Well as Keynes famously said they must have got the names of the world bank and the IMF mixed up. The world bank funds development projects and the IMF loans money to struggling nations. The world bank is an international organization with 187 countries as members. The function of the world bank is to loan money and provide assisstance with nations looking to construct large scale development projects. It was formed in the Bretton Woods agreement after world war two to aid with the reconstruction of a war torn Europe.

The Structure Of The World Bank

There are 5 Sections to the world bank:

1) The International Bank For Reconstruction And Development, IBRD.

2) International Finance Corporation, IFC.

3) International Development Association, IDA.

4) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, MIGA.

5) International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, ICSID.

What Does The World Bank Do?

The IBRD and IDA provide loans and grants to countries looking to undertake development projects or lacking access to sufficient credit/loans. Loans cover areas such as health and education, agriculture, rural development, environmental protection, infrastructure and governance.

The organization is demand by western free market theorists who are quite influential within the world bank, it promotes free trade and it likes to make nations it helps into large capitalist free markets. As much as people criticize the world bank, for being a "neo-colonialist" arm of the western world aiming to spread its economic structure and culture, it has helped international development substantially in its time.

The International Monetary Fund

What Is The IMF?

The IMF is a global organization that aims to promote international monetary cooperation and international economic stability whilst increasing the prosperity of international trade. The IMF also works to solve financial crises in the international economy (Greece being the most recent example) by using pro-Keynesian methods as opposed to the alternative method which is devaluation (reducing AD in the hope imports will fall and rescue the trade balance).

What Is The Purpose Of The IMF?

> Promote international monetary cooperation.

> Facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade.

> Provide exchange rate stability.

> Ensure multilateral payment systems are keep functioning fairly, efficiently and are regulated sufficiently.

> Provide financial aid to members who are struggling to cope with certain financial crises.

Drawbacks Of The IMF

>Places strict and sometimes unreasonable conditions with its financial aid packages.

>Dominated by the biggest contributors (i.e. the USA is significantly more powerful than other smaller nations like Poland even if they each give the same % of GDP).

> 2001 Argentinean crisis showed the failures of hefty budget restrictions and that the aid is not always beneficial.

> Critics say the IMF encourages Globalization and is increasing the global disparity of income by making LDC's more dependent on the developed nations.