Is There A Link Between Economic Growth and Water Demand?

Generally it is accepted that as economies grow in size the amount of water demanded within the economy also increases. If you observe the graph to the right you can see over the past 100 years agricultural water demand has increase 600% , industrial usage has increased nearly 1000% and domestic use about 400%. In 1900 we used about 700km cubed of water, in 2000 we used about 4,500km cubed of water. Does this show a trend with economic growth in the world?

Note the scale can be deceptive (the space between 0 and 2000 is the same as the space between 2000 and 10000.

It seems quite obvious that generically water demand does follow economic growth. Throughout the 20th century both water demand and economic growth constantly increase. In both graphs the sharpest rises come after the end of World War II. Therefore it is logically to agree with the trend. However, you must not rule out the effects of other factors, for example population growth. Even though the above graph shows economic growth in terms of GDP per capita (which therefore factors for the additional population growth) the increase in water demand is also affected by a growth in population.

We can see from the first graph that the largest increase in water consumption in the whole century is clearly industrial usage. Since the 20th century was the era of vast industrialisation particularly from 1980 onwards when the Asian economies started developing rapidly (India, South Korea and China). Agricultural usage still uses the most water worldwide and Agricultural output is very closely linked with GDP levels; increasing food supply is a result of increasing demand within an economy which is a result of growth.

There is an extensive link that is easily proved between water demand and economic growth. Since water demand is the amount of consumers in an economy willing and able to buy water demand will increase when consumers have increased wealth to demand more and when consumer demand leads to demand for other goods or services which need water to be produced.

The Dependency Theory

The Dependency Theory: In geographical terms the dependency theory is the way that low income states or groupings have become dependent on high income nations in order to survive. This has come about due to the way world economic integration has created winners and losers.

How Are Low Income States Dependent On Others In This Theory?

Stock markets are too technology advanced for some dependent nations.

Low income states since they lack the skills and financial base to compete with high income states often are reliant on the provision of cheap labour and supplying natural resources to the high income states. High income states also exploit the low income nations by selling them obsolete technology. High income states very often make up the largest buyer of low income state's exports.

Since high income states are owners and developers of most technological advances low income states are very much dependent on high income states to sell them technology and capital which to them is an advancement (but very often for the high income states this kind of technology is outdated).

There are other ways in which high income states can make low income states dependent on them (economic functions is the most common way)  such as economics, media control, politics, banking and finance, education, culture, sport, and human resource development.

How Did This Situation Occur?

globalisation has created the dependency theory

The globalisation of the world economy, the emergence of capitalist economies as the most successful, aggressive trading schemes, unstoppable Trans-national corporations and the general effects of an integrated world economy. All these factors have led to small income nations being disadvantaged partially because they are never given a chance, in the capitalist world markets those with significant comparative advantages win and those without them lose. High income nations posses these advantages (technology, skilled labour, solid infrastructure, high GDP, stable economies, international culture) and low income nations are therefore driven out of the wealthy markets and left to be the undervalued part of the world economy; manufacturing and resource extraction/cultivation.

Superpower Geography: Mackinder's Heartland Theory Explained

Mackinder's Heartland Theory

English Political Geographer Sir Halford Mackinder came up with his heartland theory in the 1904. He submitted his theory to the Royal Geographic Society. The theory came about due to the fact that Russia was a huge nation at this point in time and even though slightly backwards in some respects at the same time they still held a vast empire yet to be defeated in battle. 

The theory states that all of world power rotates around the pivot area. So the pivot area is the power stronghold of the world; it will always have power but the power in the areas around it will change. The pivot area places an importance on Eastern Europe and the Russian Empire.

Many believe that Mackinder's Heartland Theory was used by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi's as his way of planning a world takeover, however, how far this was used is yet to be fully deciphered.

Mackinder labelled Europe, Asia and Most of Africa the World island. It was in his opinion the land mass all connected together that held the most power. The offshore islands (including Britain and Japan)  held the next amount of power, followed by the outer islands which are the North and South American and Australia.

Although the theory was proved successful, from World War II onwards the idea lost its significance. Since Russia the so called heartland of power crumbled to the German armies and the Japanese  islanders ended up conquering vast areas of Asia which is connected to the World Island. Also the theory itself implies a weakness and insignificance of sea war craft which played a vital role in World War II.

The World Trade Organisation

The World Trade Organisation

What is the world trade organisation?

The world trade organisation is an international regulatory body that is responsible for negotiating trade agreements, policing the rules of international trade and settling disputes involving one or more member nations.

Who are the members of the WTO?

The world trade organisation has 153 members of which they account for 97% of the value of international trade. The most recent member to join was the Ukraine in 2008.  The WTO was formed in 1995 by the world’s biggest trading players such as the USA, the UK, Germany and India. China became a member in 2001.

What Does the WTO actually do?

The WTO has a statement of responsibility in which it states it will regulate world trade in accordance with non-discriminatory, predictable and fair policies. Whilst allowing trade to benefit developing nations through fair competition and removing their entry barriers into western markets.

What was the Uruguay round?

The Uruguay round was a WTO meeting in which key policy changes were made. Tariffs on industrial products were to be cut by 40% in the years 1995-2000, the end product of this was average cuts from 6.3 to 3.8%. Also developing nations were able to get the number of high tariffs down on their goods. The average number of goods with a tariff of 15% or more fell from 9% to 5%. Binding agreements were also decided whereby developed and developing nations cannot increase their tariffs above a pre-agreed level.

What Was The Doha Round?

The Doha round was held in Qatar in the Middle East. It was another WTO agreement in which improving conditions for the developing nations took centre stage. Industrialised nations agreed that by 2013 they would not subsidise any of their export industries. Also for the extremely impoverished nations, a “everything but arms” initiative was created by which they can sell their products to the western markets with no tariffs, this deal covers about 97% of these nations exports.

						The Best Universities For Geography 2010  Here are the best universities in the country for studying geography based courses. The information is courtesy of the complete university guide. As you can see the best university in the country for geography is Cambridge. There are many London universities which rank among the best such as LSE (London School Of Economics), UCL (university college London) and Royal Holloway. However, take note of the graduate prospects column, this clearly shows that if you are looking for the best employment prospects then LSE is the place for you.     Rank Institution Student Satisfaction Research Assessment Entry Standards Graduate Prospects Overall Score 1 Cambridge 4.25 5 A 511 79 100.0 2 London School of Economics 3.68 5 A 435 91 98.2 3 Oxford 4.04 4 A 492 78 97.1 4 Durham 3.68 5* A 453 77 97.1 5 University College London 3.95 5* A 436 74 97.0 6 Bristol 3.71 5* A 459 71 96.1 7 Edinburgh 3.53 5* A 442 72 95.1 8 St Andrews 4 B 444 67 94.0 9 Royal Holloway 4.13 5* A 359 67 94.0 10 Dundee 3.83 4 A 429 69 92.6 11 Sheffield 3.82 5 A 398 66 92.4 12 Southampton 3.74 5 A 393 68 92.3 13 Newcastle 3.66 5 A 369 71 92.0 14 Nottingham 3.54 5 B 426 66 91.2 15 Strathclyde 3a C 467 63 90.9 16 Loughborough 3.91 5 B 364 65 90.7 17 Cardiff 3.89 5* A 321 59 90.2 18 Birmingham 3.94 4 B 379 65 90.1 19 Reading 3.92 4 A 356 65 90.0 20 Leeds 3.69 5 B 369 65 90.0

PC Games To Support Geography

Being an avid gamer myself I have been able to appreciate that certain PC video games have to ability to provide additional enriching information that has provided useful in my high level Geographical studies. These games often provide geographic information in the terms of the spatial structure of our world, as well the history of how certain places came to be and why their geography is as it is today.

A game that I have found invaluable is Europa Universalis III. This game is a Strategy game based between the 15th and 19th centuries. It provides players with the ability to acquire detailed knowledge of the world and its places, it provides many regions not just countries so you are able to know that say Goa is in India or Seminole is in the USA etc. The game also shows depending on the start date you choose the position of European colonies which is useful knowledge. Map options also show the spread of different cultural groups and religions at any given start date you choose.

Another game , which is less thought-intensive is Far Cry 2, not obviously applicable to geographical concepts. However, playing the game it is clear it gives a fantastic view on the structure of impoverished and war torn African countries. Similar to Botswana in many ways it shows how the diamond trade and foreign intervention within the economy and military of the small African nation (the nation is fictional in the game) has led it to its almost total destruction. You can gain some good ideas from this game so why not give it a try.


Finally cities XL a game which is linked to the economic and social side of big cities and development. Take on the role of the all seeing and all dancing city planner who has the ability to control everything. This game gives you an insightful knowledge of what cities need to function fully and the effects of them growing in size. It will give you the ability to not only have fun but explore the role that big cities have to play within the social and economic structure of a country. Can you balance economic growth, with social equality and protect the environment?

How Far Is Economic Development Due To Energy Security?

How Far Is Economic Development Due To Energy Security?

Economic development needs a range of factors to ensure it can be achieved. There must be the capacity within the economy to expand, this is determined by having enough labour, market demand and resources to grow and develop economically. Energy security plays a key role in economic development. Having enough energy allows the economy to enter new sectors i.e. from agriculture to industry. Partially one of the reasons why much of Africa struggles to develop is because it doesn’t have abundant energy resources to generate electricity from or run motor vehicles.

China is a very good example of how economic development has been empowered by an abundance of energy. China has huge reserves of Coal, access to electricity from the three gorges dam and reserves of oil and gas. It has sustained nearly 10% growth in the past 10 or so years, with its energy needs climbing at an alarming rate. China’s industrial sector uses 71% of the countries energy.

Kuwait is another example. For much of its early history (up until the 70s and 80s) Kuwait was a relatively small and low income arab state. The GDP per capita in the 1970s was just around $4000. By 1997 it was $23,000. Standards of living and development has advanced at rapid rate, access to endless amounts of oil has allowed them to set up industry and for peoples homes to have access to electricity. Their citizens also can use cars cheaply. The excess oil they can sell to make further profits. All this growth wouldn’t have been possible without access to abundant energy supplies.

However an abundance of energy resources doesn’t always result in economic development, take for example Gabon in Africa, it produces about 150,000 barrels a day more than it uses but its people are still highly impoverished and economic development is similar to that of other African countries that have no oil. In a sense economic development is not solely affected by access to energy there are many other factors such as the government’s organisation of the economy and the skills and training your workforce has.

Looking at the Gazprom gas cut off of last year this is a good example of how some countries are vulnerable in terms of energy security, and for the period when the gas was turned off much of the Eastern European countries like Romania has people living without central heating, without electricity and the whole country came to a standstill. It can quite easily be assumed that if such a shortage were to be long-term the economic development in many countries (including developed ones) would see a decline in the economic development and the wellbeing of its people.

The main points for supporting that economic development is determined by energy security is by looking at the countries mentioned above that have significant energy security and have had fast and sustainable (so far) economic development. Energy security means countries can continue to grow industry and the economy as well as improving the living standards of its people. Economic development however in some countries that have abundant energy supplies does not always occur; some countries with access to energy security live in relative poverty. Therefore, it can be said that even though energy security is one of the most fundamental properties to a prosperous economy sometimes other factors such as corruption, bad government planning and a poorly skilled workforce can hinder countries from achieving satisfactory levels of economic development.

Trade Protectionism / Trade Disputes: The Banana Wars

The Banana Wars

Past (1934 – 1935)

The Banana Wars were a series of occupations, police actions, and interventions involving the United States in Central America and the Caribbean. Reasons for these conflicts were largely economical i.e. American interests in these regions were largely made up of banana production.

Present

7% of European bananas come from the Caribbean; nearly 75% come from U.S.A controlled Central American plantations. The term banana war describes a six year trade quarrel between the U.S.A and the EU (roughly 1993-1999). The U.S.A complained that an EU scheme giving banana producers from former colonies in the Caribbean special access to European markets broke free trade rules. The U.S.A filed a complaint against the EU with the World Trade Organization or WTO and in 1997 won the case and the EU was instructed to alter its rules on its banana trade policy.

Since 1975 certain Caribbean countries have been allocated trade quotas by the EU allowing them to sell as many bananas to Europe as possible without facing trade competition from much cheaper, large scaled, mechanized, US run corporations. The EU hoped this would enable the economies of Caribbean countries to grow without depending on overseas aid.

Following the World trade organization ruling the quarrel continued and the U.S.A retaliated by imposing a 100% import duty tax on all EU products inbound for the U.S.A. The British government has been trying to negotiate with the Americans to get them to reverse their import duty and the WTO said it will investigate matters.

The U.S government says it is taking action because it believes in free and fair trade. However, the American trade deficit (i.e. value of imports is more than value of exports) which it wants to reduce and by exporting more bananas it can do that. Also the government had been taking action due to pressure from U.S transnational corporations, for example the American government took the issue to the WTO 24 hours after receiving a $500,000 donation from an American transnational corporation (Chiquita Brands).

The effects on Europe were a decrease in trade profits and potentially a loss of European jobs related to trade, for example Cashmere producers in Scotland. As Bananas provide nearly half of Caribbean jobs if the deal with the EU is instructed to be cancelled then it could cost the Caribbean economy a lot. The Lome convention (a deal which allowed former colonies special free access to European markets) was ruled as unfair by the WTO. Meaning in theory Caribbean colonies weren’t allowed to get any special agreements from the EU.

To this day the situation is not fully resolved and legally the Caribbean is now on a level playing field with American Transnational Companies when it comes to banana exports and competing for markets. However, the market doesn’t remain ‘Free’ as the Americans like to suggest when their incredibly wealthy transnational corporations dominate trade with violent market controlling policies.