MapQuiz for the iPhone

The Wiley Geo Team is has been having fun challenging colleagues and friends to test their Geography expertise with their new MapQuiz app for the iPhone. Available for download in the iTunes Store, anyone can test their mental maps of the world with this fun quiz game!

To learn more about the app please click here.

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Concept Caching: Malnourished Child–Malawi

From our Concept Caching image cache that hopes to promote student spatial awareness by relating specific features on the Earth’s surface with their visual character and GPS coordinates. Through the site photographs and GPS coordinates demonstrate core concepts in geography.  Images are “cached” for viewing by core concept and by region.  Images are certainly useful for introducing visual content to students in all Geography classes.

Children are the world’s most vulnerable population set, at high risk for hunger, disease, and exploitation.  Perhaps the most obvious imperative to the eradication of poverty as discussed in the post Behind the Millennium Development Goals is in meeting the basic needs of the world’s children, especially those in developing countries.  This image illustrates the daily heartbreak of children living in poverty.

Behind the Millennium Development Goals

Last month the United Nations General Assembly met in New York to discuss the progress of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) created in 2000.  The MDGs are an excellent geographic case study as well as an appropriate lens for viewing geographic areas and relationships in world regions.  They can be investigated from the context of the late 1990s.  Global power dynamics can be traced among the structures of international governance and the world economy.  Assumptions and expectations can be unraveled from the focus on social indicators and development, rather than economic development alone.  The interconnections and impacts of local realities can be woven together among the abstract semantics of these aims.

The creation of the MDGs was an outcome of several decades’ worth of United Nations (UN) conferences and summits.  In 2000, the UN Millennium Declaration was signed by all 189 of the member countries, which had the overarching goal of combating global poverty.  At that time, two underlying reasons informed the creation of these eight goals.  First, there had been an overall decrease in the levels of international aid committed by wealthier countries.  Second, the overall increasing pace of globalization was feared to spread global ills, like terrorism, crime, and disease into the developed world.  Moreover, the 2010 Millennium Development Summit has been plagued by similar setbacks: the continuing indolence of developed world donations over the last decade, worsened by the impacts of the recent global recession.  There have also been some echoes of the role of development and poverty in combating global terrorism.

The MDGs, and the UN from which they originate from, can be investigated for their traces of global power.  Studying development often begins with classifying the world into a continuum of more developed vs. less developed or developing.  Ultimately, behind this binary is a division of the world into rich and poor, power-full and power-less.  Global political and economic structures have emerged from the developed, rich, power-full world, and exhibit the assumptions and expectations from those privileged positions.

The 2000 UN Millennium Declaration does exhibit a slightly different perspective on development than previous theories.  First, it may be seen as recognition of the limits of economic development alone as a path to providing greater welfare for all global peoples.  Typically, economic development theories, which rely on economic development indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Income (GNI), undervalue the contributions of subsistence and informal activities, as well as underestimate the impact of accounted economic activities on the environment.  These oversights may have contributed to a view of economic re-structuring and trade policies as ineffective in combating and mitigating social problems in the developing world.  Second, it may also be a rejection of another path to greater welfare – the theory of “teaching” less developed peoples how to generate their own wealth at home.  The complexities of such lessons combined with “culture of poverty” notions perhaps led to the abandoning of that path.  In the end, the paths to greater welfare are not so clear anyway, as shown in lack of progress of Goal Eight to develop a “global partnership for development.”  Whatever the notions behind the formation of the MDGs, they do exhibit two hopeful expectations of the developed world for what development through aid can accomplish: long, healthy, educated, quality lives; and a reduction of global ills.

This connection of scales, the lives of local people to the lives of global societies, exhibits the interconnections and impacts that have led to the creation of each of the MDGs.  Goal One aims to eliminate extreme poverty and hunger, both of which relate to ensuring that basic needs are met for all people.  Once basic needs are met, Goals Two and Three aim to make primary education universal, to promote gender equity and to empower women.  Educating people, especially women, has a clear correlation to economic progress, which adds to the human capital, productivity, and output of a country, or its development.  Goals Four, Five and Six seek to target the populations that are most vulnerable in poverty and to reduce, their often preventable, high mortality and disease rates.  Not combating preventable deaths of women and children would ultimately undermine the first three goals and the economic progress they would bring.  Goal Seven also factors into national progress by instilling ethnics and policies of environmental sustainability to improve the quality of life and to protect national assets.  In theory these goals are sound and reasonable; however, the last 10 years have shown the complexity to their implementation.

To lead class discussions about the MDGs, their complexities, and their progress, students can discuss one or more recent news articles on certain goals.  One focus has been on “energy poverty,” and the idea that access to clean energy will make the eradication of poverty possible.  It is also well known that most of poor people are women.  Accordingly, there has been much said about women’s development, women’s health, maternal mortality, equity and empowerment.  Also, there has been mention of the environmental sustainability, but with a new take on its significance.  Finally, there is an excellent interactive media created by the Guardian that visually presents the progress of three major indictors.

Discussion Questions:

1. What makes a more developed country?  What makes a less developed country?  Consider both economic and social development factors.
2. Why do you think the “eradication of poverty” is an important global goal?  What do you think about the role of developed countries in this cause?
3. Review the Guardian’s Millennium Goals interactive.  Why do you think hunger, primary education and infant mortality are considered “crucial indicators” by the Guardian?  Why do they compare these indicators to GDP?

Concept Caching: Global Warming and the Maldives

From our Concept Caching image cache that hopes to promote student spatial awareness by relating specific features on the Earth’s surface with their visual character and GPS coordinates. Through the site photographs and GPS coordinates demonstrate core concepts in geography.  Images are “cached” for viewing by core concept and by region.  Images are certainly useful for introducing visual content to students in all Geography classes.

As a counterpoint to the question asked in the post Geography Directions: Can we ‘prove’ climate change? is the more worrisome question of what can we do to mitigate the changes that are no doubt occurring.  Insular countries like the Maldives would indeed consider that the “million dollar question.”  This image illustrates the impact that global climate change, and the possibility of a significant rise in global sea levels, would have on the survival and existence of certain landscapes and landforms.

Geography Directions: Can we ‘prove’ climate change?

From our Geography Directions site reviewing Wiley-Blackwell’s Geography Compass review journal covering the entire discipline.  Keep up with cutting edge academic geography.  These articles may be useful for introducing students to the discipline or may be appropriate for upper division Geography classes.

Referring to the ongoing heatwave in Russia and floods in Pakistan, a broadsheet newspaper recently printed an article with the headline “Disasters ‘prove that global warming is happening’.” The article was reproduced on the internet, with the more cautious title “global warming could be the cause.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agrees that extreme events like these are consistent with climate trends. However, global warming refers to long term climatic trends over periods of decades. Heatwaves and flooding, however extreme, are short term weather events. They do no more to ‘prove’ global warming than heavy snowfall across the UK in January ‘disproves’ it.

Extreme events have always happened. What we’re concerned about are long term trends in climate, which might make these sorts of events more common. But we can’t wait around for these trends to play out over decades before concluding that we have observed ‘proof’: by then it will be far too late to mitigate any damage already caused. So what constitutes scientific proof?

In a paper in Area, Greg O’Hare reviewed the uncertainties in climate science, ranging from measurement errors in data collection to simplifications introduced into computer models. The world’s climate system is complex and our knowledge and ability to measure it is incomplete. Scientists can only draw interpretations about climate change from the available evidence, albeit using increasingly sophisticated techniques such as computer models. Linking observations with the process of climate change is, therefore, an uncertain business.

Scientific research is inherently uncertain (if we were sure, there would be no point to research). While scientists can do their best to quantify and reduce uncertainty, the level of uncertainty that we are willing to accept when making decisions is a question for policy makers and wider society.

By I-Hsien Porter

To view the original article please visit the Geography Directions Blog.

GeoDiscoveries: South Asian Agriculture

In addition to providing quality textbooks and course content, Wiley offers an excellent media library of GeoDiscoveries that include content animations and comprehension activities.  These media tools will aid students in visualizing concepts over time and space and test their understanding using geographer’s tools.  Check with your Wiley representative to ask about the library of GeoDiscoveries that may accompany your course textbook.

GeoDiscoveries: South Asian Agriculture

One of the basic relationships that help to explain some of the devastation associated with the 2010 Pakistan Floods, described in the post Interconnections amid the floodwaters of Pakistan, is that of climate and agriculture.  This activity includes several interactive maps where students can identify and draw connections among the climatic, vegetation and population patterns of South Asia.

Interconnections amid the floodwaters of Pakistan

The devastating floods that have inundated most of Pakistan over the summer provide plenty of opportunity for a sobering look at the interconnections between climate, politics, economy, and society, across scales.  Outside of the aid and trade questions that have been raised among the international community in helping Pakistan recover, there have been other interesting connections that can be discussed in many geography classes.

For many following this story, it seemed to begin with the torrential monsoon rains.  However, the actual events began with drought.  Below average rainfall levels were experienced in 2009 and as of early July 2010 they were expected to worsen.  National Geographic released a series of photos titled, “Amid Drought, Pakistan Prays for Rain.” And come the end of July, their prayers were answered.

Only a few weeks after the National Geographic photos, torrential monsoon rains begin to engulf Northern Pakistan, the very area shown to be stricken in the photos.  The levels of rainfall in just a few weeks broke records for the last 100 years.  Early on, there were cautionary words for the stressed Pakistani government, already fighting insurgency and coping with other domestic disasters, as they began to appeal to the international community for aid.  Following the initial rains, Pakistan was hit by high temperatures and continued rains that caused additional flooding and landslides.

For a developing world infrastructure, already uneven and inconsistent, the magnitude of destruction during and following the floods proved immense.  The first reports profiled the human devastation as thousands of people were killed and millions made homeless.  Included in these reports were the effects on livelihoods, as entire villages and towns, agricultural fields and livestock herds, food stores, and essential transport and social networks of roads, hospitals, etc., were wiped out.  The widespread damage is seen to set back the Pakistani infrastructure by many years.

For survivors, they were challenged with the day to day battle for food, limited by actual provisions or by rising food prices.  Limited access to clean water was leading to dehydration and dangers of water-borne disease.  The lack of shelter saw many flood victims exposed to the sun, high temperatures, disease-bearing insects and poisonous snakes.  The largest at-risk group of survivors are the millions of Pakistani children who are incredibly vulnerable to disease and malnutrition.  Continued rains on top of existing destruction meant survivors had to improvise transport and had to continue moving from one flood-ravaged area to the next.  The spreading impact of the floods and of survivors led to renewed fears over the future food and livelihoods of much larger populations.

Amid the devastation, some reports focused entirely on the destabilizing affects of such a natural disaster, in the already delicate stability of a place like Pakistan.  Much of this potential destabilization was shared between two foci:  the government and the Taliban.  The recovery was argued as the “Last Chance for Pakistan” being the “gravest security crisis” to be faced by the country and the South Asia region.  There were discrimination accusations of aid being delivered first to certain party supporters or wealthy landowners diverting floodwaters from their own fields to others’.  Out of this disarray, it was reported that the Taliban in Pakistan were able to regroup to the degree that considered targeting the already under-resourced aid workers in the country.  In the last few weeks after the flooding, the same problems remain, yet political in-fighting on how to move forward and who should act is now worse than ever.  This has led some to argue that it is the civil-military elite in the Pakistani government that have hindered international aid and that should be relieved of their duties in leading the recovery.  Ultimately, the appeals for international aid have been made on behalf of political stability, fighting insurgency, and also in mitigating the effects of climate change.

Through the drama of Pakistan’s natural disaster, issues of environment and society can be discussed in geography classes.  In physical geography courses, the discussion can focus on big scale issues of climate change and increasing extreme weather events, or can be smaller scale in illustrating flood plain events, like 100- and 500-year events.  In human geography courses, the discussion may venture into economic and social development, political structures, inequality, and the consequences of these for certain cultural/social groups, or overall recovery.  In world regional courses, the discussion can weave these issues together looking at the many human-environment interactions within the country, but also investigate global connections among security, international aid, and sovereignty.

As if this event was not powerful enough in black and white print, there have been many accompanying photo reports.  They add a greater significance to in-class discussions allowing students to visually identify the magnitude of the flooding, destruction and human devastation that these reports entail.  Photojournals have been posted by the Huffington Post, NPR, NPR’s The Two-Way blog, NPR’s Picture Show blog, and National Geographic.  NPR has also produced an interactive map detailing the extent of the floods in Pakistan’s four provinces, providing links to images and videos.

Discussion Questions:

1. Identify what climate region is Pakistan and the Indus River included in and what other climate regions border it?  How might this climate position explain the cycles of drought, monsoon rains, and flooding stages that have been seen in the 2010 Pakistan Floods?
2. Review some of the articles discussing the extent and effects of the Pakistan flooding.  What do these impacts tell us about the economic and social development in Pakistan, and in South Asia?  Think about infrastructure and settlement, population and poverty, and gender equity, among others.
3. What is the primary economic activity in Pakistan?  In what ways is it already environmentally vulnerable?  How has this vulnerability informed issues related to food security and development?  What additional vulnerabilities are revealed in the 2010 Pakistan Flood event?
4. What are some of the global concerns that hinge on Pakistan’s political security?  How are arguments over aid or trade in Pakistan’s recovery aimed at serving global security concerns?

Concept Caching: Nairobi, Kenya

From our Concept Caching image cache that hopes to promote student spatial awareness by relating specific features on the Earth’s surface with their visual character and GPS coordinates. Through the site photographs and GPS coordinates demonstrate core concepts in geography.  Images are “cached” for viewing by core concept and by region.  Images are certainly useful for introducing visual content to students in all Geography classes.

Africa is one of the last areas on Earth where “wild” and “domesticated” seem to coexist, interact and rely on one another.  The post, Geography Directions: Mhiripiri bombs, guard donkeys, and conservation planning in Sub-Saharan Africa describes the complex interactions between national economies and tourism, with local economies and agriculture/animal domestication.  This image provides an illustration of local animal domestication and the taming of the “wild” in Nairobi, Kenya.

Geography Directions: Mhiripiri Bombs, guard donkeys and Conservation Planning in sub-Saharan Africa

From our Geography Directions site reviewing Wiley-Blackwell’s Geography Compass review journal covering the entire discipline.  Keep up with cutting edge academic geography.  These articles may be useful for introducing students to the discipline or may be appropriate for upper division Geography classes.

In Brian King’s article “Conservation Geographies in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Politics of National Parks, Community Conservation and Peace Parks” in Geography Compass he reviews the history of conservation planning in sub-Saharan Africa. The study provides an insight into National Parks, community conservation, and Peace Parks, and affords an understanding of ‘the development politics and governance challenges of global conservation’.

The establishment of National Parks was largely set up for the purposes of hunting and tourism but at the same time the indigenous populations were forcibly evicted from the area. Since then, concerns about the ethical and economic impacts on the protected areas have generated interest in including the local population in natural resource management. More recently the integration of ecology concepts into the planning process has produced an interest in larger scale initiatives which maximise protected habitat. Central to this are transboundary conservation areas otherwise known as Peace Parks which cross national political borders. Although these approaches are not mutually exclusive, the study stresses that they represent major routes to conservation planning in Sub-Saharan Africa.

As for community conservation, a recent report from the Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations (FAO) offers advice to people living within (and outside) park boundaries who come into contact with wildlife on a daily basis, on how to live side–by-side with wild animals.  The Human-Wildlife Conflict Toolkit, currently being tested in southern Africa offers colourful advice on how to solve, mitigate and prevent conflict between humans and wild animals. Designed to reduce the threat to peoples’ lives, crops and livestock and to their health from animal-borne diseases, the Conflict Toolkit offers tips to keep cohabitation safer for everyone.  For instance, in order to chase off elephants which are trying to eat villagers’ crops, the FAO suggests using a Mhiripiri Bomber which is a plastic gun that shoots ping-pong balls full of a highly concentrated chilli solution (which elephants hate), that burst over the elephants skin. For hippos that enjoy raiding crops by night they suggest shining a strong light in their eyes. As for warning of the approach of predators the FAO suggest investing in a guard donkey, because they are fearless and can drive away even large carnivores by braying, biting and kicking.

Generally speaking, however, the FAO see that the best way to reduce the human-wildlife problem, is to educate farmers, villagers and  policy makers, to see wild animals as an asset. The FAO feel that villagers will only stop seeing wild animals as a nuisance if rural communities receive some material advantage from living in close contact with animal populations. They suggest that paying villagers a percentage of the revenue derived from tourism, paying for the environmental services they provide and compensation for damage to crops, injury or loss of life should also be considered.

By Paulette Cully

To view the original article please visit the Geography Directions Blog.