Exploiting economic opportunities (Spain's concrete coast)

Urban growth:

Benefits:

• Raised levels of development in one of Europe's poorest regions

Problems:

• Minimal planning regulations and controls for first 20 years of mass tourism therefore development was uncoordinated and piecemeal 
• Cheap and shoddily constructed high-rise hotels and apartment blocks 
• Little provision for access to beaches (i.e promenades) as well as traffic management, parks and sewage treatment facilities 
• Development has reached saturation point along most stretches, (Torremolinos and Fuengirola, 3/4 fully urbanised for nearly 1km inland)
• 30,000 illegally built houses since planning controls
• Widespread corruption and bribery (El Algarrobico hotel scandal on the Costa Callida- given permission for in 2003 on a 200ha site)
• 65,000 foreigners own own properties on the Costa del Sol (expected to increase to 200,000 by 2012)
• 30% increase in the number of new hotels built between 2000 and 2004, pressure on land, traffic circulation, water resources and the natural environment

Solutions:

• Modern planning policies aim to restrict urban development and remove eyesore from the 1960's-70's
• Protests from local pressure groups and Greenpeace meant the Ministry of Environment stated the El Algarrobico was illegal in 2006

Golf tourism:

Facts:

• Andalucia has 90 golf courses (plans to increase it to 200)
• 50% of courses on the Costa del Sol

Benefits:

• Attract new hotels
• Apartments in urbanizaciones with access to golf cost on average 40% more
• Per capita spending of golf tourists is much higher than other groups 

Problems:

• No longer able to compete with the 'sun and sand' holiday destinations
• Drought-prone region, golf course needs 700,000 m³/yr (enough to supply a town of 15,000-25,000 people)

Solutions:

• Planners trying to stop developments that are non-sustainable
• Ecologists argue golf courses should be decided at regional not provincial level

Marinas: 

Benefits:

• Provide an area for the mooring of pleasure boats
• Artificial beach replenishment provides permanent beaches for the expensive properties in the area

Problems:

• In 2006 increased construction of harbours, piers and breakwaters disrupted sediment movement in the coastal zone=beach starvation and erosion. (e.g Puerto Banas marina prevented longshore drift across the mouth of Rio Verde)

Solutions:

• Groynes constructed downdrift of the marinas to prevent loss of sediment offshore
• Artificial beach sediment (good short-term but unsustainable)(Mined offshore destroying sea meadows and the marine animals dependent on them)
• Government policy not to replenish beaches that lose sand due to coastal constructions

Tundra

What is it?

Is biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons

Where is it?

On the map it is represented in the orange and is mainly found in Iceland, Canada and Norway. There is also alpine tundra where high altitudes create similar conditions to those found at high latitudes (e.g Rockies, Himalayas, Alps)

PLANT ADAPTATIONS:

How does a short thermal/hydrological growing season affect tundra plants?

Problem= Plant growth only begins when there is an air temperature of 6°C. The growing season only lasts 1-2 months, and the life cycles of the plants are completed very quickly resulting in an environment with a low NPP. 

Adaptions:

1. Most of the plants are perennial and store food in tubers and rhizomes during summer which then allows for rapid growth in the Spring.
2. Many of the plants are evergreen and therefore have no need to grow new leaves, their dark leaves absorb insolation which they can then use to photosynthesise.
3. Some of the flowers form buds a year in advance so then don't waste time in the growing season

How has the Arctic poppy adapted?

• Turns the head of the plant to follow the sunlight 
• Low-lying=limits evapotranspiration=reduces water loss

How has the Purple Saxifrage adapated?

• Is perennial so can live for many years
• grows on shallow soils and bare outcrops
• Leaves are covered in dense hairs (Retains heat)
• Grows in dense clumps (reduces wind resistance)
• Can self-pollinate (there are few pollinating insects around in early spring) 

How does the climate and type of vegetation affect the soils?

Mainly made up of gley soils which easily become waterlogged. This reduces the amount of oxygen and ferric/ferrous compounds. There is also the problem of leached minerals this is due to there being more rainfall than evaporation causing the leaching of minerals downwards leading to an elluviated zone with few minerals and hardpan lower down due to the accumulation of minerals.

ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS:

Byson:

Behavioural:

• Migrate

Physical:

• Large volume:surface area ratio (reduces heat loss)
• Long nostrils (warm up air that enters into the body)
• Extremely dense coat

Arctic Foxes:

Behavioural:

• Migrate but have home dens

Physical:

• Can survive -50°C
• Best insulating fur
• Increased blood circulation to their paws

Why are cold environments considered to be fragile?

Why is NPP low in cold environments?

• Limited insolation from sun due to curviture of the Earth, leading to low amounts of photosynthesis
• Very short days in winter due to tilt of the Earth
• High winds=High transpiration rate+plant damage due to abrasion
• Unavailable water 
• No/thin soil due to lack of weathering+low NPP meaning limited minerals and nutrients

How does this make these environments fragile?

• Limited insolation=plants are limited in photosynthesis=lack of energy available=if destroyed can't be replaced (due to low NPP and recovery rates)=leading to a high proportional impact

Sustainable management-Khushab, Pakistan

Context:

In Northern Pakistan and dependent on irrigation and agriculture.

Challenges:

1. Irrigation has not been managed well (has led to water-logging and a rise in the water-table)
2. As the water-table rises it brings up the soluble salts to the surface 
3. These salts are toxic to plants
4. 8,000 families incomes dwindled as agricultural productivity declined 

Solution:

• World Bank has invested $69million to reduce the water-logging and salinisation
• Installed PVC pipes to allow drainage underground
• Irrigation ditches have been lined to prevent seepage into the fields
• Farms are used to educate farmers about sustainable water management

Successful?

• Reduced water-logging by 50% in 2 years
• Improved incomes per capita from $46 in 1989 to $195 in 2005
• The average family is now 34% above the official poverty line.

Sustainable management-Great green wall, China

Where is the risk of desertification?

• Affects 1/3 of total land area
• Northern China most at risk as it is an arid, semi-arid and sub-humid region. (Korqin Sandy Lands)

Why are there desertification problems?

Physical:

1. High temperatures and strong winds
2. Sandy soils (highly permeable)=decreased water storage
3. Loosely structured (organic material)= increased erosion

Human:

1. Inappropriate farming practices (increased in the last 100yrs)
2. Population pressure (increased in last 100yrs)
3. Overgrazing
4. Clearing land for agriculture/timber
5. Increased irrigation (decreased water table)
6. Over-cultivated (increased deforestation)

Extent?

• China loses 5 billion tonnes of topsoil to erosion.
• Due to poor managed irrigation, 1 million km2 of land is saline.

Solution?

• To establish 350,000km2 of shelterbelt and plantation forests across North China by 2050.
• 3 main objectives:

1. To protect farmland and settlements from wind and water erosion.
2. To improve land management
3. To stabalise sand dunes and reclaim degraded land

• So far 130,000km2 have been planted.

Sustainable?

Social:

• Allows people to keep their way of life
• Boosts morale (government doing something)
• Trees are food crop, increased variety in the diet, healthier, increased Q.O.L
• Dust reduced in the air, increased health, decreased illness, increased Q.O.L

Economic:

• Crops are a source of income

Environmental:

• Makes climate less harsh by providing shelter, meaning the inter-connected food web is able to thrive.
• Shelterbelts modify micro-climates downwind.

Alternative?

Education:

• Emphasis on appropriate cultivation techniques. 
• Recycling of organic material in the soil.
• Integration of other crops.
• Planting specific tree species.

Sustainable management= It seeks to balance social, economic and environmental needs of a place.

Salinisation

Definition= The accumulation of salts (e.g. chloride, sulphate, carbonate, salts of sodium, calcium, magnesium) in the soil.

Why is it a problem?

1. Accumulated salt crusts may be difficult for plants to penetrate.
2. These salts are toxic to many plants.
3. They reduce the spaces available for moisture and air in the soil.

The Process:

• Salts are present throughout the soil but are not concentrated enough to damage plant life.
• Occurs where land has been cleared of trees and then irrigated without proper drainage.
• This causes the water table to rise nearer the surface lead to low vapour pressure in soil pores driving capillary action drawing moisture to the surface.
• SALTS ARE LEFT ON THE SURFACE AS A CRUST

Fact: 80% of irrigation projects in Uzbekistan have been lost to this process

Agriculture-Aral Sea

Location:

• Scale= 68,000km2 (in 1964)
• 60% lost 1964-1987
• 90% lost by 2002
• found between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
• Fed by the Syr Darya and Amu Darya (no longer fed by the sea)

Opportunities:

• Farmer used water for cotton (irrigation)
• Cotton (cash crop) successfully exploited

Challenges:

• Double salt concentration 
• Salinisation of the sea
• Collapse of fishing industry 
• Native organisms have died out 
• Lowering of groundwater levels
• Exposed sea bed (dustbowl contaminating land several hundred km inland)

What did the government do?

• Tried to introduce new fish species (doesn't tackle root problem)
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Reliance on cotton (refused to stop cotton industry)

The Kokaral Dam (completed in 2005)

• In 2003 Kazakh. government used money from oil exports to build the dam.
• Since 2005 North Aral water level has risen by 10m.
• Wider variety of fish returned.
• Now over 80 fishing boats operating in the sea.
• 2009= 2400 tonnes of fish caught
• Thriving fishing industry attracting people back (improved local services, more investment in agriculture)

Future of the Aral Sea

South Aral:

• Little hope of saving major part of Aral (fewer fish, more saline, more wildlife will die out)
• Continued desertification (Local climate will become more acute with colder winters and hotter, drier summers.

North Aral:

• 2nd Dam funded by World bank ($126 million) will bring water level back to the port of Aralsk, is still currently some 40km from the waters edge.

Future aims for aral sea basin:

1) Develop management strategies to give sustainable water use/sustainable land resource uses.

2) Improve information base (need to plan the development of water resources in the area

3) Stop/reduce deterioration of environment

4) Improve conditions (for people and animals living close to the sea)