Wetlands;

 Areas of land covered by water for all or most of the time

 Vary from either still, flowing, salty, or fresh water
 Previously seen as worthless mosquito infested wasteland
 Most important and productive life support ecosystem
 Sustains ecosystems of plants and animals, maintain water quality, provide recreation, act as
a tourist attraction
 Supports the coastal fishing industry as a supplier of food
 
Types of wetlands; (two main types)
 
o Coastal wetlands
 Covered with salt water
 Occurs as Mangrove swamps in tropical parts of the world as the main type
 Also occur as; (in temperate parts of the world)
 bays, lagoons, salt flats, mud flats and salt marshes
 Grass most common vegetation
 Protect coastline from erosion
 Reduce damage from cyclones and storms
 Trap sediment washed from the lands
 Absorb nutrients and pollutants
 Act as breeding ground for fish, invertebrates and plants
 
o Inland(freshwater) wetlands
 Covered with fresh water
 Come in the form of;
 Marshes, prairie, potholes, swamps, mud flats, river flood plains, oxbow
lakes, bogs, wet meadows, wet arctic tundra
 Vary in size
 Act as a habitat for fish, insects, water, birds, wading birds, other wildlife
 Improve water quality by, filtering, diluting and absorbing toxic wastes, sediments
and other pollutants
 For this reason, they are referred to as 'natures kidneys' as they filter out waste like
the human kidneys
 Reduce flooding and erosion by absorbing excess runoff and releasing it slowly,
replenish groundwater supplies, provide refuge for wildlife and stock during droughts,
recreational activities (swimming, boating, fishing)
 
o Human use of wetlands
 Despite economic and environmental importance, they have been drained, dredged,
filled, covered
 Used for agriculture, mining, forestry, industry, port facilities, highways, urban
expansion
 This has happened for centuries
 Wetland reclamation has been occurring for 500 years
 The United States lost half of its wetland in the past 200 years.
 Damming of rivers and use of wetlands as landfill sites also contribute
 
o Protection of Wetlands
 Wetlands is the ONLY ecosystem with an international agreement
 The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971)
  By mid-2003 136 countries had signed on the convention
 Covers 1289 wetland sites of 109 million hectares
 NSW examples;
 Hunter River estuary wetlands
 Myall Lakes
 Towra Point Nature Reserve at Botany Bay.
 Few countries from Africa, south and southeast Asia and South America have signed
 These parts of the world contains the greatest rate of loss
 The agreement includes guidelines for;
 The wise use of wetlands
 Encouraging practices that benefit the present generation
 Protecting food webs
 Recycling of nutrients
 

o Wetlands ecosystems
 Vary greatly in size
 No typical ecosystem
 Can be forested, bare of vegetation
 Some stay wet all year, while others dry out for a few months or years, or frozen
during winter
 Some wetlands may receive water from both sea and rivers and are both saltwater
and freshwater from both seas and rivers
 They still all share 3 characteristics;
 The periodic presence of water
 The lack of oxygen in the soil
 Special adaptations of plants that live there
 
o Life in the wetlands
 Animals
 Dominated by reptiles and birds rather than mammals
 Water and land barriers prevent land-based mammals
o Plants
 Submerged and floating vegetation;
 Duckweed, grasses, sedges, rushes, reeds, and in some areas coastal mangroves
o Food Chain
 Insects are at the lower level of the food chain, feeding on grass and moss
 Insects feed small birds
 Large Wading birds feed on small worms, snails, molluscs
 Predatory birds such as a falcon or hawk prey on other birds
 
o Managing wetland ecosystems
 The area needs to be large enough to allow the ecosystem to continue operating
naturally. If the area is too small, surrounding activities could disrupt the flow of water
to the wetland and the flow of energy within food webs
 The amount of water entering the wetland needs to be enough for the ecosystem to
function. This is known as environmental flow. Where there is a conflicting demand for
water, such as irrigation or urban uses, a certain amount of water within a river system
needs to be reserved for wetlands.
  The quality of the water entering wetlands needs to be protected. A Buffer zone
around the wetland where human activities are carefully managed would achieve this.
The use of fertilisers and pesticides, for example, would need to be controlled.
 Sewage needs to be treated to a high standard to remove nutrients before it finds its
way into wetlands/
 Introduced species of plants and animals need to be controlled in wetland
ecosystems
 Access of people (including tourists) and livestock needs to be restricted
 The interests of local people need to be considered. If ignored they may resort to
activities that damage wetlands.
 Governments must be willing to pass and enforce planning laws that manage land
use activities and protect wetlands.
 Funding levels need to be high enough to support the implementation of effective
management strategies.

A stakeholder is a person or organisation that could benefit or suffer from the actions if others
 Stakeholders include people working in industry, paying for goods or services, governments,
businesses and local communities
 
Tourism creates new job opportunities for locals as they can get money and help out their own
village with that money. It also increases the income for that country (GDP) so they can improve
healthcare, education. etc.
 
 
 
Indicators of Development
 Based off a country's wealth and quality of life
 Set off five main indicators
 GNI (Gross National Income(GDP/Population))
 Life expectancy
 Infant mortality (x/1000 (death before 5))
 People per doctor (x/1000)
 Literacy rate

Human Development Index

 Highest HDI value is 1.0
 The lowest value of 0.0 only occurs if a country ranked last for all factors
 
Development Issues
 Developed country // A nation that has a highly developed economy and advanced
technological infrastructure compared to other less industrialised nations.
 Developing country // A nation with a less developed industrial base and a low life
expectancy, education and income compared to other nations.

Population Pyramids
 Population Pyramids are a graphic representation of the structure of a country's population.
 They show;
  The percentage of males and females
 The percentage of people in age brackets
 They can indicate a country's level of development by inferring to a country's life
expectancy, infant mortality, birth rates, access to medical care and economic production.

Non Government Organisations (NGO's)

 Greenpeace // Raise awareness of environmental issues
 Amnesty International // Fight for protection of human rights
 World Vision // Alleviate poverty among disadvantaged children
 Oxfam // A broad based organisation fighting poverty and protection of social justice

Human Development
 The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), writes the repots
 The goal of human development is to put human life at the forefront of the world to allow
for happiness and freedom rather than profit and marketing.
 The Human Development Index (HDI) is used to measure Human Development
 Issues of inequality are how it hinders long term growth, while excluding others as we
develop and causing conflict.
 The world today experiences widespread economic interdependence  
 Global capitalism has been good for a lot of people 
 Even with increased industrialisation in the developing world, economic
opportunities are usually much better in wealthy countries 
 Globalisation also means cultural blending 
 Globalisation is the term used to describe the way countries are becoming more
interconnected, both economically and culturally 
Things driving globalisation are 
o Advances in transport and communications technology - Containerism 
o The growth of transnational corporations (TNCs) 
o Expansion of world trade 
o International Investment 
 Transnational Corporations (TNCs) are large companies that operate world wide
but generally have their headquarters in one of the countries of the developed
world 
 A transnational corporation is a huge company that operates in several
countries 
 Economic Integration refers to the growing number of links between businesses
(that sell goods and services to make profit) and economies across national
borders. 
The 4 key elements of Economic integration are 
o International trade flows- world trade is an important economic link between
countries, the rate of change in international trade has been faster than the rate
of growth in world economic activity 
o International financial flow- rapid growth in foreign investment between
countries (mainly in the developing world 
o International investment- 80% of the flow of investment funds is between
developed countries. Money flows more rapidly around the world today than at any
other time in history. Money both into and out of countries as individuals,
businesses and governments invest in offshore assets, lend money or repay debt 
o Global migration (of workers)- Developments in transport technology have made
it easier for individuals to move from one country to another in search of
employments. These migrations are normally split into two types 
1. The movement of highly played, highly skilled professionals (often
employees of TNCs) 
2. The movement of poorly paid, low-skilled workers that are often
referred to as 'guest workers'. 
 Cultural Integration describes the way in which changes in technology, the
growth of transnational corporations (TNCs) and global media/ entertainment
companies are creating increasing similarities and links between world cultures.
Cultural integration is the mixing of cultures. 
 Development is an act or process of growing or causing something to grow or
become larger or more advanced 
 An example of global inequality is that the richest 85 people have more wealth
then the poorest 3.5 billion people 
 Another example of global inequality is that countries at Northern Europe have
a Maternal Mortality rate (death by the mother during giving birth) of 10/100000
deaths while countries in central and western Africa have Maternal Mortality rates
of 700/100000 
 Since TNCs have global popularity and influence, these brands and their related
products have a major contribution to the development of a mass consumer culture 
 
 
 
Location and distribution 
 The developed countries are generally in the Middle east, South and Central
America, Australia and Asia 
 People between 15 and 65 are considered to be economically active 
 Countries with a low percentage of elderlies are generally developing countries 
 The Human Development index (HDI) is measured on Health, Income and
Education/ per capita income, health, average number of years of schooling for
people over 25, life expectancy at birth and adult literacy rate. 1.0 is the highest
HDI value and 0.0 being the lowest only occurring if a country ranked last for each
factor. 
 Population pyramids are good as they show the percentage of males and females,
the percentage of people in age brackets and that you can infer the growth of a
country, birth rates and life expectancy. 
 
 
Responsible consumption and production patterns 
 There are 17 sustainable development goals 
 “The global population is expected to reach over 9.6 billion people by 2050” .This
doesn’t seem like a big problem at first, but to sustain our current lifestyles for our
population in 2050, we will need 3 planets, 3 Earths to provide the required natural
resources. 
 The goal, sustainable consumption and production is broad with 11 targets and it
aims at doing "more and better for less" 
 It is the 12th Sustainable Development Goal 
 It is about reducing pollution and degradation and resource use while still
improving our everyday lives 
 Only 1/5 of the energy we use is renewable 
 1.5billion tonnes of food go wasted each year 
 
Dharavi 
 Approximately 1 million people live in Dharavi and it is only 216 hectares 
 Dharavi is a vast slum located in Mumbai 
 Sanitation means providing facilities and services for the safe disposal of human
urine, faeces and menstrual waste 
 2.6billion people in the world do not have access to basic sanitation in 2004 
 Population density is the average number of people per square kilometre 
 Sustainable tourism is tourism that makes a low impact on the natural and human
environment 
 The term stakeholder means a person or organisation that could be affected by
actions other take 
 Lies in the middle of India's financial capital, Mumbai 
 Many people move into Dharavi as the rent is cheap compared to the expensive
rents in Mumbai 
 Second largest slum in Asia 
 Population density of 277,136 per km2 
 Open sewers and trash everywhere 
 Most densely populated place in the world 
 1/3 of people have access to safe drinking water 
 
Pros 
 Family, group and cultural gatherings with generations having fun 
 People are generally happy 
 Culture 
 Overwhelming sense of community and social life 
 Virtually no crime 
 Everyone knows everybody else in the community 
 Huge, thriving economy 
 Cheap rent 
 
Cons 
 Bad health and sanitation 
 Open sewage everywhere 
 There is a toilet for every 1440 people 
 No basic sanitation facilities 
 Overcrowded, overpopulated, very cramped and confine