Environmental Problems and Political Geography
Environmental Problems
Environmental problems can be noticed at three levels: global-regional-local. The most important ones are: climatic change, desertification, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and other problems.
1. Climatic Change
It is true that climate has changed all along history. There were also some natural climatic changes such as glaciations, the warm interglacial phases, the Medieval Warm Period, and the Little Ice Age (Fagan, 2009). But the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is registering data that shows a clear tendency of global warming, and this process seems to be strongly related to human activities. Causes of greenhouse gas emissions include industry, energy (heating, thermal power stations), transports (use of fossil fuels), deforestation, and agriculture. Consequences include global warming (in the 20th century +0.76⁰C; forecast in 2100 +1 to +4⁰C), changes in rainfall patterns (redistribution of dry/rainy areas), defrosting of glaciers and poles, average increase of the sea level, natural hazards more frequent and intensive, changes in biodiversity patterns, ocean acidification, effects on human wealth, and changes in the map of crops.
2. Desertification
It refers to soil degradation in dry areas as a consequence of multiple factors including both climate variations and human activities. Causes include climate aridity, deforestation, wrong farming practices, and intensive shepherding. Consequences include soil degradation and soil loss, changes in ecosystems, loss of vegetation, loss of biodiversity, loss of crops and grass, famine, wars, migration, and refugees.
3. Deforestation
Causes of deforestation include crops, stockbreeding, forestry, hunting, road traffic, fires, and housing. Consequences include erosion, loss of soil fertility, desertification, loss of water sources, loss of biodiversity, loss of medicinal herbs, loss of raw materials, degradation of cultural values, and climatic change.
4. Loss of Biodiversity
Biodiversity refers to the number and variety of ecosystems and natural species. The extinction of species is a natural process related to evolution. Causes include fragmentation and destruction of habitats, changes in ecosystems, overexploitation of natural resources, introduction of invasive species, pollution, and climatic change. Consequences include unbalance in food chains, destabilization of ecosystems, natural hazards, loss of natural benefits, and risks for human wealth.
5. Other Environmental Problems
There are many other environmental problems that are motivated by an overexploitation and pollution of natural resources. The natural resources more endangered are water and air. Water issues include overexploitation of natural aquifers, redirection of watercourses, lack of access to drinking water in many areas, water pollution caused by human activity, farming, industry & sewage (fecal water), oil spills, and ocean acidification due to human activity, commercial shipping, and tourism. Air problems include acid rain when toxic gases released in the atmosphere become mixed with rainwater, depletion of the ozone layer, and smog (Smoke + Fog) in cities and industrial areas.
Political Geography
Political Geography studies how the geographical space influences political facts by analyzing the causes and consequences of this interaction. Conventionally, it adopts a three-scale structure for the purposes of analysis with the study of the state at the center, above this is the study of international relations or Geopolitics. It is focused on:
- Political power and geographical space
- Relationship between government & people
- Election process and results
Society: It is a system of interrelations that is established among individuals and human groups that live in a territory, with the purpose of building a certain type of organized collectivity. This organization regulates, through politics and laws, the processes of belonging, adaptation, participation, behaviors, etc.
Characteristics: general interest objectives, common activities of public dimensions, satisfaction of human necessities, sense of belonging, elements of cultural identity, structures of control and administration, diverse grades of complexity and dynamic, in constant evolution.
The State: It is the most elaborated model of political organization of a society. It consists of a set of institutions that exercise sovereignty over a population and a certain territory, and they possess the authority to administrate it, charge taxes, recruit men for work or war, and to decree and impose laws that regulate the social relations of the human community that lives in that territory.
Functions: control of the population, legislation and regulation, justice administration, coercion, taxation system, provision of public service, territorial administration.
The political organization of society (the state, separation of power).
How Spanish: Legislative: Parliament in Spain is made up of two parts, which are the Congress of Deputies and the Senate (senators). Both can make laws, but the deputies can vote against a law developed by the senators. The main function of the senators is to represent the Autonomous Communities. Citizens of Spain who are 18 years old or over vote for members of Parliament in general elections. Executive: Following the general election, the party with the most votes forms the Government. The Prime Minister is the head of the Government. They work in different areas such as education, healthcare, defense, or economy. Judicial: Belongs to court and tribunal, composed of judges and magistrates. They ensure that the laws are obeyed. The Supreme Court can accept or reject sentences passed in the lower courts, and the Constitutional Court decides the laws introduced by Parliament.
Types of State: The Public Administration is a tool that the modern State has to apply its power. For its development, several elements are needed: a headquarters or a place where decisions are made, an adequate organization of the territory, a set of laws that regulate civic coexistence, organs that ensure the execution (institutions), and well-defined functions. Four models of administrative organization:
- Unitary or Centralized State: in which the central administration retains a great amount of competences of government and the sovereignty is not divided (France).
- State of Autonomies: in which the central government has assigned to the regions a part of its competence of government, that are developed in an autonomous way (Spain).
- Federal State: the sovereignty is divided into two levels of government; we can find institutions and laws of common interest but this does not impede the self-government of each territory.
- Confederal State: the same as in the previous one, but with the possibility that some territories disassociate from the federation by their own request (American Civil War).
Centripetal (National ideology, Same language common History, centralized administration, Consistent well-defined boundaries) vs. Centrifugal Forces (very much ideological differences & lack of unity, ethnic or linguistic minorities’ challenges to the norms of the modern state system, decentralization, not accepted or strange boundaries high population density in borderlands.
The Government: is the executive agent in charge of putting in practice the functions of the State. Right vs. Left Government (liberal or social state).
Electoral System: The electoral formula has 3:
- Majority system: the seats of each constituency are awarded to the majority party.
- Proportional system: the number of seats is approximately proportional to the number of votes (favoring political pluralism and equity in detriment of efficacy).
- Mixed system: electoral formula that combines the proportional system and the majority system. It tries to balance personal representation and the right of territorial representation.
Map of electoral districts (constituencies): territorial units in which the geographical space where an electoral process takes place is subdivided. The constituencies are delimited depending on the type of inquiry or diverse criteria.