Natural Hazards, Biomes, Sustainability and Global Issues

Posted on Feb 1, 2026 in Geography

Natural Hazards and Disasters

• Earthquake: All sudden ground motion produced by the passage of seismic waves through the Earth’s tectonic plates.
• Flood: When water spills over generally dry terrain, it creates a flood. A normally dry area might get flooded by rising water in an existing conduit, like a river, stream, or drainage ditch.
• Tsunami: Tsunamis are ocean waves brought on by large earthquakes near or beneath the ocean, volcanic explosions, landslides beneath the sea, and coastal landslides that release a lot of debris into the water.
• Landslide: This is when large blocks of rock slide down a slope.
• Tornado: A tornado is a violently rotating column of air, usually associated with a thunderstorm, that is in contact with the Earth’s surface.
• Hurricane: A powerful tropical storm that can completely destroy coastal locations.
• Wildfires: These are uncontrolled fires in natural areas, such as forests.
• Sinkhole: An underground hole without any external surface drain. Essentially, this means that rainwater that falls into the sinkhole typically stays inside and sinks into the soil.
• Volcanic eruption: When magma and gases are ejected from a volcano, usually explosively, it is known as an eruption.
• Avalanche: The rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a mountain or hill, is known as an avalanche.

Major Terrestrial Biomes

• Desert: Deserts are dry ecosystems that cover about one-fifth of the planet’s land area and have annual precipitation of less than 25 centimeters. Although some deserts are extremely hot, with daytime temperatures up to 54°C, others endure frigid winters or are cold year-round.
• Taiga: The taiga, or boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forest formations and is one of the largest forest masses on the planet. Taigas are rich in natural resources, containing large areas where oil, gas, and other important mineral reserves are found.
• Tundra: Tundras are cold regions with harsh temperatures, short growing seasons, and extreme conditions. Plants and animals in the region require special adaptations to survive.
• Tropical Rainforest: A rainforest is characterized by towering, mostly evergreen trees and heavy rainfall. Rainforests are the Earth’s oldest living ecosystems, with some persisting for at least 70 million years in their current state. Despite covering only 6% of the Earth’s surface, they are immensely diverse and complex, housing more than half of the world’s plant and animal species. The largest rainforests are located around the Amazon River in South America and the Congo River in Africa.
• Temperate Forest: These are sub-humid to temperate-humid ecosystems with annual rainfall between 600 and 1,000 mm. They develop on varied soils ranging from loamy to sandy and moderately acidic, usually with abundant organic matter and leaf litter. These communities are dominated by tall trees—mostly pines and oaks—accompanied by several other species that inhabit mountainous areas with temperate to cold climates.
• Grassland: Grassland is an expanse of land characterized by abundant grasses. Much of our planet is covered by grasslands, which can present various characteristics and are classified into types such as prairies, pampas, steppes, savannah, and plains.

Savanna

Savanna: The savanna is a type of ecosystem formed by a large plain covered with grasses and herbs with few scattered trees. Savannas are located in tropical and subtropical areas and are characterized as a transition zone between the semi-desert and the jungle.

What Is Sustainable Development?

Sustainable development is the ability to satisfy human needs in the present without compromising the satisfaction of future needs. In other words, it requires that human activity in a region does not deplete natural resources to the point where future human survival is endangered. Sustainable development requires considering the use of natural resources while also taking into account the social impacts, which include specific points such as health and secure working conditions that allow the population to earn sufficient income to satisfy their needs. In other words, activities should be profitable and stable. Achieving sustainable development requires great efforts from governments, families, and companies. That is why these topics are on the international political agenda for meeting commitments and evaluating progress on this issue.

Human Development Index

The Human Development Index is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and having a decent standard of living.

Globalization: Definition and Effects

Globalization is the term used to describe the growing interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information. While globalization can present advantages, it can also show disadvantages. Examples include:

Pros

• Economic growth: Increased globalization can lead to greater economic growth for participating countries and regions.
• Increased global cooperation: In order for a globalized economy to function, nations often need to put aside conflicts and differences and work together.
• Extension of human rights: The dissemination of the values and rights set forth in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) has expanded. Globalization can act as a disseminator of these rights and as an instrument of control against their violations.
• Linguistic exchange: Cultural permeability, favored by social networks and global media platforms, encourages linguistic exchange worldwide. Television series, video games, music, and cinema have become global phenomena and have helped make English a widely used lingua franca in recent decades. Spanish has also been gaining ground in this global space.

Cons

• Increased competition: Individual companies, organizations, and workers can be disadvantaged by global competition, potentially harming local economies.
• Disproportionate growth: Globalization can produce unequal or disproportionate growth both between and within countries.
• Different laws and regulations: Because laws and regulations differ across jurisdictions, multinational firms sometimes provide employees with poor, unsafe, unethical, or harmful working conditions.
• Lack of nearby establishments: Policies promoting globalization can favor enterprises with the infrastructure and resources to operate supply chains or distribution across numerous nations, which can exclude small local businesses.

The Nation-State Concept

The concept of the nation-state has been a major political, social, and cultural force in the modern world. The nation-state is an independent body created by the people to govern a country. It is responsible for the security, development, and administration of a nation and will work to maintain the country’s independence. Most people are proud of their nation-state and will defend its existence.

The nation-state was created to provide a central authority to administer a country. Prior to 1900, many territories were administered by empires such as the United States or the United Kingdom (note: historically, the U.S. was not an empire in the same sense as European colonial empires, but powerful states did exert influence). These larger powers had many dependent states under their jurisdiction. Beginning with World War I, leaders realized that continuous conflict between such states was costly and difficult. It became necessary to create more unified nation-states to promote peace. After World War II, the idea of the nation-state was popularized internationally and became common practice.

Current Major International Conflicts

Russia–Ukraine

Russia–Ukraine: On 24 February 2022, the Russian army invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the war that began in 2014, the Russo-Ukrainian War. The invasion caused tens of thousands of deaths among both Ukrainians and Russians, and it also caused Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II. Within five weeks of the invasion, Russia experienced its greatest emigration since the 1917 October Revolution. The invasion has also contributed to global food shortages. The invasion began on the morning of 24 February, when President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation aimed at the demilitarization and “denazification” of Ukraine. Putin claimed that Ukraine was governed by neo-Nazis who affected the ethnic Russian minority. Shortly thereafter, missiles, rockets, and airstrikes hit Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv.