Download Middle East – Human-Environment interaction

Population Distribution & Environmental Issues
Desalination
´ Water Pollution
´
´
Water Supply
«
Very limited in Middle East
«
Many countries must use desalination to get drinking
water
²
«
Process of removing salt from salt water to make it okay for
drinking and farming
Few rivers in the area
Tigris, Euphrates and Nile rivers
² Used for drinking water and generate power
²
¹
If you don’t have a river in your region, you must find alternate
methods for drinking water and power.
´
Rights to Water Supply
« Disputes
over rights to water supply and other
natural resources in the region
² Water
¹
rights
Agreements about how countries can use the water in a
region.
« Israel,
Jordan and Palestinians
² Rely
on the same scare water
supply on the West Bank
¹
Israel has the most power – so they
have the ability to claim more water.
°
¹
What happens if they build a dam?
Recycle the water so many people
have access to water without a major
shortage
´
Water Pollution
« Port
cities
² Ports
make it easier to ship things
² Water is often polluted by the shipping industry
« Oil
is the main export
² Oil
spills are one of the main causes for water pollution
in the Persian Gulf
´
How does a limited supply of water affect how
nations treat each other?
´
Does the Middle East suffer from a small
amount of water supply, unequal distribution of
water, or both? Why???
´
How has water rights caused conflict in the
Middle East?
´
World’s largest source of oil - Persian Gulf
« Pollution
issues – air and water
² Damage
to refineries during war
² Not repairing damages
² Pollution
was a strategy used during war
Dumped oil into Persian Gulf
¹ Burned oil wells to prevent USA from gaining control
¹
« Lack
of water supply makes the pollution issue
even bigger.
´
How does oil distribution impact the
development of countries with and without oil?
« Standard
of Living - GDP
« Literacy Rate
´
If a country does not have oil fields, what type
of economy do they have?
´
If a country is poor, what type of literacy rate do
they have? Why???
´
How do rivers and deserts impact where people
live, where they work and how they travel?
«
People settle around the limited fresh water supply.
²
Civilizations concentrate around fertile soil.
¹
²
Crops are grown within these areas.
¹
«
People aren’t going to settle in a hot desert . . . . Why?
Subsistence Farming – Grow enough only for their families.
Most people within the Middle East are nomads
(wander) within the desert regions.
´
Most economies were once based on farming
´
Discovery oil – main source of income
« Governments
with large oil deposits stopped
investing in other parts of their economies.
« Countries without oil are poorer.
´
How do deserts and rivers impact
transportation in the Middle East?
« Rivers
provide transportation routes
² Remember
« Deserts
. . . There are few rivers in the region.
and mountains are transportation barriers
² Difficult
to produce and transport goods.
´
How has the development of the oil industry in
the Middle East impacted other industries
within those countries?