Suggested Reading 10 Getting 5** in 9 Weeks: Geography

Transcription

1 Suggested Reading 10 Getting 5** in 9 Weeks: Geography 1. Opportunities and Risks Is it rational to live in hazard-prone areas? - types of plate boundaries - characteristics of young fold mountains - intra-plate activities: intra-plate vulcanicity and intra-plate earthquakes - interpretation, magnitude and frequency, causes of tectonic hazards - effects of fold mountains on human activities - factors affecting degree of destruction by tectonic hazards - common catastrophic effects of tectonic hazards - man human responses to tectonic hazards - reasons why people live in hazard-prone areas 2. Managing Rivers and Coastal Environments: A continuing challenge - water cycle - factors affecting discharge of a river - fluvial processes: erosion, transportation, and deposition - fluvial features in upper course, middle course, and lower course - types of waves - factors affecting wave energy - coastal processes: erosion, transportation, and deposition - coastal features: erosional landforms and depositional landforms - impact of human activities on rivers and coastal areas - solutions to the problems caused by human activities: management 3. Changing Industrial Location How and why does it change over space and time? - major factors of industrial location and their relative importance - relocation of manufacturing from Hong Kong to Mainland China in 1980s - challenges of manufacturing in Hong Kong since 1980s - ways to cope with the challenges of manufacturing in Hong Kong - reasons for the increase in importance of tertiary industry in Hong Kong - distribution of iron and steel industry in Mainland China ( )

2 - iron and steel industry of Mainland China after distribution of US IT industry - factors affecting the location of US IT industry - reasons for transnational production of US IT industry - major branch plants of US IT industry in the world - impact of industrial relocation and new production mode - measures to alleviate the impact 4. Building a Sustainable City Are environmental conservation and urban development mutually exclusive? - settlements - causes of urbanisation in Hong Kong - the processes of urbanisation - urban problems in Hong Kong: housing, transport, social - conflicts arising from urban problems in Hong Kong - solutions to urban problems in Hong Kong - environmental urban problems and environmental conservation - sustainable development: interpretation and measures - roles of different parties in promoting sustainability - costs and benefits of developing Hong Kong into a sustainable city - resource management 5. Combating Famine Is technology a panacea for food shortage? - interpretation of famine - characteristics of famine-stricken countries - uneven distribution of food - causes of famine: human factors - component of an agricultural system - types of agricultural systems - impact of biotechnology: socio-economic, consumer choice, health - measures to fight against hunger - agricultural system: physical inputs - subsistence farming in the Sahel nomadic herding - commercial farming in Southern California irrigation farming

3 - consequences of conventional agriculture - environmental impact of biotechnology - sustainable agriculture 6. Disappearing Green Canopy Who should pay for the massive deforestation in rainforest regions? - components of an ecosystem - linkages in an ecosystem - tropical rainforest as an example of an ecosystem - interaction among climate, vegetation, and soil - causes of deforestation in tropical rainforest - impact of large-scale deforestation on tropical rainforests - stakeholders of deforestation in tropical rainforests - sustainable development of tropical rainforests 7. Global Warming Is it fact or fiction? - signs of global warming - global distribution pattern of insolation and temperature - interpretation of greenhouse effect - natural causes of global warming - the global warming debate - arguments about the responsibility of global warming between MDCs and LDCs - the Kyoto Protocol - human causes of global warming - impact of global warming - measures to be taken in combating global warming 8. Dynamic Earth: the building of Hong Kong - overall natural landscape of Hong Kong - the effects of internal processes on the natural landscape of Hong Kong - different types of rocks in Hong Kong - rock cycle

4 - geological hazards in Hong Kong - the natural landscape of Hong Kong modified by urban development - major uses of geological resources in Hong Kong 9. Weather and Climate - processes in the climatic system - the global air temperature, air pressure, wind, and precipitation - global distribution pattern of climatic zones - weather and climate of Hong Kong - weather and climate of China - relationship between climatic hazards and human activities 10. Transport Development, Planning and Management - passenger travel patterns in Hong Kong - road freight transport patterns in Hong Kong - comparison between unimodal transport and multi-modal transport - cross-border sea transport, air, and land transport - Hong Kong traffic problems - development of transport system in the ZDR - Hong Kong as a transport and logistics hub of the ZDR - environmental problems caused by transport in Hong Kong - how the government can cope with transport problems 11. Regional Study of Zhujiang (Pearl River) Delta - physical background - the Greater Zhujiang Delta Economic Region - comparison between the Greater ZDR and the Greater CDR - agricultural changes in the ZDR since characteristics of the industries in the ZDR ( ) and affecting factors - characteristics of the industries in the ZDR (since 2000) and affecting factors - recent challenges faced by the industries in the ZDR and possible measures

5 - Zhujiang Delta as a polluted region: causes, concequences, and management