Sunday 16 March 2008

EASTER HOLIDAY HOMEWORK

Over the Easter Vacation build a Case Study on:

REFUGEE MIGRATION IN SUDAN

Create a 4 page (max) A4 doc and email to: SD@gsal.org.uk (deadline 8/4/08)

You will need to include information on the following sections together with maps, data tables and images.

  • Introduction and Background
  • How did the conflict start?
  • What is the Sudanese government doing?
  • What has happened to the civillians?
  • What is being done to help?
  • What is the International Community doing?

Saturday 15 March 2008

The Costs and Benefits of Migration

Migration affects both the area of origin and the area of destination. The effects of migration can be:

Economic

Social
Environmental

Cultural





The Costs and Benefits of Economic Migration
IMPACT ON ORIGIN / SOURCE COUNTRY
ECONOMIC COSTS
  • Loss of young adult labour force
  • Loss of skills base and entrepreneurs - could slow economic development
  • out - migration may cause spital of decline which is difficult to halt (see link on NE Deindustrialisation blog)
  • Loss of labour may discourage inward investment, increasing dependence on government support.
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
  • Prospect of reduced under emloyment in the source country
  • Returning migrants bring new skills to the country which may revitalise home country economy
  • Money sent home by migrants may be invested in the home economy or businesses
  • Les pressure on resources including basic supplies such as food and water and essentail services such as healthcare

SOCIAL COSTS
  • Perceived benefits of migration continue to encourage following generations to migrate with a net detrimental effect on social structure
  • Disproportionate number of females left behind
  • Non return of migrants leaves imbalance in population structure with long term consequences
  • Returning retired migrants may impose social cost on the community if there is an inadequate support mechanism to cater for them
SOCIAL BENEFITS
  • Population density reduced and birth rate decreases (young fertile who migrate)
  • Money sent home by migrants can finance improved education and healthcare facilities
  • Returning retired migrants increase social expectations within the community, e.g., demand for better leisure facilities

IMPACT ON DESTINATION COUNTRY
ECONOMIC COSTS
  • Cost of educating migrants' children
  • Increasing over dependence on migrant labour to support some industries (e.g. vegetable picking in East Anglia)
  • Leakage of money earned by migrants, including pension payments, goes back to country of origin
  • Increased numbers of people puts pressure on existing resources such as health services and education.
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
  • Migrants take up less desirable jobs
  • Host country gains skilled labour at reduced cost
  • 'Skills gap' in host country may be filled by qualified migrant workers
  • Retirement costs are transferred back to the source country
SOCIAL COSTS
  • Discrimination against minorities leads to civil unrest and political extremism
  • The dominance of males is reinforced, especially in countries where the status of women is low, e.g., Persian Gulf states
  • Aspects of cultural identity are lost, particularly among second and third generation migrants
  • Segregated areas of similar ethnic groups are created, and schools become dominated by migrant children
SOCIAL BENEFITS
  • Creation of a multicultural society increases awareness, respect and understanding of other cultures
  • Influx of new and revitalised community services and businesses, e.g. corner shops and Turkish baths
  • Growth of ethnic retailing and areas associated with ethnic food and textile outlets, e.g. fabric shops in Manningham, Bradford

Check this link on the impact of Economic Migration
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2019385.stm
ACTIVITYThe Poles are Coming (BBC 2 11 March 2008) - Following the broadcast (Click to see clip) and the notes you made from the programme, together with reading through the links on the Case Studies blog, use the bullet points above to compile a list of the COSTS & BENEFITS of Polish migration to the UK and Poland.

Thursday 6 March 2008

Impact of Deindustrialisation in the North East


The north east of England witnessed huge deindustrialisation during the late 1970s and 1980s which resulted in many people leaving the traditional industrial core clusters around Tyneside, Wearside and Teeside to migrate south or abroad. Some areas have recovered due to foreign investment, Washington near Sunderland (Nissan) and others due to government initaitives, Newcastle (One North), however, many areas remain sparsley populated, lacking in any resources or opportunities for the future generations.


Follow the link to find out more. Click here.
There has been a small amount of international immigration such as Japanese managers for the Nissan factory at Washington and small pockets of Chinese, Pakistani and Indian people, often running their own small businesses or in professional and managerial roles.

Tuesday 4 March 2008

Causes of Migration and Migration Case Studies

The table below highlights some major causes of migration. It classifies such movments in terms of their origin and destination and whether the movement is voluntary or forced.





The following website contains a series of MIGRATION Case Studies and questions which will provide excellent anecdotal evidence for your notes





The following links provide detailed information and data for our work on migration. You also need to refer to the February Blog on Brazil.


Advantages of UK immigration
Britain's east-west divide
Can you pass a British citizenship test?
Dutch set immigrants culture test
German 'Muslim test' stirs anger
Migrants speak of city life
Migrant World: BBC in-depth reports reports
People seek 'country life' values

Online Maps, GIS and Map Skills

The links below will help you build up a wide range of mapping and GIS skills which will enable you to research and display much of the data covered in your AS/A2 course.

ArcExplorer- ArcExplorer is a lightweight GIS data viewer developed by ESRI. This freely available software (which you can download to your home computer) offers an easy way to perform a variety of basic GIS functions, including display, query, and data retrieval applications. It can be used on its own with local data sets or as a client to Internet data and map servers. Only download this software if you have permission from the owner of the computer.

· A Vision of Britain(between 1801 and 2001. Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions). This web site was created by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project ("GIS" stands for "Geographical Information System"). It has a large bank of historical maps, cencus data and other information concerning many locations in Britain. Useful for Historians too.

·
DEMIS– A good interactive map that allows you to zoom in from a map of the globe to a regional level. You can also enter the longitude and latitude of a location to pin-point a location.

·
GetaMap (inc. 1:25,000 maps) - A free improved mapping service from Ordnance Survey. You can search for maps anywhere in the UK simply by entering the place name, full postcode or National Grid.

·
Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century - A wide range of historical map showing changes in social trends, population, and much more. Useful to Historians too.Latitude and Longitude -Teach yourself all about it!

·
Magic: An excellent source of UK maps- The first web-based interactive map to bring together geographic information on key environmental schemes and designations in one place. An excellent resource.

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MapMachine- National Geographic's redesigned online atlas. You can find nearly any place on Earth, and view it by population, climate, and much more. Plus, browse antique maps and find country facts.

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Map Projections - Play with a map of the world to see the distorting effects of different map projections.

· NatioMaster.com - Not just maps. You can generate your own choropleth maps, graphs and tables from a vast bank of statistics on everything from crime rates to GDP for anywhere in the world. You can compare countries and create correlations. The site also has an on line encyclopaedia.

·
MapZone–The OS’s website to teach map skills. Aimed at 7-16 year olds.

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Mulitmap (with overlay facilities)- Multimap is Europe's leading provider of mapping and location-based services. They deliver online maps, point-to-point driving directions and geo-spatial ("where's my nearest?") searches in Europe.

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Ordnance Survey. Plenty of information about maps including free resources. An excellent website. Check out the Education section.

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Pupil Vision Maps– An excellent source of black and white outline maps.

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Relief Web (including maps of remote locations) – maps of places anywhere in the world.

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Streetmap- Another leading mapping and location-based services. They deliver online maps, point-to-point driving directions and geo-spatial ("where's my nearest?") searches.

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The Harvard Geospatial Library– An interactive map with which you can zoom in and out to obtain a map of anywhere in the world. Not good at a local scale but good for continental or country maps.
·
Time Ticker - Looks great, and sounds pretty funky too - complete with comedy boinging effects when you click to a new area on the map. And it is that easy to find the time anywhere in the world.
·
University of Texas map collection- As you might expect from Texas, this is a huge internet map library. You can find maps of more or less any type here.

·
USGS GIS- All about Geographical Information Systems

·
What are maps? - An introduction to maps.

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WorldAtlas.com - More online maps and information about each country.

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World Map - A site providing links to a comprehensive collection of world maps, including outline maps, satellite images, global warming maps and many more.

· How far is it between.... and.....? For some reason, Geographers seem to be expected to know the answer to this type of question. Never mind, the Internet has come to the rescue.
Click here.

Brits Move Abroad



Studies by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) indicate that approximately 10% of British citizens live overseas suggesting that the rate of departure has been so great that population falls are only masked by immigration. Over the 39 years between 1966 and 2005, the UK has experienced a total net loss of 2.7 million British nationals.


Download a summary of the IPPR report ‘Brits Abroad: Mapping the scale and nature of British emigration’ from: