North Africa/Southwest Asia 1: Oil and Water
I.
II.
III.
Defining the Region
A. African Atlantic shore (Morocco)  steppes of inner Asia
B. crossroads: Europe, Asia, Africa
World of Oil
A. 3 zones of enormous petroleum reserves = 65% of world’s known reserves
1. southeastern Arabian Peninsula  head of Persian Gulf
2. North Africa: Algeria - Libya - Sinai Peninsula
3. Caspian Sea/Tengiz Basin: Azerbaijan  Central Asian Republics
B. transformative -- Saudi Arabia
C. supranationalism: OPEC
1) members: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, United Arab Emirates,
Algeria, Libya, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nigeria, Angola
2) goal: control supply
D. Caspian Sea oil - current “Great Game”
1. historical geography
a. Great Game: 19th century struggle to control Central Asia
2. current oil boom: Caspian Sea/Tengiz Basin
3. Baku
4. issue: how to get the oil out
a. routes from Caspian Sea
1)  Russia  Black Sea
2)  Supsa, Georgia  Black Sea
3)  Tbilisi, Georgia  Ceyhan, Turkey  Mediterranean
4)  Iran  Persian Gulf
5)  Afghanistan  Pakistan  Arabian Sea
6)  Eastern European Black Sea ports  Western Europe
7) Kazakhstan  China
b. future markets
c. physical geography
1) mountains
2) seismicity
3) Bosporus
d. war-torn region
5. U.S. consumption: our “soft spot”
Africa/Southwest Asia: Dry World
A. B climates
B. water and regional population
1. North Africa/Southwest Asia locations
a. Nile River
b. Turkey
c. Mediterranean coast – Atlas Mountains (orographic precipitation)
d. Tigris-Euphrates basin of Iraq
e. desert oases
2. nomadic people
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IV.
V.
3. desertification of steppes ecosystem: ecological changes that turn nondesert land into deserts
a. Sahel: band of arid grasslands 200-400 miles wide along southern edge of Sahara
Water
A. water availability
1. water makes up 71% of earth surface
2. freshwater usage
B. water is big business
C. UN water statistics
1. per capita water needs and use
2. water and illness
3. water stress: 1,000 – 1,700 m3/capita/year
4. water scarcity: < 1,000 m3/capita/year
a. physical v. economic scarcity
5. predicted increased demand
Flow: For Love of Water
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