Answers and Suggested Responses—
Chapter 7 The Asia–Pacific region
Opening spread
7.1 What different environments are there?
1
Ocean, coral reef, lagoon, beach/coastal, rainforest, mountain, volcanic.
2
Variations occur for a number of reasons. The location of places in relations to factors such as
plate boundaries creates variations, as does location relative to the poles and equator. Variations
also occur due to the interaction of the four spheres that make up the Earth’s surface: biosphere,
lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere.
3
Many people on this island live a traditional way of life with a strong reliance on fishing for food and
for income and living in homes made from natural materials. Others live a more modern, Western
lifestyle due to the influence of tourism and own cars and have homes made from modern
materials.
7.2 How and why do environments change?
1
Soap and margarine are made partially from palm oil. Palm oil is gown in plantations in South East
Asia on land that has been cleared of rainforest. Animals such as tigers and orang-utans that live in
these forests are losing their habitat.
2
Answers will vary but an interesting one is the mineral, coltan, which is used in mobile phones. This
is mined in West Africa in open-cut mines where access roads have to be cut through the
rainforest. These roads give hunters access to the western lowland gorilla which is becoming
endangered as a result.
3
Due to a combination of factors. Key ones are the growth in the world’s population, increased
mechanisation in farming methods and increased affluence in many countries increasing demand
for consumer products.
7.3 How do people respond to change?
1
Answers will vary. He may be trying to get away or he maybe one of the protestors and has just set
fire to a car.
2
This can draw media attention to their struggle and it can be used for revenge against a group of
people.
3
Australia tends to come to countries in response to problems that they are having. In the case of
Tonga in 2006 the problem was in restoring law and order following a riot.
7.1 What different environments are there?
What do you know about natural environments in the Asia-Pacific region?
1
The highest point is Mount Everest and the lowest point in the Marianas Trench.
2
Delta regions tend to be densely populated due to the fertile soils that are deposited by rivers, the
plentiful supply of fresh water and the access to the ocean.
3
Convectional rain (Source 7.17), frontal rain (Source 7.19) and orographic rain (Source 7.18).
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4
The Himalayan Mountain range acts as a barrier to air masses moving across the Indian
subcontinent. This creates a region of very high rainfall on the southern slopes and dry areas north
of the range. The mountains are also responsible for temperature variations with very cold
temperatures being experienced at higher altitudes.
What do you know about human environments in the Asia-Pacific region?
1
Floods, unsuitable housing, lack of basic services such as running water, electricity and sanitation
and ground subsidence.
2
Flat land, fertile soils, reliable rainfall and fresh water.
3
The farmer in source 7.22 is a subsistence farmer. “This will provide enough milk for her family to
be able to make their morning and evening meals.”
4
Fertile soils and high rainfall.
5
The landscape is dominated by sugar cane. As this is usually grown on flat land we can assume
that the surrounding countryside is flat. The workers are wearing heavy raincoats so we can
assume that this is an area of high rainfall.
Big Ideas
1
The ring of fire is an area around the edge of the Pacific Ocean that experiences frequent
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
2
Temperature falls in relation to distance from the equator. The warmer places near the equator
receive more energy from the sun while colder places nearer to the poles receive less energy from
the sun.
3
a Movement of tectonic plates has created mountain ranges, ocean trenches, volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes and tsunamis.
b Mountain ranges in particular create climate variations. Colder temperatures are experienced at
higher altitudes and mountain ranges also create orographic rainfall bringing about variations in
rainfall across Asia.
4
Answers will vary according to location. Most rainfall in Victoria is frontal but the Great Dividing
Range and other smaller ranges such as the Dandenongs can create local orographic variations in
rainfall. Mount Dandenong, for example, receives more than twice as much rainfall as Werribee.
5
There are obvious variations in the level of technology as the Laotian farmer relies on manual
labour whereas the New Zealand farmer uses a mechanised system to milk the cows. This allows
the second farmer to milk many more cows, thereby increasing their income and leading to a
higher standard of living.
6
Singapore: rainforest climate, hot and wet all year. Ulan Bator: continental climate, cold with dry
winters. Jakarta: rainforest climate. Hot and wet all year. There are examples of all climate types
except for polar climates. This means that there are 13 climate types in the region.
7
There are probably two main reasons for the growth of Jakarta. The first of these is the arrival of
migrants from rural areas within Indonesia. They are attracted to Jakarta because of the perceived
opportunities for better jobs, education and living standards. Cities in the developing world such as
Jakarta also have a high birth rate and this also leads to growth of the city.
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8
Features in Jakarta squatter settlements: people dig bores to extract water, which sometimes
results in land subsidence; flooding is a major hazard.
Features in Mumbai squatter settlements: slums are built on newly reclaimed land; home to
many tradesmen; air pollution is a major problem; under pressure from property developers
Features common to both: homes built from temporary materials; growing population; running
water, sanitation and electricity difficult to obtain; disease is rife
9
In the foreground slums can be seen. Homes are made of a mixture of permanent and temporary
materials next to a canal. This appears to be an area of low living standards. In the background
can be seen a modern city skyline with multi-storey apartments and office blocks. These areas
would have a much higher living standard.
10
Visual answer. The city has grown a great deal between 1976 and 2004 and now occupies an area
about five times greater than was the case in 1976. In particular it has expanded eastwards along
the coastline and southwards into areas that were previously forested. A small area in the southern
region of the satellite image has not been settled as densely as the surrounding land. It is probably
an area of steep hillsides associated with a volcanoes or a swampy are unsuitable for housing. The
coastline has undergone some significant changes with much land reclamation in the east and
near the site of the original city centre.
11
Natural factors include rivers, floodplain and heavy rains associated with a tropical climate. Human
factors include the location of a city on the floodplain and the subsidence of land due to the drilling
of bores for fresh water. Natural factors are mostly responsible as flooding in this region is part of
the natural pattern of rivers.
12
There is a strong spatial association between regions of high rainfall (over 1000mm annually) and
regions of high population density (over 50/km²). This is particularly noticeable in India, eastern
China, Japan and South East Asian countries such as Indonesia. Regions with low rainfall (less
than 500mm per year) such as central Australia, western China and Mongolia tend to have very
low population densities of less than 1 person per square kilometre making them some of the most
sparsely populated places in the world. The landforms with the highest population densities are the
floodplains such as the North China Plain and floodplains associated with major river systems such
as the Yangtze, Mekong, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus, Xi and Krishna Rivers. The Deccan
Plateau in central India is also densely populated. Australia is largely a sparsely populated country
with virtually all of the country having a population density of less than 1/km². However, those
regions that have a higher population density such as the towns and cities of the south-east and
eastern seaboard are largely located on floodplains. This conforms to the pattern seen in other
locations in the Asia-Pacific region.
13
Visual answer. Five examples of spatial change over time include clearing of native vegetation,
planting of crops such as rice, terracing of the hillside, building fences and building houses.
14
Some of the dangers include the effects of a natural disaster such as a cyclone or crop diseases
are magnified as many people may lose their jobs. The crop may be grown in other regions of the
world at a cheaper price or tastes might change meaning that the crop no longer fetches the same
price.
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15
Changes described on page 199 include (ranking in brackets):

change from shifting to permanent agriculture (1)

change from small scale to large scale plantations (5)

changes to traditional ways of life (2)

crops have changed to those preferred by Europeans (3)

changes from local to global consumption patterns (4)
I have ranked the change from shifting to permanent agriculture as the most important change as
this lead to so many other significant changes such as the growth of cities, the changes to crop
types and changes to living standards.
16
An example of a slow change is the building of mountain ranges such as the Himalayas due to
plate movement. An example of a rapid change is the growth of many cities in the region such as
Jakarta.
7.2 How and why do environments change?
What do you know about changes to forests in the Asia-Pacific region?
1
They are some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, largely because many of the rainforests
developed on isolated islands. They are also the world’s most endangered rainforests.
2
The areas of vegetation have greatly diminished as the city of Jakarta has expanded. This
suggests that the natural vegetation has been cleared top make way for the rapidly expanding city.
From a helicopter 100 metres above the ground the edges of the city would appear as small
homes, some of which are made of temporary materials on newly cleared ground.
3
This is because of the environment in which they live. The high mountain ranges and impenetrable
rainforest have made it difficult for people to access the areas in which they live.
4
Palm oil plantations are being established on land that has been cleared of rainforests. The forests
are cleared, drained and replanted with palm oil. This greatly reduces the biodiversity of the region
and endangers many species of plants and animals, including the orang-utan.
5
They are migratory, following the natural fruiting cycle of trees. This means that they require large
areas of undisturbed rainforest to survive.
What do you know about mining in the Asia-Pacific region?
1
The Grasberg copper and gold mine is located in the Indonesian province of Papua on the island of
New Guinea. It is 80km from the southern coast of the island and is 4300 metres above sea level.
2
Tailings are the by-products of mining operation such as excess water or rock. At Grasberg the
tailings are washed into the local river system as water and silt.
3
Acid rain in China tends to be most severe in the south-east of the country. In this region, the pH
level of the rain is less than 5.6 meaning that it is acidic.
4
The demand for China’s products is expected to grow. New power stations in China are often
powered by coal. Chinese power stations tend to use older, cheaper technology rather than new,
cleaner technologies.
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5
The warning is that if your economy is based on a single non-renewable product that you are in big
trouble when that product runs out.
What do you know about climate change?
1
The exact increase in average temperature is difficult to predict. Arid regions are `expected to
warm more quickly than wetter regions. Changes to rainfall patterns will mean some areas
`become wetter while others become drier. The degree to which sea levels will rise is difficult to
predict. The map (Source 7.52) shows that sea levels in some places have risen by less than 4
millimetres a year while in other places it is over 21 mm.
2
Economies based on fishing will be affected by increased severity and frequency of tropical
cyclones which may destroy fishing boats and coral reefs which provide habitats for fish. Farming
based economies will be affected by changes in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels which may bring
salt water onto crops and increasing natural disasters.
3
A sea level rise of one metre may affect the fringing coral reef and make the island more
susceptible to disasters such as cyclones. Low lying coastal areas would also be flooded by the
rising seas causing communities to move and agricultural areas to become covered in salt water.
4
In mountain environments there will be less snow and shrinking glaciers. Many desert areas will
become drier placing a greater stress on the natural environment in these places.
Big Ideas
1
Deforestation due to mining, logging and land clearing for agriculture such as palm oil plantations.
2
There is a strong spatial association between the areas forested on the island of Borneo from 1950
and the distribution of orang-utans on the island. This is especially marked in the north-east which
lost much of its forest cover between 1950 and 2000. The area inhabited by orang-utans in region
reduced by about 80% in the same period.
3
Visual answer.
4
Because the government may be reluctant to deal with environmental issues if government officials
are making a profit from practices that result in environmental changes.
5
Much of China has no acid rain with the average pH of rainfall being less than 5.0 over most of the
country. Acid rain occurs, however, in a large region in the south-east of the country and a small
region in the north-east. A possible explanation for this pattern is that these are the two areas
where much of the country’s coal-fired power stations, large cities and factories are located.
6
a 16 million metric tons.
b Between 1996 and 2006 the production of palm oil increased from 5.8 million tons per year to
16 million tons.
c Further loss of habitat, in particular of fruiting trees, may result in an overall reduction of orangutan numbers in Malaysia.
7
Benefits of forestry and mining for local communities include employment in the industry and
improvements in infrastructure such as roads and electricity. Benefits for countries include the
income from taxes of mining and forestry and companies and the opportunities to reduce
unemployment and increase living standards.
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8
Practical activity (graph) to be assessed by teacher.
There is little relationship between these two variables. Some poorer countries have much of their
original forest cover remaining while others have very little. Some wealthier nations also have
much remaining while others have little.
9
Mapping answer. The map should include loss of forest cover in the Philippines, Bangladesh,
Indonesia and Malaysia; mining in Western Australia (the Kimberly region), New Caledonia, China,
Nauru and Papua New Guinea; acid rain in China; rising sea levels in Micronesia and Bangladesh;
melting glaciers in the Himalayas.
10
Environmental effects of mining include rainforest destruction, silting of rivers from tailings,
changes in natural drainage patterns, water pollution including poisoning of rivers and coastal
environments, landslides, acid rain and land degradation. Students will need to decide on their own
ranking of these effects. The environmental impacts of deforestation include air pollution,
landslides, loss of animal habitat, species extinction, forest fires, climate change, soil erosion, loss
of topsoil and changes to local weather patterns.
11
There are a range of possible links. Individuals and communities in poorer countries, such as
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, for example, may be more willing to take bribes or become
involved in corrupt practices that result in environmental damage due to their poverty and their
desire to improve their standard of living.
12
Indonesia is the world’s 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitter due mainly to changes in its forest
cover. Brazil is the 4th largest emitter for much the same reason.
7.3 How do people respond to change?
What do you know about political change in the Asia-Pacific region?
1
Some people try to avoid change, others make changes in their own life and adapt to it while
others resist change. The answers to the second part of this question will vary.
2
In the Solomon Islands between 1999 and 2003 rival political and ethnic groups fought a series of
battles. The local police force was unable to control the rapidly deteriorating situation and called in
outside assistance. Australia responded by leading an international force which included over 200
Australian troops and police. This force was successful in bringing the situation under control.
3
Because some people in Indonesia see Westerners such as tourists as their enemy. Attacks on
foreign tourists also attract much greater media attention from around the world than attacks on
local people.
4
Some West Papuans are unhappy about the impact of the Grasberg mine on the natural
environment, particularly the changes to river systems and the floodplain areas downstream from
the mine.
What do you know about Australia’s links?
1
China and Japan.
2
Tonga, Vanuatu, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Cambodia.
3
By providing assistance such as emergency aid and delivering essential services the Australian
government can target specific problems or issues within each country. It is also more likely that
the aid will be used appropriately as cash can more easily be used for something other than
providing aid.
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4
Papua New Guinea received $350 million of Australian aid in 2004 and 2005. The value of the
trade between the two countries is under $5,000 million (it is actually $3,729 million). It is difficult to
accurately say which figure is the greater but it is likely to be the value of the trade.
5
This is an example of the delivery of important services.
Big Ideas
1
In the Solomon Islands in 2006 there was a series of riots that occurred because of an election
result that some people disagreed with. The riots resulted in a series of battles between different
ethnic groups and the local police who found it increasingly difficult to control the situation. An
international peacekeeping force helped to control the situation.
2
Australian aid helped to open 980 schools in East Timor.
3
Answers will vary according to the conflicts selected. One example is a comparison of the conflicts
in Fiji and Myanmar. One similarity is that the army now runs the country rather than the
democratically elected government. One difference is that Fiji is still open to outsiders but in
Myanmar information from outside the country is suppressed.
4
Australia delivers aid to many countries in the Asia-Pacific region. There is a strong spatial
association with countries closer to Australia receiving more aid than countries further away. The
two countries receiving the most aid, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are two of our closest
neighbours. An exception to this pattern is New Zealand which receives no Australian aid despite
being located relatively close.
5
Generally countries with a low GDP such as Papua New Guinea and Indonesia receive more aid
than countries such as New Zealand with a high GDP.
6
Spatial interaction.
7
In the case of the China earthquake the Australian air force could use helicopters to deliver
emergency supplies such as food and medical aid. The army could provide medical aid such as
doctors and operating theatres as well as helping with rescue and recovery programmes. These
services would also be useful in a disaster such as the tsunami and in addition the navy could
access affected areas with their ships and deliver important supplies and personnel.
8
The army which runs Myanmar was reluctant to allow overseas aid into the country following a
severe cyclone in 2008. These protestors are campaigning to have aid allowed into the country.
9
Answers will vary.
10
Many consumer goods are produced in China because they can be made more cheaply there than
in other countries. This is largely because factory workers are paid much less in China than in
countries such as the United States.
11
Answers will vary.
12
Three countries in the south Pacific region are described as undergoing violent political change. In
addition, Australian police are need in four other countries and troops in four. For these reasons,
much of the region could be described as politically unstable.
13
Answers will vary.
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14
Australia is linked in many ways with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Some of these are
the trade that we have with most countries in the region, particularly those in East Asia such as
China and Japan. Most of Australia’s overseas aid is delivered to the region and we also provide
police and troops in emergency and law and order situations.
15
Answers will vary but some of the reasons why people use protest to effect change are that other
avenues of dissent such as voting are not available to them and protests also attract wider
attention to their situation.
Transferring Ideas: The Middle East
7.1 What different environments are there?
1
Much of the country is either desert or mountainous. The population is therefore concentrated in a
relatively small region in the west of the country.
2
Visual answer. The climate appears to be hot and dry. There are few plants visible in the
photograph and the water appears fringed with salt.
3
Communities might fight for control of this place as this would allow control over access to and
from these three continents.
7.2 How and why do environments change?
1
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
2
During the six day war Israel expanded its territory by taking the Golan Heights from Syria, the
West Bank from Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.
3
The Golan Heights would give Israel high land overlooking the countries of Syria and Lebanon.
This would give them a strategic advantage as they could observe troop movements in these
countries. The Gaza Strip would give Israel greater access to the sea as they have limited access
to the sea. The country that controls the land surrounding the Suez Canal would have control over
the ships that use the canal when travelling between the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea.
4
Although they lost some land to Egypt they also gained some land near the Suez Canal, the Gaza
Strip and near the Golan Heights in Syria. The war appears to have been a success for Israel
7.3 How do people respond to change?
1
People who choose to go and live in another country may be trying to avoid the change. People
who make changes to their lives to be able to live within the new borders of Israel are adapting to
change. Terrorists can be thought of as actively resisting the change.
2
It may be because of the threat of the troops reoccupying the area. It may be in revenge for things
that happened during the occupation. It may be because Israel continues to control the area
despite their troops having being withdrawn. Or it may simply because some Palestinians despise
Israelis and will attack them whenever the opportunity arises.
3
There would need to be greater respect and understanding between the two sides. It appears that
Israel would need to completely withdraw from the occupied territories back into its own national
borders. However they would only do this if there was no threat from attack by neighbouring
countries.
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