002 - Increasing Competition for Resources

Geographic Knowledge and Understanding

Increasing competition for access to resources in extreme environments, including the role of indigenous groups, civil society organizations, transnational corporations (TNCs) and militia groups.

Concepts

As the demand for resources increases so will the pressure to extract them from within extreme environments. There are many stakeholders involved in the extraction of key resources and all of them affect the future possibility of it.

Aims

Key Terminology

Define the term above using the 'Useful Link' below:


Useful Link

Activity One - Cold Environments - Oil

We have already looked at how oil is extracted and transported in Alaska via the Trans Alaskan Pipeline in the USA. You have explored how the pipeline itself is modified to reduce the cracking of the pipeline and make the transferal of oil as risk free as possible. We now need to look at this extraction through a different lens. Our focus this time is to look at increasing competition for oil within Alaska by investigating the different stakeholders that play a role in this area. We will be specifically focusing on the indigenous populations views and how they compare to those of TNCs. The aim is to create a detailed example of the conflict that is created by the different stakeholders involved in the extraction of oil in Alaska.


Activity Two - Hot Environments - Uranium

We have looked at the extraction of uranium in Niger and the environmental impact that this has had. We are now going to look at the different roles that stakeholders have in this extraction. In the case of uranium there are indigenous militia groups who are fighting to protect their areas against the expansion of the mines, GreenPeace who seek to raise the importance of environmental degradation in the area and then AREVA a French TNC who are trying to protect their rights to the extract and sell the resource. Create a detailed example on the issues raised by the extraction of uranium in Niger.


Useful Resources

Exam Style Question

Examine the role of various stakeholders in a situation where there is increasing competition for access to resources in extreme environments. [10 marks]

This lesson was development in collaboration with Richard Allaway from geographyalltheway. For more resources please visit www.geographyalltheway.com