Risky World
Are some places riskier than others?
In this lesson students think about what sorts of risks there are locally and globally and give a subjective scale to the level of risk. Zooming out from the local to the global scale, this lesson also puts the risks faced in students' local area into context with the bigger picture, whole nations and regions whose populations face levels of risk from natural and human hazards.
Key questions:
- What is the ‘scale' of risk?
- Which places in the world are most risky?
Key Concepts:
Scale
Space
Environmental interaction and sustainable development
Physical and human processes
What is the ‘scale' of risk?
There are different scales of risk and this is be influenced by social, economic and environmental factors. Perceptions of places can also influence subjective scales of risk.
Which places in the world are most risky?
Quality of life and life expectancy vary across the globe as a result of a number of risks. These hazards can be divided into natural disasters (e.g. tropical storms and earthquakes), man-made dangers (e.g. war and crime) and disease, which are often spread by a combination of physical conditions and human actions. The exact impact each of these risks has on a population depends on the country in which they live, with the country's level of development having an effect on how able countries are to ‘protect' their populations from the worst risks. Regions with a high mortality risk from drought, exposure to geophysical or hydrological hazards as well as those where malaria and HIV/AIDs are prevalent could be considered as places whose populations are most at risk. It is worth considering here that road traffic accidents are one of main causes of mortality in some regions such as Africa. Armed conflict obviously greatly increases the risks to a population. Places in the Low Elevation Coastal Zones have always been at risk but with climate change and increased storm intensity and sea level rise these places are likely to become riskier. According to the International Institute for Environment and Development:
- Nearly two-thirds of urban settlements with more than 5 million inhabitants are at least partially in a coastal zone just 10m or below average sea level.
- On average, 14 percent of people in the least developed countries live in a coastal zone just 10m or below average sea level (compared to 10 percent in OECD countries).
- 21 percent of the urban populations of least developed nations are in a coastal zone just 10m or below average sea level (11 percent in OECD countries).
- About 75% of people in a coastal zone just 10m or below average sea level are in Asia.
- 21 nations have more than half of their population in a coastal zone just 10m or below average sea level (16 are small island states).
- Poor countries - and poor communities within them - are most at risk.
Click on an activity:
Starter
Main activity
Plenary
Interactive:
Risky world
Word version of Risky World interactive
Climate change: populations at risk from cyclones and rising seas
Word version of Climate Change interactive
Downloads:
Risk Places PPT (+ printout)
Card-sort using PPT from lesson 1