Environmental Issues in Southern & Eastern Asia

Environmental Issues in Southern & Eastern Asia

​SS7G10 & SS7G11

• I can explain the causes and effects of pollution on the Yangtze and Ganges Rivers.

• I can explain the causes and effects of air pollution and flooding in India and China.

• I can describe how the mountain, desert, and water features of Southern and Eastern Asia impact trade and affect where people live.

Look at these maps. The red dots are cities in India & China.

What do you notice about where the red dots are located?

​Impact of Water Features

• Millions of people in Southern & Eastern Asia choose to live near a river that can provide them with drinking water & water for crops

• Millions of other people also choose to live along the region's long ocean coastlines

  • large port cities built alongside deep harbors have become major centers of business

  • fishing, shipbuilding & ship-repair industries provide large numbers of jobs

​Impact of Water Features

• Ganges River in India:

  • people have lived near this river since ancient times

  • today, it is the most highly populated river basin in the world, with more than 400 million people

• Uses for the Ganges River:

  • drinking water

  • fishing

  • irrigation or watering land

  • water for manufacturing needs

  • ships & barges use it to carry agricultural products

​Impact of Water Features

• Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) in China:

  • receives significant amounts of rainfall that leads to flooding, which makes the river basin fertile

    • nearly one-fourth of China's farmland is located here

    • it is thought rice was first grown here

      • other crops grown: barley, cotton, maize (corn), wheat

  • more than 400 million people, around one-third of China's population, live along the river

  • many of China's largest cities are built along the river

  • ships travel up and down the river bringing goods from around the world to China

​Impact of Water Features

• Yellow River (Huang He) in northern China:

  • viewed as the birthplace of Chinese civilization & is referred to as the "Mother River"

  • also known as "China's Sorrow" due to frequent flood damage to homes & agriculture

  • land if flat & fertile and receives significant rainfall

  • the Yellow River empties into the Yellow Sea & provides a major shipping route for China

    • many large towns have developed along these transportation & shipping route

​Impact of Mountains & Deserts

• Some of the harshest environments known to man are found in China

• Because of the inhospitable climates, few people other than small nomadic groups inhabit these regions

• Deserts

  • Taklimakan Desert is China's largest desert

    • no significant rainfall or water sources, made up of sand dunes that make transportation hard, extreme temps - can be very hot during day & very cold at night in winter

  • Gobi Desert is Asia's largest desert

    • extremely dry, some parts have no water source & extreme temps like Taklimakan

​Impact of Mountains & Deserts

• Mountains

  • Himalayan Mountains in northwest India & Southwest China

    • in India - mountains trap rain clouds so rainforests & grasslands can be found

    • in China - receives little rainfall

    • there are many glaciers throughout the mountain ranges

      • hydroelectric power plants have been built to supply energy throughout Southern & Eastern Asia

Categorize

Options (6)

Ganges River

Taklimakan Desert

Yellow River

Gobi Desert

Yangtze River

Himalayan Mountains in China

Think about whether these physical features would lead to low or high population density

Low Population Density

High Population Density

​Water Pollution

• Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) - one-third of China's population lives in the river basin, around 400 million people

  • one of the world's most polluted water systems due to some of China's most densely populated cities, major industrial sites & farms and fisheries

  • billions of tons of chemicals and waste from agriculture, industry, and human sewage pour into the river every year

  • lakes have been contaminated, ecosystems in rivers have been harmed, the number of fish has declined & people are afraid to eat fish

  • the Chinese government is trying to prevent further pollution & clean up the river

​Water Pollution

• Ganges River - in one of the most densely populated places in the world and provides water to almost half a billion people

• also one of the most polluted rivers in the world

  • many of India's industrial cities located along the river & factories dump waste into it

  • human sewage and agricultural runoff also pollute the river

  • about 1,000 tons of sewage is dumped into the river daily

  • pollution has endangered the river's ecosystem and led to some species becoming endangered

  • waterborne illnesses have caused the deaths of many children in India

  • efforts are being made to clean the river up, but it will take a long time

Open Ended

Zara thinks that it is okay to drink out of rivers in Southern & Eastern Asia, like the Ganges River & Yangtze River. Why should she NOT drink out of these rivers?

​Flooding

• Strong seasonal winds called monsoons sweep into India and China from the Indian and Pacific oceans. These monsoons generate heavy rainfall in areas of Southern & Eastern Asia.

• In recent decades, human activities have worsened the flooding from these monsoons.

  • Heavy logging in the region limits the environment’s ability to absorb some of the floodwater and also leads to erosion & larger floodplains, which can result in flash floods and landslides.

  • A lack of environmental regulations and building codes in flood-prone areas also increases the risk of dangerous flooding.

    • Dams built throughout Southern & Eastern Asia to control water for agriculture and to generate hydroelectricity sometimes cannot contain the monsoon floodwaters. If and when the dams fail, the flooding becomes much worse.

• Despite the flood risk, people continue to live in the region because their livelihoods depend on its rich, fertile soil.

​Air Pollution

• In China

  • harmful glasses & pollutants are released into the air from factories using fossil fuels & villages buring coal for cooking & heating homes

  • carbon monoxide (CO2) from cars, trucks, buses, etc. in cities

  • lack of clean air leads to health hazards & if people are sick, they cannot work which also hurts the economy

• In India

  • similar to China, many industries use coal to fuel factories

  • many Indian people cook their food and heat their homes with unprocessed fuels that emit toxic fumes

  • highly populated cities are also dealing with CO2 emissions

  • farms set fires on purpose to clear fields after a year's crop

Multiple Choice

Which is NOT one of the causes of air pollution in Southern & Eastern Asia?

• coal burned in homes & factories

• vehicle emissions

• manufactoring

• monsoons

Match

Match the causes to the type of pollution

• monsoons, logging & removing trees, dams

• human sewage, agricultural runoff, industrial waste

• manufactoring, coal being burned, vehicle emissions, agricultural fires

Flooding

Water Pollution

Air Pollution

• Flooding

• Water Pollution

• Air Pollution