IB Geography SL cheat sheet

Space = the areal extent and distribution of phenomena; place = space given meaning by human experience, identity, or attachment (e.g., a sacred site, a home village).

Scale is a relational concept: a process visible at local scale (a farm) may be driven by global scale (commodity prices); analysis must state the scale of observation.

The seven concepts are interlinked: change in one (e.g., processes) alters others (place, sustainability); exam answers should name at least two concepts and show their linkage.

Systems have inputs, outputs, stores (reservoirs) and flows (fluxes); open systems exchange matter/energy across boundaries, closed systems exchange only energy (Earth as a whole is effectively closed for matter).

Positive feedback amplifies change (permafrost thaw releases methane, raising temperature); negative feedback dampens change (increased cloud albedo reducing insolation) and promotes equilibrium.

Sustainability has three interacting pillars (environmental, social, economic); a project is sustainable only if it meets present needs without reducing the capacity of future generations to meet theirs.

Spatial concepts for describing distribution: density, concentration, dispersion, pattern (clustered, linear, uniform) and gradient (e.g., distance decay from a city centre).

Change is measured as rate (amount per unit time) or as magnitude; distinguishing short-term fluctuation from long-term trend is required when interpreting any time-series graph.

Population density = total population / total land area (km²); physiological density = population / arable land area, which better indicates pressure on food-producing land.

The Demographic Transition Model has five stages: high stationary (high CBR and CDR), early expanding (CDR falls), late expanding (CBR falls), low stationary (both low), and declining (CBR below CDR).

Natural increase rate = CBR − CDR per 1,000; doubling time is approximately 70 / annual percentage growth rate (rule of 70).

Development is multidimensional: economic (GNI per capita, PPP), social (life expectancy, literacy, HDI), and demographic (fertility, infant mortality); HDI combines life expectancy, mean/expected years of schooling and GNI per capita.

Rostow's model of five stages (traditional society, preconditions for take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, high mass consumption) is a linear model criticised for assuming all countries follow the same path.

Core–periphery model: core regions accumulate capital and skilled labour; periphery supplies raw materials and cheap labour; the dependency school argues this relationship perpetuates inequality.

The Brandt line divides a wealthier 'North' from a poorer 'South', but it is a simplification: newly industrialised countries (e.g., South Korea) and oil-rich states now sit in the 'South' with high GNI per capita.

Population pyramids indicate stage of development: broad base and concave sides = high fertility and high mortality (stage 2); narrow base and bulging middle = ageing population (stage 4–5).

Push factors drive migration away (conflict, unemployment, drought); pull factors attract (jobs, safety, services); intervening obstacles (borders, cost, distance) filter the flow.

Ravenstein's laws: most migrants move short distances, migration is stepwise, long-distance migrants favour cities, and every migration stream produces a counter-stream.

Net migration = immigration − emigration; population change = natural increase + net migration.

Forced migration includes refugees (cross a border, protected under the 1951 Refugee Convention) and internally displaced persons (IDPs), who remain inside their own state and lack that protection.

Ageing populations raise the old-age dependency ratio = (population aged 65+) / (population aged 15–64) × 100, increasing pressure on pensions and health budgets.

Youthful populations (youth bulge) create demand for schools and jobs; if job creation lags, high unemployment can drive emigration or instability.

Pro-natalist policies (e.g., France's family allowances, Singapore's baby bonuses) aim to raise fertility; anti-natalist policies (e.g., China's former one-child policy, India's sterilisation campaigns) aim to reduce it.

Migration impacts are gendered and age-selective: sending areas lose working-age adults (brain drain) but gain remittances; receiving areas gain labour but may face housing and integration pressures.

The enhanced greenhouse effect: human emissions of CO₂, CH₄, N₂O and halocarbons trap outgoing long-wave radiation, adding to the natural greenhouse effect.

Major sources: CO₂ from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation; CH₄ from livestock, rice paddies and landfills; N₂O from fertilisers.

Impacts are uneven by latitude and by vulnerability: low-lying deltas and small island states face sea-level rise; the Sahel faces drought and rainfall variability; high latitudes face permafrost thaw.

Vulnerability = exposure + sensitivity − adaptive capacity; the same hazard produces different impacts in a wealthy and a poor region.

Mitigation reduces causes (renewable energy, afforestation, carbon pricing, energy efficiency); adaptation reduces harm (sea defences, drought-resistant crops, early warning systems).

Positive feedbacks amplify warming: ice–albedo feedback (melting ice exposes darker ocean/land, absorbing more heat) and permafrost methane release.

The Kyoto Protocol (1997) set binding targets for developed countries only; the Paris Agreement (2015) uses nationally determined contributions (NDCs) aiming to hold warming well below 2 °C, pursuing 1.5 °C.

Common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) is the principle that developed states should bear more of the mitigation burden, given their historical emissions.

Resource security exists when a reliable, affordable and environmentally acceptable supply of a resource meets demand; it has dimensions of availability, access, affordability and acceptability.

Energy mix = the proportion of total energy supply from each source (e.g., oil, coal, gas, nuclear, hydro, wind, solar); it differs sharply between countries.

The energy transition is the shift from high-carbon to low-carbon sources; it is constrained by cost, infrastructure, intermittency and political priorities.

Water stress occurs when demand exceeds 20% of available renewable supply; water scarcity is physical (insufficient supply) or economic (lack of infrastructure/funds to access supply).

Virtual water is the water embedded in a product (e.g., ~15,000 litres per kg of beef); trade in virtual water shifts pressure between regions.

Food security has four pillars: availability, access, utilisation (nutritional use) and stability over time; food insecurity can be chronic or transitory.

Malthus argued population growth outpaces food supply (geometric vs arithmetic growth); Boserup argued population pressure stimulates agricultural intensification; the Green Revolution (high-yield varieties, fertilisers, irrigation) supported the Boserup view.

The resource curse (paradox of plenty) describes states rich in a single resource (e.g., oil) that show slower growth, corruption or conflict due to dependence on volatile commodity prices.

The hydrological cycle: stores (oceans, ice, groundwater, atmosphere) and fluxes (precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, runoff, infiltration); a drainage basin is an open system.

A storm hydrograph shows discharge over time; a short lag time and high peak flow indicate impermeable rock, steep slopes, urbanisation or sparse vegetation; a long lag time indicates permeable rock and dense vegetation.

River processes: erosion (hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition, solution), transport (traction, saltation, suspension, solution), and deposition when velocity falls.

The long profile shows a concave-up curve from steep upper course to gentle lower course; the cross-profile changes from narrow V-shaped to wide and flat with a floodplain.

Coastal sediment cells are self-contained units of sediment movement bounded by headlands; a change in one part of the cell (e.g., a groyne) affects the whole cell.

Waves of high energy and long fetch cause destructive (plunging) waves and erosion; constructive (spilling) waves build beaches with a gentle swash and strong backwash.

Coastal landforms: erosional (cliffs, wave-cut platforms, headlands and bays, caves–arches–stacks) and depositional (beaches, spits, bars, tombolo, salt marsh).

Hard engineering (sea walls, groynes, riprap) is costly and can shift erosion downdrift; soft engineering (beach nourishment, dune stabilisation, managed retreat) works with natural processes but needs maintenance.

Glacial systems: accumulation (snowfall) vs ablation (melting, sublimation, calving); the equilibrium line separates net accumulation from net ablation; a positive mass balance means glacier advance.

Glacial erosion processes: plucking (meltwater freezes around rock and pulls it away) and abrasion (rock carried in ice scours the bed); landforms include cirques, arêtes, U-shaped valleys, hanging valleys and truncated spurs.

Periglacial environments have permafrost and active layers; processes include freeze–thaw weathering, solifluction and patterned ground; thawing permafrost releases methane and destabilises infrastructure.

Deserts are defined by aridity (usually <250 mm precipitation per year); landforms include yardangs, zeugen, barchan and seif dunes, pediments and wadis.

Hazard risk = (hazard × vulnerability) / capacity to cope; risk is not the same as hazard magnitude.

Earthquake hazards: ground shaking, liquefaction (saturated sediment behaves like a fluid), landslides, tsunamis and fires; seismic risk is high where dense populations occupy unstable ground.

Volcanic hazards: lava flows, pyroclastic flows, ash fall, lahars (volcanic mudflows) and gases; the VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index) rates magnitude from 0 to 8.

Hazard management cycle: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery; prediction (e.g., seismic monitoring, tiltmeters, gas sampling) reduces risk but cannot prevent events.

Butler's Tourism Area Life Cycle: exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, then decline or rejuvenation.

Factors driving tourism growth: rising disposable income, increased leisure time, cheaper air travel (including low-cost carriers), and media/Internet promotion.

Mass tourism impacts: economic (foreign exchange, employment, leakage of profits abroad), sociocultural (commodification of culture, demonstration effect), environmental (footprint, water use, reef damage).

Ecotourism aims to minimise impact and benefit local communities; it can fail if it becomes 'greenwashing' or if visitor numbers exceed carrying capacity.

Sports and mega-events (Olympics, World Cup) bring infrastructure and image benefits but risk cost overruns, displacement and underused venues (white elephants).

The nutrition transition is the shift from traditional diets to energy-dense, processed foods, linked to rising obesity and diet-related disease (type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease).

Food security and health are linked: undernutrition (stunting, wasting) and overnutrition (obesity) can coexist in the same country (the double burden).

Health geography examines disease diffusion (contagious vs hierarchical), access to healthcare and the influence of environment on health outcomes (e.g., malaria in warm, wet lowlands).

The IA is an individual fieldwork report of about 2,500 words, structured as: fieldwork question, background/geographic context, methods, data presentation, analysis, conclusion and evaluation.

A good fieldwork question is specific, measurable and geographically located: it names a variable, a place and a spatial or temporal comparison (e.g., 'How does pedestrian flow vary along X street between 08:00 and 18:00?').

Sampling methods: random (unbiased but may miss patterns), systematic (every nth point along a transect), and stratified (sampling proportionally within subgroups); state the sample size and justification.

Primary data collection techniques include questionnaires, pedestrian/traffic counts, environmental quality surveys, field sketches, photographs and bipolar/rating scales; secondary data include census, GIS and meteorological records.

Data presentation must match data type: bar charts for discrete categories, scatter graphs for correlation, pie charts for proportions, choropleth or isoline maps for spatial distributions, and annotated field sketches.

Analysis should use appropriate techniques: mean, median, mode, interquartile range, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient or chi-squared; state significance and interpret the result geographically.

The conclusion must answer the fieldwork question directly and link findings to geographic concepts (space, place, scale, processes, change, systems, sustainability).

Evaluation must address limitations of methods (sampling bias, sample size, timing, weather, instrument error) and suggest specific improvements, not vague statements.