Key term
OCR A-Level Geography H481
Coastal Landscapes
Topic overviewThe coastal system: inputs, outputs and flows of energy and materialSediment cells, the sediment budget and the sources of coastal sedimentWinds, fetch and the generation of wavesConstructive and destructive waves, and how waves breakTides, tidal range and ocean currentsLithology, geological structure and the plan of the coastWeathering and mass movement on the coastMarine erosion, transport and depositionBays, headlands, cliffs and shore platformsGeos, blow holes, caves, arches, stacks and stumpsBeaches and the changing beach profileSpits, bars, tombolos and salt marshesHigh and low energy coastlines as characteristic landscapesEmergent coasts: raised beaches, marine terraces and abandoned cliffsSubmergent coasts: rias, fjords and shingle beachesCoastal management and its effect on the sediment budgetPorts, tourism and unintended change at the coast
Glaciated Landscapes
Topic overviewThe glacier system: inputs, stores, flows and outputsGlacier mass balance and the equilibrium lineClimate, latitude and altitude as controls on glaciationGeology, relief and aspect in glaciated landscapesFirn, glacier ice, valley glaciers and ice sheetsWarm-based and cold-based ice, and the mechanisms of glacier movementWeathering, mass movement and nivation in cold environmentsGlacial erosion and the marks it leaves on rockEntrainment, transport and deposition of glacial sedimentCorries, arêtes and pyramidal peaksGlacial troughs, hanging valleys and ribbon lakesMoraines, erratics, drumlins and till sheetsCharacteristic glaciated landscapes and how they change over timeGlacio-fluvial landforms of deglaciation: kames, eskers and outwash plainsPermafrost, patterned ground and pingosPeople in periglacial landscapes: resource extraction and thermokarstPeople in glaciated landscapes: dams, reservoirs and valley change
Dryland Landscapes
Topic overviewDryland landscape systems: inputs, stores, flows and outputsAridity, the water balance and the UNEP aridity indexRainfall, pressure belts and the global pattern of aridityRock type and structure in dryland landscapesRelief, aspect and desert microclimatesSediment supply and the dryland sediment budgetPolar drylands and the cold desertsHot deserts of the low and mid latitudesSemi-arid environments and the desert marginsWeathering and mass movement in dryland landscapesFluvial and aeolian processes in the desertWadis, canyons, pedestal rocks, ventifacts and desert pavementsBarchans, linear dunes, star dunes, alluvial fans and bajadasThe Mojave and the Sahara as desert landscape systemsInselbergs, pediments and relict landforms of past pluvialsFrost-shattered debris, nivation hollows and solifluction depositsWater supply, dams and landscape changeTourism, off-road vehicles and landscape change
Earth’s Life Support Systems
Topic overviewWater and carbon as the foundations of life on EarthOpen and closed systems, and the major global stores of water and carbonInputs and outputs of the water cycle: precipitation, snowmelt and evapotranspirationInputs and outputs of the carbon cycle, and the forms of chemical weatheringEvaporation, transpiration, condensation and the causes of rainfallInterception, runoff and catchment hydrologyPhotosynthesis, respiration, decomposition and combustion as carbon flowsNatural sequestration in oceans, vegetation, sediments and rockStores, flows and physical controls in the tropical rainforestDeforestation, farming and forest management in an Amazon drainage basinStores, flows and seasonal change in the Arctic tundraOil and gas development in the Arctic tundra, and its managementDynamic equilibrium, land use change and water extractionFossil fuel combustion, carbon sequestration and feedback loopsChange over time in the cycles, and the monitoring that records itLinks and interdependence between the water and carbon cyclesGlobal strategies to protect the carbon and water cycles
Changing Spaces; Making Places
Topic overviewThe characteristics that shape a place profileContrasting place profiles: Chelsea and BlackpoolPast and present connections, and the scales that embed a placeShifting flows of people, resources, money and ideasSpace, place and the effects of time-space compressionPerception, identity and emotional attachment to placeInformal representations of place in media and the artsFormal and statistical representations of placeMeasuring social inequality and its spatial patternsDeindustrialisation, globalisation and structural economic changeRecession, austerity and the government's role in inequalityLiving with inequality: Sparkbrook and Sutton ColdfieldPlayers driving economic change at different scalesThe Ruhr: a region reshaped by structural economic changePlacemaking and the marketing of places to investorsDesign, mixed use and community-led placemakingRebranding through reimaging and regenerationSalford Quays: from docks to MediaCityUK
Trade in the Contemporary World
Topic overviewMerchandise, services and capital flowsGlobal trade patterns: inter-regional and intra-regional flowsTrade, export value and human developmentTrade as a driver of growth, stability and developmentTrade inequalities, conflict and injusticeTransport, technology and the global supply chainMultinationals, outsourcing and the new international division of labourRegional trading blocs and the European UnionSouth–south trade and the growth of traded servicesIndia: trade patterns of an emerging economyThe United States: a core economy shaping world tradeEthiopia: trade on the periphery of the global system
Global Migration
Topic overviewThe global migrant population: size, composition and direction of flowInter-regional and intra-regional flows, and the world's major migration corridorsRemittances, the Human Development Index and the migration-development linkMigration as a driver of stability, growth and developmentInequality, conflict and injustice in the global migration systemEconomic globalisation and the emergence of new source and host areasYoung workers, women migrants and the growth of South-South movementConflict, persecution and the world's refugee movementsNational immigration and emigration policy, and how it is changingMexico: an emerging economy shaped by a migration corridorThe United Kingdom: an advanced country driving change in the migration systemNepal: a low-income country with little leverage over its migration
Human Rights
Topic overviewThe idea of human rights and its legal foundationsNorms, intervention and geopoliticsForced labour and modern slaveryMaternal mortality and access to safe childbirthCapital punishment and where it persistsPatterns of gender inequality: schooling, reproductive health and workWomen's rights in IndiaHuman rights abuse as a cause and a consequence of conflictInstitutions, treaties and laws that protect human rightsGlobal governance of human rights in eastern DR CongoShort-term relief and long-term change in DR Congo
Power and Borders
Topic overviewStates, nations and the sovereign control of territoryNorms, intervention and geopoliticsContested borders and the legacy of colonial boundariesTransnational corporations and economic sovereigntyTrading blocs, supranational institutions and pooled sovereigntyEthnic dominance, minority marginalisation and separatismUkraine: sovereignty and territorial integrity under challengeResources, conflict and the causes of geopolitical instabilityGlobal institutions, international law and the flows that carry interventionSouth Sudan: governing a conflict from global to localShort-term and long-term outcomes of intervention for people and placesThe Democratic Republic of the Congo: global governance in an LIDC
Climate Change
Topic overviewReconstructing past climates from natural archivesIcehouse and greenhouse Earth, from Cenozoic cooling to the HoloceneContinental drift and volcanic activity as drivers of climateMilankovitch cycles and changes in solar outputThe natural greenhouse effect and the atmosphere's greenhouse gasesWarming of the surface, atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th centuryRetreating ice, shrinking snow cover and rising sea levelWhy greenhouse gas emissions have risen since the pre-industrial eraThe changing global balance of emissions, from an AC to an EDCThe enhanced greenhouse effect and the global energy balanceThe evolution of the global warming debateGovernments, international organisations and the media in the climate debateClimate models, the carbon cycle and feedbackFuture emission scenarios and projected temperature and sea level riseImpacts on ecosystems, health and extreme weatherThe vulnerability of people and environments to climate changeMitigation through energy efficiency, fuel shifts and low-carbon energyCarbon capture and storage, forestry strategies and geoengineeringRetreat, accommodation and protection as adaptationAdapted homes, cities, transport and economiesContrasting countries: impacts, opportunities and the challenges of respondingThe IPCC, international agreements and policy from global to local
Disease Dilemmas
Topic overviewWays of classifying disease, and the epidemic to pandemic scaleMapping the burden of malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, diabetes and heart diseaseDisease diffusion, the Hägerstrand model and the barriers that slow itTemperature, rainfall, relief and water supply as controls on diseaseMosquitoes, vectors and the seasonal rhythm of outbreaksClimate change, emerging infections and diseases that jump from animalsCholera in Haiti after the 2010 earthquakeRising living standards and the epidemiological transitionDiseases of poverty and diseases of affluenceAir pollution and lung cancer in ChinaMalaria in Nigeria: from causes to controlCardiovascular disease in the United KingdomThe World Health Organization and the surveillance of global outbreaksMédecins Sans Frontières and the West African Ebola epidemicPhysical barriers to treatment and the fight against HIV and AIDSMedicinal plants, their growing conditions and the trade that threatens themPharmaceutical transnationals and the global flow of medicinesEradication campaigns, grassroots education and the role of women
Exploring Oceans
Topic overviewThe size and spread of the world's oceansThe shape of the sea floor, from shelf to trenchSalinity and temperature through the water columnSurface currents and the great ocean gyresThe North Atlantic conveyor, from Gulf Stream to deep return flowLight, warmth and nutrients as limits on ocean lifeFood webs in the inter-tidal zone and the deep seaHarvesting Southern Ocean krillWhaling, stakeholder conflict and resource thresholdsOcean energy: oil, gas, waves and tidesMining the deep sea bed for metalsThe global commons, maritime zones and ocean governanceThe major sources of marine pollutionThe Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its aftermathDrifting plastic and the North Pacific garbage patchOcean acidification, warming seas and coral bleachingRising sea level and low-lying island communitiesSea ice, the albedo feedback and irreversible thresholdsThe changing Arctic: peoples, politics and new sea routesShipping lanes, container ships and seaborne tradeNaval power and contested seasPiracy and migration by sea
Future of Food
Topic overviewFood security and its three pillarsMeasuring hunger: undernourishment data and food security indicesShifting patterns of food security between and within countriesClimate, soil, water and relief as controls on where food can be grownThe journey of food from farm to plate, and the waste it leavesTypes of farming: intensive, extensive, subsistence and commercialGlobalisation, rising demand and global tastesThe issues and opportunities of a globalised food industryLand ownership, competition and land grabbingMalthus, Boserup and the population–resource debateYemen: conflict, aridity and the collapse of food accessVulnerable people and the pinchpoints in global food distributionDesertification and the drylands of the SahelExtreme weather, water scarcity and tectonic shocks to food productionInuit hunting and food security in the ArcticSalinisation, deforestation and agrochemical pollution from farmingThe Aral Sea: a landscape remade by irrigationHealth effects of hunger, over-nutrition and agrochemical exposureMalawi and the United States: contrasting experiences of food insecurityTrade policy, the World Trade Organization and appropriate aidAgribusiness, food TNCs, supermarkets and fair tradeFrom emergency relief to capacity building and system redesign
Hazardous Earth
Topic overviewThe Earth's internal structure and the global pattern of platesContinental drift and the evidence from fossils, rocks and ancient glaciationsSea-floor spreading, palaeomagnetism and the age of the ocean floorDivergent boundaries and the landforms of the mid-ocean ridgesSubduction at oceanic-continental and oceanic-oceanic boundariesContinental collision and conservative boundariesMagma chemistry, viscosity and explosive volcanism at subduction zonesEffusive eruptions, shield volcanoes and hot-spot volcanismVolcano size and shape, super-volcanoes and the Volcanic Explosivity IndexLava flows, pyroclastic flows and volcanic gasesTephra, ashfall, lahars and volcanic tsunamisEarthquake focus, depth and the seismic waves releasedMeasuring earthquakes: Richter, moment magnitude and Mercalli intensityFault scarps, rift valleys and the landscapes faulting createsGround shaking, ground displacement and liquefactionEarthquake-triggered landslides, avalanches and floodingTsunamis from sea-bed uplift and underwater landslidesWhy people choose to live in tectonically active placesThe impacts of volcanic eruptions in countries at contrasting levels of developmentThe impacts of earthquakes in countries at contrasting levels of developmentPredicting, monitoring and managing volcanic hazardsLand-use zoning, building design and managing earthquake riskChanging risk over time and the disaster risk equationThe Park model of disaster response
Geographical Skills
Topic overviewGeographical data, its types and the ethics of using itCollecting data: sampling, measurement error and digital devicesQualitative methods, sources and drawing conclusionsMeasures of central tendency and dispersionCorrelation, lines of best fit and Spearman's rankSignificance tests: chi-squared, Mann-Whitney U and the t-testClimate graphs, maps and graphical techniques
Human Rights
- 11 subtopics
- 33 things to know
- Component 02
What Human Rights covers
Human Rights is examined in Component 02, Human interactions. It covers the idea of human rights and its legal foundations; norms, intervention and geopolitics; forced labour and modern slavery, maternal mortality and capital punishment; patterns of gender inequality in schooling, reproductive health and work, with women's rights in India as a case study; human rights abuse as a cause and a consequence of conflict; and the institutions, treaties and laws that protect human rights. It also covers the global governance of human rights in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the short-term relief and long-term change it has brought.
The 11 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The idea of human rights and its legal foundationsRecall questions on what human rights are and what makes them universal and inalienable, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two 1966 covenants, civil and political versus economic, social and cultural rights, negative and positive rights, the Geneva Conventions, the European Court of Human Rights, the Human Rights Act 1998, and cultural relativism.Open →
- Norms, intervention and geopoliticsRecall questions on human rights norms and how they differ and spread between countries, development before political freedom, the meaning and forms of intervention, geopolitics and sovereignty, the responsibility to protect, uneven international responses, the veto powers of the UN Security Council, and humanitarian intervention as neo-colonialism.Open →
- Forced labour and modern slaveryRecall questions on forced labour and modern slavery, their global scale and regional pattern, forced marriage, the sectors involved, debt bondage, the vulnerability of migrant workers and tied visas, conflict and discrimination as causes, hidden supply chains, and the Modern Slavery Act 2015.Open →
- Maternal mortality and access to safe childbirthRecall questions on the maternal mortality ratio and global maternal deaths, Sub-Saharan Africa's share, post-partum haemorrhage and other direct causes, the three delays, skilled birth attendants, distance to care, girls' education, fertility and lifetime risk, armed conflict, and the Sustainable Development Goal target.Open →
- Capital punishment and where it persistsRecall questions on capital punishment and abolition in law and in practice, the share of abolitionist countries, Europe and Belarus, understated execution totals and China, retention in Asia, the Middle East and the United States, and how religion, political systems, colonial history, drug offences, EU membership and wrongful convictions shape the debate.Open →
- Patterns of gender inequality: schooling, reproductive health and workRecall questions on gender inequality, girls out of school and the barriers they face, school sanitation, the returns to girls' education, unmet need for family planning, women's labour force participation, unpaid care and legal barriers, women in parliament, the economic, political and cultural factors behind variation, and Rwanda.Open →
- Women's rights in IndiaRecall questions on missing women and India's child sex ratio, the law against sex-selective scanning, dowry, the literacy gap, child marriage, low female labour force participation, reserved seats in panchayats, the 2012 Delhi case and sexual violence law, the consequences of inequality, Kerala, the Self Employed Women's Association, and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.Open →
- Human rights abuse as a cause and a consequence of conflictRecall questions on denial of education and Boko Haram, discrimination and horizontal inequality as causes of conflict, the Rohingya and loss of citizenship, the abuses that follow war, forced displacement, sexual violence as a weapon, forms of geopolitical intervention, flows of people, money and ideas, and the uses of technology for and against human rights.Open →
- Institutions, treaties and laws that protect human rightsRecall questions on the United Nations, the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review, CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Criminal Court and its weaknesses, the International Court of Justice, the African Charter, NGOs and Amnesty International, the UN Guiding Principles on Business, and weak enforcement.Open →
- Global governance of human rights in eastern DR CongoRecall questions on the abuses and internal displacement in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, mineral wealth and the conflict, MONUSCO and the Force Intervention Brigade, Security Council sanctions, the Lubanga case at the International Criminal Court, the national government's role, Panzi Hospital, conflict mineral rules and their side effects, and local views of intervention.Open →
- Short-term relief and long-term change in DR CongoRecall questions on short-term NGO relief and its limits, long-term change through global governance, why DR Congo remains a low income developing country, stability and economic growth, demobilising fighters, support for survivors of sexual violence, impunity, how intervention can deepen inequality and aid dependence, and how far life has improved.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
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Why does a high total fertility rate raise a woman's lifetime risk of dying in childbirth?
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Which country in the Americas still regularly carries out executions, and why does the practice vary within it?
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How does religion influence where the death penalty is retained?
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What is meant by gender inequality?
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Why is the education of girls said to bring the widest development returns?
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How do social and cultural factors help to explain variation in gender inequality between countries?
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Name three consequences of gender inequality for Indian society.
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What do the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights require?
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Which human rights abuses have been most widespread in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo?
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How can international intervention create opportunities for stability in DR Congo?
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How can international intervention deepen inequality within a country?
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Why does dependence on humanitarian aid create problems for long-term development?
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Explain what is meant by describing a right as inalienable.
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Why can a practice be lawful in one country and treated as a human rights abuse in another?
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Name an armed group whose campaign centres on rejecting education for girls.
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Which document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 first set out human rights on a global scale?
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Define the term intervention.
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Approximately how many people are estimated to be in forced labour worldwide on any given day?
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Approximately how many women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth?
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What does the term missing women describe?
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How can discrimination against an ethnic or religious group lead to armed conflict?
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Which organisation founded in 1945 has the promotion of human rights among its founding aims?
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Approximately how many people are internally displaced within the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
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Which two covenants agreed in 1966 turned the Universal Declaration into binding law for the states that ratified them?
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Name four forms that intervention over human rights can take.
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Besides forced labour, what is the other main category counted within modern slavery?
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Which world region accounts for the largest share of maternal deaths?
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What is capital punishment?
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Which Indian law makes it illegal to use scanning to reveal the sex of a foetus?
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How did the removal of citizenship contribute to the displacement of the Rohingya from Myanmar?
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Which treaty is devoted specifically to ending discrimination against women?
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What is the name of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
Take Human Rights further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights vs International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: the 1948 United Nations statement of 30 shared principles, which sets a common standard but is not a treaty and cannot be enforced in a courtroom. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: A 1966 treaty that legally binds every country ratifying it to protect freedoms such as speech, assembly and a fair trial.
International Criminal Court vs International Court of Justice
International Criminal Court: the body that tries individual people for genocide, atrocities against civilians and grave breaches of the laws of war. International Court of Justice: The body that settles legal disputes between countries, such as arguments over borders or the meaning of a treaty.
Norm vs Law
Norm: a shared expectation of what counts as acceptable behaviour in a society, whether or not it has ever been written down. Law: A rule written down by a state and enforceable through its courts.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What are human rights?
Model answer
Human rights are the basic entitlements and freedoms that belong to every person simply because they are human, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, sex, religion, language or any other status.
- 2
Give three characteristics that define human rights.
Model answer
They are universal, meaning they apply to everyone everywhere, inalienable, meaning they cannot be taken away, and indivisible, meaning no one right can be treated as more important than another.
- 3
Explain what is meant by describing a right as inalienable.
Model answer
It means the right cannot be given up, sold or removed by a government, although a few rights may be lawfully limited in narrowly defined circumstances such as a state of emergency.
- 4
Which document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 first set out human rights on a global scale?
Model answer
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- 5
State how many articles the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contains.
Model answer
It contains 30 articles.
- 6
Why can the Universal Declaration of Human Rights not be enforced in the way a treaty can?
Model answer
Because it is a declaration of shared principles rather than a treaty, so it creates moral and political obligations rather than direct legal ones, although much of it is now accepted as customary international law.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Human Rights revision questions
- What does Human Rights cover in OCR A-Level Geography?
- 11 subtopics: the idea of human rights and its legal foundations, norms, intervention and geopolitics, forced labour and modern slavery, maternal mortality and access to safe childbirth, capital punishment and where it persists, patterns of gender inequality: schooling, reproductive health and work, women's rights in india, human rights abuse as a cause and a consequence of conflict, institutions, treaties and laws that protect human rights, global governance of human rights in eastern dr congo and short-term relief and long-term change in dr congo. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Human Rights organised?
- By the OCR H481 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Human Rights, on a schedule.
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