This module was funded by the CGS and developed for the Midwest Institute for International/Intercultural Education’s workshop, “Human Migrations, Global Networks and Leadership.”
Developer: Jeff Fesperman
College: Illinois Valley Community College
Discipline: Geography
Course: GEG 1004 – World Regional Geography
Module Title: Hydrogeography as an Instructional Template for World Regional Geography
Module Description
The study of each world region will be approached from a water resource perspective. A template will be utilized that organizes course content according to three themes associated with water resource allocation and water utilization: environmental issues, socioeconomic issues, and geopolitical issues. A one-hour lecture period will be dedicated to a case study of a river system that is indicative of the region being studied, with the exception of the Caribbean and Australia/Oceania regions where there are no comparably large river systems as a result of either aridity or the insular character of these regions.
Educational Objectives
- Students will be able to differentiate world regions on the basis of their available water resources.
- Students will learn about the role that river systems play with respect to economic development and the geopolitical relations.
- Students will learn how climate change will contribute to water insecurity, thereby destabilizing the existing socioeconomic systems and geopolitical order at both regional and global scales.
Outline of Lectures/Discussion Used to Implement the Module:
Week 1 North America
case study: Rio Grande River
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “Scarcity and Power in US-Mexico Transboundary Water Governance: Has the
Architecture Changed Since Nafta?”
Globalizations (2016), Vol. 13, No. 6, pp. 702-718
by Stephen P. Mumme
Week 2 Latin America
case study: Amazon River
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “Where Resource Extraction Leads to Urbanization: How Resource Extraction Is
Leading to Urban Growth in the Brazilian Amazon”
Annals of the Association of American Geographers (2015),
Vol. 105, No. 4, pp. 806-823
by Peter Richards and Leah VanWey
Week 3 Caribbean
case study: none
Week 4 Subsaharan Africa
case study: Zambezi River
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “Hydropower Production in Future Climate Scenarios; the Case of the
Zambezi River”
Energies (2016), Vol. 9, No. 7, pp. 1-18
by Byman H. Hamududu and Anund Killingtveit
Week 5 Southwest Asia/North Africa
case study: Nile River
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “The Future of Transboundary Water Conflicts”
Political Science Quarterly (2016), Vol. 131, No. 4, pp. 717-748
by Miroslav Nincic and Matthew Weiss
Week 6 Europe
case study: Rhine River
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “From a sewer into a living river: the Rhine between Sandoz and Salmon”
Hydrobiologia (2014), Vol. 729, No. 1, pp. 95-106
by Nathalie Plum and Anne Schulte-Wulmer-Leidig
Week 7 Russian and the Near Abroad
case study: Volga River
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “Rivers, Memory, and Nation-building: A History of the Volga
and Mississippi Rivers”
Canadian Journal of History (2016), Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 428-429
by Philip V. Scarpino
Week 8 Central Asia
case study: Syr Darya River
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “Dynamics of water reallocation and cost implications in the transboundary
setting of the Ferghana Valley”
Central Asian Survey (2016), Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 38-60
by Kai Wegerich, Ilkhom Soliev, and Indira Akramova
Week 9 East Asia
case study: Huang He (Yellow River)
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “Human Activity and climatic variability on sediment discharge and runoff
in the Yellow River”
Theoretical and Applied Climatology (2017), Vol. 129, No. 1/2, pp. 645-654
by Yi He, Fei Wang, Xinming Mu, Lanqin Guo, Peng Gao, and Guangju Zhao
Week 10 South Asia
case study: Indus River
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “Threats of global warming for Pakistan’s Agriculture: An Evidence
from Shigari Kalan Watershed, Skardu”
Sarhad Journal of Agriculture (2018), Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 569-574
by Muhammad Zulfiqar, Muhammad Jamal Khan, Irshad Khan Abbasi,
Muhammad Tariq, Jawad Ali, Melad Karim, and Rizwan Ahmad
Week 11 Southeast Asia
case study: Mekong River
(a) environmental issues
(b) socioeconomic issues
(c) geopolitical issues
source article: “Environmental and political implications of Vietnam’s water vulnerabilities:
A multiscale assessment”
Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography (2016), Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 59-75
by Elena Givental and Dianne Meredith
Week 12 Australia and Oceania
case study: none
Student Evaluation
- Case study material presented during lectures will be covered on the respective exams
- Each student will compile an annotated bibliography (1200 to 1500 words in length) that provides summaries of on one news article detailing a water resource issue in each one of the twelve world regions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Givental, E., & Meredith, D. (2016). Environmental and Political Implication of Vietnam’s water vulnerabilities: a multiscale assessment. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 37(1), 59-75.
Hamududu, B. H., & Killingtveit, A. (2016). Hydropower Production in Future Climate Scenarios: the Case of the Zambezi River. Energies, 9(7), 1-18.
He, Y., Wang, F., Mu, X., Guo, L., Gao, P., & Zhao, G. (2017). Human Activity and climatic variability on sediment discharge and runoff in the Yellow River. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 129(1/2), 645-654.
Mumme, S. P. (2016). Scarcity and Power in US-Mexico Transboundary Water Governance: Has the Architecture Changed Since NAFTA? Globalizations, 13(6), 702-718.
Nincic, M., & Weiss, M. (2016). The Future of Transboundary Water Conflicts. Political Science Quarterly, 131(4), 717-748.
Plum, N., & Schulte-Wulmer-Leidig, A. (2014). From a sewer into a living river: the Rhine between Sandoz and Salmon. Hydrobiologia, 729(1), 95-106.
Richards, P., & VanWey, L. (2015). Where Resource Extraction Leads to Urbanization: How Resource Extraction is Leading to Urban Growth in the Brazilian Amazon. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 105(4), 806-823.
Scarpino, P. V. (2016). Rivers, Memory, and Nation-building: A History of the Volga and Mississippi Rivers. Canadian Journal of History, 51(2), 428-429.
Wegerich, K., Soliev, I., & Akramova, I. (2016). Dynamics of water reallocation and cost implications in the transboundary setting of the Ferghana Valley. Central Asian Science, 35(1), 38-60.
Zulfiqar, M., Khan, M. J., Abbasi, I. K., Tariq, M., Ali, J., Karim, M., & Ahmad, R. (2018). Threats of global warming for Pakistan’s Agriculture: An Evidence from Shigari Kalan Watershed, Skardu. Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, 34(3), 569-574.