1. Population & Environmental Geography of SW Asia
SSWG4 Assess the characteristics, spatial distribution, and migration of human populations on the earth’s surface.
SSWG5 Analyze human interactions with the world’s environments.

2. Water & SW Asia
Oil bring most revenue to region, but water is most critical resource
Water available in small amounts & not consistently
Challenge of finding & storing water

3. Dams & Irrigation Systems
Needed to meet needs of large farms & growing populations
Provide water & hydroelectricity
Conflict – Turkey building 22 dams & 19 power plants on Tigris & Euphrates
Less water for Syria & Iraq (south)
Water shortages southeast of Fertile Crescent

4. Modern Water Technology
Drip irrigation – small pipes that slowly drop water just above ground to conserve water for crops
Desalinization – removal of salt from ocean water
Allows use of ocean water
Fossil water – water pumped from underground aquifers
Not enough rain to refill these aquifers = 25 years left of water
Qanat – system of underground tunnels that collect runoff water from mountains
Noria – waterwheel run by the flow of water

5. Oil From the Sand Oil reserves developed here hundreds of years ago
Industrialization = petroleum highly desired
Crude oil – petroleum that has not been processed
Refinery – convert crude oil into useful products
Pipelines move crude oil to refineries or ports for transport

7. Risks of Transporting Oil
Risk of oil spills
January 1991 – Persian Gulf War; Iraqi forces blew up oil tankers/storage in Kuwait
Oil transported in Red Sea, Suez Canal, Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz
Narrow & shallow = risk of collisions or running aground

8. New Industry Requires More Workers
Discovery of oil = rapid urbanization = move to cities for jobs/wealth
Guest Workers – unskilled laborers that do jobs native people find culturally or economically unacceptable
Cultural differences between natives & guest workers = conflict

10. Refugees & the Population
Kurds – stateless nation = nation of people without a land to legally occupy
Relocation of Kurdish people & other refugees
Thousands of Kurds live in crowded relocation camps

11. Palestinian Refugees
Arabs & their descendants who formerly lived in the Palestine Mandate
West Bank – strip of land on west side of Jordan River
Gaza Strip – plot of land along Mediterranean Sea
Palestinians live in both places

14. http://www. pewglobal. org/2018/02/28/global-migrant-stocks/

15. POPULATION =
274.2 MILLION
POPULATION DENSITY = 57 people/kilometer