39 of the Geography glossary’s terms, each with the part of the syllabus where you first meet it.
The illegal cultivation, manufacture, transport and sale of controlled drugs such as cocaine, heroin, cannabis and synthetic drugs across international borders.
An organised competition in which clubs from one country play each other over a season, often arranged in a hierarchy of divisions.
The transfer of a privately owned company or industry into ownership by the state, with or without compensation to its previous owners.
A political ideology and sense of identity that places the interests, culture and independence of a nation above those of other nations or international bodies.
A country’s own pledge under the Paris Agreement setting out how it will reduce emissions and adapt to climate change, renewed with greater ambition every five years.
An approach to flood mitigation that slows and stores water in a drainage basin using natural processes, for example by planting trees, building leaky dams and restoring wetlands and floodplains.
A hazard caused by a natural process in the Earth's surface, atmosphere or interior, such as an earthquake, eruption, landslide or tropical cyclone.
The growth of a population caused by births exceeding deaths, ignoring migration; the natural increase rate is (birth rate − death rate) ÷ 10, in % per year. Deaths exceeding births is natural decrease.
The presence, quantity and accessibility of natural resources, such as fuels, minerals, fertile land, water and forests, in a place, which influences the investment and trade it attracts.
A unit of distance used at sea and in maritime law, equal to 1.852 km and based on one minute of latitude.
A tide with the smallest tidal range, occurring twice a month when the Sun and Moon are at right angles to each other relative to the Earth.
The relocation of production by a TNC to a country close to its main market, such as Mexico for the USA, to shorten supply chains while keeping some cost advantage.
A measure of the pattern of points on a map from the mean distance between each point and its nearest neighbour: 0 clustered, about 1 random, 2.15 perfectly regular.
A feedback loop in which the response to a change reduces or reverses it, helping the system return towards its starting state, as when a warmer Earth radiates more longwave energy to space.
The tendency for people to adopt an innovation, or acquire a disease, after contact with nearby people who already have it, so that diffusion reaches nearby places first.
Describing the modern view, developed from Malthus’s ideas, that continued growth in population and consumption will exceed the Earth’s resources and environmental limits unless growth is controlled.
The number of people moving into an area minus the number moving out, when arrivals exceed departures.
The difference between the number of people moving into an area and the number moving out over a period, usually a year; positive when more arrive than leave.
A state in which the greenhouse gases emitted by a country, company or person are balanced by an equal amount removed from the atmosphere, so their net contribution to warming is zero.
A set of interconnected places (nodes) joined by links, such as transport routes, communication cables or business relationships, along which flows move.
A multilateral development bank founded by the BRICS countries in 2014, headquartered in Shanghai, which lends for infrastructure and sustainable development and gives its five founders equal shares.
People, mostly in emerging economies, whose household spending of about US$11–110 a day per person (2011 PPP) allows them to buy goods and services beyond basic needs.
Tourism that offers a specialised product, built around a particular interest or activity, to a small and clearly defined market segment, in contrast to mass tourism.
The economic activity of a city in the evening and at night, such as bars, clubs, restaurants, theatres and late transport, often associated with concentrations of crime and disorder.
A coastal management policy under which no investment is made in building or maintaining defences, so that natural processes are allowed to shape the coast.
An area of sea, usually within a marine protected area, in which all fishing and collecting of marine life is banned.
A way of life in which herders move their livestock between seasonal pastures and water sources instead of farming fixed fields, using mobility to cope with variable rainfall.
A disease that is not passed from person to person, usually chronic and slow to develop, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease or type 2 diabetes.
A not-for-profit organisation independent of government that pursues social, environmental or humanitarian aims through campaigning, research, legal action or projects.
Water that is produced and put into a supply network but not billed to customers, because of leaks, theft through illegal connections or metering errors.
Any restriction on imports other than a tariff, such as a quota, licence, product standard, customs procedure or preference for domestic suppliers.
A satellite-derived measure of the greenness and density of vegetation, calculated from reflected red and near-infrared light, ranging from −1 to +1, with higher values meaning more vegetation.
The shipping route along Russia’s Arctic coast between the Kara Strait and the Bering Strait, part of the Northeast Passage between Europe and East Asia, made more usable as Arctic sea ice declines.
Electricity generated from the heat released by nuclear fission of uranium in a reactor; a low-carbon but non-renewable source that produces radioactive waste.
A statement that there is no relationship or difference between the variables being tested, which a statistical test accepts or rejects at a chosen significance level.
The forecasting of weather by solving equations of atmospheric physics on supercomputers, starting from observations of the present state of the atmosphere.
A small plastic pellet, usually under 5 mm across, made as the raw material for plastic products; nurdles spilled in production and shipping are a major source of microplastic pollution.
A measure of the quantity or quality of food available to or eaten by a population, or of its nutritional status, such as calories per person, undernourishment or child stunting.
The shift in diets that accompanies rising incomes and urbanisation, from mainly cereals, roots and pulses towards more meat, dairy, vegetable oils, sugar and processed food.