Physical characteristics of South East Asia
Geography is a term that means description of the earth (Hobbs, 5). This means that every physical feature from hills to deserts to rivers makeup the geography of the place. They contribute greatly to the scenic beauty of the area. Some areas have more physical features than the others. One area that is characterized by its physical features is South East Asia. These physical features make it different other locations around the world.
Most of South Asia is located in the land hemisphere of the world. This means that it is located where the bulk of the land is (Hobbs, 13). It is, therefore, a core location as opposed to a peripheral location that is where the bulk of the water is. Some of the countries that make up South East Asia include India, Pakistan, Mald Ives and Bangladesh among others. The area of South East Asia is well defined and separated by physical geographical areas. Some of the most relevant physical features in this area include the Himalayas, Karakoam and the Hindu Kush mountains, northwest deserts and the Burmese forests. These are some of the features that contribute to the spectacle that is the scenery of South East Asia.
The physical geography of South and East Asia consist of three major parts, the highlands, the plateaus and the basins. The highlands are some of the highest in the world including the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. The plateaus include the Altai, the Tibetan Plateau and the Pamir; the basins include the Chao praya and the Mekong (Hobbs, 214).
These physical features have a myriad of effects on the area of South East Asia. One of the major effects that the region has is on the weather of the area. South East Asia has been characterized by monsoons due to physical features like the Himalayas and the rain forests. Also due to the highlands north of South East Asia, there are floods during the rainy season from the rivers that flow from North to South of Asia.
Impact of the Physical Environment
The physical features have affected every aspect of the lives of those that live in South East Asia. The first area that it has had many impacts is in the job sector. For a long time now, the occupation of most of the people in this area was fishing. This is due to the abundance of water from the rivers that flowed from the north to south making fresh water fish available for both consumption and trade (Asia Society, 1). When population moved to inhabit South East Asia, there are groups of people that lived deep in the thick forests. This suggests that for most of them hunting was their main method of survival. Another trade that has thrived in South East Asia due to its physical features is farming. Due to the extensive and fertile plains in areas like Java, farming thrives is the source of livelihood for the majority of people in this area. Not all the effects of the physical features are positive. For instance, monsoons have claimed the lives of too many people in their peak season (Asia Society, 1). Dry winds from the deserts like the areas of Xinjiang and Mongolia (Hobbs, 215), have caused famine in some areas causing poverty in families that are solely dependent on agriculture.
Human Impacts
Human impacts on the physical features of this area have been detrimental to a significant extent. One of the areas that have been worst affected by human activity is the tropical rain forests. The activities of the area are leaning more and more towards commercialism away from subsistence. Agriculture is one of the areas that have hurt the rain forests the worst (Shaw, 1). The more the spread of agriculture the more deforestation spreads to make room for it.
Another factor that has hurt the physical environment is logging. Deforestation that occurs in the slopes of the Himalayas has caused soil to erode into the Ganges River therefore affecting the water life (Hobbs, 250).Copious amounts of trees are cut every day in the rainforests of South East Asia for trade. Since the rate of logging does not match the rate of reforestation, the rain forests continue to diminish each day (Shaw, 1). Another disadvantage of this change to the physical environment is that lack of trees significantly reduces the amount of precipitation received.
The rise of the industries in South East of Asia has raised the level of pollution in the rivers and the destruction of the forests. For instance is the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. This is one of the biggest projects of its kind. This project necessitates destroying part of the Himalayas so as to divert water from the Yangtze River (Hobbs, 266).
Conclusion
The physical environment is important to every aspect of the lives of those living in it. It is, therefore, vital for people to take care of the environment so that in turn the environment can take care of them. For example in South East Asia measures that can be taken include minimizing deforestation and increasing awareness on the importance of reforestation. Also the areas that are devoid of human activity are where nature thrives, the demilitarized zone in Korea is where some rare birds have chosen to make a habitat. Agriculture is of vital importance to the people of this area; it is, therefore, important to establish and introduce it to those areas that will not affect the physical environment.
References
Hobbs, J. (2010). : Fundamentals of World Regional Geography. California: Brooks/Cole.
Introduction to Southeast Asia. (n.d.). Asia Society. Retrieved October 16, 2014, from http://asiasociety.org/introduction-southeast-asia
Shaw, R. (2013). Cumulative Impacts of Human Interventions and Climate Change on Mangrove Ecosystems of South and Southeast Asia: An Overview. Cumulative Impacts of Human Interventions and Climate Change on Mangrove Ecosystems of South and Southeast Asia: An Overview. Retrieved October 18, 2014, from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeco/2013/379429/
