(a) Examine major influencing factors for varied patterns of precipitations on the continents. (20 marks) (b) Maritime security…

(a) Factors behind precipitation patterns on the continents

Precipitation needs moist air that rises and cools. The continental pattern therefore follows the factors that supply moisture and lift.

• Latitude and pressure belts: the equatorial low (ITCZ) gives heavy rain in the Amazon and Congo basins; the subtropical highs give deserts such as the Sahara and Arabia; mid-latitude westerlies and fronts give rain in Europe and the Pacific north-west of America.
• Distance from the sea: continental interiors such as central Asia are dry; coasts are wet.
• Prevailing winds and ocean currents: onshore winds over warm currents bring rain (eastern coasts of Brazil and Australia); cold currents (Humboldt, Benguela) stabilise air and give the Atacama and Namib deserts.
• Relief: windward slopes get orographic rain (Western Ghats, Cherrapunji); leeward rain-shadow zones are dry (Patagonia, the Deccan interior).
• Monsoon circulation: seasonal wind reversal gives summer rain over South and East Asia.
• Cyclones, fronts and local convection add seasonal and regional variation.

Altitude and the temperature of the air limit its moisture, so cold polar continents get little precipitation. These controls combine, so Chile's west coast is wet in the south and arid in the north.

(b) Maritime security and the Law of the Sea

Maritime security covers piracy, armed robbery, terrorism, trafficking, illegal fishing and sea-lane disputes. It gets little attention in national planning, though about 90 per cent of world trade moves by sea.

Challenges: piracy off Somalia and in the Gulf of Guinea; sea-borne terrorism, as in the 2008 Mumbai attacks; smuggling and trafficking; illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; disputes over islands and exclusive economic zones (EEZ), as in the South China Sea, where the 2016 arbitral award was not accepted by China; and disagreement over military activity in EEZs.

Solutions under UNCLOS 1982: it fixes the territorial sea at 12 nm, the contiguous zone at 24 nm and the EEZ at 200 nm, guarantees innocent and transit passage, and Article 100 requires states to cooperate in suppressing piracy. States should apply it fully, use ITLOS for disputes, and sign regional arrangements such as ReCAAP. India's steps include post-2008 coastal security, the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region, SAGAR/MAHASAGAR partnerships, and the Maritime Anti-Piracy Act, 2022.

(c) Carbon neutrality and measures by carbon-positive and carbon-negative nations

Carbon neutrality (net zero) means balancing greenhouse-gas emissions with removals by sinks or technology, so that net emissions are zero.

Carbon-positive nations emit more than they absorb. The USA, China, India and the EU fall here, and have set targets: the EU and USA 2050, China 2060 and India 2070. Their measures are rapid renewable expansion, phasing down coal, energy-efficiency rules, emissions trading and carbon taxes (EU ETS, with the carbon border mechanism), electric transport, green hydrogen, afforestation and carbon capture. India's updated NDC (2022) commits to a 45 per cent cut in emissions intensity of GDP by 2030 against 2005, and 50 per cent non-fossil power capacity.

Carbon-negative nations absorb more than they emit; Bhutan, Suriname and Panama are cited. Bhutan's constitution requires at least 60 per cent forest cover, and it relies on hydropower and restricts timber export. Suriname retains very high forest cover with low deforestation. Panama protects forest through its conservation programmes.

Developed nations still owe finance and technology to developing ones under the Paris Agreement.