Southeast Asia: monsoons, islands and mega-cities
Geography · Key Stage 3 · The School
A region of islands and peninsulas
Southeast Asia has mainland countries, such as Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar. It also has island nations, such as Indonesia and the Philippines. Indonesia alone has over seventeen thousand islands. No other country on Earth has more. This broken-up geography shapes transport, borders and wildlife right across the region.
Life ruled by the monsoon
The region's climate is ruled by the MONSOON. This is a seasonal wind that reverses direction. It brings heavy rain for part of the year. The rest of the year is dry. Rice is the main crop across most of the region. Farmers time their planting exactly around the monsoon's arrival and its retreat. If the monsoon comes late, or fails, millions of farmers can lose their harvest at once.
Explosive urban growth
Southeast Asia's cities are growing fast. Jakarta, Manila and Bangkok are among the fastest-growing cities on Earth. People move from the countryside to find work. Populations also grow through births. Jakarta's wider urban area now holds more people than some whole countries. Its transport, housing and water supply were never built for so many people.
Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is sinking. In some districts it sinks by up to 25cm a year. Almost no other big city sinks this fast. The main cause is human. People pump too much water from under the city. This groundwater is used faster than rain can refill it. A growing population needs more water than the pipes can supply. Sea levels are rising too. Large parts of this low-lying city could become unliveable within decades. Indonesia's answer has been drastic. It is building an entirely new capital city, called Nusantara, on the island of Borneo. It is not trying to save Jakarta's site. Population growth, water use and physical geography came together to create one of the starkest city problems anywhere in the world.