Review see map and facts on white board. -HIPC s - lack of education fertility rates. -malaria - lack of fresh water - GDP per capita

Transcription

1 Developing Nation woes... Case Study: Africa Review see map and facts on white board -HIPC s - lack of education fertility rates -malaria - lack of fresh water - GDP per capita - Poverty cycle A. Allocation problem: 800 million people in the world s developing nations are malnourished or starving. The earth is able, however, to feeding all of us. The problem seems to be one of food allocation. A major obstacle in developing nations is cash crops. That is, landowners often find it more profitable to grow crops or to produce animals for markets in western nations than to grow food for local consumption. Moreover, their own governments have often encouraged these cash crops. Although hunger is a worldwide crisis, Africa is the one continent whose food production has declined steadily for over the last 30 years. Why? Is this human caused or an unavoidable natural phenomenon? The cause of such food decline is strongly linked to desertification.

2 B. Desertification: The spreading of deserts, or desertification, has been an alarming trend in Africa for decades. These deserts are spreading into the savanna biome (grassland). For example, the Sahara desert is spreading southwards into what is known as the Sahel region while the Kalahari desert in the south of Africa is also spreading-- northwards. This affects nations from Angola to Mozambique and several other landlocked nations in between such as Mali, Niger and Chad. As grasslands turn to sand, poverty and hardship increase. We must turn our attention to the causes of this trend. There are 3 and all are human-related: 1. Deforestation the first cause of trouble is deforestation. Africa s rapid population growth puts tremendous pressure on the land. Wood is cut down and used as fuel. Very little replanting has been done resulting in a wood shortage and soil exposed to the wind, unable to hold moisture.

3 2. Overgrazing this has depleted the soil further and exposed it to wind erosion. Rain does not soak into the bare soil as it would grassland. Flooding is also an increasing danger. The relatively new concept of border patrols in these landlocked nations is magnifying the problem. Nomadic, migratory grazing did not lead to such soil exposure as is caused by grazing in one place due to the modern borders and international trespass laws. 3. Overcropping - the 3rd and perhaps most serious cause of soil erosion. Repeated cultivation in one location deprives the soil of nutrients and exposes large regions to wind erosion. C. Other barriers to quality life in Africa many debtor nations have a lack of natural resources, esp in sub- Saharan Africa what they do have is already oversupplied and the price of it is controlled by MNC s eg - Ghana provides 70% of the world s cocoa but they cannot get a fair price due to the price control of the 4 MNC s who they sell to.

4 i. In Kenya: 1 mill people are added to Kenya s population per year by way of the natural birth rate corruption at the gov t level is rampant economic problems plague the country opportunities are limited education is not affordable to many, employment is scarce (50% unemployment). per capita income is $ 340 US only 7 % of the land is suitable for farming, much of the rest used as grazing land for cattle (a lot of which is used to grow cash crops for export) 80 % of the population makes its living from farming less food produced per person than 30 years ago less than 50% of the pop has access safe drinking water 2/3 s of Kenya s pop. is under 18 yrs; 30 % of Kenya s children are underweight

5 since 1990, 1 million people have moved to Nairobi / live in a shanty town -cardboard homes where there is one paved road, no electricity, no running water & no sanitation system. Kenya s problems are magnified by an overwhelming debt ($ 7 billion) ii. In Mozambique spends 10 times more on debt reduction than on health care floods are devastating there brutal civil wars disrupt flow of resources and aid to those who most need it iii. In all developing nations: where women do not have a secondary school education the fertility rate = 7 where women do receive a secondary education that number drops to 3 or lower

6 (because they understand access to immunization, clean water, good nutrition thus infant mortality is lower and they do not feel the need to have so many children...) D. Solutions are needed but complicated: UN and other private agencies are in those nations helping and more aid is needed... - for $6 billion everyone human being could have a basic education - $9 billion would suffice for all to have access to clean water and sanitation - $12 billion would provide reproductive health for all women - $ 13 billion would provide basic health and nutrition for all people on Earth An impossible amount?... World military expenditure in 2010 is estimated to have reached $1.62 trillion in current dollars; This represents a 1.3 per cent increase in real terms since 2009 and a 50 per cent increase since 2001; This corresponds to 2.6 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP), or approximately $236 for each person in the world;

7 The USA with its massive spending budget, is the principal determinant of the current world trend, and its military expenditure now accounts for just under half of the world total, at 43% of the world total;

8 Read Position of Women p Children in Crisis p. 404

9 Clean Water and Epidemics p i. Types of aid - tied aid = aid with strings attached - bilateral aid= aid from one country to another (often it is tied aid) - multilateral aid = means aid from many sides. Several countries and several organizations such as UNICEF, CIDA, WHO and other agencies. Read Solutions p EXLUDING p

10 I. Assignment: Using atlas p A. Fill in the following table: (15 minutes) B. (15 minutes) In 3-5 sentences describe the causes of such problems as depicted in your table using the graph on page 360 of Counterpoints. C. (20 minutes) Write a ½ page describing realistic solutions using Counterpoints