Development

Question 1

What does ‘Development’ mean?

Answer 1

o The use of human and natural resources to achieve a higher standard of living

Question 2

How can development be measured?

Answer 2

o There are number of indicators that can be used and can be normally classified into economic, social or
environmental factors

Question 3

What economic indicators are there?

Answer 3

oEconomic indicators relate to the income of a country. These are shown below:
- GDP (Gross Domestic Product): the total value of the good and services produced by a country in a year
- GNI (Gross National Income): like GDP, but also factors in income from overseas
o But to enable comparisons between countries the GDP/ GNI countries, two things are/can be done:
- GNI/GDP expressed ‘per capita’ (Latin for ‘head’) =
provides and average. Total income divided by the
number of people in the country.
- GNI/GDP ‘PPP’ (Purchasing Power Parity) = the
GDP/GNI figure is adjusted to reflect the cost of living in
particular countries. For instance, a dollar will buy you
more things in some countries (normally LEDCs) than in
other (normally MEDCs). Essentially, the cost of living in
LEDCs tend to be less, so the GNI/GDP figure is adjusted
upwards to reflect this.
o The UN attempted to divide up the World based on income

Question 4

What social indicators are there?

Answer 4

o These include things like health, education, population. o Things like life expectancy, adult literacy %, infant mortality and access to health care. They tell you about the lives of the people in the country.

Question 5

What environmental indicators are there?

Answer 5

o These can often be harder to quantify.

o They include indicators such as access to clean water, air pollution and sanitation systems.

Question 6

Is there a link between GNI and social indicators?

Answer 6

The higher the GNI the lower the birth rate

Question 7

Why is it useful to look for such correlation between two

indicators?

Answer 7

o Using one indicator alone is not wise
o GNI does not show the distribution of wealth within a country – i.e. one person might own 99% of the wealth and the rest of the population could be really poor
o Such inequality can’t be hidden in social indicators like life expectancy or adult literacy
o Therefore, it is best to examine a variety of indicators to
gain an accurate picture.

Question 8

How can different parts of the World be classified?

Answer 8

o Willi Brandt (ex-German Chancellor) devised this map in 1981.
o The ‘Brandt Line’ shows the rich countries to the north and the poor countries to the south.
o However, this is now deemed to be a little out of date, as many things have changed since 1981: collapse of the old Soviet Union and the rapid industrialisation of places like South Korea and Mexico (Newly Industrialised Countries or ‘NICs’) and the rise in wealth of places like the Oil exporting countries in the Middle East – UAE etc. were not taken into account.
o The UN also has introduced a measure called HDI.

Question 9

What does the term ‘standard of living’ mean?

Answer 9

o Standard of living refers to how much money people have – it is measured as GDP per capita.

Question 10

What does the term ‘Quality of life’ mean?

Answer 10

o Quality of life refers to the general well-being of individuals or societies.
o Quality of life is a broader measure than ‘standard of living’. It encompasses standard of living (money-GNI), but it also factors in social factors like life expectancy, education and perhaps environmental factors.

Question 11

How can ‘Quality of life’ be measured?

Answer 11

o The UN has used the Human Development Index (HDI) as an indicator of development. It includes:
- Life expectancy
- Educational attainment and average number of years spent in school
- GDP per capita ppp
o Each of the categories is given a score and the HDI is the average of the scores – 0.000 is the worst score and 1.000 isthe best score
o The countries are then ranked in order from 1(the best) to 169 (the worst)

Question 12

Will different places have a different perception about quality of life and standard of living?

Answer 12

o In Bhutan, culture and the environment are rated more highly than perhaps in the UK
o In Kenya, the basics are perhaps more crucial than our priorities like mobile phones etc.

Question 13

How can people in ‘poor’ countries improve their quality of

life?

Answer 13

o Often, people can live in ‘slums’, ‘shanty towns’ or ‘informal settlements’.
o These are unplanned and are invariably poor places to
live.
o A lack of sanitation and disease were the main issues.

Question 14

Kiambiu

Answer 14

o Christian Aid has a partner called Maji na
Ufanisi (‘Water & Development’).
o With MNU’s help, the residents have built 5
toilet and shower blocks; local people have
been employed to clean and maintain them.
o A small fee is charged and the money is used
to improve life further in the community
(healthcare etc.)
o They also have clean
drinking water, which has helped immensely.

Question 15

Matopeni

Answer 15

o Catherine Kithuku has formed a group that organises rubbish collections and educates people about health in
Matopeni.

Question 16

What environmental factors will reduce

development?

Answer 16

o These include things like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes
o Poor countries tend to suffer badly from these as they lack the money to prepare and recover from
them.

Question 17

Case Study: Hurricane Mitch, Honduras 1998

Answer 17

o They were hit by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which hit them hard as they were reliant on agriculture.
o Honduras relies heavily on selling coffee and bananas to
bring in foreign income, so when the hurricane wiped out
much of this crop, the effects were devastating.

Question 18

Case Study: Hurricane Mitch, Honduras 1998 : Some Facts

Answer 18

o 5000 dies
o 70% crops destroyed
o 50% of all homes destroyed
o 300km of roads wrecked, flooding and landslides, repair of damage $2-3 billion
o “Honduras has no money to pay for reconstruction. Its economy was wiped out by the hurricane”, said the Honduran Ambassador to London.

Question 19

Case Study: Hurricane Mitch, Honduras 1998 : 10 years on….

Answer 19

o Temporary bridges are still being used – one has fallen down three times as people gave stolen the screws!
o There is still no National Emergency Plan and although $1 million was spent to deal with the impact of flooding and landslides
o 4 million (50%) still live in vulnerable places.

Question 20

What social factors will inhibit development?

Answer 20

o 768 million people in the World don’t have access to a
reliable water supply (roughly 1 in 10 of the population)
o A child dies from a water-borne disease every 15
seconds
o 12% of the World’s population use 85% of the water
o Access to water has a direct link with standard of living

Question 21

Social factors will inhibit development : But what can be done about it?:

Answer 21

o Water Aid – a charity/ NGO – try to improve
lives by providing safe water and sanitation – an
example being Mehari Abraha in Ethiopia
o They can provide spring wells to ensure a clean water
supply. The link is that if you have a reliable
water supply, you don’t waste time fetching
water (perhaps as few hours a day)
o You can then spend time focussing on economic activity, which leads to development
o The same is true due to the clean water – people don’t get ill and can focus on making money.

Question 22

What political factors will limit development?

Answer 22

o In Zimbabwe (HDI rank 169/169!), political decisions (Robert Mugabe, president) were made to redistribute land (often violently) from the white farmers to the majority black population
o However, many didn’t have the experience to run the
farms
o Equally, the fragmentation of the farms meant that productivity fell too.
o Consequently, the economy failed and people did not have food to eat.
o In Kenya, However, political unrest (e.g. clashes during elections in Kenya in the 90s and the 2000s) can mean that tourists do not come, as they don’t feel safe
o Their potential money is then lost
o Equally, businesses are unlikely to invest in such countries, which could prevent further development.

Question 23

What economic factors can limit development?

Answer 23

o The problem comes from the fact that many manufactured goods that Kenya requires come from abroad (i.e. they are imports)
o These are often high in value
o Therefore, the money going out of the country to pay for these items is less than that coming in for the
agricultural exports
o Kenya spends more than they earn from the products they sell
o This widens the development gap as the balance of trade is more in favour of the richer MEDCs
o In fact, most trade exists between MEDCs.

Question 24

What does the term ‘trade balance’ mean?

Answer 24

Trade balance = the difference between imports and exports

Question 25

Why does the development gap exist due to trade?

Answer 25

Due to the trade balance

Question 26

Why else do poor countries remain poor?

Answer 26

o Coffee and other agricultural products have World prices that fluctuate dramatically; producers (LEDCs) can really struggle when prices are low o Manufactured commodities like TVs have relatively stable prices by comparison (MEDCs) – another example of how trade is stacked in favour of MEDCs

Question 27

What are NICs?

Answer 27

o They are examples of Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs) – examples include South Korea, Mexico, Singapore and Taiwan o These have industrialised rapidly and now earn huge amounts from trade; 50 years ago, they were not particularly developed o Famous brands such as Samsung and LG come from Korea. In fact, these companies are now transnational companies (TNC)

Question 28

Is trade fair and how can countries protect themselves from foreign imports?

Answer 28

o Rich countries want to keep the balance of trade as it is and they employ protectionist policies to do this. o Essentially, they create barriers to protect their own jobs and industries through what are called as tariffs and quotas. o Tariff: taxes paid on imports. These are added to make them appear more expensive than the domestic competition o Quotas: precise limits on the quantity of goods that can be imported. Beyond these quota levels huge taxes will be added to these imports, making them more expensive.

Question 29

What are trading groups?

Answer 29

o Trading Groups: These are where countries group together to increase the amount of trade between them and the value of their trade. o These can promote more trade between member countries, but those outside of the group face quotas and tariffs to get their produce in to these areas. o Ghana produces cocoa beans. However, the EU has high tariffs on processed cocoa products from Ghana, yet has no penalty on the import of raw coca beans from Ghana – why? They want to protect their own producers of chocolate products by providing them with raw materials at low cost, but preventing Ghana from getting any of their processed products in o Unfortunately for Ghana, raw materials are often sold for less profit than processed goods, thus maintaining the development gap

Question 30

The WTO

Answer 30

o Trading groups helped member countries, but often penalised other countries. o The World Trade Organisation (WTO) deals with the rules of global trade o It tries to make trade easier and remove any barriers preventing it; it also settles trade disputes. o In theory, they are against any barriers to trade such as subsidies (where governments give money to their farmers to help them) as rich countries can afford to do so, whereas poor countries can’t – i.e. unfair trade o However, the USA and the EU still spend massive amounts on subsidies which means that their producers can produce huge amounts of food o This food is then flooded on to the LEDCs markets where the LEDC farmers cannot compete on price.

Question 31

Fair Trade

Answer 31

o Producers group together in poor countries to produce food for the fair trade market o Such products have the logo (on the right), which shows consumers that the product is ‘Fairtrade’ o The prices tend to be a little higher, but consumers know that they have produced a fair price for their product o They are also paid a ‘fair trade’ premium which is spent on community projects etc. to improve their quality of life.

Question 32

Co-operative

Answer 32

o This is where producers group together and take a share of the profits o By grouping together, they are able to share resources, which enables them to compete on price o For example, the Gumutindo Coffee Co-operative in Uganda has 3000 farmers that have grouped together. o They process the beans themselves and use a shared warehousing facility where the beans are milled before being exported o By doing some of the processing by sharing the milling facility, they are able to make more profits.

Question 33

Why are poor countries in debt?

Answer 33

o International governments gave large sums of money to poorer countries o 10 years later, the interest rates had been more than doubled o Most countries couldn't pay their debts so the original debt increased o In turn for making the debts more manageable, the countries where expected to cut their spendings. e.g. Uganda cut its spendings significantly in education and healthcare, preventing it from developing any further

Question 34

What has been done to reduce this | debt?

Answer 34

o In July 2005, the Live 8 concerts (8 around the World) were aimed to try to help the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign and cancel World debt o A few days later, the G8 (the World’s 8 richest countries) met and an agreement was made to cancel all debts (worth $40 billion) owed by 18 highly indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) o The HIPC are a group of the 38 poorest countries. o Eventually, $85 billion was cancelled, but $300 billion still remained in Africa. o In order to have their debts cancelled, the countries had to agree to: - Show that they could manage their finances and were not corrupt - Agree to spend the money they would have spent on debt repayments on education, healthcare and reducing poverty

Question 35

Other than cancellation, how else can debt be reduced?

Answer 35

``` o An interesting concept called ‘conservation swap’ or ‘debt-for-nature swaps’ tackles debt, but also benefits nature. o A country (creditor) which is owed money from another country (debtor), cancels part of the debt in exchange for the debtors country’s agreement to pay for conservation activities o NGO (non-government organisations) like the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) often help to arrange the swaps. o Case Study: Debt-for-nature swap in Peru o In 2002 and 2008, Peru and the USA agreed to swap debt worth $40 million. Peru agreed to conservation activities to preserve more than 27.5 million acres of endangered rainforest. The forest provides rare habitats for jaguars, pink river dolphins and other are species. ```

Question 36

If debt isn’t cancelled, what impact can this have on the environment?

Answer 36

o In Honduras (do you remember Hurricane Mitch?), 800km² or rainforest is cut down every year, to be replaced by ranches, banana plantations and small farms. o The connection is that the trees provide hardwood that is sold overseas for foreign money to repay the debt o The new fruit plantations also earn money to repay their debt o In fact, 20% of the money Honduras earns is spent on debt repayments

Question 37

What is Aid?

Answer 37

o Aid is when a country receives help from another country, or an organisation such as an NGO, to help it to develop and improve people’s lives. o Short - term - Oxfam gave water after Haiti earthquake o Long- term - Norman Borlaug was LEDC farmers how to produce more food o Money given in the form of loans/grants

Question 38

Top-down or bottom-up?

Answer 38

o Bottom-up is a localised approach – for example school with St. John’s school, Korogocho with the help of CAFOD. o Top-down is when a large-scale project is completed – e.g. vaccinations of all children in the country against a particular disease.

Question 39

How can aid lead to sustainable development?

Answer 39

o Sustainable development = ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ o Case Study: FARM-Africa and the Moyale Pastoralist Project o This project is helping communities in Northern Kenya to survive, by reducing their dependence on their animals for all of their income o The project is: - Helping communities to form Local Development Committees (LDC) – which finds problems and solutions – e.g. improving access to markets, so that farmers can sell their produce more easily. - Helping families to adapt the way they manage crops, animals and forests to improve their sustainability – e.g. avoiding deforestation, which destroys the soils. - Provide small-scale loans to set up alternative business, such as small shops. - Training people to identify clean, safe water sources and to dig wells. o Saku, a local woman, applied to the LDC for a small loan. The money was used to set up a small shop and she can now afford the essentials such as healthcare, education and food. She has now repaid the loan, so the money can be lent to someone else.

Question 40

Trade or Aid?

Answer 40

o Governments can be less generous in giving donations o The UN set a target that every year richer countries should give 0.7% of their GDP to poorer countries. Not many countries meet this target! o However, in the long term, trade is much better than aid in helping poor countries to develop o Trade creates jobs, which provides wages that people spend on improving their quality of life.

Question 41

What is the EU?

Answer 41

o It was originally set up in 1957 to achieve economic and political cooperation after the 2nd World War o The number of countries has grown dramatically in the last decade and there are now 28 member states

Question 42

Do differences in development exist within the EU?

Answer 42

o The EU is a very rich region, but there is still a big gap between its richest and poorest regions. o The richest regions include areas like London, Brussels and Hamburg. Luxembourg – the richest country is more than seven times richer then Bulgaria or Romania, the poorest members of the EU.

Question 43

UK :

Answer 43

o The UK is part of the EU’s ‘core’ or centre. Such regions create the most wealth and have larger populations. o They produce and consume most goods and services and have the best communications. o UK joined the EU in 1973 and is rich. However, 14% live in poverty. o The global recession has meant that we have a trade deficit – 351.3 billion exports and 473.6 billion imports in 2010. o GNI/capita ppp: $36,130 o HDI rank: 21 o Employment structure: 1.4% Agriculture, 18.2% industry and 70.4% services

Question 44

Poland :

Answer 44

o Poland is on the ‘periphery’ or edge of the EU. Such countries have poorer populations and poorer communications o Belonging to the EU has helped them develop. o Poland joined the EU in 2004; it used to be a communist country. 17% live in poverty. o Hundreds of thousands of Polish migrants came to the UK to find work after joining the EU o Trade deficit – $134.7 exports - $141.7 imports. o GNI/capita ppp: $17,310 o HDI rank: 41 o Employment structure: 17.4% Agriculture, 29.2% industry and 53.4% services

Question 45

What is the EU’s regional policy?

Answer 45

o The policy transfers resources from richer to poorer areas. o Between 2007-2013, regional spending will have used up 36% of the EU’s spending - $350 billion o The focus is on countries in Central & Eastern Europe – like Poland The money comes from three sources: - The European Regional Development Fund, which pays for general infrastructure - The European Social Fund, which pays for things like training and job creation programmes - The Cohesion Fund, which covers environmental and transport infrastructure projects, as well as the development of renewable energy. You have to be a country with living standards less than 90% of the EU’s average to qualify for this funding – Poland qualifies!