AQA Geography GCSE- Development gap

1- Differences in development
1. Development is the use of natural and human resources to achieve a higher standard of living
2. Factors affecting development
  1. Environmental
    1. E.g. natural hazards
  2. Economic
    1. e.g. trade / debt
  3. Social
    1. E.g. access to safe water / proper education
  4. Political
    1. E.g. government corruption / internal conflict
3. Measuring development
  1. Development indicators
    1. Economic
      1. GDP
        Total value of the goods and services produced by a country in a year
        Per capita
        Value/population
      2. GNI (gross national income)
        Includes money earned from overseas
      3. Trade
      4. Transport
        km of railway
      5. Problems
        Hides inequalities
        Informal economy (black market) doesn't declare cash
        PPP is different in each country
        Can quickly become outdated & aren't reliable alone
    2. Social
      1. Health
        Infant mortality rate
        Life expectancy
        Obesity levels
        Doctors / 1000
      2. Housing
        % dwelling with water
        % dwelling with electricity
      3. Education
        % GNP spent on educaton
        Literacy rates
        Full time teachers / 1000
      4. Problems
        Social indicators often lag behind economic indicators
    3. Composite
      1. HDI (human development index)
        Combines data on GDP per capita, adult literacy rates, life expectancy and number of years in education
      2. PQLI (Physical quality of life index)
        Includes life expectancy, infant mortality rates, literacy rates
4. Development gap: the widening difference in levels of development between the world's richest and poorest countries
2- Dividing up the world
2. More than one indicator is used usually used to get a better idea of development
3. How to divide the world up
  1. North/ South divide
    1. Wealthy 'North' controlled 80% of world's wealth and 20% controlled by poor 'south'
    2. The Brandt line
    3. Used GNP per capita- purely economic
    4. Too simple to divide the world due to rapid development
  2. First, second and third world countries
    1. First used when Britain colonised countries
  3. Stages of development- MEDC & LEDC
    1. MEDC- richer countries
    2. LEDC- poorer countries
  4. NICs- newly industrialised economies
3- Standard of living and quality of life
1. Standard of living
  1. The degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community
  2. Measured by GDP per capita
  3. Good standard= enough for basics and money left over
2. Quality of life
  1. The standard of health, comfort and happiness experiences by an individual or group
  2. More difficult to measure- many aspects can be included
  3. HDI is used to measure by the UN
  4. Improving
    1. Self help
    2. Charity schemes
    3. Government programs
    4. In Nairobi
      1. Kiambiu
        Northeast Nairobi
        Slum
        improvements
        Christian aid & Kenyan partner Maji na Ufanisi (water and development)
        Five toilet and shower blocks have been built
        Local people maintain and clean them
        Small fee to use then use that money to develop further
        Clean drinking water
      2. Matopeni
        A woman formed a group to organise rubbish colection & educate about health.
        If MNU finds money, they will work in Matopeni
      3. 60% live in places without access to basic things like clean drinking water, education, proper toilets & healthcare
      4. 2009- 4 million were short of food
4- Widening the gap
1. Global inequalities are made worse by a set of 4 factors
  1. Environmental
    1. Natural hazards
      1. Poor countries suffer worst- they don't have money to prepare and protect
      2. E.g. Honduras & Hurricane Mitch
        HDI- 0.604
        HDI rank- 106th
    2. Overuse of forect
      1. Decreased productivity
    3. Hunting of wildlife
      1. Destroys basis for profitable tourism industry
      2. For illegal trade
      3. For food
      4. For exotic pets
  2. Economic
    1. Trade
      1. Most of world trade is between richer countries
      2. Richer countries- buy cheap goods and sell expensive goods
        Trade imbalance
      3. Poorer countries- buy expensive manufactured goods ( they can't make) and sell cheap goods
        Sell cash crops
      4. E.g. Kenya
        HDI- 0.470
        HDI rank- 128th
      5. Rich countries also oversupply which reduces market value of goods
    2. Workforce is usually poorly educated
    3. Little investment
      1. Poor infrastructure
        To move raw materials, finished goods & labour
      2. Unreliable electricity
  3. Political
    1. E.g Zimbabwe
      1. The government redistributed land from white farmers to the black population
        Tried to close development gap
        Had opposite effect
        Land was given to government supporters with little farming experience
        Production of crops to eat and trade collapsed, the economy crashed & Zimbabweans left dependant on international food aid
      2. HDI rank- 169th
      3. HDI- 0.140
    2. Corruption
      1. Foreign countries don't want to invest
      2. Corrupt governments hold onto money
        Divert tax rev/ loans/ aid into private account/ investment for own business
    3. Conflict
      1. Resources diverted to fighting
      2. Developments destroyed
  4. Social
    1. Water
      1. Availability
        12% of world uses 85% of water
        47L PP in Africa
        578L PP in USA
      2. Quality
        A child dies from a water- borne disease every 15 seconds
      3. WaterAid
        Charity to overcome poverty & improve lives by helping people get safe water and sanitation
        Have provided spring-fed wells to ensure clean water supplies
      4. E.g. Ethiopia
        Ethiopia: 74000 children die from diarrhoea each year
        HDI- 0.328
        HDI rank- 157th
    2. Education
    3. Health
6- Trade and development gap
1. Japan VS Kenya
  1. Imports
    1. J: Machinery, fuel, foodstuff, textiles, chemicals
      1. Imports cheap materials
    2. K: Machinery, oil products, motor vehicles, iron & steel
      1. Imports expensive materials
  2. Exports
    1. J: Transport equip, motor vehicles, electrical machinery, chemicals
      1. Exports expensive manufactured goods
    2. K: Tea, coffee, fish, cement, flowers
      1. Exports cheap primary goods
  3. Difference between imports & exports- trade balance.
    1. Countries want a surplus so they become richer
  4. Other patterns
    1. Countries trade with neighbours- Japan's trading partners are US and Chins
      1. Trade groups often leave poorer countries out
    2. Most trade is between richer countries- little trade between poor countries
    3. TNC's have their headquarters in rich countries- very important for world trade
    4. Quotas
      1. Restrict primary goods
      2. Limits quantity of goods that can be imported
Reducing the gap
1. Trade
  1. Richer countries control trade
    1. Tariffs
      1. Taxes or customs duties paid on imports.
        Used to make imported goods more expensive and less attractive to buyers than home- produced goods
      2. E.g. Ghana
        Exports raw cocoa beans.
        Most processing & packaging done in Europe
        EU import tariffs higher for processed cocoa than raw cocoa beans
        in 2007, EU charged 7.7% import tariff on cocoa powder, 15% on chocolate with cocoa butter and none on raw cocoa beans
        Ghana forced to export raw beans and lose out on extra money from processing
        Seasonal- long periods of poverty
    2. Quotas
      1. Precise limit on quantity of goods that can be imported. Usually on primary goods.
        Work against poorer countries
    3. Trading groups
      1. NAFTA
      2. EU
      3. Countries that have grouped together to increase the amount they trade between them & the value of their trade
        Cut tariffs in place between them- make goods cheaper
        Countries not in trading groups lose out
  2. Free- trade
    1. When countries don't discourage or restrict the movement of goods with tariffs and quotas
    2. Producers in poor countries can join together to produce goods for fair trade market
  3. World Trade Organisation
    1. Aims to make trade easier and get rid of anything hindering it
    2. Negotiates trade agreements and settles trade disputes
    3. Focusing on helping poorer countries by reducing and removing farm subsidies (grants paid to farmers to encourage them to grow more
    4. WTO's agreement on Agriculture still allows EU and USA to spend huge amounts of money on subsidies
      1. Farmers there then produce huge volumes of food which EU and US governments buy and dump on poor countries as food aid
        Reduces price of food actually produced in those countries which puts livelihoods of local farmers at risk
  4. In long term, is better than aid for helping countries to develop
    1. Creates jobs which provide waged that people can spend on improving standard of living & quality of life
  5. Arguments
    1. For
      1. Creates jobs = wages
      2. Quality of life & standard of living increased
      3. More money for education so more people employed
      4. Increased wealth long term
      5. Decreases dependancy on aid
      6. Learn to trade well- increases knowledge
    2. Against
      1. Countries may not have enough goods to trade
      2. Takes long time to generate profit to reinvest & is vulnerable to fluctations in market
      3. Limitations from lack of resources & skills (work force)
      4. Trade involves investment- poorer countries can't afford
2. Debt
  1. Many poorer countries are in debt and the sums they owe are huge
  2. 1970s: international banks lent large amounts of money to poorer countries to build expensive infrastructure projects e.g. dams
    1. 1980S: interest rates more than doubled. increased amount owed
      1. Many countries couldn't repay debts so unpaid interest added to original loan amounts & loan grew
        In return for reorganising debts to make them more manageable, banks expected governments of indebted countries to cut spending. E.g. Uganda- biggest cuts to healthcare & education (crucial for development)
  3. Trade
    1. Problems with trade & debt
      1. Central America once had 500000km of rainforest. 80% now gone
      2. Each year 800 km plus is cut down in Honduras
        For ranches
        For banana plantations
        Earn money for debt
        For small farms
        Used to provide hardwood & traded to repay debt
      3. 20% of money Honduras earns from exports spent on debt
  4. Cancelling
    1. July 2005: ten live 8 concerts held around the world to campaign for make poverty history & cancel world debt
      1. A few days later, at a meeting of the G8 (world's richest 8 countries), an agreement was made to cancel all debts owed by 18 Highly Indebted Poor Countries
        Two conditions had to be met before they were cancelled
        Government had to show it could manage finances & that it wasnt corrupt
        Had to agree to spend debt money on education, healthcare and reducing poverty
        27/38 HIPC countries met conditions in 2008- $85 billion cancelled
        African countries still owe $300 billion- small chance they can repay
    2. Cancelled $1.5 billion in Uganda
  5. Conservation swaps (debt for nature swaps)
    1. Country which is owed money by another cancels part of the debt in exchange for the debtor country's agreement to pay for conservation activities
    2. Often organised by NGOs like WWF
    3. E.g. Peru
      1. 2002 & 2008: Peru and US agreed to a debt swap worth $40 million
        P: agreed to conservation activities to preserve 27.5 million acres of endangered rainforest
        Provides habitat for many rare species e.g. pink dolphin & jaguar
3. Aid
  1. When a country receives help from another country or organisation to help it develop and improve people's lives
  2. What
    1. Money
      1. Gifts
      2. Grants
      3. Loans
    2. People with special skills
      1. Medical
      2. Teachers
    3. Goods
      1. Emergency supplies
        tents or food
      2. Equipment
        Tractors
  3. Types of
    1. Short term
      1. E.g. after a nat. disaster
    2. Long term
      1. Sustainable long term aid can prevent emergencies from happening in the first place
      2. E.g. immunisation to eradicate disease e.g. polio
    3. Tied
      1. Insistence of where the aid is used
      2. Something in return
      3. E.g. Malaysia and UK- a well in exchange for trade
  4. Donor: country/ organisation giving the aid
  5. Recipient: country recieving aid
  6. Aid projects can be organised in two way
    1. Top-down
      1. Decisions about dev. projects made by national governments/ large organisations
      2. Projects are often large- scale across whole country
      3. Often involve large sums of money
      4. Locals usually have no direct involvement in decision making
      5. Workers are external specialists
    2. Bottom-up
      1. Experts work with local communities to identify their needs
      2. Alot of work done by NGOs E.g. FARM africa
      3. Locals have control over improving their lives
      4. Workers are mainly local but there are some external trainers
  7. Arguments
    1. For
      1. Improved standard of living
      2. Could improve relations between countries
      3. Improves health
      4. Jobs could be increased- lower unemployment
      5. Can support countries in accessing their natural resources
      6. After natural disasters it is needed so people don't die etc
    2. Against
      1. May feel like they need to repay but often cant
      2. Top- down aid- locals don't actually get a say
      3. Corruption can stop aid getting to where it is needed
      4. Can increase LEDC dependancy on donor countries
      5. Sometimes projects don't help small scale farmers

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AQA Geography GCSE- Development gap

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	Created by Maisie H about 7 years ago