Development for GCSE geography paper 1 2010

The world's wealth is not shared out equally. The term development refers to how mature a country's economy, infrastructure and social systems are. The development gap is the contrast between rich and poor countries.

The North/South divide:

The blue shows the richer countries which are all almost in the North hemisphere (minus Australia and New Zealand) and the red shows the poorer countries which are in the South hemisphere. Places that suffer from natural disasters and have extreme climates are generally LEDCs (poorer countries)

There are many indicators of development:

• GNP - gross national produce (check out the key words revision pack to find out what this is and any other indicators)
• Life expetancy
• Infant Mortality Rate
• Calorie intake - the average number of calories taken in per day per person
• Energy consumption
• Urban population - percentage of total popualtion living in towns or cities
• Literacy rates
• Number of people per doctor

Two main problems with indices:

1. The information isn't up to date as the country doesn't have the administration necessary 2. Some countries may appear to be developed to some indices but not to others

The current world trade patterns benefit MEDCs more than LEDCs. LEDCs have small shares of world trade and rely heavily on primary porducts for export earnings. Primary products have 4 main disadvantages for LEDCs:

• Raw materials have less value
• Prices are dicated by MEDC buyers
• Prices fluctuate yearly so prediction is difficult
• Man made alternatives reduce demand of raw materials

MEDCs rely on manufactured goods, the price of manufactured goods is rising faster so the gap betwenn them and raw materials is rising. In turn making LEDCs poorer and MEDCs richer. The price of raw materials fluctate making it difficult for LEDCs to predict their earnings

Aid is giving resources either in an emergency or to promote long term development, it can be used to reduce the gap between LEDCs and MEDCs. There are three types of aid:

• Bilateral Aid - aid given directly from one government to another
• Multilateral Aid - aid given through an agency such as the world bank
• Non govenmental Aid - given through organisations like oxfam these are NGO's (definition is in key words revision card)

For Aid:

1. Emergency aid in times of natural disasters helps to save lives. 2. Development projects can lead to long term improvements to living standards. 3. Assistance in developing natural resources benefits the economy. 4. Aiding industrial development can creat jobs. 5. Aid for agriculture can improve food supply

Against Aid:

1. Aid can increase dependency of LEDCs on the donor country. 2. Inappropriate food aid can lead to a taste for expensive food. 3. Profits from large projesct can go to MNCs. 4. Aid doesn't always reach the people who need it most. 5. Aid can be used as a weapon against political pressure on recieving country.

Development projects help promote development in LEDCs, they are often funded by aid money and range from million pound projects to small self help projects.

Large scale projects such as the three gorges dam in China don't always suceed. While it aims to provided the country with 10% of its need for electricity it will also cause flooding and damage to the environment

WHEREAS

Self help schemes and small scale projects can lead to long term development as they oftem provide specific improvements for small areas. For example Curitiba in Brazil where education was made complusory for 7 - 14 and healthcare was given 24hrs a day and the government saw a huge improvement in the slums.There are three main provisions for small scale projects:

• Provisions of basic necessitites to improve living standards
• Provisions of essential services
• Setting up co-operatives to facilitate low cost borrowing

Fair trade is all about helping good producers survive against those who exploit their workers and the environment to keep the profits up and prices low.

Fair trade can solve several problems at once: bad employment practice, child labour and environmental sustainablility

1. Products can be bought directly from the small so they don't have to sell to countries who will pay them very little for example Oxfam and bodyshop buy directly

2. Companies can appeal to ethnical shoppers by displaying a logo

3. We hear more and more shocking reports on children working in factories and the conditions. This sort of thing will stop is companies are forced to prove they're the good guys by applying the fair trade rules