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What is development?

Development is the overall term which is used to measure how advanced a country
is compared to others. There are different types of development:

 Economic development - This is considered to be the most important and


involves ways of making money. Governments around the world wish for
this type of development to happen because it means the money they can
gain through taxes can go to develop other aspects of the country, e.g.
infrastructure projects such as roads, hospitals, schools.

 Socio-political development - This type of development relates more to


society and involves things like education, health care provisions, safety, or
freedom of speech.

 Sustainable development - This type of development takes into account


not only the social and economic factors, but also the environmental
factors.

Development is quite difficult to measure because accurate data is not readily


available, and because the things we want to measure are difficult to measure.

Factors to consider when evaluating development

Economic Physical wellbeing Mental wellbeing Social


- income - diet - freedom - access to education
- type of industries - access to clean water - security - access to health
- security of jobs - environment - happiness care
(including climate, - access to leisure
hazards, etc.) facilities

Measuring Development

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Gross Domestic Product per capita is the total income of a country in a year divided
by its population. It shows the average money per person in the population and
can be used to measure development.

Advantages Disadvantages

- Available for every country - Because GDP is the average


with an economic structure money per person, it covers up
any gaps between the rich and
poor.
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Human Development Index (HDI)

The Human Development Index is scale combining several different factors of


development, including income, education and life expectancy. In 2011 the UK
ranked 28th in the HDI out of 187 countries, while Brazil ranked 84th and Tanzania
152nd.

Advantages Disadvantages

- Covers a wide range of - Some data is not available for


aspects of development, e.g. all countries
social and economic - Does not recognise the natural
environment
- Doesn't consider inequalities

Happy Planet Index (HPI)

The Happy Planet Index looks at how efficiently a country is using its resources to
benefit its population, without causing long-term damage to its environment. In
2012, Brazil ranked 21st on the HPI, UK 41st and Tanzania 133rd out of 151
countries.

Advantages Disadvantages

- Considers sustainability and - Doesn't take into


how well the government consideration the economic
supports its population aspect of development

Gender Inequality Index

The Gender Inequality Index considers the level of female participation, and
decision-making process in the workplace, the level of education of women, and
their degree of control over pregnancy. The lower the score, the lower the level of
inequality.

Advantages Disadvantages

- It specifically targets a - The role of women in different


group that is often excluded societies can vary quite
during the development of a considerably, and therefore
country some of the indicators may be
biased in certain situations.

Political Freedom
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Political freedom measures political rights and civil liberties, including the freedom
of elections, the number of people voting or the number of people with the right to
vote, freedom of speech and individual rights.

Advantages Disadvantages

- Uses 7 different measures - Bias towards western ideas of


as well as 25 key questions freedom
judged by experts.
- Data has been collected
since 1973, so trends can be
identified.

Corruption Perception Index

The Corruption Perception Index looks at perceived corruption in governments and


their departments. Governments should be working for their people for
development to happen. The reason perceptions are used is because if corruption
was happening, it would often be hidden and data would be difficult to find.

Advantages Disadvantages

- Covers 183 countries


- Uses various different
sources of information

Environmental Performance Index

The Environmental Performance Index uses 22 indicators to determine the health


of people and the natural environment.

Advantages Disadvantages

- Shows how countries are - Does not look at economic


looking after their natural factors
environment and their
people
- Uses lots of different
indicators

The development gap


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Due to geographical and historical factors, the world is made up of countries which
'have' and some which 'have not' - the development gap. Some of the social
indicators which can separate a country in terms of development include:

 Birth Rate

 Life expectancy

 Number of people per doctor

 Literacy rate

 Gender equality

 Infant mortality

In the 1980s, the world had a clear north/south divide where Europe economically
dominated, and had been since the 19th century, later joined by the USA, Japan
and more recently the East Asia region.

 In terms of HDI, Norway is the most developed with an HDI of 0.955.

 The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Niger are the least developed
with a HDI with a score of 0.304.

 The standard of living between Norway and the DRC is the most extreme
example of the development gap.

 Although development is perceived to be continuous as many countries are


continuously developing, this is not always the case as some countries
regress as well as develop. Recent figures for HDI in some countries may be
very similar to those 30 years ago.

 The development gap is not really closing between the most and least
developed nations.
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Development Case Study - Rwanda

Development in Rwanda has neither been a smooth or continuous process as the


HDI graph above shows.

Development Successes Barriers to development

 GDP per capita has  There's been an


increased from $333 to increasing number of
$644 and poverty rates floods and droughts.
have fallen by 12%
between 2006-2011.  Its a landlocked
country - trade with
 Primary school other countries is
attendance, child difficult
mortality and access to
clean water have all  There is a risk of
dramatically improved. conflict breaking out
again, although it is
 The reliance on coffee is still much reduced.
not as high as before as
the economy is  The DRC is next to
increasingly divergent. Rwanda and very
Agriculture is still unstable and there is
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important though a risk that conflict


may spread and
 Development has been refugees flood into
made a priority by the Rwanda..
government
 Although AIDs and
HIV is low compared
to other Sub-Saharan
African countries, it
is high compared to
the rest of the world
at 3%.

Theories of Development

There are many different theories to explain why societies develop. The two which
are discussed here are Rostow's modernisation theory and the dependency theory

The Rostow Model

Not every theory is going to be entirely correct and there are going to be some
problems with each theory. The issues with the Rostow Model are:

 It makes the assumption that all countries start at the same level of
development

 It disregards the fact that a each country will have different qualities,
quantities of resources, population or climate/natural hazards.

 Out of date and based on the 18th and 19th century development of
European countries

 Doesn't take into account that European development came at a cost to


other countries (colonisation).

Dependency Theory

The dependency theory evolved in the late 1950s and is based around the idea that
developed rich countries (core) are limiting the level of development of the poorer
countries (periphery) from the control of the world economy. The most developed
countries are able to exploit less developed countries through the use of their
economic and political power. The Dependency theory also suggests that the
unequal pattern of development has been reinforced by:

 rich countries imposing trade barriers and conditions for loans

 unbalanced trade - poor countries sell materials cheaply but buy expensive
products
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 the selling of unessential products to poor countries

 poor countries getting into debt

o 25% of aid received by African countries each year is used to repay


debt rather than build infrastructure.

The problems with the Dependency theory are:

 written in the late 1950s so it is out of date.

 natural disasters, lack of resources, conflict are just a few examples of


things which may limit development that isn't taken into consideration in
the Dependency theory.

Regional disparity

Regions within a country are all going to develop unequally and at different rates.

Core regions

The core regions are the rich and usually urban areas of a country. They are well
connected and have the majority of the services, business and people, generating
wealth. It is where big businesses, industries and government have their
headquarters. The majority of people live here and services are good.

Periphery regions

The periphery regions are poor and remote rural areas often involved in producing
raw materials which the core regions will use.

Case study - India

India provides us with a good example of how different regions of a country


develops at different rates. In 2010, average income per capita in Bihar (a rural
periphery) was £251 per year, while in Maharashtra (a urban core

) it was £1,011.

Urban core - Maharashtra

 Maharashtra is home to three of India's largest cities: Mumbai, Pune, and


Nagpur.

 Mumbai:
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o home to 13 million people

o thriving business district, centre for banking, insurance and call


centres

o manufacturing industry

o Bollywood

o Hub for media + technology

Rural periphery - Bihar

 Average income at £251 is 25% less than Maharashtra at £1,011

 26 of India's 100 poorest districts are in Bihar

 80% of people live in rural areas

 Poor education and high birth rates

 58% of households have electricity

 Many people working as landless farm labourers producing barely enough


food to feed their own family

 Government is more corrupt than other parts of India

Multiplier effects and downwards spirals

Core regions will often have advantages over the periphery regions.

Core region advantages Periphery region disadvantages

- Fertile soils - poor soils


- located near important - distant from the core and
markets (trade) trade routes
- good communication links - difficult communications,
- healthy, warm climate especially by road
- river/sea ports providing - disease, e.g. malaria
important trade routes - climate hazards, e.g. droughts,
floods, etc.

Types of development

There are two different types of development schemes, top-down and bottom-up.
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Top-down

Top-down development schemes are usually very expensive and a country often
has to borrow money from large organisation like the World Bank or from
companies in developed countries. The decisions related to any top-down scheme
will usually be made by the government and any external groups involved. Local
people who will be affected by the scheme will have little say in the process and
had little influence in the project.

There are problems which exist with all top-down development projects. These
are:

 the country will more than likely go into debt from the loans borrowed to
fund the scheme

 the loan may also have some conditions attached, leaving the country to
be under some external control over the economy or other development
aspects of the country

 jobs are not provided for the local people, instead a lot of machinery and
technology is used

 the end product will be expensive to operate

Top-down case study - Three Gorges Dam, China

The Three Gorges Dam in China is the largest dam in the world. It was designed to
meet the benefits of China as a country. It took 14 years to build, created a 405
square miles reservoir behind the dam and generated 22,500 MW of electricity.
The official cost of the project was US$26 billion but some estimates claim that it
cost as high as US$75 billion.

Benefits Costs

 Helps with flood  1.3 million people had to


control - protects relocate for the reservoir
100 million
people from o They received little
flooding compensation

 Generates  1300 archaeological sites


hydroelectric were flooded
power, 22,500
 Yangtze wildlife/species
MW
threatened, e.g. Yangtze
 Large ships can river dolphin
now travel on the
 Silt will get trapped behind
Yangtze -
the dam, in 50 years the silt
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improving trade will begin to cause


problems with flood
 Jobs for people control
working at the
dam, power  The reservoir may become
companies and polluted with sewage, farm
cities upstream and industrial waste
who will receive
more trade  Farmers downstream no
longer receive the annual
 Reduces the need floodwaters which would
for coal-fired irrigate their fields
power stations -
less polluted air  The dam is built on fault
lines in an earthquake zone

 Tourism may be negatively


affected

 Very expensive - US$26


billion or more

Top-down case study - Madeira River Project, South America

The Madeira River project is the largest project in the Amazon region's history. It's
a multinational project to build four dams, a navigation channel, three highways
and a electricity lines. The Santo Antonio dam is one of the dams in the Madeira
River Project and is 5km upstream from Pôrto Velho, the capital of Rondônia. The
dam will be producing 3,150 MW of electricity while costing $5.3 billion to build.

Impacts of the Santo Antonio dam on different groups of people

Benefits Costs

Residents of Porto Velho Residents of Porto Velho

 $30 million given to  An increase in the


improve the sewage number of immigrants
system in Porto Velho in the area (up to
100,000) will cause a
 Mercury poisoning will strain on services and
be closely monitored living space
amongst residents
 The increase in water
 New jobs available water area will likely
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from the expansion of cause an increase in


agriculture malaria

Local farmers and fishermen

 Social support Local farmers and fishermen


programmes put in
place to help local,  Loss of culture and
rural communities way of life
(subsistence fishing)
 Infrastructure affecting 5,000
improvements fishermen

 Fish allowed to  Commercial fishing


migrate through fish (worth $1 bn) is at risk
channels created in because preferred fish
the dam catch will be disturbed
- 2,400 jobs at risk

 Irrigation water lost


and fisheries affected
downstream from the
Indigenous tribes
dam
 The consortium has
Indigenous tribes
paid for two Indian
reservations  Flooding and erosion
poses a risk to the
Poor people living in South-
land of Indigenous
East Brazil
tribes
 20,000 jobs created
Poor people living in South-
and 100,000 people
East Brazil
attracted to the area
 No negative impacts
 An education and
training centre for
immigrants and job
seekers established

Brazilian Government

 Better infrastructure, Brazilian Government


e.g. roads and
waterways  Political conflict - part
of Bolivia will be
 Waterway for barges flooded to make way
will make it easier to for the dam
transport soy, timber
and minerals  Very expensive - $22
billion
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 The dams will provide


energy for Brazil and
Rondônia - 8% of
Brazil's electricity will
be supplied by the
Madeira project Environmental and
conservation groups
Environmental and
conservation groups  Expansion of Soya
agriculture results in
 Hydro electric power is
more clearance of the
created, reducing the
rainforest
need for oil or nuclear
power  The Environmental
Impact Assessment
 Flooding is minimised
was based on
using 'run of the river'
insufficient data,
technology
therefore lacking
 Two new forest thoroughness.
reserves created

Businesses in South-East Brazil


Businesses in South-East Brazil
 Produce the cheapest
 Too much
electricity in Brazil
dependence on on
HEP

Bottom-up

Bottom-up development schemes are projects that are planned and controlled by
local communities to help their local periphery area. They are not expensive
because they use smaller, more appropriate technology, which the local people will
have to pay for. Because the project is on a smaller scale compared to a top-down
project, the environmental damage is often much less.

Bottom-up case study - Micro-hydro scheme, Peru

Micro hydro projects are an example of a bottom-up development scheme because


instead of using expensive technology which will require large loans from other
countries or TNCs, they use appropriate, affordable technology and involve local
people in the whole process. Micro hydro schemes are those with a generating
capacity under 100KW. Most are similar to the Santo Antonio scheme by using a
'run of the river' method, but on a much smaller scale.
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Peru is home to the Andes mountains, where there are steep slopes and plenty of
streams and rivers. On the eastern side of the Andes, 44% of the population live on
less than $2 a day. Because of the terrain, around the mountains and the high
rainfall it receives, a micro hydro scheme to produce electricity to the area is a
good investment.

The charity, 'Practical Action', has helped install nearly 50 micro hydro schemes,
now providing electricity to 30,000 people. Part of the costs are paid for by the
local people. The government also has a ten year plan to provide more micro hydro
schemes.

Impacts of the micro-hydro project on different groups of people

Benefits Costs

Villagers Villagers

 Reliable electricity  Poor people can't


supply afford the electricity
which is metered
 The available use of
refrigerators from  Population pressures
electricity allows as village size increases
medicine to be stored
properly thus  For a poor village, the
improving health care initial cost is quite high
(£500 per household)
 Electricity for schools
allows the use of
electrical equipment

 Small businesses can


use electricity for their
machinery Peruvian Government
Peruvian Government  Some of the resources
needed to build it had
 Ease the pressures of
to be sourced from
rapid urban growth as
other countries which
young adults and
creates dependency
teachers are
and expense
encouraged to stay or
return to the village
for new opportunities

 Cheaper electricity -
Environmental and
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$0.14 per KW conservation groups

 Low running costs  The components


needed for the project
Environmental and ruins the landscape.
conservation groups

 Ecosystems and
habitats are saved as
there is no need to
flood the area

 No need for villagers


to burn wood - less
deforestation and soil
erosion

Bottom-up case study - Wells and Hand Pumps, Africa

WaterAid, a UK NGO install wells and hand pumps in Africa, an example of a


bottom-up development scheme. They only cost £292 pounds each, and use
technology that the local people can use, maintain and repair if necessary. They
provide clean water for a village, eliminating the need for women and children to
go and travel long distances to collect water. Children are now able to spend more
time studying instead of having to collect water.

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