Barriers to Africa ’ s Development

1. Barriers to Africa’s Development

2. Barriers to development many & they’re all connected! Geography: desertification, drought, famine, carrying capacity Social: Disease/AIDS, Human Rights Abuses, Child Soldiers, Ethnic Conflicts, Overpopulation Economic: one crop commodities, mineral disputes, heavy debt, BRAIN DRAIN Political: Failed governmental strategies, poor leaders, corruption, warlords, dictatorships

3. Unsustainable Population • Definition: • When population growth exceeds an area’s carrying capacity, growth is considered unsustainable because existing resources are not sufficient to support the population. Note: Carrying Capacity = the number of inhabitants that can be supported by a particular area.

5. High Population • Causes: • Lower Death Rates: • Medical Advancements • Better Sanitation • Little change in birth rates: Summary: if you have more people living and less people dying…population increases. • Effects: • Increased strain on resources • (agricultural, economic, health care, education, etc.) • Greater conflict over insufficient resources • Environmental damage • (desertification) • Negative Impact on Economy: • Not enough jobs, high price of goods.

6. Population Pyramid Developed Country Developing Country

7. Desertification • Definition: • The rapid depletion of plant life and the loss of topsoil at desert boundaries by a combination of drought and overexploitation of grasses and other vegetation by people or livestock. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBSV9Kk1fgE&feature=related • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LJRrDAPuWA

8. Desertification and Environmental Degradation • Causes • Increase in Population • puts increased stress on the land to support food needs (both agriculture and livestock grazing) • Poverty • No money for fertilizers or irrigation systems • Effects: • Soil Erosion • Loss of topsoil = lack of nutrients in soil = smaller crop yields • Climate Change • Famine (no food) • Decreased ability of land to support the population. • No econ. Development • Food prices too high

9. Famine • Definition: • A severe shortage of food, resulting in violent hunger, starvation, and death. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34C5VWpCzps • http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=L_YLzoRvyXo

10. Famine • Causes: • Drought • High Population: • Increases stress on land • Conflict (wars) • No money or time to farm • Farmers killed • Environmental Damage • Desertification • Nutrient poor land • Corrupt Governments • Withhold food to control the people • Effects: • Starvation/Death • Less productive workers • People are malnourished • Disease spreads more rapidly: • Due to weakened immune systems • Must Import Food • More expensive than growing it • Can’t import if no money • Conflict • People fight over scarce resources

11. Disease and Limited Healthcare Diseases: Malaria, AIDS, Tuberculosis, Cholera, and more! • Causes • Lack of Education • How diseases spread or treated • Culture: • Traditions, gender inequality • Higher % multi-partner sexual activity • Poor Sanitation • Disease spreads in dirty areas • Scarcity of Clean Water • Poverty: • no money for treatment or prevention (vaccines, bug nets, condoms, etc.) • Effects • Lower Life Expectancy • Reverses positive trend • Families lose income earners • Labor Force Weakened • Reduced in size and effectiveness • Millions Orphaned • Society pays to help survive • Don’t contribute much to society • Disease (HIV) passed on to children • More money diverted to healthcare • less money for schools, development, etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mogTwwepces

13. AIDS in Africa 2012 Clean water video: http://thewaterproject.org/why-water.php

14. DISEASE Links AIDS • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mogTwwepces Malaria • http://videos.howstuffworks.com/unicef/2030-fighting-malaria-in-africa-from-unicef-video.htm • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/rxforsurvival/series/video/d_mal1_dis_malaria1_qt_h.html

15. Poverty • Causes: • Lack of economic development • Not enough jobs • High population • Keeps wages low (low demand for workers) • Lots of things drain their national bank accounts: • Disease • War • Debt • Government corruption • Effects: • Higher mortality (death) rates • Lack of money for: • education, • infrastructure, • jobs, • healthcare • Less productive workers • Weakened population • Conflict: • More conflict over scarce resources

17. Poverty Cycle • One of the greatest causes of poverty in Africa is also the most overlooked...the lack of access to clean drinking water. • Nearly one billion people do not have access to clean, safe water - that's the equivalent of 1 in 8 people on the planet! • For these people, poverty is a fact of life.

18. Poor Education • Causes: • Lack of Money • Due to other national problems • Lack of Teachers • Lack of higher educ. • Brain Drain – educated people leave Africa. • Gender Inequality • Girls are not always allowed or encouraged to get education • Effects: • Society lacks intelligence • Corruption • Uneducated people are easier to take advantage of • Poor family planning • Have too many babies and can’t provide for them • Continued spread of AIDS • Unskilled Workforce • Lack of economic development

19. Education Video Links: • Female Inequality • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kcAQAmp8kw&feature=related • Ethiopia’s Poverty and Education • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf-shHZsNmw&feature=related • Brain Drain • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME-ICeVKukA

20. Ethnic Conflict • Causes: • Traditional rivalries go back centuries. • European imperialism forced them together and only made them worse • European Imperialism • Europeans elevate minority groups to rule in place of themselves – kind of like middle management. • Scarcity of resources • People fight over scarce resources/land • Effects: • Lack of national unity • Civil wars more likely • Government Corruption • Representatives from certain ethnic groups benefit their ethnicity. • Darfur, Sudan Conflict • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USLDoIiFzzg

21. Civil Conflict • Causes: • Resources: • Fighting over scarce resources, or very profitable ones • Corruption • Government officials cheat citizens for their own gain • Happens frequently when citizens aren’t educated enough to know what is going on. • Ethnic Conflict • Ethnic conflict goes back centuries • Europeans make tensions worse by putting them together in colonies • Human Rights • Effects: • People Die • Sometimes entire working age populations • Poverty • Wars cost money to fight! • War destroys investments already made (homes, schools) • Infrastructure Damaged • Famine • People fighting can’t produce food • People killed who normally grow food • Food destruction as a weapon. • Increased Ethnic Tension

22. Corruption • Causes: • Lack of Econ. Development • Econ based on raw materials • Easy to hide where profits go • Nationalized industries • Lack of Education • Easy to take advantage of unaware people • No Checks/Balances • Gov. can’t police itself • No honest oversight within gov. • Suppressed press and speech rights • Can’t out someone if you can’t tell people • Effects: • Crime • Easy to get away with • Poverty • Rich cheat poor to get richer • Lack of Econ. Development • Money goes into pockets instead of to public works or industrial development • Culture of Corruption • Laws become meaningless • No faith in government • BBC reported that corruption costs Africa an estimated $150billion/year!http://www.ted.com/talks/george_ayittey_on_cheetahs_vs_hippos.html

23. Lack of Economic Development • Causes: • Economies based on the export of raw materials • Infrastructures set up to export raw materials (from imperialism) • Lack of money for investment • Lack of education • Corrupt public officials take development aid money • International Debt and interest on those debts prevents them from having the capital to invest in development • Public money is often diverted to more urgent needs like disease or war. • Civil conflicts disrupt growth • Foreign investment (corps.) makes the majority of money from African resources • Effects: • Lack of money to stimulate their economies. • Lack of economic growth means a continued poverty and low standard of living, and continued struggles with all of the other barriers to their development.

24. Debt • Causes: • Civil Wars cause great loss of wealth • Lack of economic development • Famine • Disease • Development loans taken out by many African Nations… which development efforts failed • Effects: • Poverty • Lack of economic development • Poor education • No money for agricultural development • No money for healthcare

25. Final thoughts… • Geographical, social, economic and political factors are all powerful • However, in order to sustain development Africa must… 1. Maintain Government systems that emphasize democratic reform 2. Become an environment for investors to seek business. Do this by achieving political and internal stability.