2. Explain why there is a need for world development?
Sustainable development is used by politicians, but has previously been used by geographers. Like development it is difficult to explain. We can judge whether or not a country is developing successfully by looking at improvements on people’s standard of living and quality of life. People, especially from economically developed countries believe that the standard of living and the quality of life means the same thing, when in fact this is incorrect as they mean something completely different. Standard of living is enabling people and future generations to become better off financially (economically) whereas quality of life is allowing them to become more content with their way of life and the environment in which they live. The quality of life can also be affected by your job, your family or even you friends but the standard of living is merely associated with the financial side of life. Sustainable development can be achieved by doing a number of things.
- Develop materials and utensils that will use less resources.
- Develop technology appropriate to the skills, wealth and needs of local people and develop local skills so that they may be passed on to future generations.
- Use natural resources in a way (renew, recycle and replace) that will not spoil the environment.
- Allow the economic development of a country at a pace it can afford. (So that is does not fall into debt)
The world is divided into the rich and the poor with ¾ of the world’s population living in the poor south. However although most of the world’s population is living in the poor south it is the rich north that has 85% of the world’s wealth. This has influenced the education in the world as only the rich can afford to do so. People in the north have 9/10 of the worlds spending on education whereas in the south 800 million people are unable to read or write and less than half the people are educated in schools. Not only is education affected by the world’s wealth, but diet is too. There is not anywhere near enough food to feed everyone, and so 1/5 of the people in the world suffer from hunger. In the rich north the life expectancy is 70 years whereas in the poor south it is a mere 50 years. This shows us that the rich north have a much healthier lifestyle due to the amount of money they have to afford the essentials in life. However the rich north also has 1/3 of all Americans overweight, and so this can also mean that they’re lifestyles isn’t as healthy as we may first believe.
Why is there a need for development?
Wars have an extremely bad affect on all countries, especially less developed countries (LDC). They destroy homes, schools, crops and even hospitals, this causing even more poverty in the world. People often then leave their homes and take refuge in safer countries. Countries that have finally developed take in these refugees with no money and then become poor again. This is why there is a need for development, in order to stop these poorer countries.
Natural disasters, e.g. earthquakes, floods etc occur most often in the LDC’s. This is because most of the poorer countries are situated where most disasters happen. These disasters can demolish thousands of homes and the farmland, which the inhabitants depend on. If there is no rain then crops will not grow unless you have enough money for wells, pumps or an irrigation system. If development can be done then these poorer countries will benefit, as their crops could be salvages. We can provide these countries with the technology to withstand these natural disasters.
Poorer countries need money in order for the inhabitants to survive. Unfortunately they do not have the money for this, and so they borrow money from the more developed countries. However it’s not as easy as that for the LDC’s, as the bank charges them interest. One example for this is when Chile borrowed 3.9 billion dollars; by 1982 she still owed money even though she’d paid 12.8 billion dollars already. This extra 9 billion dollars they paid could have been used to develop their country even more but instead it went to the countries that were already rich and developed. This shows us there is a need for development, as these rich countries should not be charging such a high interest. If they didn’t charge so much then these LDC would become more developed and the problems would be resolved.
LDC’s are providing cash crops in order to pay off their large debts. They are growing things for sale, such as tobacco, tea, cotton etc. Many cash crops are taking place of usual crops and so many people are now starving. This also needs to be developed in order to stop this starvation.
Other factors causing world poverty is the lack of education, lack of clean fresh water, disease etc. These factors can change a rich country to a poor county jus over night.
Christians around the world would all respond in the same way. They would all be disgusted at the way the money is being shared around the world: with extreme wealth in the north yet extreme poverty in the south. Christians believe that money should be shared equally between everyone, and if you have plenty yourself then you should give to those less fortunate than you. If we were to abide by these rules then the world would be a much better place as the LDC could now become MDC and all the problems of the worlds health, diet and education would also be resolved. Christians also believe that God blesses those who give to the poor so why doesn’t the entire rich north do so.
3. Analyse and explain the work of one religious agency (Christian Aid) working for world development.
Christian Aid does an awful lot for world development. Their main aims are to relieve poverty, help with emergency aid and long-term aid and to help develop the worlds education.
In order for them to relieve poverty they need money, and so a lot of their time goes into fundraising. A nationwide event has now been set up called Christian Aid week which has churches working extremely hard everywhere. They put leaflets about Christian Aid into every house they come to and this has helped them to raise £8.6 million just in 1995. With more help there aim is to raise even more as the years pass by. Not only do they have a nationwide event to raise money but they also have many churches and individuals fund-raising through the year, which helps to raise three times as much as Christian Aid week.
Emergency aid is also one of their main areas of work. Christian Aid has a fund especially for those natural disasters and refugees. The fund is then helping those countries having to house the refugees also. Emergency aid has to take priority over long-term aid because people would die without it. Christian aid is able to give food, antibiotics and shelters to flood victims of Bangladesh. They also helped Zimbabwe when in drought, by sending them blankets and tents. Sending them plenty of food also helped war refugees in both Bosnia and Rawanda. Every year Christian Aid spends approximately 10-15% of its funds on emergency aid.
Long-term aid is also another one of their main areas of work. Farmers have established an organisation and worked out a method of developing the area using alternative environmentally friendly methods, which could keep their family homes. Christian Aid has an advantage over many charities as it is in contact with organisations at the receiving end of aid. Christian Aid is currently funding a group of Christian Aid health workers in Bangladesh. They have so far built a factory to make basic drugs, which Bangladesh cannot afford to import. In Lesotho Christian Aid workers are building agricultural schools, which are now trying to increase the food production, by reducing soil erosion and bringing in new but cheap and practical farming methods. Christian Aid is trying their best to help people to help themselves so they no longer need any aid; this is usually achieved by using the appropriate technology that they are able to get.
Finally we move onto education, Christian Aids final main area of work. Currently 5% of the Christian Aids budget is spent on educating people and churches of Britain about the need for development and the way in which Christians can help less developed countries. This should then lead to more help going into the charity and even more problems can be solved. Eventually Christian Aid would like to put more effort into educating those in the LDC and then world poverty could be helped even more.
The main difference between short and long-term aid is the fact that short-term aid is aimed at problems that are happening right now, for example natural disasters. Whereas long-term aid is for solving problems that will help in the future, e.g. teaching people to help themselves.
Christian Aids work is very important. A lot of the work they do cover many factors of sustainable development. They develop many utensils and materials in order to help those countries less fortunate than us. The charity also develops technology appropriate to the wealth, skills and needs of the local people. This should then help he local people to develop these skills so that they can be passed on to future generations. This final factor of sustainable development that the Christian Aid is covering is that they allow the economic development of a country at a pace it can afford. This way the less fortunate countries will not fall into debt the way they have done beforehand.
The Christian Aids work is also important as it is helping the LDC to get an education. With the money they raise a small amount of it goes to building schools, hospitals etc. This will help those who were not getting an education because they couldn’t afford it to be able to. Also more help is now being given to those countries without an education, as 5% is now being spent on educating those people and teaching the churches of Britain about the need for development. This way those who will now be educated can pass on further knowledge to future generations. Lesotho has Christian Aid workers building agricultural schools, which are trying to increase food population.
Christian Aid works in partnership with people in order for the charity to be a success. The partnership enables the charity to fundraise more sufficiently. Christian Aid workers also work in partnership with other countries so it is even more successful. Workers from the charity go to other countries such as; Bangladesh, Lesotho and many other different LDC. This also makes Christian Aid very important as they are helping poverty all around the world.
Overall Christian Aid is a very successful charity helping those less fortunate than us all over the world. They have very positive attitudes to their work and help in many different areas of the development, such as fund raising, short term, long term and education. Over time Christian Aid has helped many different countries and are still doing so today, and so there work is very important to us.
4. “There should be no rich people as long as there is poverty in the world.” Do you agree?
There are many differences between the rich and the poor. The main difference is the amount of money each have: rich having plenty of money whereas the poor only having little or no money. The rich have enough money available for the every day needs, such as for food, education and for medical treatment while the poor finds it a struggle to meet these needs. Most of the rich inhabit the More Developed Countries whereas the poor live in the Less Developed Countries. The other difference is the fact that people who are poor are either starving to death or not getting the right amount of food and then the rich are obese, and so something needs to be done!
The main attitudes that the Christians and the Muslims have towards wealth are that if you have plenty of money then you should give to those less fortunate than yourselves. They also say how God will reward you for doing so. Christians say that wealth is not the key to happiness whereas the Muslims say that God gives money for the benefit of humanity. And so if we all followed by these rules, then perhaps the world would be a much better place.
There are many different approaches towards wealth. The first approach is how the rich (i.e. Richard Branson/Bill Gates) give some of their wealth to those who need it more than they do. However many of the rich do not contribute into giving to those less fortunate at all and so the problems of poverty still occur in many places. There are many extremes in the different approaches towards wealth: Right at the top there is Bill gates giving $100million to charity and other millionaires giving nothing at all at the bottom. Also there is Richard Branson who is doing a lot for those less fortunate. He has currently rebuilt many railways, which were in ruins. He also provides us with a lot of mobile phones at a cheap price, which can help many people with out the money.
The quote can be argued both for and against. People who have plenty of money often spend it frivolously, even though there are millions of people worldwide dying of hunger. I believe that if all people with plenty of money gave donations such as Bill Gates did then perhaps this problem of poverty could be resolved. Many people say, “What is the point of rich people?” and so many people would argue for the quote, saying that there shouldn’t be rich people as long as there is poverty in the world. However this could be argued against because if it wasn’t for the rich people that are around to this very day, then perhaps some of the poverty problems would not have been resolved in the way that they have. If those who are rich believed in either Christianity or Islam then we know that poor countries could be helped a great deal, as they would then see giving to the less fortunate a necessity. Overall I believe that without the rich there would be no solutions to poverty, and so I disagree with the quote. In order for poverty to be solved we need to convince those with plenty of money to give to charities all around the world. Therefore if we could manage this then perhaps poverty could be completely stopped worldwide.
