Living Standards and Development - Essay Example

Living Standards and Development Name Institution Date Introduction Some scholars in the west have held on to the opinion that third world countries will one day attain the developed status. They argue that the developed nation have been in their position in the past and managed to make the switch into industrialized status. This argument seems logical and one might think that the developing nations are on course to enter the first world league. However, a keen scrutiny of the issues unfolding across the world portrays a different image. Developing nations seem to sink lower and lower as their developed counterparts continue to prosper. Development is a myth and it is highly unlikely that the developing nations will attain this status. In order to understand the concept that development is a myth, it is crucial to scrutinize several factors affecting the third world countries in their quest to attain the developed status. Some of the issues include climate change alongside issues surrounding water, energy, resources, and land to mention but a few. These are the very factors that have lifted their developed counterparts out of the third world category (Ray, 2014). The next section will analyze how the constitution and management of these critical elements alongside the issues affecting them present hurdles for the developing world. The fact that the developing nations could witness deterioration of living standards has prompted various stakeholders to take proactive measures. For instance the United Nations had in the past proposed millennium development goals for these countries. It expected that by meeting these targets will spur economic growth and help to improve living standards across these countries. But this has proved to be impossible since the countries have made very little progress. In response, the body has come with a new set of targets it terms as the Sustainable Development Goals (D Sachs, 2012). These are meant to lay the foundation of stable economic growth. It does not want to rely on the myth that development is attainable through meeting specific goals. It seems to have embraced the fact that an economy needs to build a strong base as opposed to rushing through the process to meet identified goals. With a sound economic base, the developing nations can undertake further economic diversification to provide opportunities and employment to the population and improve living standards. But this is also a proposed route and one cannot tell for certain whether it will work. Climate change Climate change is one single factor that has had massive negative impacts on developing world. It is a phenomenon where the global climate in general has become more and more unpredictable. This has also led to an increase in the rate of natural hazards such as droughts, floods, and temperature increase among others. In the recent past, the world has come to a consensus that climate change is an issue that needs to be dealt with before getting out of hand. There have been various treaties signed with the most famous being the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement (Szulga, 2014). Most developing countries are on the frontline for the full implementation of these declarations but the developed categories seem to be dragging their feet. This is because it would mean cutting back on emission from their industrial sectors which power their economies. The increasing number of conferences on climate change signals the weight of the issue/ third world countries have been on the receiving end due to frequent droughts and floods among other natural hazards caused by climate change. When such hazards occur, the local populations suffer socioeconomic consequences. Apart from being displaced and having to relocate, they also experience massive downturns in their agricultural sectors which are the main contributors to their economy. As a result, they are permanently facing threats to their economies and are trapped in vicious cycle of poverty due to frequent erosions of gains made in this critical sector. Some sections in the developing world that do not depend directly on the agricultural sector remains shielded from this cycle. However, the majority that depend on it directly or indirectly and also happens to be the poorest continue to be impacted negatively. Their living standards keep getting lower with every occurrence. Unless the world decides to deal with climate change firmly, the poor in the developing world will never be able to escape poverty since they depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Land Land ranks among the basic economic factors that must be well managed since it directly or indirectly affects the others. It comes as a coincidence that the developing nations posses a big chunk of the world’s arable land. However, these countries have failed to harness this potential despite it being a goldmine. For instance, the developing countries are yet to embrace large scale commercial agriculture because most individual possess small pockets of land. Each of these individual depends directly on their small portion for sustenance from meager agricultural output. Any decision to adopt profitable and large scale agriculture will have to displace the poor small scale farmers and will be met with stiff opposition. In the end, the poor farmers will continue to rely on their subsistence farming. Meanwhile, the developed world has made the most of its land to produce massive and quality output (Momirovic, Jankovic, & Randelovic, 2016). The population in these countries has also been on the rise which has spelt doom for the positive utilization of land. With every successive generation, there is increased subdivision of land amongst individuals in any household. The rational is for parents to provide their offspring with a means to earn a livelihood. As this happens, the living standard of successive generations continues to slip further than that of the immediate. With this trend, the developing nations find it difficult to escape poverty and its poor population will experience even lower living standards (Kunnanatt, 2013). Perhaps this is the reason why China has embarked upon a mission to modernize its economy by moving away from subsistence farming. It is repossessing small scale farmlands and building large cities with robust economies where former farmers can find new sources of livelihoods. Other developing countries are still stuck on to the subdivision of land which has proven incapable of uplifting their population from poverty. Mineral resources Some of the developing countries are well endowed with mineral resources. Some boast of huge deposits yet have very little to show for this mineral wealth. The problem is in the manner in which they capitalize on this mineral wealth. A majority of the developing countries prefer to sell raw materials to the developed countries which have advanced industrial sectors. These minerals constitute the major inputs in such industries which produce finished products. Afterwards, the developing countries import the finished products which fetch higher prices than the raw inputs. As a result, the international trade is often heavily skewed in favor of the developed countries (Oladipo, 2010). The capital outflow from the developing countries into their developed counterparts leaves them worse off. Against this backdrop, the poor countries keep sliding deep into poverty whereas the developed world continues to prosper. In some cases, the poor citizens get displaced when minerals are discovered in their locality. This makes economical sense to the governments but not to the ordinary citizens. The governments figure that they can make a lot from the land than the poor farmers. For this reason they acquire the land below which mineral deposits occur. In most cases, the companies tasked with the mining activities will be foreign. Therefore, the country loses out from the onset by contracting foreigners in mining its natural resources. The locals can benefit but from manual jobs which do not amount to anything substantial in comparison to the profits made by contractors. This maintains the status the status quo in the countries despite the discovery of worthy minerals within their boundaries. Sometimes, the minerals turn out to be a curse as opposed to be a blessing. Some of the world’s deadliest civil wars are fueled by the discovery of minerals. One of the richest countries in the world on paper has got to be the Democratic Republic of Congo which boasts of some of the world’s largest deposits of gold, diamond, and copper among other minerals. But the country ranks among the poorest in the world despite the massive deposits. It has experienced endless civil wars and its population ranks among the poorest in the world. The discovery of minerals has paved way for the displacement of poor populations from their ancestral homes. It has also fueled conflict when disgruntled citizens take up arms after efforts to hold government to account hit a dead end. In the midst of all these, the poor continue to suffer. Like in the above, they have to flee such conflicts and begin new lives from scratch in different locations as refugees (Oladipo, 2010). Water In the recent past, water has been getting scarce as climate change and human activities continue to take their toll on the world. The developing world has been roaring to go and has been making steps towards industrialization. As this dream unfolds, there has been increasing pressure on land and forests. The worst part is when water catchment areas are destroyed to pave way for human economic activities. In other areas, there has been an increasing rate of deforestation keeping in mind that forests contribute towards rainfall in an area. With this increasing rate of human activities, the water catchment areas have come under threat. Climate change has also contributed to the scarcity of water due to the dwindling rainfall in the tropical regions. As a result, these countries continue to experience scarcity of water which is a major factor in the dominant agricultural sector. Since time immemorial, human settlements and movements have always been concentrated along water bodies. Even historical and archeological studies have provided evidence that ancient civilizations were built along major water sources such as Egypt alongside River Nile and those around Indus Valley. This goes to show that water is one of the building blocks of an economy and civilizations. But with the scarcity of this basic element in the developing world, it will be very difficult for these economies to make the switch into developed status and empower their citizens (Sun, 2014). Energy A majority of the third world countries still rely on hydro electricity to power their economies. There is also considerable presence of thermal energy in their economies. At this time, other developed economies have made enormous progress in the energy sector and now boast of more efficient energy sources like nuclear and renewable energy. With these better sources of energy, they have been able to power their economies all which run twenty four hours. The developing countries have been slow on this front and still rely on the energy sources that are predisposed to several factors. For instance, generation of hydro electricity is only possible when there is substantial area in a particular region (Mauricio, Edwin, & Sebastian, 2016). Due to the fluctuation in rainfall levels, the energy sectors in the developing economies have been affected significantly. This leaves the economies ailing, a factor that impacts negatively on the poor on the society. Furthermore, due to the inefficient energy sector, these countries have not been able to develop industrial capacities like the west. Energy is crucial for the industrial sector’s prosperity. In the absence of cheap and available energy, even the industry owners in the west that would have considered opening satellite operations in these countries have to think twice. This is because doing so would increase operational costs despite the abundance of raw materials. As a result of this, the developing countries have not been able to fully diversify their economies by incorporating the industrial sector. Apart from the industries, energy is critical in other sectors too. The same issues affecting the industrial sector apply in the other sectors. Due to a constricted economy, the low class and poor citizens find it difficult to compete for the few available employment slots. They are disadvantaged and have to look elsewhere possibly in the private sector or self employment to earn a living (Ramanaiah, Babu, & Gowri, 2013). The undercapitalization of the energy sector has affected other aspects of the economy which is unable to take care of the growing third world population. It is part of the reason why the living standards remain low because the citizens cannot find economic opportunities or employment to sustain them. Conclusion The myth that developing countries will one day attain the developed status needs to be looked into. It is of no use to peg the future of the entire developing world on the history of the developed world. The first world countries had their own struggle and should acknowledge this factor. Arguing that the third world will follow in their footsteps is fallacious because the external actors keep fluctuating fast. The third world cannot be expected prosper in a very unpredictable environment with volatile factors. Furthermore, the first world countries continue to dominate the global economic arena that it will be almost impossible for their developing peers to match or overtake their progress. In the end, the populations of the third world countries continue to experience dwindling living standards. Unless the authorities in these countries decide on a total economic overhaul, living standards among the poor will remain low. \ References D Sachs, J.,rey. (2012). From millennium development goals to sustainable development goals. The Lancet, 379(9832), 2206-11. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1023015910?accountid=35812 Kunnanatt, J. T. (2013). Globalization and Developing Countries: A Global Participation ModeL. Economics, Management and Financial Markets, 8(4), 42-58. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1502695604?accountid=35812 Mauricio López González, Edwin Esteban, T. G., & Sebastian, G. G. (2016). The evolution of colombian industry in the context of the energy-mining boom: Symptoms of the dutch disease? Cuadernos De Economía, 35(68), 475. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1755262604?accountid=35812 Momirovic, D., Jankovic, M., & Randelovic, M. (2016). Invensment, World Economy and Poor Countries. Ekonomika, 62(1), 83-96. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5937/ekonomika1601083M Oladipo, O. S. (2010). Does saving really matter for growth in developing countries? the case of A small open economy. The International Business & Economics Research Journal, 9(4), 87-94. 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