development geography essays

development geography essays Using a variety of contemporary geographic issues, discuss how they are related to the levels of development in nations that you have studied. The reasons for high or low development within any nation directly relates to an assortment of geographic issues. These can include things such as the changes to social and political power within a nation, peoples access to housing and employment, and the environmental quality in which the nation is surrounded. Environmental quality refers to the condition of a countrys environment and its ability to continue to support the population. It is for this reason that we regard environmental quality as an indicator of the development of a country, i.e. the more polluted the environment, the less developed the nation. In many developing countries, poverty forces farmers to overgraze land and also to deforest vast areas for fuel wood. Also, poverty spreads disease by depriving communities of clean water and adequate sanitation. Even where poverty is less extreme, lack of technology for disposing of industrial pollution or improving energy efficiency results in wasted resources and generates environmental damage. Pakistan has about 25 million ha of arable land. About 0.4 million ha is lost every year due to salinity and water logging. If these rates continue then by 2050 there will be no farmland left in Pakistan and Pakistans population will have doubled to 180 million people. In developed countries however, technology is so much more accessible and it provides us with an immense amount of material goods and comforts yet fouls our air with pollutants, generates hazardous wastes and creates enormous demands for energy. The United States, with one of the highest GNPs (Gross National Product) in the world, spends a very small part of its GNP on the environment. The quality of life of the population is affected as a result; for example, 30 000 people are thought t...