GEOGRAPHY- Ethiopia case study DEVELOPMENT FACTORS.

SOCIAL

• MASS migration of refugees in the 1970’s- 1990’s meant that 1.5 million people were displaced from their homes

• they were forced out by political or environmental reasons and internally migrated to other areas in Ethiopia

• this displacement will have been very disruptive as adults will have had to leave their jobs and children will have had to leave school, moving to somewhere and having to essentially start from scratch—> less jobs, can’t support children—> cycle of poverty and lack of education is established even to families that weren’t particularly struggling before being displaced

• lower literacy rate = 51.8% compared to UK’s 99%

• the growth and transformation plan established in the 2010’s will allow a focus on job availability and education to hopefully break as many people as possible out of the toxic cycle of poverty.

POLITICAL

• Ethiopia has a long history of civil and political unrest

• started when Italy invaded and occupied in the early 1900’s

• GOOD FOR DEVELOPMENT- Italians invested in highways, rail and power so there were more facilities to transport people to school or work which improves JOB and literacy rates and INCREASED TRADE LINKS IN A LANDLOCKED COUNTRY.

• there was a civil war in 1974 and 1.4 MILLION PEOPLE DIED

• USA starting giving support in 2001 and there is now a much more stable government.

ENVIRONMENTAL

• CLIMATE - drought in 1984 caused extreme famines in the late 1900’s

• FAMINES = loss of life and poor physical and mental development, especially for children. this means because they lack the nutrients for their brain and body to develop, they might not be suitable to work in the future.

• DROUGHT also leads to the death of crops which increases the demand as there are the same amount of people but less food to sustain them. this leads to inflation and increased food prices—→ people are spending their money on food instead of education for their children, or even lead to malnutrition

• CLIMATE PT2.

  • a lot of agriculture is based in the East of Ethiopia because the relief is lower and it is more easy for animals to graze on flat lands where the climate isn’t so extreme

  • because all the animals are mostly condensed in the same area of Ethiopia this could lead to over-grazing, where the animals eat all the grass, leaving the soil underneath vulnerable.

  • this leads to soil erosion

  • this also leads to the reduction of crop yield as there aren’t enough nutrients to sustain the plants

GOOD THING - in 2012 there was an introduction of a scheme to teach farmers new skills and increase crop yields and agricultural production has since increased—→ the economy is gradually rising

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