Part 8

Technology and the Third World

Objectives

• 1. Recognize the major issues of the developing world.

• 2. Distinguish between developed and developing world problems.

• 3. Determine policies for sustainable economic growth in the developing world.

• 4. Evaluate use of technology in solving economic and environmental problems of the developing world.

Introduction

• The assets of the 3 richest individuals in the world is equal to the GDP of the 48 least developed countries of the world.

• The world’s poorest countries owe more that $520 billion in debt.

• In Latin America the richest one tenth of the population earn 48% of the income, while as the poorest one tenth earns only 1.6%.

• More than 80% of the world’s population resides in developing countries.

One Planet: Many Worlds

• The “First World” represents mainly economically developed Western countries.

• The “ Second World” was meant to represent the communist countries of Eastern Europe.

• The “Third World” is used to describe a group of nations struggling to feed, house, clothe, and educate their people.

One Planet: Many Worlds

• Education and appropriate use of technology can provide solutions to many of the problems of developing countries.

• The innovative use of telecommunications can provide endless use in distance education, telemedicine, and electronic trade.

Income Gap Widens

• In 1960, according to the United Nations the richest 20% of the world received 30 times more income than the poorest 20 %.

• In 1991 they were getting 61 times more.• The value of luxury goods sales (clothing,

automobiles, etc) worldwide exceeds the GNP of two thirds of the world’s countries.

• The world’s average income is $4000 per year well below the U.S. poverty line.

Income Gap Widens

• Rising disparities of income is adding to rural-to-urban migration.

• In Latin America, since 1950, city dwellers have risen from 42 % of the population to 73%.

• In China, by 2010 half the population will live in cities compared with 28% today and only 10 % in the 1980’s.

Poisoned Waters: Bangladesh

• Bangladesh has both too much water and not enough of safe drinking water.

• The country is largely flat, and immense tracts of flood plane become lakes during the monsoon season.

• More than 60% of the wells in Nilkanda village, about two hours from the capital, are contaminated with arsenic and unsafe to drink from.

• They use a filter system now, but are not convinced it is safe.

• Bangladesh’s high population density and lack of proper sanitation infrastructure keeps surface water perpetually contaminated.

Poisoned Waters: Bangladesh

• The World Health Organization (WHO) report suggests that tube wells have slashed infant child mortality by half over the last 40 years.

• The discovery of high concentrations of naturally occurring arsenic in the groundwater exceeding the WHO drinking water standard of 10 parts per billion was ironic.

• City dwellers get their water from largely arsenic free deep aquifers.

China’s Challenge

• During the 1990’s China has emerged as an economic superpower, and the world’s second largest economy.

• If the Chinese economy continues at the present pace it will overtake the United States by 2010.

• China relies on coal for 75% of its energy whereas the U.S. relies on coal for just 22%.

• China’s rapidly rising CO2 emissions accounts for one tenth of the global total.

• If steel production is a key indicator of progress in an industrial society, computer use is a key indicator in the information economy of the twentieth century.

Pakistan: Recycling• Karachi, is Pakistan’s largest city.• It had an estimated population of 12 million in 2005, and is projected

to be the 10th largest city by 2015.• Scavengers hunt for recyclable garbage and sell it to middle men

(Kabaria), who sells it to a big dealer, and then it goes to recycling industries.

• This informal recycling network helps KMC (Karachi Municipal Corporation) in waste removal, and provides an inexpensive source of raw material to local small industry and sustenance to thousands of individuals.

• According to a report by National Training and Consultancy Service (NTSC) for the United Nations Center for Human Settlements (HABITAT) about 40% of Karachi’s solid waste is recycled, and about 2% of Karachi’s population is engaged in the recycling industry.

Digital Divide in Ecuador

• The cost of services is on par with the United States, but salaries are far lower.

• One of the most significant causes of the technological gap is the energy gap.

• Without electricity, computers and other technologies cannot run.

• Ecuador must privatize more of its industries and services, attract more foreign capital, and become more globally competitive.

Telecommunications and Distance Learning

• With the advent of distance learning, the dissemination of knowledge is no longer confined to the constraints of a physical premises.

• For developing countries, distance education offers a unique approach to promote literacy and enhance higher education in a cost effective way.

• In synchronous mode, the student and teacher interact in real time, whereas the student learns at a convenient time and place in asynchronous learning.

• A student can contact a professor through email, conferencing system, or bulletin board.

• Asynchronous learning meets the needs of non traditional students who would normally not have access to education due to distance or time constraints.

Rwanda

• Tutsi’s who constituted 10 to 15% of the population of Rwanda, owned most of the land.

• When the Hutu’s came to power they redistributed the land to previously landless people.

• Many Tutsi’s fled to neighboring Uganda, and launched counterattacks against the Tutsi’s.

• The Western countries supported the Hutu’s , whereas the Communist countries supported the Tutsi’s.

• Population expanded from 1,887,000 people in 1948 to 7,500,000 in 1992 making it one of the most densely populated countries in Africa.

• Rapid population growth caused deforestation and severe shortages of food.

Nam Theun Dam

• The US $1.3 billion, 1070 megawatt project would drastically alter the character of two rivers and displace thousands of poor peasants in Laos.

• Neighboring Thailand needs the power.• The revenue to Laos from this project will not exceed

$250 million.• The benefits have been described as new homes with

electricity, new opportunities for mechanized and irrigated agriculture, and reservoir fishing.

• All these benefits have been disputed.

Case Study 1: Sri Lanka

• The tradeoff between using tractors and buffalo for farming appears to be timely planting and labor saving at the expense of milk and manure.

• In the dry season the buffalo wallows are refuge for fish, who move to the rice fields in the rainy season and eat larvae of mosquitoes that carry malaria.

• The surrounding thickets harbor snakes that eat rats that eat rice and lizards that eat crabs that make destructive holes in the rice buds.

• If pesticides are used to kill rats, crabs, or mosquito larvae then pollution of pesticides can become a potential problem.

Case Study 2: The Asian Tsunami

• More than 250,000 people died and millions of people were displaced by the Asian Tsunami.

• The occurrence of natural disasters cannot be predicted all the time, but with the help of technology, their impact can be minimized by providing advance warning to people.

• The application of appropriate technologies and international cooperation is key to managing future natural disasters and alleviating human suffering.

Conclusion

• Billions of people live in poverty, disease, and illiteracy in the Third World.

• Extrinsic factors include, political and economic instability, and economic exploitation of resources.

• Intrinsic factors include illiteracy, poverty, social injustice, corruption, lack of resources, population pressures, and power hungry political and military.

• The key is education to increase literacy rates, promote social justice, economic growth, and a sustainable environment.

Home Work• 1. What is the “Third World”?• 2. How can education and appropriate use of technology provide solutions

to many of the problems of developing countries?• 3. What is the rising disparities of income between rural and urban areas

doing to people?• 4. What is the advantage of the informal recycling network in Karachi,

Pakistan.• 5. What is one of the most significant causes of the technological gap in

Ecuador?• 6. What is the advantage of distance education for developing countries?• 7. What was the reason for conflict between the Tutsi’ and Hutu’s of

Rwanda?• 8. What are the drawbacks and suggested benefits of the Nam Theun Dam

in Laos?• 9. What is the potential tradeoff between using tractors and buffalo for

farming in Sri Lanka?• 10. What is the key lesson we can learn from the Asian Tsunami?