Transcript I.B Introduction: The Geographical Context for African Economic

Carleton University
African Economic Development
2017
Introduction:
Geographical
Context for
African Economic
Development
Agenda:
I. Introductory and Administrative Matters
II. Africa’s Development Challenge
III. Brief Geographical Overview (AR)
IV. Brief Historical Overview (SL)
Sources: LRS Chapter 1. and
Bloom and Sachs, “Geography, Demography and
Economic Growth in Africa, pp. 213-240
III. Brief Geographical Overview
Presentation based mainly on maps;
Geographical Influences on African
Development:
Agriculture
Health
Transportaion
Brief Geographical and Historical Overview
Perspectives of Africa: Pre-Independence
(The “Mercator Projection”)
Peters (equal area) Projection of the World
Satellite view of Africa
Natural Vegetation
in Africa
Map 1.2: African Biome Areas (UNEP, 2008, p.10)
Population
Africa: Human
Footprint Map
Combines
information on
• Population
•Land Use;
•Travel Routes
•Lights
Green :Least
intense
Orange: Most
Intense
An Indicator of Africa’s
Mineral Endowment:
Major Discoveries,
2006-2015
Unproven but
Technically Recoverable
Conventional Oil
Resources
Billions of Barrels of Oil
Source: United States
Geological Survey, 2016, p. 7.
Major Rivers
https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/hydrodependency-in-africa-risky-business3447
IV. African Geography and Agriculture
Africa between the Tropics:
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•
•
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Extreme heat due to distance from moderating
oceans;
Year-long rainfall between + 5 and – 5% latitude;
Minimal seasonal rainfall outside band;
Lower rainfall and high temperatures lead to a worse
“soil-water balance” (precipitation minus
evapotranspiration) leading to higher aridity and
constant risk of drought.
Worsened by rainfall variability
Result: 29 countries experienced 1 year of drought
between 1983 and 1995; (with 50.9% of population)
14 experienced 3 or more years of drought.
Ethiopia: major drought last year; devastating drought
in 1984-85
Map 1.2: African Biome Areas (UNEP, 2008, p.10)
Further constraints on African tropical agriculture:
– Poor soil qualities especially in rain forest areas;
– Limited potential for irrigation;
– Disease environment for both plants and livestock,
esp. cattle, is difficult (tse-tse fly; rinderpest or cow
sleeping sickness);
– Rain forest zones: poor soil, high temperatures,
extreme rains leaching soils: limited potentials
– Limited plant yields in very hot temperatures (esp.
with hot nights)
• due to low “net photosynthesis” (Plants consume as much
energy at night, counter-weighing the gains via
photosynthesis from sunlight during the day)
– Mountainous regions: difficulties due to terrain;
– Micro-ecological zones make R&D into improved
crop varieties expensive difficult relative to large
homogenous areas.;
– Limited range of crops: many temperate-zone
crops don’t grow in tropical conditions
– But tropical plants are fine: sweet potato, yams,
coconuts, cocoa, coffee, bananas, mangos,
papaya….
V. Geography, Transportation and African Development
1.Continental barriers to transportation:
-
Deserts; mountainous areas; tropical forests, swamp
areas,
vast distances
2. Populations generally distant from the coast and ocean
transport.
3. Isolated inland populations and land-locked countries.
Reducing potential for division of labour in some areas.
4. Relatively few inland rivers to facilitate transport
(Congo River only) (note Mississippi, St. Laurence, Rhine,
Seine, Danube, Moselle, Volga etc.)
Result: High transportation costs overall, with
implications for economic integration within and
among countries.
VI. Geography, Health and African Development
Geographic and Climatic factors promote numerous
sicknesses and infectious diseases:
Malaria,
HIV/AIDS, and
“Neglected tropical Diseases” and for a while
EBOLA
High temperatures affects health via presence of
parasites, “disease vectors,”
Impact on people’s lives (sickness and life expectancy) ,
productivity and economic development.
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Affect the poorest 500 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa, equal to
one-half of the malaria disease burden
• Hookworm occurs in almost half of SSA's poorest people, including 40–50
million school-aged children and 7 million pregnant women in.
• Schistosomiasis (192 million cases), 93% of the world's cases
• Lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) (46–51 million cases)
• Onchocerciasis or River Blindness (37 million cases).
• African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and visceral leishmaniasis,
affect almost 100,000
• Trachoma leading often to blindness (30 million cases).
• Little or no data for amebiasis and toxoplasmosis; bacterial infections,
e.g., typhoid fever and non-typhoidal salmonellosis, tick-borne bacterial
zoonoses, and non-tuberculosis mycobaterial infections; and arboviral
infections.
• Overall burden of Africa's NTDs may be s underestimated.
Source: Neglected Tropical Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of Their
Prevalence, Distribution, and Disease Burden,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2727001/
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Neglected Tropical Diseases: Summary
• Control of NTDs would greatly reduce both
malaria morbidity and mortality, as well as
HIV/AIDS transmission.
• NTDs are controllable and possibly eradicable
by safe and effective drugs already in existence
• With public-private partnerships, the
integrated control of NTDs can be
implemented at marginal costs approximately 50 cents per person per year.
Source: Global Network of Neglected Tropical Diseases