In Brazil the distribution of land in terms of ownership has been a divisive issue since the colonial era. 44% of all arable land in Brazil is owned by just 1% of the nation’s farmers, while 15 million peasants own little or no land. Many of these landless people are impoverished, roving migrants who have lost their jobs as agricultural labourers due to the spread of mechanisation in virtually all types of agriculture. At least a partial solution to the problem is land reform. This involves breaking up large estates and redistributing land to the rural landless. Although successive governments have vowed to tackle the problem, progress has been limited.
Now test yourself 8 Describe a technique that can be used to show the extent of income inequality. 9 Define the terms (a) economic core region, (b) periphery. 10 Explain how variations in educational attainment impact on regional development.
Answers on p.223
Tested
14.4 The management of development Bolivia: managing the impact of globalisation
14 Economic transition
ownership of even a very small plot of land provides a certain level of security that those in the countryside without land cannot possibly aspire to.
Revised
Bolivia (Figure 14.11) is South America’s poorest country. It is one of only two South American countries that are landlocked. N
0 km 200 Cobja
BRAZIL PERU Trinidad
La Paz
BOLIVIA Cochabamba
Oruro
Santa Cruz Sucre Potosi Tarija
CHILE
PARAGUAY
ARGENTINA
Figure 14.11 Bolivia
In the 1980s and 1990s the Bolivian government introduced free market reforms, which were required by the World Bank if Bolivia was to continue to receive aid. Although the Bolivian government had little choice it also wanted to link economic growth with equity so that poorer people would gain more benefit from Bolivia’s participation in the global economy. The measures to achieve this included: l a type of decentralisation called popular participation l education reform to improve access to opportunities for the poor However, very limited progress with these objectives led to frequent changes in government due to public disquiet. A significant change occurred in 2005 when Evo Morales of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) was elected as
Paper 3 Advanced Human Geography Options
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