Q.1) Discuss the consequences of Climate Change on food security. (10 marks)
Answer
According to the World Bank, 702 million people still live in extreme poverty and, according to 2017 report on the State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI), 793 million people are undernourished.
Climate change affects all dimensions of food security and nutrition:
Food availability: Changes in climatic conditions have already affected the production of some staple crops, and future climate change threatens to exacerbate this. Higher temperatures will have an impact on yields while changes in rainfall could affect both crop quality and quantity.
Food access: Climate change could increase the prices of major crops in some regions. For the most vulnerable people, lower agricultural output means lower incomes. Under these conditions, the poorest people — who already use most of their income on food — sacrifice additional income and other assets to meet their nutritional requirements, or resort to poor coping strategies.
Food utilization: Climate-related risks affect calorie intake, particularly in areas where chronic food insecurity is already a significant problem. Changing climatic conditions could also create a vicious cycle of disease and hunger. Nutrition is likely to be affected by climate change through related impacts on food security, dietary diversity, care practices and health.
Food stability: The climatic variability produced by more frequent and intense weather events can upset the stability of individuals’ and government food security strategies, creating fluctuations in food availability, access and utilization.
Climate change exarcebates the risks of hunger and undernutrition through:
Extreme weather events
Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of some disasters such as droughts, floods and storms. This has an adverse impact on livelihoods and food security. Climate-related disasters have the potential to destroy crops, critical infrastructure, and key community assets, therefore deteriorating livelihoods and exacerbating poverty.
Long-term and gradual climate risks
Sea-level will rise as a result of climate change, affecting livelihoods in coastal areas and river deltas. Accelerated glacial melt will also affect the quantity and reliability of water available and change patterns of flooding and drought.
Q.2) “Famine is a social phenomenon rooted in institutional and political economic arrangements, which determine access to food by different classes and strata.” Comment. (20 marks)
Answer
Famine is a severe shortage of food, generally affecting a wide area and large numbers of people. Famine is caused by both natural and man-made factors. But in the recent past the man-made causes are the root cause for many famines.
Famine due to political factors
Colonisation – it is one of the historical factors which is still haunting many least developed countries and developing countries through famines. Colonisation made these countries grow cash crops instead the food crops. This resulted in import of food crops often many times, and when there is drought like situations the countries will face severe famine. Example – famine of Ireland in 1840s due to potato crop failure. Bengal famines 1942-1945. Most of the famines in sub-Saharan Africa.
Conflicts and wars – the recent widespread famine in Yemen, sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan etc are due to the rebellion, civil wars, terrorism and wars.
In France due to 100 years war crops failed and reduced the population by two-thirds.
Government policy – One of the largest famine ever was the Chinese famine (1958-61) that occurred as a result of Great leap Forward policy of Mao.
In 1983-85 famine in Ethiopia was the outcome of communist governments censorship of the emerging crisis of drought.
In Sudan (1980s) famine were due to denials of any food shortage by the President Gaafar Nimeiry, which killed 2.5 lakh people.
Famine due to institutional and economic factors.
Share-croppers rights as tenants if not protected by law, In situations of food scarcity or food insecurity share-croppers and their families can be evicted off the farms by landowners. In 2002 in Malawi many people from the share-croppers’ community died as a result of lack of food or from diseases caused by the lack of food.
Economic deterioration – Some, such as the 1970s oil crisis, are outlined below in the box on structural adjustment policies (SAPs).
Other reasons include the fall in key commodity prices on world markets. For example, the Zambian economy had a high dependence on copper exports. When copper prices fell, its economy suffered.
Similarly, in the late 1980s when Brazil unloaded its coffee reserves on the world market, this caused the fall in coffee-bean prices across the world, which in turn impacted on several economies in east Africa.
Q.3) Explain the factors affecting the international trade. (15 marks)
Answer
Difference in natural resources (especially mineral resources) – minerals like iron, coal and petroleum are traded on a large scale globally. Resource rich and resource deficient regions engage in trading.
State of economic development – More developed countries export manufactured products, whereas less developed ones export mainly raw materials. Example – trade between Japan and India.
Transport – development in transportation sector has increased the world trade tremendously. The opening of Suez canal and panama canal boosted the world trade. The innovations in cold chain and supply chain management led to the trade of perishables over long distance.
Demographic change affects trade through its impact on countries’ comparative advantage and on import demand. An ageing population, migration, educational improvements and women’s participation in the labour force will all play a role in years to come, as will the continuing emergence of a global middle class.
Investment in physical infrastructure can facilitate the integration of new players into international supply chains. The accumulation of capital and the build-up of knowledge and technology associated with investment, particularly foreign direct investment, can also enable countries to move up the value chain by altering their comparative advantage.
Technology spillovers are largely regional and stronger among countries connected by production networks. In addition to the traditionally R&D intensive manufacturing sectors, knowledge-intensive business services are emerging as key drivers of knowledge accumulation.
Dumping is one international trade practice that is discouraged through the strategic use of tariffs. To slow or stop the dumping of lower priced international goods, a government may impose tariffs or taxes on those imported goods.
A government may adopt a policy of protectionism and restrict trade through tariffs because it is concerned that international trade threatens the domestic economy by harming particular industries.
The currency exchange rate also influences international trade. Countries can further influence exchange rates through fiscal and monetary policies. Policies that impact currency rates can lead to disagreements. One country may argue that the other is deliberately manipulating their currency to gain a trading advantage. When two or more countries, such as the United States and China, have disagreements or conflicts, it affects international trade and will, in turn, impact each country’s exchange rate.
Q.4) Examine the spatial distribution of IT industry in the world. (15 marks)
Answer
The information technology industry deals in the storage, processing and distribution of information. Today, this industry has become global. This is mainly due to technological, political, and socio-economic events. The main factors guiding the location of these industries are resource availability (skilled manpower), cost and infrastructure. The major hubs of the IT industry are the Silicon Valley, California and Bangalore, India.
Silicon Valley is a part of Santa Clara Valley, located next to the Rocky Mountains of North America. The area has temperate climate with the temperatures rarely dropping below 0 degrees centigrade. The region is blessed with skilled manpower, favourable government policies, etc.
Bangalore is located on the Deccan Plateau from where it gets the name ‘Silicon Plateau’. The city is known for its mild climate throughout the year. Cheap skilled manpower, readily available market, favourable government policies, etc.
There are other emerging information technology hubs in metropolitan centres of India such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai. Other cities such as Gurgaon, Pune, Thiruvanthapuram, Kochi and Chandigarh are also important centres of the IT industry. However, Bangalore has always had a unique advantage, as a city with highest availability of middle and top management talent.
Q.5) Analyze the causes for changes in the pattern of world trade. (20 marks)
Answer
Global trade has not accelerated to levels reached prior to the global financial crisis of 2008, but global trade is in the midst of a massive (albeit gradual) shift. Of particular importance to the changing landscape was the increasing role of Asia in global trade.
China will remain the world’s top exporter in 2030 while the US will fall from second to third place. Most notably, India will have risen from 13th place in 2014 to 2nd place by 2030; by 2050, India could be the world’s largest exporter
Following financial crisis, sharp divide in economic performance of high-income vs. emerging economies in world trade.
US, EU and Japan slow to recover, while emerging economies such as China have fueled global recovery.
Huge global export shock: 1992-2008 average annual growth rate in exports – China (18%) and India (14%).
During same period, low and middle-income countries saw share of global exports increase from 21 to 43%.
South-South trade driven by:
- urbanization and industrialization in China and India creating demand for raw materials
- lengthening of global production networks has resulted in increasing trade in parts and components
Consistent with middle-income countries accumulating human and physical capital pushing them out of labor intensive into more capital-intensive goods
Low-income countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam are filling the space vacated by middle-income countries in labour intensive sectors.
China has increased supply of educated labor, attracted investment by multinational firms, and improved transport and communications – it likely has increasing comparative advantage in electronics.
Patterns of outsourcing: Outsourcing is obtaining key products from alternative, cheaper locations – often abroad – than original home-sources. In the past, out-sourcing took place to wherever the least cost supplier was located.
Patterns of foreign direct investment: Sometimes, facilities are built wherever labour and land costs are lowest, irrespective of distance from markets. At other times neighbour countries are preferred due to shared membership of regional trade blocs and agreements.
These changes are being driven partly by market opening, but mainly by transport, communications and information technologies.