Trade Protectionism / Trade Disputes: The Banana Wars

The Banana Wars

Past (1934 – 1935)

The Banana Wars were a series of occupations, police actions, and interventions involving the United States in Central America and the Caribbean. Reasons for these conflicts were largely economical i.e. American interests in these regions were largely made up of banana production.

Present

7% of European bananas come from the Caribbean; nearly 75% come from U.S.A controlled Central American plantations. The term banana war describes a six year trade quarrel between the U.S.A and the EU (roughly 1993-1999). The U.S.A complained that an EU scheme giving banana producers from former colonies in the Caribbean special access to European markets broke free trade rules. The U.S.A filed a complaint against the EU with the World Trade Organization or WTO and in 1997 won the case and the EU was instructed to alter its rules on its banana trade policy.

Since 1975 certain Caribbean countries have been allocated trade quotas by the EU allowing them to sell as many bananas to Europe as possible without facing trade competition from much cheaper, large scaled, mechanized, US run corporations. The EU hoped this would enable the economies of Caribbean countries to grow without depending on overseas aid.

Following the World trade organization ruling the quarrel continued and the U.S.A retaliated by imposing a 100% import duty tax on all EU products inbound for the U.S.A. The British government has been trying to negotiate with the Americans to get them to reverse their import duty and the WTO said it will investigate matters.

The U.S government says it is taking action because it believes in free and fair trade. However, the American trade deficit (i.e. value of imports is more than value of exports) which it wants to reduce and by exporting more bananas it can do that. Also the government had been taking action due to pressure from U.S transnational corporations, for example the American government took the issue to the WTO 24 hours after receiving a $500,000 donation from an American transnational corporation (Chiquita Brands).

The effects on Europe were a decrease in trade profits and potentially a loss of European jobs related to trade, for example Cashmere producers in Scotland. As Bananas provide nearly half of Caribbean jobs if the deal with the EU is instructed to be cancelled then it could cost the Caribbean economy a lot. The Lome convention (a deal which allowed former colonies special free access to European markets) was ruled as unfair by the WTO. Meaning in theory Caribbean colonies weren’t allowed to get any special agreements from the EU.

To this day the situation is not fully resolved and legally the Caribbean is now on a level playing field with American Transnational Companies when it comes to banana exports and competing for markets. However, the market doesn’t remain ‘Free’ as the Americans like to suggest when their incredibly wealthy transnational corporations dominate trade with violent market controlling policies.

Singapore – Crowded Coasts Case Study

Singapore (City Guide)– Crowded Coasts Case Study

Singapore is a country that has been growing very quickly in recent years. It can be classified as a NIC (Newly Industrialised Country) as it has undergone substantial Industrial development over the past 150 years, since becoming a British colony in 1867.

Singapore is a very successful example of a well managed crowded coastline. This is partly due to the fact that URA or Urban Redevelopment Authority has had a significant input in managing the countries land use.

“Given Singapore's small size, judicious land use planning is critical for the nation's future. URA has to take into consideration not just the needs of the city but all the needs of an independent nation and provide sufficient land for economic growth and future development.” – URA

A Physical feature which makes Singapore so crowded is that the area has ideal conditions for a port. The port in Singapore is deep and sheltered meaning it makes a very successful port. It is the second biggest port in the world behind Kobe, Japan. The port brings with it vast amounts of trade and wealth and provides directly and indirectly many thousands of jobs across Singapore.

Some of the Human features that have made Singapore very crowded are its efficient traffic management and transport systems. The traffic management is such that it is very rare for people to own cars, road tax is very expensive. Owning a car in Singapore is a sign of wealth, there is also a yearly new car quota to restrict the growth or cars and the potential negative consequences this could have. The public transport is excellent, highly efficient and widespread train and bus networks and good taxi services. Singapore also utilises a ‘smart card’ transport system similar to the Oyster card which makes travelling easy and efficient.

Singapore’s growth has been fuelled to an extent by Links with China these mainly have been trade links and the use of China’s cheap manufacturing. Recently, in Singapore there has been a desire amongst the population to enjoy their leisure time a lot more and there is a lot of tourist area regeneration happening across Singapore, not only is this for the inhabitants but also for the growing tourist industry in Singapore. The $8 -10 billion dollar Sentosa re-development plan is aimed at turning the South of Singapore into an even more successful tourist and recreational destination. This is because in recent years the area had suffered negative impacts from overcrowding and had started to look worn and unattractive, this is one of the general negative impacts across Singapore of the dense population.

Singapore’s land has been planned in such a way that the prevailing wind (useful Physical Feature) blows all air pollutants out to sea rather than across the city. Although this is an ingenious way of getting good air quality it also shows that Singapore does get air pollutions problems because of its dense population and lack of green space to absorb pollutants (impact).

The impacts of Singapore’s crowded population remain relatively low and unnoticeable due to the fact the city is so well planned and managed. For example pollution levels are relatively low because of good transport management, the prevailing wind and the dominance of the Commercial sector over industry.

Singapore has grown increasingly in recent years due to the fact that it has a very well educated workforce. The country provides very skilled labour and as a result this attracts wealthy companies and corporations and then as a result of that more skilled labour is attracted. One of the negative impacts of Singapore rapid growth has been a substantial increase in house and property prices. This graph shows the growth in property prices from 1990 to 2009.

In Summary I would say the key human features which have led to Singapore becoming a crowded coast are favourable weather conditions for keeping pollution under control and ideal conditions for housing a busy port. The key human features are lots of highly skilled labour, well managed transport and meticulously planned land use. The impacts of the Growth have been increased pollution levels and rising house prices. As well as increased GDP and improved living conditions.

Examples Of Geo-Politcal Issues With Energy Supplies

Examples Of GeoPolitical Issues Within The World

Energy is vital to everyone in the world. We need energy to function and it is especially important to the economy. Different countries utilise different energy sources for their respective advantages but usually there are geo-political issues that arise from a demand for energy resources. Some of the issues include energy disasters, TNC exploitation of foreign workers and State brutality against environmentalists/conservationists.

Energy disasters (a hot topic with the deep water horizon incident) cause geo-political issues. The issues that have been created are the fact BP (the leaser of the oil rig and therefore the people held responsible) are a British firm and they have caused widespread damage to American property and environment. Thus conflicts between the U.S government and BP/ U.K government have come to light. The reason why the energy demand created this issue is simple, if demand for oil wasn’t so vast there would have been no need to undergo deep sea drilling but the demand was there and therefore the accident happened.

TNC exploitation is an issue which occurred between Royal Dutch Shell and Nigeria in the 90’s. Shell started drilling for oil in Ogoni people land, this created issues between shell and the people of the land. Shell faced much opposition to their involvement in Nigeria. They got involved with the Nigerian army to try and curb the opposition, many natives were killed (shell pulled out of that area after a 300,000 strong protest) by the army who acted brutally. Shell was taken to court in the U.S under issues deriving from the execution of anti-shell Ogoni people and involvement with the militaristic regime. Shell also created other problems such as oil spills and fires in the Nigeria delta region. The overall occurrences sparked a massive armed conflict in the Delta region over oil. This has created a very tense relationship between Nigeria, its people and foreign TNC’s drilling for oil.

In Peru, the President Alan Garcia opened up legislation allowing rural areas to be explored for oil by foreign TNC’s. However local people strongly opposed this. Nearly 2000 natives protested over this, 60 were killed by the military forces used to suppress the protest. This is an issue which is likely to become more commonplace, as governments become more desperate to secure energy resources and revenues from them the environment and native people are being put increasingly at risk from this. Although, this issue is seen as a massive travesty of justice it was covered up and no one has been put on trial for it.

Water Stress In The Nile: Serious or Not?

How Serious Is Water Stress In Africa And The Nile?

According to the BBC, water stress could lead to potential conflicts around 4 rivers, the Nile, Niger, Zambezi and Volta. Within 25 years 50% of African’s are predicted to be living in water stress (including economic scarcity).

The current definition of water scarcity is less than 1000 cubic metres of water per year per person. However, this map shows that Africa isn’t short of water. It by large can fully support itself and its water needs. The main problem within Africa is that it cannot afford the infrastructure to set up water networks to get water to its people. The only places of Africa that actually suffer from physical scarcity are the Northern Arab states and parts of South Africa. However, the Northern Arab states and South Africa are relatively rich thus are able to ensure water supplies for their people one way or another. I.e. oil rich Libya can afford to run desalinisation plants if needed. Due to poverty, war and bad infrastructure water cannot be obtained by the masses in a safe and usable way thus the majority of the population lives in water poverty even though it is all around them.

The problem with the Nile is that the area around it suffers from extremely low rainfall every year. The population is ever growing, so is the demand for water, but the supply of water hasn’t changed at all. Therefore as countries upstream Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia choose to dam off the river Egypt will be faced with a huge problem the more upstream countries use the less Egypt has.

It already poses to create the next set of wars in Africa. Egypt feels it has a hereditary right to access the full extent of the Nile (territorial integrity) since its nation has lived off of it for thousands of years. Ethiopia and Sudan are flourishing economies looking to develop and as mentioned earlier megaprojects like dams are highly attractive (Territorial sovereignty) . It is therefore inevitable that Egypt will become increasingly water stressed. The rest of Africa will also remain so but for them it can be averted if they can be alleviated from poverty or investment can help set up water infrastructure.

MegaProjects: The Solution To African Poverty?

Why do African Countries See Mega-Projects as a key part of their economic development?

A “mega-project” in a geographic sense is a large scale development which will have a significant impact (both positive and negative) on the surrounding area. For Africa mega-projects could be the start of spurring industrial and economic development. Large scale projects such as hydro-electric dams are the kind of mega-projects Africa needs. Along the river Nile Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia want to use the Nile for hydro-electric dams and irrigation systems. This is because if they can generate electricity from a dam they can supply their cities with electricity to support economic development. The dam will also secure water supplies for the country with the most upstream dam, that country is Ethiopia.

The proposed site for the Gibi III Dam

Ethiopia’s Gibi III dam has already caused controversy, set to be the second biggest dam in sub Saharan Africa. It will majorly boost the Ethiopian economy in 2 ways. 1) they can generate electricity which will allow IT business’, manufacturing and other electricity intensive business/industry to set up and 2) it will make water supplies more reliable thus improving the prospects of future food supplies for a vulnerable region. 

One of the pumping stations for the Toshka project

Egypt  is looking to a mega project to kick start their economy which has taken a steep slow down in 2010.  The Toshka megaproject is a huge irrigation system designed to improve agricultural output of the desert regions by irrigating them. It would involve branching off a canal network taking water from the Nile. This has not caused any international controversy like Ethiopia’s dam has because the only people downstream from the Toshka project are Egyptians. However, if this scheme goes ahead it could increase Egypt’s farm-able land by around 30% thus increasing the potential economic output substantially. And all the investment from foreign Trans-National Corporation’s which are fighting to use the land will increase development all around that region.

In a nutshell African countries see megaprojects as a key part of their economic development because they can the much needed framework to support economic development and allow the economy to prosper.