Tessie Baumann
Professor Frazier
Human Development
23 February 2020
Annotated Bibliography
Problem Statement 1: What causes, including transportation, poverty levels, and school/teacher availability, are leading to the lack of education in Nigeria and how is this deficiency in education affecting Nigeria’s economy?
1A. Akpan, P. A. “The Spatial Aspects of Higher Education in Nigeria.” Higher Education, vol. 16,no. 5, 1987, pp. 545–555. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3446832. Accessed 21 Feb. 2020.
In this article, Akpan presents the state of higher education in Nigeria from the way it appeared in 1987 and explains how there has been an issue with students gaining access to higher education over the years. According to this study, between the years 1979 and 1985, around 164,951 students applied to different universities in Nigeria every year. Unfortunately, only about thirteen percent of them were actually accepted and received the chance to go. In fact, until 1960, only three universities resided in Nigeria. By 1985, however, every state in Nigeria had at least one college, one university, and one polytechnic, and while this was a great movement, many of these institutions were built in cities, depriving rural areas of such opportunities for higher education. Additionally, as a result of the fact that a majority of these universities were and still are funded by the federal government, they are dependent on the success of the economy. If the economy starts to tank, then there is no money available to pay for these places of higher learning.
In his article about human development, Amartya Sen discusses the idea that human development is “the process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy” (Sen 3). Higher education is one way that creates opportunities for people to pursue careers and learn specialized knowledge, so they can work to earn higher wages and choose a job that interests them. This allows for an increased quality of life through the benefits of a fulfilling job and a greater pool of resources. Akpan is very hopeful in this article about the possibilities for higher education in Nigeria and addresses the goal of promoting lifelong opportunities for quality education for all.
In order to discover the number and spread of higher learning institutions in Nigeria, Akpan shows a gridded map with spatial data that illustrates where these colleges and universities can be found. Akpan then analyzes the data and explains the significance of the placement of the colleges and universities, including the facts mentioned above about the dispersion of higher learning institutions between the different states and how they tend to be concentrated in cities rather than rural areas. These patterns are concerning because they leave a lot of the population with little or no access to higher education. With urban centers featuring access to electricity, water, and other benefits, there is little incentive for universities to be built in the poorer segments of the country. Despite all of these issues, however, Akpan found that where higher learning institutions are built, huge impacts follow, including infrastructural growths along with social and cultural benefits.
1B. “Nigeria 1km Poverty.” World Pop, Jan. 2013, www.worldpop.org/geodata/summary?id=1267. Accessed 21 Feb. 2020.
This source provides a map of Nigeria that uses geospatial data to illustrate the estimated poverty levels in Nigeria in 2010. According to World Pop, what constitutes a household facing poverty is one that earns less than $1.25 a day. The map shows heavy poverty levels in the north and north eastern parts of the country, with increasing levels of wealth the farther south and southwest one travels. There is a large difference between the northern and southern parts of the country, with the former facing almost complete poverty and the latter achieving close to zero percent of its population in poverty.
When comparing the map to Amartya Sen’s view of human development, it is clear that Nigeria has some work to do. With such a high percentage of its people experiencing poverty, many of Nigeria’s people are not free to expand their freedoms. They are likely just trying to survive from day to day and put food on the table. When faced with problems such as those, it becomes difficult to focus on bettering one’s quality of life because one’s sole focus is on surviving. World Pop is trying to show the extremity of Nigeria’s situation and how badly off so many of its people are. It is clear that through clarifying estimates on what is occurring in Nigeria, the people at World Pop want to address the very first sustainable development goal on the United Nation’s list, eradication of poverty.
In this map, World Pop uses estimates to create a model showing poverty levels throughout Nigeria that has a ninety-five percent credibility level. The approach used to map this data consists of Bayesian model-based geostatistics along with high resolution gridded spatial covariates, both of which were applied to GPS-located household survey data that recorded information on poverty and was retrieved from DHS and/or LSMS programs. The grid squares that make up the map are one thousand by one thousand meters. Through this data, the developers of the map worked to create an image of what poverty rates look like to answer the question of where poverty is concentrated in Nigeria, and they found a pattern that is apparent in the way poverty decreases the more south one goes. Ultimately, this information is truly vital because it provides insights to some possible reasons as to why education in certain areas of Nigeria is failing.
1C. Olamiju, Isaac, and Julius Olujimi. “Regional Analysis of Locations of Public Educational Facilities in Nigeria: The Akure Region Experience.” Journal of Geography and Regional Planning, vol. 4, July 2011, pp. 428-442. Research Gate, [www.researchgate.net/publication/233855500‘Regional_Analysis_of_Locations_of_Public_Educational_Facilities_in_Nigeria_The_Akure_Region_Experience’.](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233855500‘Regional_Analysis_of_Locations_of_Public_Educational_Facilities_in_Nigeria_The_Akure_Region_Experience’) Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.
According to this article, Nigeria has troubling literacy rates due to issues with its educational system. In order to achieve more accurate data, the authors decided to focus in on the Akure region that resides in Nigeria, using it as an example of how problematic education there tends to be. Before touching on Akure, one quick important thing to realize about all education in Nigeria is the lack of funding, which has resulted in a shortage of items such as textbooks, libraries, water, and electricity, along the fact that many schools consist of buildings that are falling apart. In addition to the reality that the Nigerian government is not budgeting enough money towards education, considering it is the main financial backer of the school system, there is also the issue of getting the poor children to attend school. Many of those kids have to drop out to help with the finances at home, so they consequently lose the chance to gain an education and better their futures.
Moving on to Akure, the region is divided into three parts: Ifedore, Akure North, and Akure South. Based on the spatial data provided by the article, it seems as if both primary and secondary schools are not being distributed appropriately to best suit the population in each sector. For example, on average, primary schools in Akure South have around four to five thousand more people enrolled per school than both Akure North and Ifedore. Additionally, when it comes to secondary schools, Akure South has more institutions than both Akure North and Ifedore added together. Another issue is that many of the schools are in cities and towns, due to the better conditions, increased resources, and number of teachers available. This makes it extremely difficult for those living in rural areas to travel the distance to reach classes. Hopefully the government will listen to collections of data, such as the ones found in this article that were obtained from surveys sent to heads of government ministries and educational institutes and turned into maps showing the spatial data. That would help them figure out better ways to distribute funding to different regions for education and what problems desperately need to be addressed.
When looking at this article through the context of Amartya Sen’s definition of human development, it is clear something needs to change. Accessibility to decent education is what allows people to have more opportunities available to them and earn higher wages, which can lead to a longer life with a better quality of living. The authors of this article really want to point out how this lack of education is leading to poor literacy rates and poverty and why this needs to change. They are fighting to promote the fourth sustainable development goal, a good education for all children around the world, regardless of gender and socioeconomic status. This is an admirable fight and one that needs to be taken on by the government of Nigeria, because the patterns show that there are not enough teachers and schools available to students, especially those residing in rural areas.
Problem Statement 2: How is the rise in the urbanization of Vietnam leading to environmental damage and affecting climate change?
2A. Deininger, Klaus, Ran Goldblatt, and Gordon Hanson. “Utilizing publicly available satellite data for urban research: Mapping built-up land cover and land use in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.” Development Engineering, vol. 3, 2018, pp. 83-99. ScienceDirect, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352728517300842. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.
Urbanization has played a huge role in the past couple hundred years and continues to grow to this day. With this trend taking place across the world, it is important that there is proper data available addressing the land cover and usage of each country. The issue with that, however, is the fact that many countries do not have the money or infrastructure to bring about such studies and collect reliable data about the levels of urbanization occurring. Fortunately, new methods are coming about to map this data through the rising availability of remotely sensed data. By using the publicly available satellite data, countries can more easily monitor what is happening on their land and use that data to work to address issues such as the increased pollution levels due to urbanization.
When comparing the words of Amartya Sen, who discusses the way human development should expand people’s freedoms, to this article on the growing urbanization in Vietnam, there are two freedoms that seem to clash against each other: urbanization and protecting the environment. On one hand, urbanization helps to lower poverty rates, but on the other, if it is left unchecked, it can lead to dire environmental consequences. Without the right policies and preparation, cities can cause heavy pollution that is extremely damaging to ecosystems all over the world. These factors present a dilemma: either help those facing poverty rid themselves of that unfreedom through urbanization or crack down on the development of cities to protect the freedom of all people to live in a healthy environment. Ultimately, a compromise is necessary because neither one of these freedoms can be eliminated.
This article is addressing the issue of the rapid urbanization taking place in Vietnam and how Vietnam’s land usage is having negative effects on the environment. Some sustainable development goals for this issue would be to enact policies that cut down on air pollution, support public transportation, and push for the protection of lands used for agriculture. In order to narrow this study on a specific area, the authors chose Ho Chi Minh City as their focus. They created a map of the land coverage and land usage that encompasses the expanse of Ho Chi Minh City and categorized the data into built-up or not-built-up sections, further dividing the built-up part by splitting it into residential and non-residential groups. Then, data from the built-up sections was taken and put into a table describing what infrastructures occupy those spaces and maps were made with that spatial data to provide a picture of what is going on.
Ultimately, the authors are studying the urbanization trends in Vietnam, specifically in the city of Ho Chi Minh due to the prevalence of data available for that location. They want to prove why using the publicly available satellite data opens up so many doors when it comes to the ability to continuously monitor certain situations and how it allows people gain access to information that can help with issues such as urban planning, climate change, and pollution prevention.
2B. Saksena, Fox, Spencer, Castrence, DiGregorio, Epprecht, Sultana, Finucane, Nguyen, Vien. “Classifying and Mapping the Urban Transition in Vietnam.” Applied Geography, vol. 50, June 2014, pp. 80-89. Science Direct, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622814000320. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.
This article brings to light a point that is often forgotten, how to classify the various areas of a country as urban, rural, or somewhere in-between. Proper policies cannot come into existence if the government leaders do not correctly document what type of community is present where. For example, policies meant for a city will not work effectively when introduced to a small suburban area on the outskirts of that city. When addressing this issue, first off, there needs to be defined levels of what a community can be considered to be. In this study, those levels are rural, peri-urban, urban, and urban center. Once the authors decided on that, they took data from Vietnam’s 2006 national census and combined it with raster data from remote sensing and GIS data on administrative boundaries and completed hierarchical cluster analysis to figure out what areas of Vietnam are considered to be one of the four levels listed above. Once that was completed, the data was transferred onto a map and checked for accuracy through the use of round truthing, remote sensing analysis, and road network analysis.
When comparing this article to Amartya Sen’s view on human development, it is clear that the authors are trying to expand people’s freedoms by providing more accurate depictions of land use to Vietnam’s government, so that it can enact better policies based on the needs of each area. This way, the goal is that the quality of life of each individual is increased through policies that better protect the people and are more beneficial to the lives they live based on the types of communities they reside in. This article is trying to address the issue that comes from wrongly categorizing portions of Vietnam, especially with the peri-urbanization sections, because this leads to an increase in slums, a lack of clean water and sanitation, farmland degradation, pressures on resources, and many more problems that hurt the people and cause environmental damage. By conducting this study to better categorize Vietnam’s urbanization, this article pushes for the United Nation’s eleventh sustainability goal, to make cities and human settlements safe, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.
Ultimately, these authors are investigating the pattern of urbanization and how rural areas start switching to peri-urbanized areas, and those to true urban settlements. In their study, they defined what each category meant and sought to find the answer of what the actual data looks like when it comes to urbanization in Vietnam. The results presented that 61% of the land that the authors’ models showed to be peri-urban was classified as rural by the Vietnam government and 39% of it was said to be urban. Peri-urban, being in between those two classifications, however, is quite different than each of those and therefore needs to be treated with different policies. These results demonstrate the importance of the study that was conducted by these authors and how relevant such data is for Vietnam’s future plans.