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Economic Landscape of Latin America Today

Explore the economic activities, industry, growth challenges, Maquiladoras, transportation, communication, foreign debt, trade interdependence, and environmental impacts in Latin America today. Discover the key terms, the Pan-American Highway, managing resources, biodiversity, reforestation, and human impact in the region.

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Economic Landscape of Latin America Today

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  1. LATIN AMERICA TODAY

  2. THE ECONOMY • Export • Campesino • Latifundia • Minifundia • Cash crop Gross domestic product Service industry Maquiladora Free trade zone

  3. ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES • Agriculture • Supplies major chunk of income • Export- sell to other countries what is produced • Ex: Bananas, sugarcane, coffee • Land divided into wealthy and campesinos • Rural farmers and workers • Latifundia • LARGE estates owned by wealthy families and corporations • Minifundia • All other farms • Cash crops- produced in large quantities to sell abroad • Problem is overdependence

  4. INDUSTRY • Most are developing countries • EX: Mexico- from farming to oil production • 2005- manufacturing = 16% and agriculture 4% of Gross Domestic product (GDP) • Values of goods and services produced in a country in a year • Moving towards service industry • Provides a service • Ex: tourism

  5. GROWTH • Limited in Latin America • Andes and Amazon Rainforest restrict availability of natural resources • Foreign investment • Political instability • Solution • Stable gov’t • Provide the necessary resources • Active business communities

  6. MAQUILADORAS • Manufacturing plants owned by foreign countries • EX: Mexico • Cuidad Juarez, and Tijuana • 3,200 employ over 1 million workers • Located in free-trade zones • No trade restrictions

  7. TRANSPORTATION and COMMUNICATION • Physical barriers • Pan-American Highway • Northern Mexico to Southern Chile • Trans-Andean Highway • Chile to Argentina • Brazil • Trans-Amazonian Highway • Trans-Oceanic Highway • Peru and Brazil • Link between the Amazon and the Pacific

  8. TRANSPORTATION and COMMUNICATION (cont) • Railway System • Mexico, Panama, Argentina, Brazil • Air Travel • Important to overcoming geographic barriers • Communication • Censored during political unrest • Most cannot afford telephones • 2004 • Brazil & Mexico among top 15 countries with the highest rate of computer use • Today- internet hub in D.R. to make it more stable

  9. FOREIGN DEBT • 1960s and 1970s • Latin American countries borrowed $$ from banks to industrialize • 1980s • Economic slow-down • Lower demand for Latin American products • Could not repay loans • Problem is finding a solution

  10. TRADE and INTERDEPENDENCE • NAFTA • 1992 NAFTA • Reduced trade restrictions • Increased flow of goods, services, and people • Trade went up by 10-15% • Controversy • U.S. job loss to less paid Mexican workers • U.S. investment in Mexico, but no relocation

  11. TRADE and INTERDEPENDENCE (cont) • CAFTA • 2005 • U.S. + 6 Central American countries • Goal was to lower trade barriers between U.S. and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and D.R. • FEAR • U.S. job loss • Exploitation of lower paid workers

  12. THE PAN-AMERICAN HIGHWAY

  13. THE PEOPLE and THEIR ENVIRONMENT • KEY TERMS: • DEFORESTATION • SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT • SLASH and BURN FARMING • REFORESTATION • SHANTYTOWN

  14. MANGING RESOURCES • Deforestation- disappearing of forests for other uses • Solution: • Sustainable development- use only what natural resources are needed to sustain life • Farms vs. Forests • Clearing of the Amazon Basin to set-up new farmland • Slash-and-burn farming • All plants are cut down; trees are stripped of their bark; once dried out they burn it so that the soil gets nutrients

  15. BIODIVERSITY • Diverse rainforest is at danger of being lost • ½ of all plant and animal species live in the rainforest • 20% of the Amazon Rainforest has already been cleared • Atlantic Forest • Lesser known • In Brazil • 7% of its original size today • MEDICINE

  16. REFORESTATION • Planting for the future • Laws require that young trees or seeds be planted for the future • Developing new methods of farming

  17. HUMAN IMPACT • Rapid urbanization = environmental issues • Workers move to cities • Hope to find a better life • Sometimes they DON’T • Shantytowns- makeshift communities on the edge of cities • unsanitary

  18. THE FUTURE • Territorial conflict • Disputed border wars • Ex: 1998 Peru and Ecuador settled a 60 year border war • Natural Disasters • L.A. vulnerable to hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions • Cool Fact • In 1995 a volcanic eruption left 2/3 of the island of Monserrat inhabitable

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