Task:
You have to compare and contrast the matching text from source c with the matching tex from source d, and that for all 4 pairs .I have already found the respective text pairs, the first text from source c with the topic (Rising debt) belongs to the 3 texts from source d, you can also see the topic above, as I have already named them all. You have to compare and contrast, for example, the first text from source c with its partner from source d. And do that for all 4 texts that belong together. So 4 small texts for each pair, you need 3 similarities of the two texts (one from source c, the other from source d) and 1 difference. In the end, you should have a text for each pair where you have listed 3 similarities and then 1 difference.
Source C: Four key challenges facing least developed countries. April 2022.
Source C:
1. Soaring debt
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, UNCTAD warned about the climbing debt burden of LDCs, which undermines their ability to provide basic services, such as health care and education. Their debts have not only grown but also become costlier and riskier. Between 2011 and 2019, LDCs’ debt service more than tripled to $33 billion, which represents between 5% and 13% of the value of their exports. The pandemic has exacerbated the situation, with LDCs’ debt repayments set to hit $43 billion in 2022. Such a burden will jeopardize their COVID-19 recovery efforts and sap the public funds needed to fight poverty and invest in essential infrastructure, such as roads and hospitals.
2. Export marginalization
LDCs also remain marginalized in global trade. Their share of global merchandise exports has hovered around just 1% since 2010. And their main exports leave them highly vulnerable to global crises and shocks. Although several LDCs have broadened their export base, as many as 38 of them remain commodity dependent. They rely on primary goods like copper, cotton and oil for over 60% of their merchandise exports. Global commodities’ markets are very volatile, and when prices crash, so do exports, jobs and government revenue. This volatility is a serious threat to many LDCs, especially for food and fuel. The impact of the war in Ukraine on global prices for these two products is a stark reminder.
3. Energy poverty
UNCTAD calculations show that more than half of the people in LDCs still lacked access to electricity in 2019. About 570 million men, women and children in these countries don’t have light at night for reading and aren’t able to charge a mobile phone.? The situation is worse in rural areas, with about two thirds of the population (458 million people) living without electricity. And where electricity is available, such as in large cities, access is often unreliable. Access to energy matters now more than ever as LDCs try to recover from the COVID-19 crisis. For example, without reliable electricity, hospitals can’t refrigerate vaccines. This hampers vaccine roll-out efforts.
4. Climate vulnerability
LDCs are on the front lines of the climate crisis even though their populations have barely contributed to the global greenhouse gas emissions fuelling global heating. In the past five decades, these vulnerable nations have been home to 69% of the global deaths caused by climate disasters. Yet their cars and industries have produced just 1.1% of the world’s total CO2 emissions. Even their share per person barely reaches 9% of the world’s average. In 2019, the carbon footprint of an average person living in an LDC was 23 times smaller than that of someone in a developed country, such as the United States or a European nation. This “climate apartheid” means that the people least responsible for climate change are the most affected by its consequences.?
Source D:
this is the appropriate section of source C with the topic (Export marginalization ):
Unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa stands at around 6%, according to the International Labour Organization. But most of the work available is unskilled or low-skilled, in part because the region has the world’s lowest levels of access to higher education. So, although many Africans are employed, 70% of sub-Saharan Africa’s workforce is vulnerable. The global average for vulnerable occupations is 46%.
this is the appropriate section of source C with the topic (Energy poverty):
Physical infrastructure across much of the continent is a challenge to productivity, according to the African Development Bank. It calculates an estimated $130- to $170 billion needs to be invested each year on Africa’s infrastructure, despite a financing gap of as much as $108 billion. A lack of funding for roads, telecommunications, water, electricity and more are impeding the continent’s productivity by around 40%, according to World Bank estimates. This “failure of critical infrastructure” is a major risk to business in the region, respondents to the World Economic Forum’s survey said last year.
This is the appropriate section of source C with the topic (Soaring debt):
Nearly 40% of sub-Saharan African countries are at risk of slipping into a major debt crisis,according to the Brookings Institution. And the “number of African countries at high risk [of] or in debt distress has more than doubled from eight in 2013 to 18 in 2018.”
The region’s aggregate debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 46% in 2017, up from from 23% in 2008. As debt levels increase, so does the pressure of servicing the debt; money that could be invested in society goes to repaying loans. This could make it less likely that the region can achieve the African Union’s Agenda 2063 development targets.
This is the appropriate section of source C with the topic (Climate vulnerability):
Nine out of the ten countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change are in sub-Saharan Africa. The region has at least 10 vulnerable coastal cities with a population of more than 1 million people, including Accra, Dakar, Durban and Lagos, according to the Forum report. Africa is expected to be one of the continents hardest hit by climate change, with increasing extreme weather events threatening the health of its people and economies. At the same time, mass-migration as a result of flooding or droughts could put resources such as food, water and housing under pressure in areas less affected.
