Dominican Republic and Haiti
Alex Esposito and Matt Lynch
Thesis:
The lead to the collapse of the Dominican Republic and Haiti is mainly based on environmental issues, social issues, and political issues.
Environmental Issues
Due to Haiti's large coastline, it has a very high chance of being struck by hurricanes. The location of the cities in Haiti are very vulnerable because they are found closer to the coast line leading them to have intense flooding and destruction. The most recent Earthquake in Haiti of January 2010 killed almost 230,000 people. Moreover, deforestation is a problem in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. While only 28% of the Dominican Republic is forested, 1% of Haiti is not suffering from deforestation. Deforestation in Haiti is constantly without public electricity, water, and sewage they rely on wood to create sources of energy. Conclusively, environmental issues is a huge aspect on to why the Dominican Republic and Haiti are leading towards a collapse.
Social Issues
Social issues are one of the main problems to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Haiti suffers with a very high population. With so many people in such little land Haiti suffers with providing food for all the citizens leading it to be the third hungriest country in the world behind Somalia and Afghanistan. This lack of food leads to about 50% of this overpopulated country to be malnourished. With Haiti's malnourished citizens it relies on the Dominican Republic for essentials that they cannot produce themselves. Moreover, the Dominican Republic and Haiti have a lack of education. While it is the law to spend 4% of the nations GDP (gross domestic product), the nation is only spending 2.3% of its GDP on education. Also, according to the organization Save The Children, it is predicted that only 10% of the 3.7 million will graduate from high school. In conclusion, social problems play a large role in why the Dominican Republic and Haiti leading towards a collapse.
Political and Economic Issues
Social and Environmental issues are a big aspect of the collapsing nation, but the most important aspect we need to look at is the Political and Economic situation. In Haiti the richest 1% nearly control half of all Haiti's wealth. This isn't good because the 1% always stay rich and the poor keep on struggling to survive. This system isn't bringing any success to Haiti, it's just making the situation worse. Also, Haiti's government can't communicate with its people very well, 95% of the citizens of Haiti mainly speak Creole, while of 5% can speak the more sophisticated language. All of the people in the government speak the more sophisticated language while they can only speak a little of Creole. Furthermore, Haiti depends on the Dominican Republic, which is also a collapsing country. Haiti depends on the for food, money, and stability. They can't get these things most of the time because The president of the Dominican doesn't want this country to go corrupt like Haiti. Many of Haiti's citizens illegally immigrate into The Dominican. That makes it even harder for the Dominican Republic to support them selves because of a new overpopulation issue that is currently growing. In conclusion the Political and Economical issues play a role in the collapse of the once prosperous nations.
Citations
Allmeling, Anne. "Haiti and the Dominican Republic: One Island, Two Worlds."Http://www.dw.de/. DW.DE, 2 Dec. 2013. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. <http://www.dw.de/haiti-and-the-dominican-republic-one-island-two-worlds/a-16593022>
Collins, Lisa. "Caribbean Collapses." Dornsife-blogs.usc.edu. USC Dornsife, 2 June 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. <http://dornsife-blogs.usc.edu/pwp-belize/?p=449>.
"Educating Children Proves Daunting Challenge." Educating Children Proves Daunting Challenge. Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. <http://cronkite.asu.edu/buffett/dr/education.html>.
Diamond, Jared. "The Dominican Environment Today 349-352." Collapse. New York: Penguin Book, 2005. N. pag. Print.