The economic development of many developing countries is currently deteriorating as a result of the current global issues ranging from literacy to climate change. East Timor is one of the countries that have suffered from low economic power especially after the country experienced a long struggle for independence and the negative climate conditions that have affected the development of agriculture, infrastructure among other economic factors. This call for the economic and development plans that will help the people of East Timor cope with the current social and economic situations as well as adopt new effective plans that will enable them develop. This paper therefore provides a brief overview of East Timor in terms of etymology, demographic issues and the climate as well as other critical issues affecting the country’s economic development. The paper also addresses some of the strategies that the country could adopt in dealing with climate change, flood management and infrastructure as well as improving education and health issues.
East Timor also known as the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste is located in the South Eastern region of Asia bordering the republic of Indonesia. The country has undergone a long time of colonization. It was initially colonized by the Portuguese until 1975 when it gained independence. Despite their gain of independence from the Portuguese, the country was occupied by the Indonesian government and was declared one of Indonesia’s 27 provinces and the country had struggled to become a sovereign state until 1999 when they succeeded in this mission under the assistance of the United Nation. This led to East Timor becoming independent on May 2002 hence becoming the first country to be declared a sovereign state in the twenty first century. This long time struggle for independence had left the country in a sabotaged economy as the infrastructure was destroyed and people displaced constantly and therefore, have no permanent residence where they can establish economic activities. The geographical location of the country which is mountainous has also affected the infrastructural development as well as the agricultural activities, which are the main source of income for the Timorese people.
The number of schools in East Timor has increased since the country gained independence and there are now over 800 primary and secondary schools. The country had depended on education institutions from Indonesia and the Portuguese schools for a long time, an issue that led to a high illiteracy rate as the people defied attending these schools. The constant displacement as a result of the prolonged war for independence also contributed to high levels of illiteracy. As of the year 2010, the adult literacy in the country was 58.3 percent (Pedersen, 16). The country however has only one university and four colleges which mean the level of tertiary education is still limited.
One of the ways of improving education is through additional of tertiary institutions and rehabilitation of the existing schools as well as provision of adequate learning materials and equipment by the ministry of education in the region so as to provide a variety of cheaply accessible institutions to choose from after finishing secondary education. In addition, the government and non-governmental institutions should adopt public education initiative that educated them on the importance of formal education and motivate the people to enroll in schools (Merna 170). The government should also hire additional teachers for the existing schools as well as come up with training and skills development programs that will equip the teachers with knowledge and teaching skills.
Health
The health issue is another factor that has affected the economic development of East Timor. The country has limited health facilities and therefore the government should come up with a way of establishing more health facilities and adding medical equipment especially in rural areas as well as improve infrastructure in order to have an easy access to these facilities (Pedersen, 68). Community education and empowerment on issues of health and sanitation will also empower people to be more cautious in handling health related situations such as nutrition, waste water management and sanitation.
Water supply and sanitation
Having access to clean drinking water is one of the major problems facing the people of East Timor (Pedersen, 14). This can however, be managed through adopting waste water treatment to provide clean water for home consumption. The government should also add new supply systems and renovate the existing ones especially those that were destroyed during the war or need to be repaired due to aging. Additionally it should also encourage manual water purification systems. This is because people depend on rivers, springs and wells that are far away from their homes and the water is not even clean for home consumption.
Flooding management
Timor Leste has suffered greatly from floods and landslides that have left thousands of people dead or homeless. This situation is made worse by the earthquakes, rising sea level and heavy rains experienced in the country especially due to the fact that most of the regions are mountainous. Construction of dams and reservoirs by the community can aid in collecting excess water during rainy seasons to be used for irrigation, generation of electricity and even purified for consumption. The people should also be encouraged to plant more trees and build dykes aimed at preventing flood related destruction and deaths.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure in terms of roads, energy and communication channels is one of the public resources that were affected as a result of prolonged war and political instability. Encouraging regional development both in urban and rural areas is the main way of ensuring efficient infrastructural development across the whole country. This is because roads are essential for transportation of goods and services while energy is essential for production purposes.
Encouraging export of materials other that coffee and petroleum and promoting local tourism activities in the region will aid in the construction of better transport system in the country as well as enable the communities generate income. The rate of electricity usage in the region is limited whereby only 18.9 rural households and 88 percent urban dwellers have access to electricity supply which in total aggregates of 37 percent. This means that there must be an alternative source of energy supply especially to the low income earners in the region. Adopting the use of renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind energy as well as use of biogas is a suitable way of supplementing electricity consumption.
Climate change
The issue of climate change is affecting not only the people of East Timor but other countries across the globe as well. This situation is made worse by increased rates of pollution, war and industrial gas emissions which as a result affect the ozone layer. In an attempt to overcome issues related to climate change, the people of East Timor needs to enter into agreements with other internal countries and bodies such as UNEP and UNFCCC so as to plan together on the measures of handling the effects of climate change. One of the measures of dealing with effects of climate change is adopting strategic ways of managing available resources such as re-afforestation, planting drought and pests’ resistant crops, implementation of strategies that encourage low energy consuming industries (Merna, 145).
The current socio-economic status of the people of Timor Leste can only be improved through proper planning and management of resources by the communities. This will result to boosting the economic status of the Timorese who have been affected greatly by economic instability as well as the frequent flooding which have further worsened the social and economic status of this beautiful island.
Works Cited
Merna, Tony & Al-Thani, Faisal. Corporate Risk Management. NY: Wiley & Sons, 2011.
Pedersen, Jon & Arneberg, Marie (Eds). Social and Economic Conditions in East Timor. Retrieved from www.fafo.no/pub/rapp/929/easttimor.
