Land-locked countries are countries that have no coastline and are surrounded by land. There are currently 44 land-locked countries in the world. Being land-locked presents challenges for development as it cuts countries off from sea resources like fishing and access to international trade by sea. This can negatively impact a country's GDP and tourism. A lack of access to trade and food imports also makes land-locked countries more vulnerable to problems like famine. The Rwandan genocide in the 1990s, which resulted in the deaths of 500,000 to 1,000,000 people, provides an example of how being land-locked can exacerbate disasters when international aid is limited. Countries deal with being land-locked by negotiating access to ports
2. What is a Land-locked country? A land-locked country is a country which is either enclosed or nearly enclosed by land (has no coastline). Of the major landmasses, only North America and Australasia do not have a land-locked country inside their respective continents. If a country's only coastline is on a sea that is almost land-locked, such as the Baltic Sea, this may mean that ocean access couldbe easily blocked. This may be of strategic importance, with one or two other countries controlling the entrance, and/or be relevant to tides and freshwater content. Areas without a warm water port will be land-locked during the winter months.
3. Examples of Land-locked countries As of 2008, there are 44 land-locked countries in the world. Some examples of the land-locked countries are Afghanistan, Austria, Czech Republic and Zimbabwe. A lot of countries became land-locked when the Soviet Union collapsed and all the countries were formed.
4. How does this affect development? Historically, being land-locked was a disadvantage because It cuts the country off from sea resources such as fishing. But more importantly it cuts off access to seaborne trade which, even today, makes up a large percentage of international trade. Coastal regions tended to be wealthier and more heavily populated than inland ones. It means that a country’s trade has been lessened to the countries which surround it, instead of the ones overseas. This means the GNP of a country will be lower than that of an Island country. The country will get less money than those which are not land-locked through tourism because most people want a beach holiday and no land-locked country has a coastline to support this want.
5. What damage does this have on the country? The affect of this may be, if the country doesn’t bring in enough money, a right or left wing party coming into power (which could result in a genocide) or it means a person will take complete control of the country (a dictatorship) as the population demands change but negative ones occur. Also, being a land-locked country could mean that famine happens frequently there. In a country where the soil is poor or could be infected by bacteria such as anthrax the production levels will be lower and access to more food by foreign trade is limited due to lack of access to the sea. This lack of food leads to famine if it is not dealt with. Losing access to the sea is generally a great blow to a nation, particularly, militarily (it can’t create a large navy), and particularly with respect to international trade and therefore economic security.
6. Example of where being a land-locked country has resulted in disaster Rwanda The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by Hutus under the Hutu Power ideology. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April through mid-July, at least 500,000 people were killed. Estimates of the death toll have ranged between 500,000 and 1,000,000 (that’s up to 10,000 people everyday!) ,or as much as 20% of the total population of the country.
7. How do countries deal with being Land-locked? Some countries have made pacts with near by countries to let them have a piece of land cutting to the sea. Such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was given a piece of land cutting through Angola to connect it to the sea by the Conference of Berlin. Others make good relations with the countries around it to allow them to trade with each other.
