A Better Life?

World trade is a wonderful thing. I allows people to gain economic freedom. It brings economic growth to third world countries and with that the chance for education and a better life for all. So it is good to encourage third world countries to plant the sort of crops that can produce income. So the local population grows richer and can afford the education to give them a better standard of life. So the story goes . . .
It can also bring economic competition - which leads to more production to keep up with the rest of the world - which leads to intensified production - which leads to over-utilising local resources - which leads to lack of resources, loss of income and even loss of whole lifestyles and even life itself.
What has brought me to these morose statements? The fate of a small village in the Philippines. The island of Leyete had a village which was once in the heart of a rainforest. That forest was cut down to produce timber. The resultant empty land was earmarked for planting of export crops - palm oil, etc - but these never got planted. The lack of tree roots in the de-forested area de-stabilised the land. A minor earthquake occurred. There were no roots to keep the land stable. The whole side of a mountain slid down and engulfed the village. It is feared, at the time of writing, that 1,800 people have perished in the mudslide. Pictures beamed across the world show earth-moving machinery unable to cope in the conditions, people struggling to extricate bodies from the mire. A whole community has vanished without trace. For most of them the hillside has become their permanent grave.
What price world trade now?
Nuff said.