Population Environment Approaches

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Population Environment Approaches ?
Neo-Malthusian ? Boserupian ? Cornucopian ?
Neo-Marxist/Political Ecology ?
Multiplicative/Synergistic The Population-
Environment-Poverty Nexus
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Population Environment Approaches Neo-Malthusian
Arresting population growth should be second in
importance only to avoiding nuclear war on
humanitys agenda. Overpopulation and rapid
population growth are intimately connected with
most aspects of the current human
predicament, including rapid depletion of
nonrenewable resources, deterioration of the
environment and increasing international
tensions. Paul Erhlich, The Population Bomb
Key terms carrying capacity, limits to
growth Key concepts there is a maximum number
of people that a given set of resources can
sustain (carrying capacity) exceeding it will
lead to ecological and social collapse.
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Population Environment Approaches Neo-Malthusian
Policy Implications ? advocation of fertility
control Critiques ? population is not the
only important variable ? ignores the
role of consumption patterns and
technological change in environmental
degradation.
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Population Environment Approaches Boserupian
Ester Boserup, Danish Agricultural Economist, The
Conditions of Agricultural Growth
Key terms agricultural intensification Key
concepts While resources are limited and
population may grow faster than its food supply,
population pressure can lead to technological,
economic, and social innovations which in turn
lead to intensification of agriculture .
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Population Environment Approaches Boserupian
Policy Implications ? support innovation
through infrastructure, markets, credit,
etc. ? protecting property rights (communal or
private). Critiques ? innovation does
not always happen under population pressure
or happen rapidly enough to offset
population growth ? need specific institutional
structures in place for innovation to occur
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Population Environment Approaches Cornucopian
Resources are only limited by our ability to
invent them Julian Simon, The Ultimate Resource
Key terms invisible hand of the free market,
human capital Key concepts Population does not
have any negative impact on the environment the
Earth is plentiful environmental degradation
must be explained through other variables the
free market will solve all resource scarcities.
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Population Environment Approaches Cornucopian
Policy Implications ? governments should let
markets work to allocate resources ?
little role for population policies and
programs ? property resources should be priced
correctly Critiques ? underestimates the role
of population growth ? problem of environmental
externalities ? science has refuted idea that
humans have no effect on environment.
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Population Environment Approaches
Neo-Marxist/Political Ecology
Is Population the Problem?
Key terms ecological marginalization Key
concepts Both environmental degradation and
rapid population growth are consequences of
poverty.
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Population Environment Approaches
Neo-Marxist/Political Ecology
Policy Implications ? address underlying causes
of poverty such as unequal resource
access ? programs should be involved with
poverty alleviation Critiques ? ignores
population policy ? is poverty the main cause
of environmental degradation? what
about consumption patterns of
wealthy and government policies that
subsidize wealthy
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Population Environment Approaches The
Population/Poverty/Population Nexus
Key terms IPAT Key concepts Population
variables such as growth, size, density, etc.
interact synergistically with other factors such
as consumption, technology, culture,
institutions, etc.
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Operationalizing Population, Poverty and
Environment Linkages
1. What is your regions priority
environmental issue? ? classify interactions
between population and environmental
outcomes 2. What are the processes that
underlie specific demographic, poverty
and environmental outcomes? ? role of large
families in society ? peoples interaction with
natural resources ? legislation, macro-economic
policy, economic and social policies
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Operationalizing Population, Poverty and
Environment Linkages
3. Chains of explanation from local resource
user to broader groups of people, all the way to
state and world economy 4. Are across the board
policies the solution or should policies be
targeted? ? to locations or groups, e.g. urban
vs. rural, landless, women, etc.