Rapid population growth and fragile environments: the sub-Saharan African and south Asian experience
Caldwell, J.C.; Caldwell, P.
Annals of the new York Academy of Sciences 709: 355-369
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0077-8923 PMID: 8154727 DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1994.tb30422.xDocument Number: 288878
Case studies of the world's two poorest regions, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, were used to illustrate the compromised standard of living of the poor and environmental damage due to continued rapid population growth. The conclusion was that the livelihoods of the poor should not be endangered for preserving the living standards of richer people. Nations must not ignore the challenges of reducing population growth as fast as can be achieved. The transitional period over the next 50 years is the main concern, because population growth rates will be slowing. Rural population growth is expected to decline from 60% of total population growth in South Asia to 7% between 2000 and 2025; similarly the decline in sub-Saharan Africa would be from 50% to 15%. Over the past 30 years, food production in South Asia has kept pace with population growth. Sub-Saharan Africa has adopted food importation to meet demand. African problems are a low resource base, faster population growth, and the fact that governments and individuals are too poor to maintain soil fertility. Long-term studies of how much soil depletion will occur are not available for these regions, and local area studies are not as pessimistic. Transition policies are needed to put "people first in terms of engineered or directed population and ecological change." The six main issues are the following: 1) the Brundtland Commission appropriately identified poverty as the main cause and effect of environmental degradation because of the threat to survival; 2) the verdict is still out about whether food production will keep pace with population growth through economic growth and investment in agriculture; 3) empirical research is needed to examine local social and regulatory institutions and the possibility of reinforcing these mechanisms rather than instituting central controls; 4) central coercion or modernizing economic policies can destroy local level controls; 5) famine is a complex ecological phenomenon and the product of political mismanagement and civil disorder; 6) deforestation is as important an issue as protection of the livelihoods of forest populations. Case studies were provided for Ekiti district of Nigeria, the West and East African Savannahs, Karnataka state in South India, arid South Asia, and Nepal. The protection of the most fragile environments subject to population pressure can be managed with respect for human dignity through general economic development and external assistance.