Population and the environment

This study investigates land cover change and land ownership turnover in an area that is both the agricultural frontier and a priority conservation zone, the Sierra del Lacandón National Park (SLNP), Petén, Guatemala. The goal is to understand how the agricultural frontier changes over time with regard to population, household characteristics, and land use. This study analyzes panel-data consisting of household interviews conducted with farmers living within the SLNP boundaries or its buffer zone in 1998 and 2009. Despite dramatic population growth, the overall trend of the area is towards the deintensification of farming practices. On average, households crop larger areas of higher value crops and less maize, but these changes have not kept pace with pasture expansion. As in Latin America overall, pasture expansion is a main driver of deforestation. The area simultaneously experiences farm parcel consolidation and splintering. Half of the landowning households in 1998 sold their land by 2009; some such land was consolidated by large landholders, while other parcels became split among multiple owners. Understanding land cover changes over time and how land ownership turnover occurs is key for crafting policies aimed at slowing further forest clearing and the impoverishment of subsistence populations.

One of the greatest environmental issues in Nigeria is the problem of waste generation and disposal. Nigeria’s major urban centers are today fighting to clear mounting heaps of solid waste from their environments which has become a major concern for various stakeholders in Nigeria. The tremendous population increase in most urban cities in Nigeria has contributed immensely to the problem of waste generation and management. Therefore, with this rationale, this study is set to explore the links between population and the environment especially in the area of waste generation daily as a result of increasing population in urban centres. In this view, the study suggests the need for waste reduction in Nigeria which is a solution that warrants investigation, within the realm of household solid waste management since the individual is the primary waste generator and primary user of the waste management systems.
Keywords: Population, environment, waste generation, Waste reduction, Urban centres

Irepodun Local Government Area, Kwara State was used as case study in order to examine the role of self-help projects in rural development in Nigeria. Data for the study were obtained through the administration of 400 copies of questionnaire format on randomly selected respondents in the study area. The study revealed that funds for self help projects and subsequent development of their communities were only accomplished mainly through the contribution of community unions/association because majority of the respondents earned less than 20,000 naira. The Chi-square and correlation results established a relationship between population and self help projects for rural development. This was assented to by respondents who affirmed that the self help projects have improved their living standard.
Apparently the level and efficiency of self help projects in rural communities influences the development of the rural areas in Nigeria. Governments should therefore redirect its rural development towards developmental projects in rural areas by making if people centered for each and every community in the rural areas of Nigeria. This will ensure an equitable distribution of self help projects, an essential tool for balanced development of the rural areas in Nigeria.

Majuli, the world’s largest inhabited river island has been shrinking in size over the years due primarily to the phenomenon of river bank erosion leaving only 421.65 sq.km of the island by the year 2001 rendering hundreds homeless especially during floods. An important dimension of the problem relates to redistribution of people on account of the loss of villages, agricultural land and other economic support base. The present study aims at assessing the magnitude of the problem of redistribution in the island both within and without. Using data available from successive census enumeration at the village level; from the year 1971 till 2001, the study measures the extent of population redistribution through an analysis of changes in the number and size of settlements, changes in settlement structure and changes in population distribution, density patterns and growth of population. It is hypothesized that the rate of shrinkage in the size of the island is directly related to an accentuation in the process of internal redistribution of population and/or out-migration of people and changes in settlement structure leading to greater proportion of large sized villages.

The relationship of poverty, household environment and health is complex and context specific. There are a few studies that explore the linkages of poverty, household environment and health in urban India. Using the unit data from Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS), 2004-05 that covered over 40,000 households, this paper examines the linkages of poverty, environmental deprivations and short term morbidities (fever, cough and diarrhoea) in urban India. Poverty is measured in a multidimensional framework by incorporating dimensions of knowledge, income and employment, while environmental deprivation is measured using basic sanitation, cooking fuel and drinking water. A composite index combining multidimensional poverty and environmental deprivation is computed and classified as; multidimensional poor and poor environment, multidimensional poor and good environment, multidimensional non-poor and poor environment, and multidimensional non-poor and good environment. Controlling for socio-economic covariates, compared to those who are multidimensional non-poor and living in good environment, the odds ratio of having fever was 1.44 [CI: 1.34-1.56] among those multidimensional poor and poor environment, 1.33 [CI: 1.20-1.47] among those multidimensional non-poor but living in poor environment and similar for cough and diarrhoea.

Abstract.
Many researchers and organisations pursue disparate approaches to document the environmentally displaced persons (EDPs). Such approaches do not adequately match the predictions and estimations of EDPs that climate change would trigger in the future. This letter proposes a model dubbed Conceptual Model for Environmentally Displaced Persons Information Systems (CoMEDiPIS) to complement global agenda for solution-oriented research and policy. The CoMEDiPIS is designed to complement the existing science and policy responses to the EDPs. It stresses bridge building between international and local relief and disaster management agencies through a participatory approach. The model’s approach emphasises sharing of data using social media and online GIS for better policy and response.

Keywords: displacement, EDPs, climate change, conceptual model

Egypt is one of the potential vulnerable countries to the effect of climate warming. The negative consequences of climate warming are Sea Level Rise (SLR), water scarcity, agriculture and food insufficiency, and pressures on population dynamics and dimensions. The most probably impacts of climate change are: migration of part of the Egyptian population, increase in population density, adverse impacts on human health (crowding and tropical diseases), exaggerated the problem of water supply and demand, food insufficiency, and contamination of fresh ground water. Climate change will affect all economic activities in Egypt with different levels. Agriculture sector will be the mostly severely impacted flowed by the industrial sector and tourism sector. Fisheries and tourism are likely to be the most impacted jobs by climate change. International conflicts could arise over rights to shared Nile River as a result of climate change, in addition to the population growth and development pressures. Concrete sea walls to protect the beaches along the Mediterranean, reducing the population growth to the replacement level, and producing 20% of total energy from renewable and clean sources are the most important strategies to confront the problem.

Rapid population growth, industrialization and urbanization accompanied by growing number of vehicles in country are adversely affecting the environment. Though the relationship is complex, population size and growth tend to expand and accelerate these human impacts on the environment and health of the people. The present paper is an attempt to study the effect of growing population on environment and health of the people. The secondary data analysis conducted of changes and trends from 1971 to 2011. The analysis reveals that rapid population growth plays an important role in the environmental problems of the country. The increasing vehicles in country are producing more air pollution. The considerable magnitude of air pollution in the country pulls up the number of people suffering from respiratory diseases and many a times leading to deaths and serious health hazards. The situation is also similar for water pollution, as both ground water and surface water contamination leads to various water borne diseases and many a times leading to deaths and serious health hazards. The analysis suggests that there is urgent need to control population and environmental pollution in the country for better quality of life and health of present and future generation.

A system's vulnerability to climate change is determined by exposure, physical configuration and sensitivity, their ability and opportunity to adapt. The research goal is identify which variables determine population vulnerability to climate change in 2058 municipalities in Mexico. The hypothesis is that population vulnerability to climate change depends on sociodemographic characteristics (poverty --income--, education, health, demographic factors, dependence on agriculture); housing characteristics; natural resources and type of government in the region. It uses factor analysis, this statistical tool serves to reduce data grouped by common factors to explain factors (in this case dimensions). It is a method that helps to identify factors that explain the pattern of correlations within a set of observed variables. Analysis is used to reduce data regularly to identify a small number of factors that explain most of the observed variance.
The vulnerability of municipalities is varied for the five components. However, the center of the country presents more vulnerable by their social needs and the high concentration of population. This review identifies focus areas that must be addressed to avoid risks to the population living in the most vulnerable regions to climate events.

In the context of current discussions regarding the human dimensions of climatic change it is essential the location and characterization of the populations in situations of risk and the evaluation of how vulnerable such populations are to extreme climatic events.
To perform the analysis we consider the data relative to the area susceptible to landslides and its respective volume of population resident and potentially vulnerable to geological accidents. This data was plotted in a Lorentz Curve to allow an evaluation of the relationship between the volumes of population in relation to the extension of the vulnerable area.
The integration of the environmental dimension with the human dimension gives us a product that can be used to help in the creation of policies to prevent and to mitigate the impact resulting from extreme climatic events and also allows the comparison between different regions.