Population dynamics and environmental linkages

Studies of population-environment relationships frequently are framed around processes such as population growth, consumption, and modes of production. The role of war and armed conflict, however, has received less attention, despite the fact that these events can quickly disrupt and transform how populations interact with their environments. We use an institutional analysis and development approach to explore the social and ecological factors that drive the relationship between armed conflict and the resilience of resource management activities. The setting is 21 independently controlled community forests and their user groups in the Chitwan Valley of Nepal from 1995 through 2010--a period that spans the beginning, middle, and end of the violent Maoist insurgency in Nepal. We find that armed conflict negatively impacts the ability of community forest groups to provide a variety of conservation programs. Armed conflict also decreases these groups' annual income, which subsequently reduces the benefits the groups can provide for their members. Considering what institutional characteristics increase vulnerability to the negative effects of armed conflict, we found that the highest vulnerability rests with community forest user groups that have more responsibility--such as larger forests--and more frequent bureaucratic activities.

China is a mountainous country with a large population in mountainous areas. Mountainous areas have the specific characters of population, environment, society and ethnicity, so population distribution in mountainous areas has specific determinants. Taking Bijie in Guizhou Province as a case, the paper analyzes the influences of environmental factors, economic and social factors on population density by town based on GWR model. Population density is very sensitive to spatial scale. Researches of microscopic scale are different from those of macroscopic scale, so the results we obtained may be different from the past. First, economic and social factors have larger impact on population density than natural factors as we take town as a basic unit. Second, altitude does not influence population density as obviously as slope, which shows that the altitude is not the main determinant any more in high-altitude areas. Moreover, GDP, urbanization, transportation condition and terrain condition have diminishing marginal effect on population density, whereas medical condition has increasing marginal effect on population density. Therefore, the development of economy, urbanization and transportation will reduce the constraints, and the improvement of medical condition will play an important role in optimizing population distribution.

Title: The relationship between population growth rate and climate change in Kibuku District-Uganda.

Objective: To establish the relationship between population growth and climate change in Kibuku District, Eastern Uganda.

Results: 1352 respondents (902 Female, 450 Male).1002 people said that the area is commonly faced with famine with longer dry seasons. Most of them attributed the change in climate to over deforestation that was carried out in search for fuel that is charcoal and firewood which is 99% of the fuel types commonly used. 163 said that the increased pressure on the same piece of land has destroyed the ecological system leading to poor yields, famine and some common diseases.187 people said that it was change in God’s plan. 67% of the respondents said that the if the government can work with them to reduce on the population growth rate and thus reduce pressure on natural resources and most of them recommended the safer family planning services.
Methodology: Focus group discussions, observation, interviews, storytelling were the methods.
Conclusion: There is need to get an alternative fuel source especially in the rural settings other than firewood and charcoal in the urban centers to reduce on tree exploitation.
Recommendations: developing countries should encourage voluntary family planning

The research took three villages in Kulon Progo which have different physiography, Kalirejo as hilly, whereas Tayuban and Pleret as plains. The research aims at identifying 1) The difference between the quality of settlement environment in plain and hilly areas in regard to the influence of physical and socio economy characteristics, 2) Discovering the most influential factor on the quality of settlement environment, 3) The correlation of the physical and social economic variable with the quality of settlement environment. The research employs survey method. The respondent taken in case study are the head of a family. The analysis technique employed in the research is quantitative analysis and supported by qualitative analysis. The research results show that 1) Settlement environment in plain areas own better qualities compared to that in hilly areas. 2) The most influential factor on the quality of settlement environment is the slope factor. It means that settlement environment which has slight slope (plain areas) owns better quality than steep slope (hilly areas). 3) There are significant correlations between the slope, groundwater level, and the level of family income with the quality of settlement environment.

Key Words : quality, settlement environment, plain, hills

Brazil has experienced an economic development and achieved in 2012 the sixth position in the World economy ranking. As a consequence of economic growth, the Federal Government has invested in social policies that attempt to mitigate extreme poverty in the country. Policies such as "Bolsa Família", "Light for All" and "PAC - Growth Acceleration Plan" were proposed to increase family income and infrastructure, especially in urban areas. However, several Brazilian cities, such as the Amazonian ones, which have grown since 1980 considering the Region an urbanized forest, reproduce structural problems. According to 2010 Census, the urban population in the region grew by 36.6% between 1980 and 1991, 30.3% between 1991 and 2000, and 18.8% from 2000 to 2010. In 2010, 93.3% of the Brazilian Amazon cities were considered small in terms of population (less than 50,000 inhabitants), and concentrated 39% of the total urban population of the region. In this sense, we intend to discuss in this paper the situation of urban space in the Brazilian Amazon in terms of infrastructure and socio-economic conditions, and the conditions of sustainability, using the city of Ponta de Pedras, located in Para State, as an example.

Do Population-Health-Environment (PHE) initiatives work? It offers to combine solutions to population-environment (PE) together with health-environment (HE) for the global conservation of natural resources in developing countries. In doing so, PHE recognizes the importance of considering “conservation, health, and family planning interventions” in the management of some of the world’s most impoverished as well as ecologically rich environments (Hahn et al. 2011). In this paper I probe the potential effectiveness of integrated PHE investments for conservation outcomes. The evaluation was conducted in 2007 in WWF high priority marine and terrestrial conservation sites with PHE programs in Philippines, Nepal, India, Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. I interviewed 754 individuals: WWF staff, health and environment partners and local men and women in individual and focus-group interactions. Quantitative and qualitative results indicate diverse, and in some cases dramatic, improvements in maternal and child health and conservation measures that appeared to synergized by the integrative PHE approach. Results also point toward the importance of investing in livelihoods in tandem with PHE interventions.

Relationships are often found between rural livelihoods and environmental variables (e.g. woodland and non-timber forest products can have a positive impact on rural incomes). In many developing countries the poorest populations are often located in marginal locations that are unsuitable for sustained habitation such as those affected by flooding and erosion. Satellite data is uniquely placed to provide fine temporal and spatial resolution data for rapid assessment of environmental conditions. Therefore, if relationships can be found between livelihoods and environmental metrics derived solely from satellite data, it may be possible to create a basic estimate of local livelihoods using remotely sensed data. Data from the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) were used to explore the relationships between socioeconomic conditions and environmental variables derived from satellite data. Statistical associations from spatial regression techniques were identified between satellite-derived environmental metrics and socioeconomic conditions which suggest that there is potential to infer basic livelihood conditions from satellite data. This could provide useful information for identifying vulnerable populations to improve geographic targeting of development assistance, monitoring progress towards the MDGs.

In the agricultural frontier, land fragmentation has the potential to reduce property sizes, change the demographic characteristics of rural populations and influence decision making on land use-cover change. The study objective is to explore the connection between fragmentation and population mobility from the household and land unit perspective. We aim towards a better understanding of land fragmentation process and discuss its implications on land use-cover change in two distinct contexts: Santarém city in the Brazilian Amazon and the Sierra del Lacandón National Park (SLNP) in Guatemala. Based on survey data incorporating sociodemographic and environmental information, the analysis will compare the role of household demographic factors such as the out-migration of the second generation in influencing property fragmentation. In Santarém, 311 properties were sampled in 2003 and 2009; in the SLNP 186 properties were sampled in 1998 and 2009. The comparison between the areas informs how the two contexts can lead to similar changes. Fragmentation is not a simple, one-dimensional process: its location and setting have an important role in impacting household livelihoods and land use outcomes. Improving knowledge about this phenomenon will assist in policy creation related to rural population, food security and forest conservation

The coastal zone of Bangladesh hosts over 35 million people where 3 million are extremely vulnerable and exposed to adverse effect of climate change. They lose working days for substantial increase of cyclone, flood, frequent signal number 3 or above in the Bay. The objective of this research was to reduce fisher boat capsize and house collapse by identifying existing adaptation and develop adaptation strategies on boat, house, and homestead design. The research was conducted in three coastal locations of Noakhali district from 2010 to 2012. Focus group discussions, participatory rural appraisal, interviewing local elderly people were conducted and professionals were engaged to design implementation strategies. Result shows that coastal people experience increased temperature, cyclone, rain, water logging, siltation, salinity, erosion, and flood. The existing adaptation includes using radio and mobile phone while fishing, using strong boat and making house on high land. Proposed strategies for fishing boat are using more than 30 feet length, putting at least 3 longitudinal bar along upper side, using enough vertical side bars and avoiding plank joints on boat front. The homestead measures include reduction in house height, use of cross bracing of wall frame, roof tying with extra-post by nylon ropes.

The coastal zone of Bangladesh hosts over 35 million people where 3 million are extremely vulnerable to adverse effect of climate change. They lose working days for substantial increase of cyclone, flood, signal number 3 or above in the Bay. The objectives of the study were capacity development of poor fishermen and women and piloting of agriculture technology based Alternate Income Generation (AIG) activities for their livelihood improvement. AIG options were piloted among 450 fisher households in three coastal locations from January 2010 to April 2012 with equal representations from each. The piloting of AIG includes experience sharing, needs assessment, inputs distribution, providing skill development training and support services, monitoring and case study. Results showed that due to AIG options, annual total income of fisher families increased substantially. The increased income from fish sale is due to increase in fish price and additional fish from fish culture. Similarly, income from poultry and livestock have increased significantly compared to baseline. Result also showed the increased number of poultry and livestock possessed by fisher families during post-intervention period. Case studies clearly showed that additional income was accrued from AIG activities undertaken by fisher families.