Poster session on Population and the environment

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.

Direct activity of the population is the principal cause of the climate change. All ecological costs of this change have to be born by the population of the Earth. As a result there is health deterioration (physical, mental, spiritual), which, in turn, leads to a reduction in labour productivity and increases in the public expenditure on social sphere. The breach of the interrelation in the system «Population – Environment - Population» generates a great number of problems, ecological migration being one of the most pressing. In order to find solutions to the problems of social and economic development of the global community in general, and Russia in particular, it is necessary to consider the interaction of elements of the system "Nature-Population-Economy". The forced migration caused a natural factors ( (floods, ect.) and/or ecological disasters, has become one more global problem at the present time. Besides, migration, both forced and voluntary, often results in greater urbanization, more intensive use of natural resources, increased pollution of territory by waste products. Migration has two aspects: on the one hand migration can be a cause of deterioration of ecological conditions of the accepting region, and on the other hand it can serve as a good indicator of ecological problems.

The paper analyzes the factors affecting people’s awareness to various reproductive and child health programs in different regions of most populous state Uttar Pradesh (with 200 million people) using data from DLHS-3. Sources of media were considered in to five major categories. Friends and relatives are main source for spreading awareness about ANC, institutional delivery and family planning whereas role of health professionals and electronic media comes afterward. Awareness by different Background characteristics depicts that ever married women of age group 25-29 were more aware about different government health programs followed by 20- 24 age group of EMW .Health professionals are most important source of media for immunization followed by print media. Electronic media plays main role in awareness of breastfeeding followed by friends and relatives. Women having higher education, living in urban areas, belonging to upper wealth quintile are more aware than those who are less educated, living in rural areas and belonging to lower wealth quintile. Eastern UP among all regions seems to lag behind in case of breastfeeding, immunization and family planning awareness. Despite being economically better-off, the western region lags behind in case of awareness about institutional delivery.

The health problems due to consumption of arsenic-contaminated water are a serious public health concern in West Bengal. There is extensive documentation of reproductive and fetal developmental effects due to arsenic exposure in animal species with only a handful examining the same in case of human pregnancy outcomes. This paper examines the adverse pregnancy outcomes (in terms of live births, stillbirths, spontaneous abortions and preterm births) of women both in the exposed (drinking arsenic-contaminated water at the level of ≥0.05 mg/L for at least five years) and non-exposed groups (drinking arsenic-safe water at the level of ≤0.01 mg/L). A cross-sectional case-control study was conducted in Murshidabad district, West Bengal. Eligible participants included ever-married women of reproductive age 15-49 years and who previously had at least one pregnancy. In the exposed and non-exposed groups, respectively, 87 percent and 94 percent of the pregnancies ended as live births; the difference was statistically significant (z = 3.2; p = 0.002). Adverse pregnancy outcomes measured as spontaneous abortion, stillbirth and preterm birth rates were 73.4, 62.3, and 81.8 per 1000 live births, respectively, among the exposed group and 34.0, 24.0, and 37.2 per 1000 pregnancies, respectively, among the non-exposed group.

This study focuses on urban residents’ migration experience in the last 5 years (2007-11) and migration intentions in the next 2 years (2012-13) and their predictors in two cities – Shanghai and Nanjing – of the Yangtze River deltaic region, China. A combination of stratified sampling and simple random sampling methods and structured questionnaire surveys were used to collect primary data at the household level. Probit regression analysis methods were used to explore the factors that influence households’ past migration behaviours and future migration intentions. Specifically, possible impacts of climate/environmental change on past and future migration are measured in two ways: severity of climatic and other environmental events; and specific domains of the effects of climate/environmental change. The study demonstrates climatic/environmental factors play a significant role in influencing human mobility. The impact of climate change on migration is mediated by influencing household’s housing situation, daily expenditure, and general health status. Both past migration and intended future migration are also mediated by the age of the household head, housing types, accessibility to medical services, and target destinations of migration.

Background: Heat waves are known to be associated with increases in mortality and the burden of heat-related illness in population. However, there is limited regional information available to guide the public health adaptation plan. Therefore, regional health vulnerability of heat waves is assessed.

Methods: Vulnerability index (VRI) are calculated and mapped for Korean peninsula from 2000s to 2100s, applying SRES A1B scenario. The contribution analyses of VRI were performed to grasp attributable variables.

Results: Climate change vulnerabilities related to heat waves showed large regional variations. Contribution of three components, climate change exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, were 0.28, 0.28 and 0.33, respectively. Overall vulnerability is predicted to be increasing over time. It varies by regions, however currently vulnerable areas appear to stay or be more vulnerable in the future. Vulnerable areas are mostly distributed southern part of Korea in 2000s, and tend to be gradually moving northward in the future.

Conclusions: Mapping of VRI visualizes the locations of relatively vulnerable regions for better monitoring of climate impact, sensitive socio-demographic characteristics subpopulations, and adaptive capacity such as healthcare access conditions.

The official response to the centuries’ old land concentration problem in Brazil has been the colonization of new areas, most notably in the Amazon region. Nonetheless, the so called “Amazonia Legal” also encompasses biomes other than tropical forests, including patches of savannas. This is the case of Central Roraima, where colonization projects have been created in savanna areas, where agriculture is much harder to sustain without the appropriate tools and techniques, and where natural resources are more scant than those found in forested areas. The colonization project Nova Amazônia, located in the municipality of Boa Vista is emblematic. The project was created in 2003 and after ten years of existence it experiences high abandonment rates and a significant re-functionalization, as most plots sold by peasants to upper middle class urban workers of Boa Vista have been converted into weekend homes. A sample of 200 colonists was recorded in Nova Amazônia and migration histories, agricultural experience and practices, and settlers’ relationship with the local environment were explored. Results indicate among the causes of land abandonment colonists’ lack of previous experience in savanna environments, as most settlers came either from urban areas, the semi-arid Northeast or the Pampa areas of South Brazil.

The paper analyzes the factors affecting people’s awareness to various reproductive and child health programs in different regions of most populous state Uttar Pradesh (with 200 million people) using data from DLHS-3. Sources of media were considered in to five major categories. Friends and relatives are main source for spreading awareness about ANC, institutional delivery and family planning whereas role of health professionals and electronic media comes afterward. Awareness by different Background characteristics depicts that ever married women of age group 25-29 were more aware about different government health programs followed by 20- 24 age group of ever married women.Health professionals are most important source of media for immunization followed by print media. Electronic media plays main role in awareness of breastfeeding followed by friends and relatives. Women having higher education, living in urban areas, belonging to upper wealth quintile are more aware than those who are less educated, living in rural areas and belonging to lower wealth quintile. Eastern UP among all regions seems to lag behind in case of breastfeeding, immunization and family planning awareness. Despite being economically better-off, the western region lags behind in case of awareness about institutional delivery.

Timor-Leste has one of the poorest and fastest growing populations in the world and its economy is nearly entirely dependent on its non-renewable natural resources. 75% of its population lives in rural areas and depend on forests for their livelihoods. Timor-Leste has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. With rapid population growth and a lack of sustainable population strategy, challenges such as unsustainable land-use, shifting agriculture and illegal cutting of trees for fuelwood or cash incomes will put tremendous pressure on the environment. Unfortunately preservation of the environment is not a national priority and existing laws and regulations concerning the environment are ill suited to the prevailing conditions in rural areas.
The analysis of this paper, based on primary data collected in the field in 2011-12, shows that there is a strong link between high fertility preference, poverty and forest dependency. While almost 93% of the households collect forest products for multiple puposes, 22% of households indicate that they use forests as safety nets. With forests holding potentials for poverty reduction, it is important to develop good environmental management strategies to ensure their sustainability despite an expanding population and strenghten their contribution to the national economy.