• Machakos

  • A symbol that rapid population growth is not a recipe for disaster and can even bring benefits

• Emphasizes the importance of culture, socioeconomics, and biology

Doomsters and boomsters

• Boomsters: believe that there are potential benefits of reproduction

• Impact of population growth in the world’s drylands

  • World’s drylands: Africa, Asia, Latin America

    • Many see a crisis looming

    • Others see some hope for a transition to more sustainable livelihoods

• Boserupian hypothesis

  • According to Boserup, underpopulation is a barrier to development

  • Population growth could trigger intensification, which is the use of new technologies and more labor to get bigger harvests from less land

  • She argues that dry areas might not have a fixed carrying capacity because, with more labor, these dry areas could be able to sustain more people over time

  • Dryland farmers could be counted on to invest in and take care of their land as a solution to natural resource damage

Malthus controverted?

• The study about Machakos controverted Malthus and its pessimistic views about population growth

  • Machakos didn’t go into feed deficit

  • Machakos’ population didn’t stop growing dramatically

• The study about Machakos supported Boserup by concluding that increasing population density has had positive effects

• However, Machakos still doesn’t grow enough food to feed its population. Some poorer families have not benefited from Machakos’ economic growth

• Intensification can worsen problems such as biodiversity and water pollution

• There is some concern as to whether Machakos is an exception

  • There are countless instances where fast-growing farming communities have not been innovative enough and are suffering as a result

• The conclusion is that there is no single recipe for success!

  • We have to take into account different factors to know if populations are successful in coping with their population growth

• Examples:

  • China

    • Intensification has supported extensive population growth + urbanization

    • This has led to the abandonment and revegetation of less fertile lands

    • The problem with the one-child policy

  • Africa

    • Sahel: extra greenery

      • Boosted by policy changes: giving farmers ownership of trees that grow on their land + some technical assistance

      • The extra greenery is helping poor farmer communities to be more resilient to droughts and economic setbacks

• Forests of South and Central America support both these Malthusian and Boserupian views in the deforestation problem

  • Depends on local circumstances