Malakoff 2011, Are More People Necessarily a Problem

• 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

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