Summary Development Geography 2: theory & practices
Geographies of Development: Chapter 6 Resources and the environment
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Universiteit Utrecht (UU)
Sociale Geografie en Planologie
Development Geography 2
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Chapter 5 People in the development progress
Introduction: putting people at the centre of development
People are, or certainly should be, absolutely central to the development process and an
essential element in all development strategies. But all too often in the past the needs of people
have been ignored and there has been a failure to consider the possible implications of
development policies on individuals, households and communities.
Too often in the past development strategies have been driven by economic goals, whereas
fulfilling basic needs has received less priority, commonly assuming that economic growth will
somehow ‘trickle down’ spontaneously to the most marginal elements of society and space.
A further problem with many development strategies is that ‘people’ and ‘communities’ have all
too frequently been perceived by developers as being homogeneous and passive, rather than
as diverse and dynamic entities.
Population and resources: a demographic time bomb?
The question of the rate of population growth and its relationship to the availability of food and
vital natural resources has exercised the minds of many scholars for centuries. Both in positive
perspectives as negative perspectives,
Negative
Malthus: population growing more rapidly than food supply, and he advocated the need for
‘preventive’ and ‘positive’ checks on population growth. Malthus failed to anticipate the effect of
the agricultural revolution which led to a significant increase in food production in Western
Europe.
Ehrlich: each year food production in undeveloped countries falls a bit further
behind burgeoning population growth → mass starvation
Club of Rome: in line with Malthus and Ehrlich
Positive
Boserup: population growth and increasing population density can in fact be key factors in
generating innovation and intensification (agricultural technology) in traditional food production
systems. Population will over time adapt their environment and cultivation strategies such that
increased yields can be obtained without any significant degradation of the resource base.
Where do the world’s people live?
Figure 5.1.
The most densely settled countries are to be found in Asia (India & China) and Europe. The
world’s most sparsely settled areas include Australia and Canada. Africa is still the world’s least
densely settled continent. But the spread of people over Africa is highly uneven.
Counting people
Censuses, which even in some richer countries are not always reliable, are also costly, time-
consuming and require considerable expertise to administer and analyse.
, Population change
The acceleration of population growth is well demonstrated by the shortening of the time
intervals needed to add successive billionis to the world population.
They will be by no means evenly distributed across the globe. Estimates are made that the total
world population in 2050 will be 9.5 billion, of which no less than 8.2 billion (86%) would be in
the Global South. Such population growth in the South is going to place even greater pressure
on resources, which in many poor countries are already stretched.
National and global populations are affected by:
- Natural disasters
- Government (one-child policy in China).
Understanding population statistics
Changes in population growth rates over time are affected by a wide range of factors, but are
essentially controlled by the changing relationship between birth rates and death rates.
Birth rate: index of the fertility of the population and is a ratio of number of live births to the total
populations, usually expressed as so many per 1000.
Death rate: the number of deaths per 1000 of the population
Two other important indicators of the quality of life and levels of development are infant mortality
and life expectancy.
Infant mortality rate: number of deaths of infants under 1-year-old per 1000 live births. This
variable reflects general living conditions
Life expectancy at birth also reflects general living standards, nutrition and health care.
The demographic transition
Figure 5.2.
The changing relationship over time between fertility and mortality rates is clearly demonstrated
through the demographic transition model, which identifies four or five key stages that countries
go through in their demographic history.
Stage 1: high birth rates and high death rates
Stage 2: decline of death rate (due to improvement in nutrition and public health),
but the birth rate remains high → population growth
Stage 3: Birth rate begins to fall (due to decline of economic and social value of children and
contraception) and death rates continues to decline. Population growth reaches maximum
Stage 4: death rate reaches its lowest level and birth rates steadily declines →
population growth begins to fall.
(Stage 5: population growth is close to zero; in some cases there is even negative growth)
Population policies
Experience has shown that tackling underlying causes and finding ways of ameliorating
(=verbeteren) poverty and insecurity and helping to improve the health of mothers and children
is they way to decline fertility and mortality rates.
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