Title: Population, resources, and poverty.

POPLINE Document Number: 075296

Author(s):

Dasgupta P

Source citation:

AMBIO, 1992 Feb;21(1):95-101.

Abstract:

Policy makers tend not to be aware of ecological processes. Population growth and the intensity of environmental resource use is related to a combination of history, opportunities, human motivation, ecological possibilities, and chance factors. a conservationist approach to environmental policy is recommended. The population problem in the poorest countries of the developing world (the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa) is defined in terms of resource allocation and the options for public policy. Little attention has been paid, if any, to the population problem of extreme poverty with unacceptable risks of maternal death for poor, illiterate women. Rural household environmental degradation is both a cause and an effect of poverty. The household context is described both as a partnership and as a societal decision; the importance of households in rural fertility decision making is pointed out. A resource allocation failure exists. High fertility is determined by the availability of fertility control, which use has been highly uneven in poor countries. Demand and access have been uneven. Children are durable consumer goods with costs and benefits and provide old-age security. Children also are useful as producer goods. Children provide on a daily basis activity instrumental to the well being of the household, i.e., carrying water, collecting fuelwood, and minding siblings and domestic animals. Labor productivity is low because capital and environmental resources are scarce and because of a lack of infrastructure such as roads. Government policy can negatively impact on the availability of resources in the community; Char Gopalpur in Bangladesh is given as an example of children as net producers where the resource exchange is from children to parents. The special features of sub-Saharan Africa are discussed as the irrelevancy of the household as a meaningful organizing unit of production, and the control by women of food production. In modeling fertility decisions parents must consider their own consumption, the quality of each child produced, and the number of children in the family. Much research has been devoted to the assumption that there is no allocation failure. Costs and benefits are experienced differently by men and women. Fertility goals may differ between the sexes particularly among educated women. Policy should be directed to changing the options men and women face. The goal is far more complicated than merely providing family planning centers for the rural poor or recognizing that poverty is a cause of high fertility.

Keywords:

Africa, Sub Saharan
Developing Countries
Fertility Determinants
Income
Households
Decision Making
Social Behavior
Reproductive Behavior
Resource Allocation
Poverty
Population Policy
Population Pressure
Land Supply
Child
Cost Benefit Analysis
Food Supply
Africa
Fertility
Population Dynamics
Demographic Factors
Population
Socioeconomic Factors
Economic Factors
Family and Household
Behavior
Financial Activities
Social Policy
Policy
Carrying Capacity
Natural Resources
Environment
Youth
Age Factors
Population Characteristics
Quantitative Evaluation
Evaluation