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  • Title: [Population and environment: lessons from the Latin American experience].
    Author: Martine G.
    Journal: Notas Poblacion; 1995 Dec; (62):261-310. PubMed ID: 12320809.
    Abstract:
    Consideration of population and the environment in Latin America, rather than focusing on population size and growth rate, should be centered on the processes of urbanization in the context of specific historical factors and economic forces at work in the region and their impact on the environment. The existing polemic on population and the environment is characterized by a level of generality, abstraction, and ideological content that prevent impartial examination and impede creation of more constructive and useful policy. From the perspective of population size and growth, Latin America is relatively small and advanced in the fertility transition, and does not represent a global population threat. The urban profiles of Latin America are more comparable to those of the industrial countries than those of Africa and Asia. Nearly three-fourths of Latin Americans already live in urban zones, and there are no prospects of future massive rural-urban migration except in the smallest and poorest countries. Given the close relations between population distribution, economic development efforts, and environmental deterioration, it appears evident that in most of Latin America the configuration of economic growth, the solution of social problems, the definition of environmental themes, and the results of demographic processes will be found in the large cities. The principal population and environmental concern in the region is with spatial distribution, not population growth. Most of the crucial ecological issues in the cities remain to be resolved. Interdisciplinary cooperation and long-range planning must be intensified. The relations between increased competition for international resources, ecological awareness, government regulation, and nature of economic activity are critical issues, with implications for population redistribution and socioenvironmental welfare. It is probable that none of the themes related to sustainability can be resolved without reformulation of the model of economic growth predominating in the developed countries.
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