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1 What factors lead to variations in fertility around
the world?
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One of the factors that determines the fertility of
a society is the rate at which women of childbearing
years are having children or, to put it another way,
the average number of children a woman will have in
her lifetime. This is referred to as the 'total fertility
rate'. In less developed countries there are a number
of socio-economic realities that lead women to have
more children: In countries where social services for
the elderly are scarce or non-existent, children are
seen as a source of financial support for parents in
their old age. In agrarian economies, children provide
valuable labor for families, and the costs of raising
them are low. Children are thus an economic asset. In
more developed countries, in contrast, children are
generally an economic burden.
There are fewer educational and career opportunities
in less developed countries, resulting in earlier marriage
and childbearing, leading, in turn, to more children
being born per couple.
Women's roles and responsibilities in less developed
countries are often confined to raising a family and
growing and providing food for the family. In contrast,
as women become more educated, and as they enter the
work force outside the family, they tend to have fewer
children.
In less developed countries, there is often a lack of
readily available safe, acceptable, and effective contraceptives.
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2 Is population growth really an environmental issue?
- The size of the human population
is one of the factors that determines what kind of an impact
we have on our environment. But it is not the only one. The
impact of people on their environment depends not only on their
numbers but also on their location in the biosphere, their levels
of consumption of energy and materials, and their technology.
Environmental impact results from a combination of factors,
each of which magnifies the others' effects.
3 Are there
other factors that determine environmental impact?
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Yes. Although affluence and polluting technologies are the causes
of environmental degradation with which we are most familiar,
there are others. Our natural environment can be negatively
affected by poverty, international debt, warfare, international
trade policy, and many other factors.
4 Was population growth the primary cause of the environmental
degradation that has occurred over the last 40 years?
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No. The scale and rate of environmental transformation have
grown dramatically during this period. World population has
also grown dramatically, leading some people to see population
growth as the key environmental issue. Population grew rapidly
in the developing countries, not in the developed ones. It is
the developed countries, however, that are disproportionately
responsible for the environmental degradation of the last 40
years. In 1985, for example, the developed countries of the
world generated more than three quarters of the world's waste,
even though they contained less than one quarter of the world's
population.
5 Is population
growth the ultimate cause of urbanization, water shortages,
and land degradation?
- No. Even if populations were not growing in developing countries
these problems would still exist. Poverty, unequal patterns
of land distribution, bad government policies, warfare, etc.,
would all still be present and all still be damaging the environment.
But even if population growth is not the root cause, it does
make the situation worse. Stopping population growth will not
do away with environmental degradation, but not stopping population
growth will make the situation much worse. In some of the poorest
countries of the world, population will double in a mere 25
to 30 years. This is the case in much of sub-Saharan Africa,
for example, where population has already more than doubled
in the past three decades. In these countries, economic growth
has stalled, per capita food production has declined, and international
debt has grown.
More
information:
www.tierramerica.net/2000/0903/losabias.html
www.tierramerica.org/mujer/contrapunto.shtml
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Source:
Primer on Environmental Citizenship.
Copyright © 2000 Tierramérica.
Todos los Derechos Reservados
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