Has the world survived the population bomb? A 10-year update
AbstractBetween 1960 and 2011, world population grew from 3 to 7 billion, an unprecedented rate of population growth that will never be seen again. In spite of the addition of 4 billion people in just 51 years, the world experienced some of the biggest improvements in living standards in human history, with declines in poverty and improvements in food production per capita in all major regions. This paper looks at the period since 2011, during which the world added another billion people. Progress has continued in many areas, with food production continuing to grow faster than population and with continued declines in th...
Source: Population and Environment - May 30, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
From risk reduction to a landscape of (un)desired outcomes: Climate migrants ’ perceptions of migration success and failure
AbstractMuch of the climate migration research examines whether migration is a successful/adaptive response that reduces climate risk or a failed/maladaptive response that increases risk. However, it has largely failed to examine migration outcomes through migrants ’ own eyes, thereby yielding insights that are potentially disconnected from their realities and aspirations. To address this gap, we examine how migrants perceive “success” and “failure” concerning drought-influenced migration. Focusing on migration from agro-pastoral northern Kenya to th e City of Nairobi, we conduct semi-structured interviews with 3...
Source: Population and Environment - May 29, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Social vulnerability and population loss in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria
This study also provides an opportunity to evaluate the validity of the social vulnerability index (SVI) in Puerto Rico. Through six spatial regression models, I find that the current 15-variable SVI significantly predicts greater populat ion loss for more vulnerable areas in Puerto Rico, in which the most vulnerable tracts lost 81 more people than tracts at the median. However, a revised 10-variable SVI—created after factor analysis by removing variables for mobile homes, group quarters, multi-unit dwellings, minority status, and limited English proficiency—produces an even larger effect size when predicting populatio...
Source: Population and Environment - May 2, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
The effect of social network sites usage in climate change awareness in Latin America
AbstractUsing data from the Latinobar ómetro (Latin Barometer) survey of 2017 to analyze the effect of social network site usage on climate change awareness in 18 Latin American countries, this article makes three contributions. First, it offers results on the socioeconomic determinants of climate awareness in a region of the world whe re there is scant published evidence in this regard. Second, it shows the effect of social media consumption on climate change awareness by assessing the role of each of the most popular sites: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Tumblr. Third, it assess...
Source: Population and Environment - May 1, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Heat and drought reduce subnational population growth in the global tropics
AbstractIn recent decades, the possibility that climate change will lead to depopulation of vulnerable areas in the global tropics via migration, mortality, or collapsing fertility has generated significant concern. We address this issue by using data on subnational population growth from 1809 subnational units across the global tropics and linked data on climate exposures to examine how decadal temperature and precipitation anomalies influence population-weighted intercensal growth rates. Our fixed-effects regression analysis reveals that the lowest predicted population growth rates occur under hot and dry conditions. The...
Source: Population and Environment - April 24, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Demo-livelihoods theoretical framework: microdemographics mediating livelihoods over frontier stages in the Amazon
The objective is to provide theoretical groundings for empirical studies that unveil how microdemographics (individual and farm household) cohort dynamics in frontier settings such as the Amazon mediate livelihoods (including land use) strategies over distinct development stages. It shows how demographic factors may be significant to define livelihoods at earlier frontier stages and release explanatory power at later stages, when market integration i ncreases and households increasingly adopt diversified livelihoods. Furthermore, demographic dynamics at each frontier stage may be associated with distinct livelihood strateg...
Source: Population and Environment - April 15, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Post-disaster (im)mobility aspiration and capability formation: case study of Southern California wildfire
AbstractScholarship on the environmental dimensions of migration demonstrates the complex interplay of climatic and non-climatic factors which combine to create a potential for migration. Yet in times of environmental crisis or change, not everyone aspires to or is capable of moving to reduce their vulnerability. When, why, and how populations vulnerable to hazard risks decide not to migrate remains a significant gap in our understanding of the migration —environment relationship. Analysis of data from 38 qualitative interviews shows how Los Angeles County residents—after surviving the 2018 Woolsey Fire—developed asp...
Source: Population and Environment - April 11, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Measuring the environmental context of child growth in Burkina Faso
AbstractChild growth failure, as indicated by low height-for-age z-scores (HAZ), is an important metric of health, social inequality, and food insecurity. Understanding the environmental pathways to this outcome can provide insight into how to prevent it. While other studies have examined the environmental determinants of HAZ, there is no agreed upon best practices approach to measure the environmental context of this outcome. From this literature, we derive a large set of potential environmental predictors and specifications including temperature and precipitation levels, anomalies, and counts as well as vegetation anomal...
Source: Population and Environment - March 24, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
The need for willingness and opportunity: analyzing where and when environmental variability influences conflict in the Sahel
AbstractResearchers and policymakers often claim that harsh climate conditions intensify the risk of armed conflict by acting as a “threat multiplier.” Yet, new data reveal that locations with seasonal environmental variations face higher conflict risk than locations with permanently harsh climate, e.g., due to the ability of populations accustomed to harsh climatic conditions to develop adaptation practices. Focusing on th e Sahel, we investigate underexplored relationships between the location and timing of environmental and agricultural resource variability, and their impact on conflict. We argue that in Sahara Dese...
Source: Population and Environment - February 8, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Disasters and subjective assessments of recovery in the long run
This study examines how peri- and post-disaster factors influence long-run perceptions of disaster recovery in marginalized populations. We paired survey (N = 533) and in-depth interview (N = 87) data from the Resilience in Survivors of Katrina (RISK) Project—a fifteen-year (2003–2018) panel study of low-income mothers affected by Hurricane Katrina. Twelve years later, we assessed long-run recovery in terms of perceived situational improvement and no longer identifying as a di saster victim. Multinomial logistic regression results showed that among peri-disaster exposures, bereavement was negatively associated ...
Source: Population and Environment - February 7, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Exposure to violent conflict and environmental conservation behaviors in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo
AbstractThe vast majority of conflicts in Africa occur in biodiversity hotspots, threatening efforts to conserve protected natural environments and endangered species. This research contributes to the sparse literature on conflict exposure and environmental conservation behaviors by examining the factors that moderate this relationship. Analyzing data from a population-representative survey of households in a conflict-affected region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, we examine the effect of conflict exposure on two harmful behaviors: hunting and/or farming in a protected environmental area. We find that exposure to con...
Source: Population and Environment - November 18, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Salinization of the Bangladesh Delta worsens economic precarity
AbstractAnthropogenic environmental changes are having complex effects on all aspects of the hydrological cycle. In estuarine areas, these factors are coalescing to increase saline contamination. Between 2006 and 2007, coastal Bangladesh experienced a sudden and dramatic increase in water salinity, with the saline front shifting inland by roughly 20km. We use this except ional event to explore the impact of salinity on economic activity and agricultural production. Our results indicate that locations that experienced a sudden increase in water salinity incurred a 33% reduction in economic activity, as measured by n...
Source: Population and Environment - October 11, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Defend women ’s rights and save the trees: a cross-national analysis of women’s immovable property rights and forest loss
AbstractSince 1990, 420 million hectares of forest have disappeared worldwide with the majority being lost in low- and middle-income nations. Given this alarming trend, what can be done to safeguard such a vital resource? Drawing on feminist political ecology, we suggest that protecting women ’s legal rights to immovable property might help alleviate the problem of forest loss in low- and middle-income nations. Building on existing theoretical and case study work, we use ordinary least squares and two-stage instrumental variable regression models to examine the association between wome n’s immovable property rights in ...
Source: Population and Environment - October 4, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Drought and migration: an analysis of the effects of drought on temporary labor and return migration from a migrant-sending area in Nepal
AbstractAlthough the relationship between drought – a dimension of climate change – and migration has been explored in a number of settings, prior research has largely focused on out-migration and has not considered climate factors at the migrant destination. However, drought may impact not only out-migration but also return migration, partic ularly in settings where temporary labor migration and agricultural reliance are common. Thus, considering drought conditions at origins and destinations is necessary to specify the effects of climate on migrant-sending populations. Using detailed data from the Chitwan Valley Fa...
Source: Population and Environment - September 28, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Floods and maternal healthcare utilisation in Bangladesh
AbstractFloods are a common natural hazard in Bangladesh, and climate change is expected to further increase flooding frequency, magnitude and extent. Pregnant women in flood contexts could face challenges in utilisation of maternal healthcare. The aim of this paper is to analyse associations between flood exposure and the use of maternal healthcare (antenatal care visits, birth assisted by skilled birth attendants, and giving birth in a health facility) in Bangladesh for pregnancies/births between 2004 and 2018. Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data from four surveys in the time period 2007–2018 and data on fl...
Source: Population and Environment - September 6, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
