EFFECT OF ADOPTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES ON POPULATION
Sustainable development strategies too affect population growth. In literature, the role of population on demographic factors in development has been greatly explored, but the role of sustainable development in population management is less understood. In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development—the Brundtland Commission—urged that “all should keep in mind that sustainable economic growth and equitable access to resources are two of the most certain routes towards lower fertility rates.” The State of World Population 1993 has clearly demonstrated that more often than not international migration has been caused by environmental disruption; sustainable development and environmental planning therefore need control of migration.
Part of the difficulty in treating sustainable development as a determinant of demographic processes arises from the fact that there is no single blueprint of sustainability. Economic and social systems differ widely among countries. Thus although sustainable development has become a global objective, each nation will have to work out its own concrete policy. Also in the different regions of the world the nature of population problems is different. The developed countries are in general characterized by low birth and death rates, low infant mortality rate, below replacement fertility, near zero or negative growth rate, high percentage urban and the problem of population implosion. The less developed countries are in general characterized by high but falling birth rate, falling death rate, falling infant mortality rate, high growth rate, high maternal mortality rate, low percentage urban and the problem of population explosion. Several countries in both developed and less developed categories have unique demographic situation and they do not conform to the generalized pattern. Sustainable development policies may have both desirable and undesirable consequences in both developed and developing countries. Generalized connections may not exist. Each country requires its own response to population processes as well as own strategies for sustainable development. |
