Population, environment, and development in Africa : dynamic linkages and their implications for future research and development programming

The study provides an overview of the ongoing debate, identifies shortcomings in previous research (neglect of household strategies, contextual factors, and the programmatic issues involved) and associated gaps in the literature, and presents findings from case studies of Rwanda, Niger, and Madagascar. Key findings are as follows. (1) Efforts to preserve forests and biodiversity must first meet the income needs of rural households and promote sustainable intensification on lands they are already farming. This will reduce the pressure on poor farmers to extend their farms onto fragile margins and to rely on labor-intensive gathering strategies in common areas that are rich in biodiversity. (2) Protecting the environment is crucial to economic growth. For example, soil degradation reduces the food security of households by undermining farm productivity and food and fiber output growth. (3) Nonfarm employment, small enterprise promotion, and cash crop promotion can be important to the environment through positive impact on sustainable agricultural intensification. (4) Government and donor attempts to slow population growth through family planning are often at odds with farm households, where increased family size often increases the family"s wealth, security, and social standing. (5) Population changes are not independent of changes in household strategies, environmental degradation, and income growth. (6) Land markets and land tenure are critical policy issues mediating how population increase translates into problems for agriculture and the environment. The structure of landholding is central to on-farm population and environment interactions. Program implications, sketched in conclusion, focus on the need to develop effective intersectoral linkages in developing initiatives to assist the small farm households which hold the key to African development. Includes bibliography. (Author abstract, modified)