Population and Environment Linkages
Contents: Foreword. Overview/C.P. Prakasam and R.B. Bhagat. I. Population and environment linkages: 1. On linkages between population and environment: some evidences from India/Gopal K. Kadekodi. 2. Understanding the linkages between population growth, depletion of natural resources and its implications for women: a focus on the EAG States/Kamla Gupta and Mohua Guha. 3. Vanishing common property resources and their environmental impact in rural areas: examples from two districts of Andhra Pradesh/M. Ramakrishna Reddy. 4. Concern for environmental degradation in India's planning: a review/Sancheeta Ghosh. II. Food, water and sanitation: 5. Population vs. food: who is winning the race?/Alka Parikh. 6. Water resources in India: issues, concerns and the new environment policy/Sumati Kulkarni. 7. Towards the need for water ethics for sustainable development/K. Radhakrishna Murty. 8. Water consumption patterns in domestic households in major Indian cities/Abdul Shaban and R.N. Sharma. 9. Environmental health and sanitation facilities: challenges for India/T.V. Sekher. III. Urban environment and disaster: 10. Urban ecological issues with special reference to Mumbai/K. Sita and Malabika Ray. 11. Cyclones in Andhra Pradesh: damages and response/U.V. Somayajulu. 12. Self-reported health problems of slum dwellers in Pune/Anjali Radkar. IV. Household environment and health: 13. Health during infancy and early childhood in India: household environment matters/Usha Ram, Avishek Hazra and Sandip Chakraborty. 14. Housing environment and child morbidity in rural Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu: an analysis of the NFHS-2 data/N. Audinarayana. 15. Effect of household environment on women's health in North-East India/Avishek Hazra, Subhra Datta and Mohua Guha. Index.
"Global environmental changes are occurring in ways fundamentally different than at any other time in our history. Experts say that virtually all of the earth's ecosystems have been significantly transformed through human actions, and that 60 percent of them have already been degraded.
Population growth, movement, density and resource consumption are considered to be the main driver and multiplier of many environmental problems not only in India but all over the world. The industrial systems have encouraged the centralization of populations in urban areas, leading to the growth of mega cities and relative neglect of rural habitats. These cities have, in turn, emerged as the main centres of environmental pollution with high density of vehicular traffic, industrial activity and growth of slum population. Health is another important area of mediation in the interface between population and environment.
Recognizing the need to examine the linkage between population and environment, the population-environment centre of the international institute for population sciences, Mumbai organized a national seminar on "Population and environment nexus" in October 2005 to which this book owes its origin. The questions raised in the seminar and their responses have been weaved into a four-part discussion: (i) Population and environment linkages, (ii) Food, water and sanitation, (iii) urban environment and disaster, and (iv) household environment and health.
In fact, population and environment linkages are complex and multifaceted, and no single book can do justice to this burning issue of our times. But, still, it is hoped that this volume would lead to a deeper understanding of the interface between population and environment." (jacket)
