World Encyclopaedia of Habitat and Population, Vols. I to VIII

Contents: Vol. I. Human Settlements and Human Health: Preface. 1. Human settlements, human health and global change. 2. Human settlement planning and management. 

Vol. II. Urban and Rural Settlements: Preface. 3. Urban settlements, rural settlements and human resource development. 4. Environmentally sound management of waste and biotechnology. 5. Habitat related problems. 

Vol. III. Population Pressure, Advocacy and Poverty: Preface. 6. Human population pressure and control methods. 7. Population advocacy vulnerable groups and human regeneration. 8. Combating poverty and implementing sustainability. 

Vol. IV. Population, Environment and Development: Preface. 9. Population, environment and development. 10. Population, consumption and threatened resources.

Vol. V. Population Explosion and Poverty: Preface. 11. Population explosion and poverty. 12. Population, affluence and technology. 

Vol. VI. Population and Development: Preface. 13. World Population: Major trends. 14. The shape of things to come: World Population to 2050. 15. Population and poverty satisfying unmet need as the route to sustainable development. 16. Mass migration and population change. 17. Population decline. 18. Population trends in China and India (A review). 19. Population ageing: an unavoidable future. 20. Reproduction and survival in an unknown world: What drives today\'s industrial populations, and to what future? 21. Population growth and demographic structure: a meeting report of the scientists. 22. Interaction between population and environmental degradation in the Pakistani context. 23. Interactions between learning and evolution: the outstanding strategy generated by the Baldwin Effect. 24. Qualitative models of interactions between two populations. 25. Human population density and extinction risk in the world\'s carnivores. 26. Historical interrelationships between population settlement and farmland in the Conterminous United States, 1790 to 1992. 27. Interactions between desertification and population movements. 28. Mass migration and population change.

Vol. VII. Nuptiality and Fertility: Preface. 29. An evaluation of recent estimates of fertility trends in India. 30. Wanted and unwanted fertility in selected states of India. 31. Fertility and contraceptive use in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. 32. Is son preference slowing down India\'s transition to low fertility? 33. Accelerating India\'s fertility decline: the role of temporary contraceptive methods. 34. Comparison of fertility estimates from India\'s sample registration system and National Family Health Survey. 35. Recent fertility declines in China and India: a comparative view. 36. Hormones and history: the evolution and development of primate female sexuality. 37. Understanding contraceptive use among Muslims of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. 38. Paths to lower fertility. 39. Stress and other environmental factors affecting fertility in men and women: overview. 40. Fertility decline in India: maps, models and hypotheses. 41. Fertility control and the quality of human life. 42. Understanding religion and the economics of fertility in India. 43. On the future of human fertility in India. 44. On tribal fertility in late nineteenth and early twentieth century India. 

Vol. VIII. Development Versus Environment Syndrome: Preface. 45. Development--environment syndrome. 46. Strategies for sustainable economic development. 47. Population and sustainable development. Bibliography. Index. 

""Go Forth and Multiply!" That\'s what the human population has successfully been doing for thousands and thousands of years, expanding, exploring, migrating, conquering, utilizing, evolving, civilizing, industrializing, and now, destroying the very land upon which we live.

Many feel that the major international wars to be fought in the future will continue to be over natural resources. Power conflicts and self-interest will perhaps mean that there will be gross violation of basic rights and death or misery for millions of innocent people. Throughout history, most wars have had trade and resources at their core (leading to ideological battles) fuelled by imperialistic motives. In the future, while this pattern is likely to continue, as resources get depleted and wasted in these wars, additional conflicts and contention will arise through access to even more limited resources.

Many of us have grown up learning and being told that 6 billion is too much and this "over population" is primarily impacting the planet\'s ability to cope. But is that really the case? Sure, the planet is facing incredible stress. But how much of that is due to large populations, and how much is based on other factors, such as how do we choose to live, how do we produce, consume and waste our resources? The poor are numerous, but as we shall see, consume far less resources of the planet.

Studies point to ecological limits to sustain people, but these limits can be different, based on the way we consume resources. So it is hard to say for sure what over population means let alone if we are at some threshold, below, or above it. The information collected in this Encyclopaedia provides valuable insights and is very important to consider, nonetheless. Yet, the figure of 6 billion and literature about over-population naturally looks to the poor regions where there are high populations and environmental degradation as the main problem.

It is in this context that the World Encyclopaedia of Habitat and Population is being presented to meet the demands of the readers trying to research on habitat, population and related issues." (jacket)