Sustainable Development and Geography

Contents: Preface. 1. Transforming institutions in agricultural land. 2. Getting the best from cities. 3. Strengthening national coordination. 4. Global problems and local concerns. 5. Pathways to a sustainable future. Index.

The focus on people living the remote, low-density settlements on fragile, lands, and how, with new institutional improvements, they can better manage their portfolio of assets to increase productivity and sustain critical ecosystems. Chapter 1 is about people living in areas with commercial agricultural potential, either in frontier areas where market-driven agriculture is newly emerging, or in areas closer to larger and increasingly urban markets. These areas will help feed the growing and increasingly higher-income world population. This chapter focuses on the management of and interaction of assets such as land and water and the environment; how to help the poor get better access to land and water; and the importance of asset distribution for the development of good institutions especially in near-market areas where intensification can generate considerable equitable growth. Population in rural areas totals 70 billion people, and more than half of them live in areas with commercial agriculture potential. Some of these people will migrate to cities, and many will live in areas that will be reclassified as urban when the areas densities increase. Despite widespread concern ove rthe past 20 to 30 years about food shortages, the rural developing world has exceeded expectations in food production. Will past trends continue, or is there a real cause for concern? For the world to make a smooth transition to relative population stability 50 years from now, its rural areas will have to meet a range of challenges.