Questions de géographie de population dans les pays arides

Population Policy Issues in Arid Lands Population policy makers in arid lands do so in an atmosphere of considerable uncertainty. It is not only difficult to obtain reliable statistics on issues such as desertification and population growth, but it is also problematic to know how best to model the complex interactions which link the environmental and demographic regimes of arid lands. A case study from the Badia region of Jordan is used to illustrate the unprecedented rate of population growth which policy makers have to contend with in their strategies for development of an increasingly vulnerable environment. From the case study, as well as from a review of the research literature on arid lands, three different approaches to formulating policies on population-environment matters are reviewed. While development strategies drawing on local indigenous knowledge of environmental management systems are to be commended, there is also a need to harness the aspirations and motivations of local peoples through participatory approaches to planning and development. Policy makers should also urgently move to identifying which subgroups in the populations of arid lands are particularly vulnerable to cyclical change in environmental conditions

Arid · Citizen journalism · Desertification · Economics · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Indigenous · Natural resource economics · Political science · Population · Population growth · Sociology · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Transboundary Water Resource Management · Water management and technologies · Ecology