Environmental Management: Principles and practice

The implications of human population growth
In the late eighteenth century Thomas Malthus examined the factors limiting human
population growth. His thesis was that human population growth puts pressure on
the means of subsistence, throwing it out of balance with the environment so that
there is population collapse. Interest in the limits to human population was rekindled

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BOX 2.1 Approaches to environmental management
(There may be overlap between groupings, and within categories.
Environmental managers may be more or less anthropocentric or ecocentric,
more or less ‘green’, more or less supportive of technology. There is also a
wide spectrum of political and philosophical stances, all of which colour the
approach adopted)
Ad hoc approach: approach developed in reaction to a specific situation
Problem-solving approach: follows a series of logical steps to identify problems
and needs and implement solutions (see Figure 1.1)
Systems approach: for example
♦ ecosystem (mountain; high latitude; savanna; desert; island; lake, etc.)
(Dasmann et al., 1973; Ruddle and Manshard, 1981)
†
♦ agro-ecosystem (Conway, 1985a and b)
Regional approach: mainly ecological zones or biogeophysical units, which
can sometimes be international—i.e. involve different states, e.g. an
internationally-shared river basin. For example:
♦ watershed (Easter et al., 1986)
†
♦ river basin (Friedman and Weaver, 1979; Barrow, 1998)
†
♦ coastal zone
†
♦ island
♦ command area development authority (irrigation-related)
♦ administrative region
♦ sea (e.g. Mediterranean; North Sea; Baltic; Aral Sea, etc.)
†
Specialist discipline approach: often adopted by professionals. For example:
♦ air quality management
♦ water quality management
♦ land management
♦ environmental health
♦ urban management
♦ ocean management
♦ human ecology approach
♦ tourism management/ecotourism
♦ conservation area management
Strategic environmental management approach: (see chapter 6)

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Voluntary sector approach: environmental management by, or encouraged and
supported by NGOs. For example
♦ debt-for-nature swaps
♦ private reserves
♦ ‘ginger groups’ which try to prompt environmental management
♦ private funding for research or environmental management
Commercial approach: environmental management for business/public bodies
Political economy or political ecology approach: (see chapter 13) (Blaikie, 1985)
Human ecology approach: (see chapter 13)
†
= biogeophysical systems
in the 1970s by a group of ecologists, systems analysts, demographers and
‘environmentalists’ who came to be known as neo-Malthusians (e.g. Ehrlich et al.,
1970). For a given species and situation, population tends to grow until it encounters
a critical resource limit or controlling factor, whereupon there is a gradual or sudden,
limited or catastrophic decline in numbers, or a shift to a cyclic boom-and-bust pattern.
Neo-Malthusians saw population growth as the primary cause for concern, although
a few also focused on the growing threat from ‘careless technology’ (Farvar and
Milton, 1972). One of the neo-Malthusians, Hardin (1968), focused on collective
damage as a consequence of inadequately controlled individual actions, something
of concern to modern environmental management. Hardin’s ‘tragedy of the commons’
essay (and related works) argued that commonly owned natural resources under
conditions of population growth would be damaged because each user would seek to
maximize their short-term interests (see chapter 5). This thesis is now largely dismissed
as simplistic, together with much of the neo-Malthusian theory, for failing to examine
the social and historical context of population growth. The link between population
growth and environment is more complex than neo-Malthusians acknowledged.
While 1970s neo-Malthusian and environmentalist publications were largely
dogmatic warnings or pleas for change (Hardin, 1974a; 1974b), weak on proof and
workable strategies, they did trigger an awareness that in a finite world there were
limits. In practice, there are complex environment—population linkages and
feedbacks, for example, the speed of population growth related to the ability to upgrade
technology may be crucial. Damage to the environment can be a function of:
1
human population numbers;
2
high levels of consumption of that population (i.e. lifestyle);
3
technology used to satisfy consumption and dispose of waste (Harrison, 1990).
Contradicting neo-Malthusian theories, Boserüp (1965; 1981; 1990) explored
how population increase, provided it does not overwhelm the adaptive ability of

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people, may prompt social and technological changes leading to improved quality
of life (see also: Turner and Ali, 1996). Tiffen (1993; 1995; et al., 1994) documents
situations where not only has population growth led to innovation that improved
quality of life, it has also reduced environmental degradation. This prompts the
questions: How often can that pattern be achieved? What must be done to encourage
such a pattern?
While there are Boserüpian grounds for tempering Malthusian and neo-
Malthusian pessimism, world-wide there has been breakdown of established
livelihood strategies and environmental degradation. There are also situations where
a very low human population, or transboundary pollution of virtually undisturbed
areas, are causing environmental damage. On a global scale there do seem to be too
many humans, so environmental managers will have to establish what optimum
sustainable population is, and how it can best be reached. Some demographers argue
that only within the next decade or so will it be possible to achieve such a population
with humane approaches (Hartshorn, 1991:401).