Seminar on Environment, Population, and Development (E053)

Course Organization

Time & Location:

Tuesday, 14:15-16:00, Rigot

Instructor:

Dr. Ellen Wiegandt
Office: Rigot, No. 20
Office hours: Tuesday, 16:00-17:30 or by appointment
Telephone: 022 908 59 41
Email: wiegandt@hei.unige.ch

Teaching Assistant:

Renato Mariani
Office: Rigot 26
Office hours: Monday 14:15 - 16:00
Telephone: 022 908 59 38
Email: mariani4@hei.unige.ch

Course Description

In the context of ongoing efforts to construct an international regime to confront climate change (the Framework Convention on Climate Change and its associated Kyoto Process), there is a broad discussion about the differences between developed and developing countries. While in general countries of the North are moving toward cooperation on environmental matters, Southern countries are less willing to do so. In some sense this is paradoxical since there seems to be some scientific consensus that developing countries will in general experience more negative impacts of climate change than northern countries. This course examines the special vulnerabilities of developing countries in the face of global warming through a focus on institutional structures regulating resource use, particularly property rights and demographic regimes. The emphasis of the course is on population dynamics but these are seen in the context of resource questions, thus making an explicit link to environmental and climate change issues. Institutional factors that shape population processes are a particular focus of the course. For example, property rights are seen as a fundamental mechanism controlling use and distribution of natural resources. In turn, population dynamics are also studied in terms of their role in determining the demand for resources. This approach leads to the discussion of issues of sustainable development, North-South relations (including trade and migration) and their impact on global environmental negotiations.

Course requirements

Students are expected to write a research paper based on a topic of their choice for the general subject under consideration. The research paper should be about 15 printed pages long. It should have both a descriptive and an analytical content. Students will present the paper in class for discussion. More detailed guidelines will be distributed in class in the course of the semester.

Course Schedule and Readings

March 12:
General Introduction to Course: Substance, Organization, Requirements

March 19:
The Population, Environment, Development Nexus

• Cleaver, Kevin M. and A. Schreiber Götz, (1994) Introduction in Reversing the Spiral: The Population, Agriculture and Environment Nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa, Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, pp. 1-15; The Nexus of Population Growth, Agricultural Stagnation, and Environmental Degradation, Ibid., Chapter 4, pp. 44-72.
• Johnson, D. Gale (2000) Population, Food, and Knowledge, The American Economic Review , 90, 1: 1-14.

March 26:
World Population Growth: Trends, Patterns and Debates

• Lee, Ronald (1990) Long-Run Global Population Forecasts: A Critical Appraisal, Population and Development Review, Vol. 16 Supplement: Resources, Environment, and Population: Present Knowledge, Future Options: 44-71.
• Weeks, John R. (2005) Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Thomson Learning, chapter 2, pp. 32-67.

April 3:
Population Dynamics and Demographic Transitions

• Weeks, John R. (2005) Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Thomson Learning, chapter 3, pp. 68-82; 90-108.
• Lee, Ronald (1990) Comment: The Second Tragedy of the Commons, Population and Development Review, Vol. 16. Supplement: Resources, Environment, and Population: Present Knowledge, Future Options, pp. 315-322.
• Smith, Daniel Jordan (2004) Contradictions in Nigeria's Fertility Transition: The Burdens and Benefits of Having People, Population and Development Review, 30, 2: 221-238.

April 6-April 15:
Easter break

April 17:
Fertility and Mortality in Developing Countries

• Cleaver, Kevin M. and A. Schreiber Götz, (1994) The Demographic Dimension, Reversing the Spiral: The Population, Agriculture and Environment Nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa, Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, Chapter 3, pp. 32-43.
• Lestaeghe, Ron (1986) On the Adaptation of Sub-Saharan Systems of Reproduction. In The State of Population Theory, David Coleman and Roger Schofield (eds.), Oxford: Basil Blackwell: 212-239.
• Newbold, K. Bruce (2002) Six Billion Plus: Population Issues in the Twenty-first Century. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Chapter 2 and 3, pp. 41-87 .

Select one or more country examples:

• Clapham, Christoper (2006) The Political Economy of African Population Change, Population and Development Review vol. 32, Supplement, The Political Economy of Global Population Change, 1950-2050, pp. 96-114.
• Lal, Deepak (2006) India: Population Change and its Consequences, Population and Development Review vol. 32, Supplement, The Political Economy of Global Population Change, 1950-2050, pp. 145-182.
• Vermeer, Eduard (2006) Demographic Dimensions of China's Development, Population and Development Review vol. 32, Supplement, The Political Economy of Global Population Change, 1950-2050, pp. 115-144.

April 24:
Agriculture, Climate Change, and Population

• Chichilnisky, Graciela (1994) North-South Trade and the Global Environment. American Economic Review 84 (4): 851-874
• Evenson, R. E. and D. Gollin (2003), Assessing the Impact of the Green Revolution, 1960 to 2000, Science, 300: 758-762.
• Rosenzweig, Cynthia, Martin L. Parry, Günther Fischer, and Klaus Frohberg (1993) Climate Change and World Food Supply , Research Report No. 3 Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford, 25p.
• Sombroek, Wim G. and René Gommes (1996) The Climate Change-Agricultural Conundrum, in Fakhri Bazzaz and Wim Sombroek (eds.), Global Climate Change and Agricultural Production. Direct And Indirect Effects Of Changing Hydrological, Pedological And Plant Physiological Processes , Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization and Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.

May 1:
Labor Day: No class

May 8:
Deforestation, Climate Change, and Population

• Hyde, William, Gregory S. Amacher and William Magrath (1996) Deforestation and Forest Land Use: Theory, Evidence, and Policy Implications in The World Bank Observer , 11, 2: 223-248.
• Leach, Melissa and James Fairhead (2000) Challenging Neo-Malthusian Deforestation Analyses in West Africa's Dynamic Forest Landscapes, Population and Development Review, 26,1: 17-43.

May 15:
Migration and the Environment

• Black, Richard (1993) Forced Migration and Environmental Change: The Impact of Refugees on Host Environments, Journal of Environmental Management, 42: 261-277.
• Chopra, Kanchan and S.C. Gulati (1997) Environmental Degradation and Population Movements: The Role of Property Rights, Environmental and Resource Economics, 9: 383-408.
• Harris, John and Michael Todaro (1970) Migration, Unemployment and Development: A Two-Sector Analysis, The American Economic Review: 60, 1:126-142.

May 22:
Health, Environment and Population: Guest Lecture, Professor Jürg Utzinger, Swiss Tropical Institute, Basle: "Health Impacts of Large Infrastructure Development Projects in the Developing World with an Emphasis on Health Impact Assessment"

• Brockerhoff, Martin and Ellen Brennan (1998) The Poverty of Cities in Developing Regions Population and Development Review , 24, 1: 75-114.

May 29:
Conflicts: Population and Environment Interactions: Case study: Rwanda

• André, Catherine and Jean-Philippe Platteau (1998) Land Relations under Unbearable Stress: Rwanda Caught in the Malthusian Trap, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 34: 1-47.
• de Waal, Alex (1994) Genocide in Rwanda, Anthropology Today , 10,3: 1-2.

June 5:
Student Papers

June 12:
Student Papers