The Environment— Protecting the Global Commons 411wars. Both liberals and radicals see these possibilities as confirming that the South needs
economic development for more than simply material needs. This is because wherever
economic life improves (especially when that improvement has resulted from greater
educational and workplace opportunities for women), women tend to have fewer and
healthier babies, more of whom survive to adulthood. As a state’s economic fortunes
improve, so does access to health care and family planning. Better education for par-
ents and their children, in turn, opens up more economic opportunity, and the cycle
reinforces itself. Thus, for these theorists, closing the development gap leads to a self-
reinforcing spiral of economic improvement and demographic balance.
In addition, both rapid rates of overall population growth and high levels of eco-
nomic development mean increased demands for natu ral resources—in par tic u lar,
arable land and freshwater. For countries that already have large populations, such
as China, India, and Bangladesh, the prob lem is severe. In Bangladesh and Nepal,
the growing population is forced onto increasingly marginal land. In Nepal, human
settlements at higher elevations have resulted in deforestation, as people cut down
trees for fuel, leading to hillside erosion, landslides, and other “natu ral” disasters.
In Bangladesh, population pressures have led to settlements on deltas, which are
TablE 11.2 PoPulaTion of ThE World and Major
arEas, 2015, 2030, 2050, and 2100,
aCCordinG To ThE MEdiuM- VarianT
ProjECTion (in Millions)
Major area 2015 2030 2050 2100World 7, 3 4 9 8,501 9,725 11,213africa 1, 186 1,679 2,478 4,387asia 4,3 93 4,923 5,267 4,889Eu rope 738 734 707 646latin amer i ca and
the Ca rib bean^634721784721
northern amer i ca 358 396 433 500
oceania 39 47 57 71
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2015), World
Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision (New York: United Nations).