Abstract:
Sustainable development, Environment. Resources. Carrying
capacity. These are some of the buzzwords that seem to be
thrown around, and keep policy-makers and planners happy, both
in the developed and developing countries of the world, as they
often gather round Conference tables. Nevertheless, few politically
independent nations of the developing world have addressed
the issue of the relationship between environmental capacities and
human resource capabilities, that would make possible the goals of
sustainable development, that they aspire to achieve. It is unrealistic
to discuss sustainable development, that they aspire to achieve.
It is unrealistic to discuss sustainable development in any country
without reference to population issues and socioeconomic constraints
that impact on achieving national development. Population
concerns are central to the search for sustainability.
According to the latest United Nations figures, there are
over 5.48 billion people in the worlds present, and by year 2000,
the total world population will increase to 6.25 billion. The
population of Asia at the end of 1991 was 3.3 billion, with the
People's Republic of China accounting for 1.17 billion. This
means that well over half of the total world population live in Asia.
Coming closer to home, in the SAARC region, there was an
estimated total population of 1.2 billion at the end of 1991, and,
according to the latest UNFPA estimates, this region will have
over 1.5 billion by the year 2000.
