ABSTRACT
Rapid population growth is symptomatic of the transition that Africa, Asia, and Latin America are making from a demographic equilibrium characterized by high birth and death rates to an equilibrium in which fertility and mortality are both low. Driven by higher living standards, improved educational attainment, and other changes, this transition still has the longest to run in rural areas. This is why large numbers of people have been migrating to cities and agricultural frontiers. Population growth in the countryside also adds to the pressure on soil, water, and other environmental inputs to agricultural production. It is frequently the case that natural resource depletion occurs as human numbers begin to increase. But as natural capital grows ever more scarce, adaptation of agricultural and environmental management systems takes place, with ways being found to conserve the environment while simultaneously enhancing crop and livestock output. Environmentally sound adaptation is greatly impeded by the weakness of local institutions, resulting either from mounting demographic pressure or from the undermining of those institutions by outside authorities.
