ABSTRACT
The various points of view regarding the connections among development, population, poverty, and environmental decline in tropical areas of the Third World can be grouped into three general perspectives: Malthusian and neoMalthusian; neoclassical economic and/or technological; and dependency and ecological Marxist. The most familiar perspective used to explain poverty and environmental destruction in the Third World is the Malthusian or neo-Malthusian, which views mounting demographic pressure on natural resources as the paramount factor. The integrated perspective used in this study demonstrates the close linkages between social processes and environmental deterioration in southern Honduras. The goal of the methodology was to provide a systemic framework in which to articulate the relevant factors and levels of analysis affected by the imposition of the dominant development model. The ultimate objective was to integrate a representative sample of micro-level studies of individuals, households, and communities into a hierarchical framework composed of multiple and increasingly macro-levels of analysis.
