Demographic and Environmental Change in the Blantyre City Fuelwood Project Area in Southern Malawi

马拉维南部布兰太尔市薪材项目区的人口和环境变化

• 批准号: 9906409
• 负责人: Ezekiel Kalipeni
• 金额: $ 9.21万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-09-01 至 2002-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9906409&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Demographic; Environmental; Change; Blantyre; City

During the 1980s and 1990s, considerable scholarly attention has been devoted by geographers and scientists from many other fields to land-use and environmental change in sub-Saharan Africa, with special emphasis on the savanna areas that are inhabited by the majority of Africa's people. The results of these empirical studies have challenged previous assumptions regarding population growth and environmental change, the resiliency and "patchiness" of savanna ecologies, and the capacity of local institutions to regulate resource use. Population growth has been found to be only one factor influencing environmental change, with other factors like differences in natural environmental conditions, market access, social institutions, land tenure, technology, and policy also playing important roles in a complex set of processes. This project adds to this body of knowledge through the conduct of a detailed study of demographic and environmental change in a peri-urban area of the City of Blantyre in Malawi where a fuelwood plantation was began in 1986. The objectives of the study are fourfold. First the study will analyze land-cover and land-use changes over a 50-year period using aerial photographs from 1948, 1968, 1982, and 1992 and satellite images from 1985 and 1995. Second, the study will analyze population dynamics in this area, focusing on population growth, population distribution, fertility, mortality, and migration as well as on how these demographic processes have changed over time. Third, the study will assess the impact of the city of Blantyre on environmental and demographic changes in this area through its demand for fuelwood resources, livestock, and agricultural produce. Finally, the study will evaluate the impact of the Blantyre City Fuelwood Project on the lives of the local people in terms of land pressures, land acquisition, resource use, and employment generation and will document the views of the villagers with regard to the proposed transfer of the plantations from the government to local control. These objectives will be achieved in a two-year study that integrates remotely sensed data with ground-based observations of land-use practices and changes and demographic and household characteristics of communities within the project area. Using a political ecology framework, this study will evaluate the ways that the colonial context, contemporary international context, and national, regional, and local interests have all combined to create artificial land scarcities, conflict, and environmental change in an ecologically fragile and marginal area. This research will contribute significantly to current theoretical debates on the relationship between environment, population, and other regional, national, and international factors, and it will develop mathematical models of the complex dynamics of demographic and natural environmental change in a densely settled, semi-urban area of southern Africa.

在1980年代和1990年代，地理学家和来自许多其他领域的科学家对撒哈拉以南非洲的土地利用和环境变化给予了相当大的学术关注，特别是对大多数非洲人居住的稀树草原地区。这些经验性研究的结果挑战了先前关于人口增长和环境变化、稀树草原生态的复原力和“斑块”以及地方机构管理资源使用的能力的假设。人口增长被发现只是影响环境变化的一个因素，其他因素，如自然环境条件、市场准入、社会机构、土地保有权、技术和政策的差异，也在一系列复杂的过程中发挥着重要作用。该项目通过对马拉维布兰太尔市城郊地区的人口和环境变化进行详细研究，增加了这方面的知识，1986年开始在那里建立薪材林种植园。这项研究的目标有四个。首先，这项研究将利用1948年、1968年、1982年和1992年的航空照片以及1985年和1995年的卫星图像，分析50年来土地覆盖和土地利用的变化。其次，这项研究将分析这一领域的人口动态，重点是人口增长、人口分布、生育率、死亡率和移民，以及这些人口过程如何随着时间的推移而变化。第三，该研究将通过对薪材资源、牲畜和农产品的需求，评估布兰太尔市对该地区环境和人口变化的影响。最后，这项研究将从土地压力、土地获取、资源利用和创造就业机会等方面评估布兰太尔市燃料林项目对当地人民生活的影响，并将记录村民对将种植园从政府转移到地方控制的建议的意见。这些目标将通过一项为期两年的研究来实现，该研究将遥感数据与对项目区域内社区的土地利用做法和变化以及人口和家庭特征的地面观测相结合。这项研究将使用政治生态框架，评估殖民背景、当代国际背景以及国家、地区和地方利益如何结合在一起，在生态脆弱和边缘地区创造人为的土地稀缺、冲突和环境变化。这项研究将对当前关于环境、人口和其他区域、国家和国际因素之间关系的理论辩论做出重大贡献，并将建立南部非洲人口稠密、半城市地区人口和自然环境变化复杂动态的数学模型。