Economic Development and Environmental Changes in South Asia

该项目旨在澄清南亚经济发展过程中出现的生态和环境变化。主要研究结果如下：1.我们在印度德干地区进行的村级田间研究表明，那里的农民已经发展出一套完善的谷子种植体系，很好地适应了当地的自然环境。种植的每英亩产量足以养活该地区人口稠密的人口。印度的森林面积在1980年之前一直在减少，但在80年代和90年代，这种减少几乎停止了。除了政府林业政策的变化和农场林业的扩大等因素外，农村非农就业的增加削弱了耕地向荒地的扩张，从而促进了林地的保护。印度南部的出生率和死亡率都低于印度北部的邦。我们对统计数据的分析已经确定，这种人口模式的差异在19世纪末就已经出现了。这种差异似乎与社会结构和生态条件的模式有关。已经尝试将档案中获得的历史数据与遥感数据结合起来。基于这种方法，我们追踪了印度南部一个地区在17世纪60年代到90年代之间的生态变化。关于畜牧业，已经发现饥荒和牲畜数量之间有很强的联系。该项目还阐明了农业绿色革命和这一地区拖拉机使用量增加所造成的养殖系统和牲畜构成方面的变化。

The project has aimed at clarifying ecological and environmental changes witnessed in the process of economic development in south Asia. The main findings are as follows :1. Our village-level field study in a Deccan district, India, reveals that farmers there have developed a sophisticated system of millet cultivation, which is well adapted to the local natural environment. The yield per acre of the cultivation is high enough to feed the dense population in the district.2. The area under forest in India decreased till 1980, but in the 80s and 90s the decrease almost stopped. In addition to such factors as the change in government forest policy and the expansion of farm forestry, the increase in non-agricultural employment in rural areas has contributed to the preservation of forest lands by weakening the expansion of cultivation into uncultivated lands.3. Both birth and mortality rate is lower in south India than in north Indian states. Out analysis of statistical data has established that this difference in demographic pattern was already witnessed at the end of the 19th century. The difference seems to have related to patterns of social structure and of ecological conditions.4. An attempt has been made to combine historical data obtained in archives and remote-sensing data. Ecological changes between 1760s and 1990s have been traced for a district in south India based on this method.5. As regards livestock economy, a strong connection between famines and livestock population has been found. The project also clarified the changes in breeding system and in the composition of livestock that have been caused by the Green Revolution in agriculture and the increasing use of tractors in this section.