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实地研究表明，那里的农民已经开发出一套先进的小米种植系统，该系统非常适合当地的自然环境。这种作物的每英亩产量很高，足以养活这个地区密集的人口。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，减少几乎停止。除了政府森林政策的改变和农场林业的扩大等因素外，农村地区非农业就业的增加也有助于保护林地，因为它削弱了向未开垦土地的开垦。印度南部的出生率和死亡率都低于印度北部各邦。我们对统计数据的分析表明，这种人口结构上的差异在世纪末就已经出现。这种差异似乎与社会结构和生态条件的模式有关。已尝试将档案中获得的历史数据与遥感数据联合收割机结合起来。根据这种方法，对印度南部一个地区1760年代至1990年代的生态变化进行了追踪。在畜牧业经济方面，发现饥荒与牲畜数量之间存在着密切联系，该项目还阐明了农业绿色革命和拖拉机在这一部分的使用增加所造成的饲养系统和牲畜组成的变化。

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.