Files
Abstract
Concerns about harmful environmental impacts are frequently raised in research and
policy debates about population growth in the hills and mountains of developing countries.
Although establishing wildlife corridors and biosphere reserves is important for preserving
selected biodiverse habitats, for the vast majority of hilly-mountainous lands, the major
ecological concerns are for the sustainability of local production systems and for watershed
integrity. What matters for sustained use of those lands not only is the number of producers
but also what, where and how they produce. Indeed, comprehensive evidence from empirical
research indicates that population growth in hills and mountains can lead to land
enhancement, degradation, or aspects of both.
The evidence can be explained by extending induced innovation theory to address
environmental impacts of intensification. Increases in the labor-land endowment ratios of
households and in local land demand and labor supply make the opportunity cost of land
relative to labor increase. As a result, people use hilly-mountainous land resources more
intensively for production and consumption, thus tending to deplete resources and
significantly alter habitats. But, at the same time, capital- and labor-intensive methods of
replenishing or improving soil productivity may become economically more attractive,
especially where specific property rights develop.
Users will choose production systems that enhance the land if the expected
discounted returns are greater than those of systems that degrade the land. In addition to
population change, other factors—market conditions, local institutions and organizations,
information and technology about resource management, and local ecological
conditions—determine the returns from various production systems. Theoretical arguments
and empirical evidence about these other determinants of land-improving investment and
management are examined. The challenge to researchers and policymakers is to help to
configure microeconomic incentives for production that enhance both the land and the welfare
of people in these areas.