Premium
On being part of population geography's future: population–environment relationships and inter‐science initiatives
Author(s) -
Conway Dennis
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
population, space and place
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.398
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1544-8452
pISSN - 1544-8444
DOI - 10.1002/psp.333
Subject(s) - population , discipline , sustainability , realm , sustainable development , environmental ethics , politics , population growth , sociology , political science , public relations , social science , ecology , biology , law , philosophy , demography
Abstract Looking to the future, why not err on the adventurous side? Accordingly, I would like to promote two ‘geographies of population relations’, which can be framed as post‐disciplinary, inter‐science initiatives: namely, population–environment relationships, and migration–development–environment interactions and relationships. Population geographers may therefore need to reposition themselves to become involved in inter‐science research and participate with environmental, natural and physical scientists and GIS specialists in an evolving realm that is ‘post‐disciplinary’ rather than within our longstanding (and quite comfortable) subdiscipline. And, we can embark on team efforts and such post‐disciplinary projects in the firm knowledge that the global scientific community has at last recognised the central importance of population study in the pursuit of answers to how we might make today's and tomorrow's world more sustainable and healthy. Finding paths to human and environmental sustainability must be one of our academic missions, because it is public health that is under threat, not just environmental deterioration. Population–environment geographers, therefore, have common cause with medical geographers and those in the public health sphere, as well as environmental scientists, development geographers and political ecologists, among others. Population–environment–development interactions and interrelationships are an ‘inter‐science’, effort, and tomorrow's population geographers should be encouraged to join. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.