Esther Boserup & Thomas Malthus

Question 1

Thomas Malthus - Background

Answer 1

Thomas Malthus produced his work on ‘the principle of population growth’. In this, he stated his concerns that population growth if left unchecked, would outstrip the available resources.

Question 2

TM - Preventative (Negative) checks

Answer 2

These involved delayed age of marriage and abstinence from sex within marriage. This would lower the birth rate. It should be noted that Malthus was writing before contraception was available.

Question 3

TM - Positive checks

Answer 3

These referred to changes in death rate. Malthus believed that when there was insufficient food available, disease, famine and war were likely outcomes, resulting in an increase in the death rate.

Question 4

TM - Carrying capacity

Answer 4

Which is the maximum capability of a region to support people with food.

Question 5

TM - Population ceiling

Answer 5

Which is the numerical limit of people who can be supported in any given region.

Question 6

TM - A - Sudden Adjustment

Answer 6

The population grows unchecked until the carrying capacity is reached. When the carrying capacity is reached, population growth stops and remains at carrying capacity level. There is no evidence that such an example has occurred.

Question 7

TM - B - Progressive Adjustment (S curve)

Answer 7

The population growth begins to slowdown before the carrying capacity is reached and levels off close to the population ceiling

Question 8

TM - C- Progressive Approximation (J curve)

Answer 8

The population growth rises beyond the carrying capacity of the region and then numbers are reduced either through the positive checks of famine, war and drought or through the negative checks. This process continues for a times before population levels off close to the carrying capacity.

Question 9

Support for Malthus

Answer 9

• There are many examples if famine which have been partly caused by overpopulation, such as the potato famine in Ireland in mid-19th century.
• Desertification of the Sahal region in Africa is partly due to overgrazing on Semi-arid land. The Ethiopian famine in the 1980s was partly due to desertification.
• In the middle east, conflict between Israel, Syria and Jordan has been exacerbated by rival claims for scarce water resources from river Jordan.
• Boserup believes population will always know how to get more food from the land but this is too simplistic.

Question 10

Esther Boserup - Background

Answer 10

Esther Boserup proposed a very different view concerning the balance between population and resources. Boserup claimed that population growth was a necessary prerequisite for technological advances and innovation, and that society was held back by slow population growth. She believed that populations would continue to grow until they come close to the carrying capacity and at that point human inventiveness would find a way to avert the crisis and produce more food.

Question 11

Support for Boserup pt 1

Answer 11

• There have been many dramatic improvements in agriculture by using methods such as chemical fertilisers, high yielding crops and genetically modified crops, we have increased food output.
• Countries can import food so there is no longer a need to be self-sufficient in food.
• More land has been brought into production and GM crops can be grown on land previously considered unsuitable.
• The Green Revolution in the 1950s produced new high-yielding cereal crops that nave had considerable success in many Asian countries.
• Many Asian countries are able to grow two crops a year, thus doubling the output from their land.
• Increases in the distance that fishing boats can travel has led to more species being available.

Question 12

Support for Boserup pt 2

Answer 12

• The use of irrigation means semi-arid lands can be made productive.
• Food mountains and food waste are used as evidence that there is adequate food available and that scarcity of food is not a problem of distribution not supply.
• In countries experiencing famine it is usually only the poorest people who suffer from lack of food.
• The problems of desertification are thought to be due, in part, to appropriate farming techniques.
• Wars and corrupt governments often caused shortages, either through destruction of crops or in some cases food is withheld from rival groups. During the ling civil war in Ethiopia, the government was frequently accused of withholding food supplies from the rebel territories of Eritrea.