What is the effect of population growth on poverty and water resources?
Gyawali: A Southern perspective on the population issue is slightly different from that of the North. Through poverty programs that I have worked with, it seems as that a large family is the only insurance poor people have. I did a calculation once in a Himalayan roadless village with a farmer who had just about enough land to feed his family for maybe seven months a year. The remaining five months he would be forced to find a seasonal job. In that kind of marginal scenario, a family of fewer then 12.2 persons is just not viable. Carrying water and caring for cattle are full-time jobs. Domestic household chores, including caring for children are a full-time job. Farming is an overtime job. Still someone else must trade to ensure cash income required to buy basic necessities such as clothes. With an average life expectancy of 46 years, and fairly high child mortality rates, unless you have six or seven children, your hope of having at least one them survive until your own old age, if yo
