While Malthus was already painting a negative picture of the worldwide situation in 1798, he was also drawing up his famous prediction that population would outrun food supply, leading to a decrease in food per person. Indeed, there is a mathematic distortion between human reproduction rate and their capacity to produce subsistence means (production). That is why Malthus advised to reduce and limit the demographic growth, above all within the developing countries, so Marcel BOITEUX is asking for during the World Energy Congress in Montreal in 1989. Developing countries are characterized by high rate of population growth, an increasing demand in energy, scarcity of capital and profound differences in the quality of life between urban and rural segments of the population. Hence, several specialists are pointing the finger at the demographic growth, considered as a burden not only for the developing countries' development but also for the worldwide community's sustainability. In his speech, Marcel Boiteux emphasizes the complex interrelationships among changes in population, economic development, and energy consumption. With respect to energy use, qualitative dimensions of rising demand, as well as any demographic pressures on resource availability, seem to require our attention. Why does population growth evoke so much discussion? Why is it a cause for alarm? Why is M. Boiteux as well as Malthus looking for ways to bring about a decline in the rates of developing population growth? Despite the obvious relevance of those questions, a better one would be to know whether the world has sufficient energy to cope with the future demand while developing countries are seeking to improve the quality of life of the majority of their populations.
[...] Energy consumption as a spectrum of factors or the primacy of a sound and rationalized development a. The limits of demographic pressure on energy demand Nevertheless, we have to consider the multiplicity of factors that influence the total energy consumption (energy demand) of developing countries, in order to appreciate the weight of population growth within energy strategy. Actually, the energy strategy of a country is linked to many factors, many of them external to the energy sector itself, such as the domestic availability of natural resources required for expansion of the economy, the social goals for a more equitable economic base and the energy required by existing technologies to produce basic goods. [...]
[...] Web sites - DARMSTADTER J Energy and population. http://www.rff.org/Documents/RFF-IB-04-01.pdf; - Démographie et croissance économique. http://supercdi.free.fr/ses/demographie.htm; - DUNCAN R.C.2001. World energy production, population growth and the road to the Olduvai gorge. http://www.hubbertpeak.com/duncan/road2olduvai.pdf. - Energie et population : définition de la théorie de Malthus et des thèses néo-malthusiennes. http://www.voxdei.org/afficher_info.php?id= 5540.204 ; - GIAMPIETRO M. and PIMENTEL D The tightening conflict: population, energy use, and the ecology of agriculture. http://dieoff.org/page69.htm ; - PIMENTEL D., HUANG X., CORDOVA A. and PIMENTEL M. Impact of population growth on food supplies and environment. [...]
[...] On the answer to these questions rests the preservation of the stability that has made our small planet habitable thus far Marcel Boiteux, at the time Chairperson of the World Energy Council, made these remarks in the opening statement of the World Energy Congress in Montreal in 1989 (unofficial translation). Introduction While Malthus was already painting a negative picture of the worldwide situation in 1798, he was also drawing up his famous prediction that population would outrun food supply, leading to a decrease in food per person. [...]
[...] Besides, the industrialized nations' interference into both demographic growth and energy policy of developing countries could only be justified and recommended by a socially sound and economically rationalized sustainable development. Bibliography - Agence internationale de l'énergie L'énergie dans les pays en développement: analyse sectorielle. Paris : OCDE ; - Banque international dans la recherche et le développement The energy transition in developing countries. Washington DC : the World Bank ; - DAUBET A., MONS L Panorama de l'énergie mondiale. Paris : Les Echos études ; - DESSUS B Energie, un défi planétaire. [...]
[...] The energy issue: the developing countries' burden The population of the developing world will increase by nearly 3 billion over the next three decades, which would stimulate a sharp increase in demand for energy services. Even though per capita energy consumption will remain well below the levels of the industrial countries, the more rapid population and economic growth in southern countries means that their share of global energy consumption would rise, from 23% today to a projected 40% in 2020 (US Congress, 1992). [...]
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