Human population dynamics is clearly among the factors that affect ecological change, but it is not always the most important factor. From an environmental impacts and poverty alleviation perspective, we convey the circumstances in which human population growth, migration, and urbanization can be detrimental, and those circumstances in which they may be beneficial.

Results/Conclusions

This paper represents the results of three chapters focusing on population growth, migration, and urbanization and their relationships to ecology and poverty alleviation. For the chapter on population growth, we conceptualize population growth as a driver of ecological and socioeconomic change that is mediated by institutions, governance, and culture. Situations of very rapid population growth can complicate ecological problems, making it more difficult to put into place systems of governance that would create sustainable livelihood systems. For the chapter on migration, we adopt a migration systems approach to examine the dynamic mediation of population mobility in the integration of ecology into poverty reduction. Migration systems include the whole spectrum of population movements and other flows and counter flows between two or more areas, their regulation mechanisms, and their embeddedness in social, economic, and political contexts. From this perspective, migration may both directly or indirectly contribute to poverty alleviation and environmental changes. For the chapter on urbanization, we assert that our global future is urban and that the urbanization-poverty-environment relationship is complex. While cities are not a panacea for social, ecological and environmental woes, attention focused mainly on the negative impacts of urbanization on the environment, ecological functions, and poverty has been misleading. We recognize that urbanization processes and associated failures of governance may reinforce and even exacerbate social-ecological problems. However, we argue that cities have considerable potential to reduce poverty and to contribute to improved human well-being and ecological integrity.