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reas especially with respect to increases in population growth and their impact on sustainable development. Historically, many cities have originated in areas of high agricultural use as a result much of the new development occurs on rich farmland (Ehrlich et al., 1992). Rising population pressure on infrastructure encourages these new developments which venture further into the surrounding natural landscape. The problems experienced in DC’s are significantly different to those experienced in LDC’s in that the high levels of industrialization experienced in many DC’s has in many cases lead to much industrial pollution. As population levels increase, the demand for resources and in particular energy will increase as well. It can be said that the “central element in [achieving] urban environmental sustainability is the adoption of appropriate energy policies, since most environmental externalities are directly or indirectly related to energy use” (Nijkamp and Pepping, 1998: 1481). This highlights the need for cleaner more sustainable options within the energy field to be established in the wake of continual demands from a rising population level. The impacts of increased energy consumption in terms of greenhouse gas emissions combined with deforestation for the expansion of cities can have a dramatic impact on the environment. Overpopulation within urban environments not only increase the demand for resources, but when this is coupled with poverty, the creation of slums and informal sectors can place a further strain on amenities that can threaten the urban systems and may result in environmental degradation.

 

Stemming from Malthus’ initial theory of population growth and latter studies that followed, it is evident that initiatives in technology, socio-economic organization and consumption levels have not achieved sustainability for the current population (Daily an Ehrlich, 1992). Technology may increase the food production, but this still relies on the non-renewable natural resources. Lipton (1997) identifies that technology generated within the agricultural sector is largely exogenous in most LDC’s. This is an example of literature in the 1970s that argued that technological developments are generally derived in the capital abundant labour scarce DC and generally developed based on the factor endowments of these countries (Malik and Nazli, 1998). Therefore LDC’s which largely lack man-made capital are unlikely to benefit from such technological developments.

 

Sub-Saharan Africa has been highlighted as one of the regions in which the relationship between high population growth rates and insufficient development to meet the needs of this larger population has been clearly evident. African Governments have in most cases been unable to meet the investments required to satisfy increasing needs of a larger population (UNECA, 2001). The efforts to meet these needs have been plagued by a poor economic climate and insufficient funding. For sustainable development to occur; the population growth rate should not exceed the GDP growth rate, in many of the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa this has not been the case (Goodwin et al., 2008).

 

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