On 15 Jul 2006 00:59:51 -0700, Hooverphonic wrote:

but if I look at what is on the news about Africa its always doom and
gloom from a people / wildlife / environment perspective.

That's unrealistic. In Kenya, to give just one example, tourism
is alive and well. Lodges are expanding all over the place. This
is probably good for the wildlife.

if the population is going up there will only be less to go round and
they will remain in poverty, with wildlife and environment suffering
the consequences.

In the very long run you will be right, but in the medium term
this is not necessarily so. The point is that productivity can
rise along with the population. In other words, quality economic
growth can improve the economic situation even with moderate
population growth.

I think that new wealth cannot come from highly inefficient
agriculture on poor soils. Only industrialization can take the
economy forward. This is already happening at a large scale in
Kenya, where you now have a sizable middle class in the cities,
and most of the newly well-off don't get their wealth from
agriculture at all---people work in factories and offices.

Hans-Georg

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