Demographic perspectives in research on global environmental change

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the importance of demographic perspectives in understanding global environmental change, highlighting how population dynamics both influence and are affected by climate change, and calls for integrating demographic research into climate studies.

Contribution

It reviews how demographic concepts and tools have been applied to climate change research and identifies the need to study how environmental change impacts demographic processes and future population trends.

Findings

Demographic research has enriched climate change analysis.

Population dynamics influence the climate system through emissions.

Climate change impacts demographic processes like fertility, mortality, and migration.

Abstract

Human population is at the centre of research on global environmental change. On the one hand, population dynamics influence the environment and the global climate system through consumption-based carbon emissions. On the other hand, health and wellbeing of the population is already being affected by climate change. The knowledge on population dynamics and population heterogeneity thus is fundamental in improving our understanding of how population size, composition and distribution influence global environmental change and how these changes affect subgroups of population differentially by demographic characteristics and spatial distribution. Existing theoretical concepts and methodological tools in demography can be readily applied to the study of population and global environmental change. In the past couple of decades, demographic research has enriched climate change research both in the analysis of the impact of population dynamics on the global climate system as well as the impact of climate change on human population. What is missing in the literature is the study that investigates how global environmental change affect current and future demographic processes and consequently population trends. If global environmental change does influence fertility, mortality and migration, the three key demographic components underlying population change, population estimates and forecast need to adjust from the climate feedback in population projections. Indisputably, this is the new area of research that directly requires expertise in population science and contribution from demographers.