THE COEVOLUTION OF POPULATION AND ENVIRONMENT - THE ECOLOGY AND IDEOLOGY OF FEEDBACK RELATIONS IN PAKISTAN

A new approach to the study of population and environment is proposed, based on Norgaard's theory of ''co-evolution.'' This theory is applie d to two developments currently underway in Pakistan: the transfer of tree cover from public forests to private farms, and the partial repla cement of woodfuel by dungfuel in household hearths. Both developments are characterized by feedback from the ecosystem to the sociosystem, which consists of a shift of regulatory mechanisms and complexity from the former to the latter. The efficacy of this feedback depends on an accurate perception of the process by the participating population. T hese perceptions are more accurate in the case of the forest-farm tran sition than the woodfuel-dungfuel transition, and this explains why th e latter appears less sustainable than the former. Accuracy of percept ion also varies systematically between government officials and local peoples, primarily due to openness to explanations of behavior based o n population/resource pressure. It is concluded that external developm ent agencies have a potentially important role to play in demystifying perception of feedback processes between ecosystem and sociosystem.