POPULATION-GROWTH AND A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT

The resource management practices of the Akamba farmers in the Machako s District in Kenya contradict Thomas Malthus's theory that, unchecked , population tends to increase faster than Earth's resources increase to provide for that growth. A study of the Akamba's farming practices from 1930 to 1990 shows that, despite increasing population density, t he farmers were able to reverse land degradation, conserve and enhance their livestock, invest in their farms, and improve their productivit y. The technological achievements in Machakos were neither a miracle n or an accident; rather, they resulted from an endogenous process where by the Akamba selected and adapted new ideas from multiple sources.