Towards an environmental Demography? Evaluation and tendencies of population and environment studies in Brazil

Abstract

The social sciences were latecomers in the acceptance and incorporation of the environment into their respective research programs. Among them, Demography was perhaps the last to make this change, gradually incorporating population-environment questions. The debate has converged toward the growing incorporation of the spatial dimension, long present but not a defining issue of demographic studies, but which is central in the environmental discussion. The development of the field, though rapid and promising, has encountered difficulties inherent to interdisciplinary fields, occupying a place on the periphery of one science, at the interface with others. In Brazil, where these studies have also evolved over the last two decades, the work of the Working Group on Population and Environment of the Brazilian Association of Population Studies has been a key factor in disseminating this concern. In view of this, we seek to reflect on the production of this group to identify elements concerning the methods, themes and problematics treated over the years, in order to assess where this field is today, and what are its future perspectives and challenges.