The world is facing today global problems linked to the inter-relationship between population dynamics, economic development and environment (also known as the population-environment-development or PED). The impact of demographic growth and poverty presents serious negative consequences on the renewal of natural resources and on the ecological basis of development. In particular, long-term population growth will unavoidably lead to further ecological degradation in the absence of implementation of measures to encourage better productivity of natural resources.

The scientific community has so far not responded in a coordinated manner to this crucial issue nor fully contributed to the policy debates around these issues. In this context, PRIPODE’s first objective is to encourage research initiatives from scholars in developing countries on PED interactions. There is a real urge to build institutional capacities in a research domain that has been somewhat neglected by research centres in countries of the South.

PRIPODE aims also at generating a knowledge base to help decision-makers to implement policies that are compatible to emerging principles of global governance. Research analysis will often combine methods and tools emanating from social and natural sciences. Another objective of the programme is to contribute to sustainable development on different scales, from local or urban levels to regional level.