WHAT ARE THE LINKS BETWEEN POPULATION DYNAMICS AND CLIMATE CHANGE? `MANTOA MABELE, BUREAU OF STATISTICS, LESOTHO Presented at the ICAS-IV Conference held in Rio De Jenerio, Brazil, th October, 2013 Abstract Climate change is the greatest economic threat facing the planet and humanity and characterized by occurrence of natural disasters. Population growth and size have a devastating impact on the environment primarily through high usage of natural resources. The principle cause of climate change is high consumption in developed countries, while the impact of climate change will be worst on poor people in developing countries which are already home to most of the world's poor and malnourished people. Lesotho currently relies on biomass for 72 percent of its energy needs. Extreme poverty due to decline in agricultural production which is vulnerable to climate change. There is an increasing pattern in urban areas from 16.9 percent in 1996 to 23.7 percent in 2011, thus Lesotho is increasingly becoming urbanized posing a concern on human health problems (infectious diseases), livelihoods, the environment as well as stimulating land degradation. A large number of plant and animal communities remain either endangered or critically endangered while there are initiatives by the government to conserve biodiversity. Road transport accounts for a major share of air pollution load in mega cities. Although majority of the people still does not have access to personal vehicle in Lesotho, there has been an increase in traffic congestion due to the increase in personal vehicle ownership since the year 2000 hence the vehicular pollution has also increased constituting to air pollution which causes respiratory diseases such as asthma. These become the challenges of sustainable development for supporting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, more especially goal number seven of the Millennium Development.. The data were extracted from various reports produced by the Bureau of Statistics. The 2011 Lesotho Demographic Survey (LDS) showed that population growth increased by 0.09 percent from 2006 census. In the early 2011, Lesotho experienced the heaviest rains in decades, resulting not only in loss of agricultural output but also damage to infrastructure: power grids have been destroyed, roads have been swept away and bridges have collapsed. The study recommends that the Government need to enforce land-use policies which discourage slash and burn expansion, extensive livestock rearing and raising opportunities for rural employment. Research Problem As dependence of the population increases (growth of human settlements) there is pressure on the land to be made more productive to feed an increasing number of citizens, precisely at the time when the highly stressed soil needs to be turned away from agricultural production to allow it to recover the organic content that will allow it to sustain the future growth and the integrity of the landscape. Majority of Basotho especially in the rural areas depend on biomass for cooking and heating for energy needs while putting pressure on the valuable natural resource Objectives  The study attempts to review the extent to which population dynamics and climate change causes/affects one another on economic development as Lesotho population depend on natural resources for livelihood though are faced with climate and environmental. Methods  The report covers data from different surveys held by BOS, i.e Lesotho Demographic Survey (LDS)  Secondary data from Ministry of Health was also used. RESULTS Water access hardships, women have to climb big rocks to fetch water The impact of climate change RECOMMENDATIONS Due to the recurring drought and the overall diminishing amount of rainfall that are the source of grave concern for the sustainability of sources of domestic water in the southern lowlands of Lesotho, the need to institute measures for sustainable management of water resources is imperative.. Strengthen early-warning system must be put in place to effectively respond to climate related natural disasters thereby assisting communities to adapt and minimize adverse impacts of climate change. REFERENCES PSN (2010). “Population and Climate Change” Briefing Paper Mutunga, C., Zulu, E and De Souza, R.M “Population Dynamics, Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Africa” Population Action International and African Institute for Development Policy. Nagdeve, D “Environment and Health in India” International Institute for Population Sciences, India. Challenges of climate change Figure 1: Distribution for Maize, Sorghum and Wheat Yield (mt/ha) for the period 2008/ /2012 Agricultural Year Figure 2: Source of Energy for Cooking by Urban/Rural Residence Years Type of Disease Lung Cancer Asthma 7,649 7,024 7,4919,236 Allergies Table 1: Number of patients by type of Disease for 2008 to 2011