The trajectory of water: demographic dynamics, water resources and environment in the work of Daniel Hogan

Abstract

The challenges in equating the demand for water for its various uses have been becoming increasingly recurrent, and place the pressure of economic activities and population growth over the natural resources at the center of the debate. This article seeks to synthesize part of the research on demographic dynamics related to water resources within Daniel Hogan's extensive academic production in the field of Population and Environment (P-E). To this end, ten articles dealing with the relationship between water and demography were analyzed drawing out the main themes addressed in these texts. The first part discusses some critical arguments to Malthusian approaches in his thought to, in a second moment, bring to light the relationships between population distribution patterns and the use of water resources, one of the central aspects pointed out by Hogan. Some connections are listed between water availability and sanitation services in the framework of the processes of spatial mobility of the population. The third part addresses the methodological advances during the 1990s that open up possibilities for the construction of different spatial segments in the analysis of population and environmental data. Thus, the watershed selection was an important milestone, since it enabled the articulation between scales, integrating demographic, social and environmental processes. Finally, Hogan's production is distinguished as a academic legacy that establishes important institutional partnerships for studies on water within the P-A in Brazil and which issues have been developed in the field from 2010 to 2021.