The Green Revolution's impact on developing and developed countries

Green Revolutioners

The theory of Malthus held that the human population, at its growth rate according to statistics available during the 18th century, would eventually outgrow the supply of food available. The New Malthusians have revived this theorem, and warns that the world population is growing at a rate that is not sustainable in terms of either food or other resource supplies. This is supported by the fact that many people worldwide are starving. Cornucopians on the other hand have a more optimistic view of the human future. Their philosophy holds that economic growth and technological advance result in improvements such as a resource-rich world that is less crowded and where pollution is a decreasing problem. This philosophy is supported by an apparent lack of historical evidence of declining resources, and goes hand in hand with the Green Revolution. This phenomenon focuses on increasing food production by means of advances such as expansion of farming areas, double-cropping in existing farmland, and genetically improved seeds.

Of course each of the above has several implications for both Less and More Developing Countries. The More Developing Countries (MDC's) would initiate advances such as those mentioned above sooner than Less Developing Countries (LDC's). Unless there is a concerted effort to aid LDC's in development projects, the danger is that the Green Revolution will be monopolized by increasingly wealthy countries, while LDC's are increasingly impoverished. This would result in a world situation where the pessimistic Malthusian and New Malthusian views are applicable to LDC's, while the more optimistic view of the Cornucopians is applicable only to MDC's.