The Japanese population is contracting as birth rates fall and the population ages. Wildlife is starting to expand its range as the human footprint on the landscape shrinks. The underlying pattern of what happens to human populations when societies become educated, prosperous, and stable is of great interest for the potential future of biodiversity and natural resources on the planet. As Japan's population shrinks, bears and boars roam where schools and shrines once thrived - LA Times
Very intresting stuff ! Not only in Japan this is a problem, also in Europe birth-rates are very low but here the immigrants prevent a complete falling of the population. Evenso, because young people prefer to live in big cities, the countryside and smaller villages in for example the eastern parts of Germany are much less populated and several villages have become real ghost'towns' ! For the return of nature the whole 'problem' isn't a problem at all of course !
Japan's hardly representative, though. The major question is what will happen in the hyperdiverse and rapidly developing tropical countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, the DRC, etc.
That is true. Many of these countries are in an early stage of development relative to Japan. It is worth looking at what is going on in Asia though, where most humans live at the moment - it will be interesting to see what happens with birth rates in India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. as these countries continue to develop middle classes and modern economies. Of course, much of their biodiversity may be gone by then, but some of it may remain...
