Abstract:
This article emphasizes the need for broader approaches for formulating policies for mitigating the
effects of climate change especially in the contexts of agricultural decisions, and population health and
migration. Constraints imposed by rapid population growth in developing countries for achievement of
Sustainable Development Goals are discussed and evidence is presented on “unwanted” fertility from
India. Second, comparisons are made for India during 2002–2016 for average well depths in 495 districts
and terrestrial water storage anomalies assessed via GRACE satellites for 2741 * 1 grids using estimated
parameters from dynamic random effects models. Lastly, migration patterns especially of the highly
educated from 39 sending countries to OECD countries during 2000–2010 are analyzed using dynamic
random effects models and total fertility rates were significantly associated with higher migration rates
for the highly educated. Implications of the empirical evidence for enhancing global sustainability are
discussed.