Andre Ortega, of the Population Specialty Group of the AAG has posted the group’s latest newsletter. This can be found at the following link:

http://www.pop.psu.edu/aag/psgnews-w10.pdf

A call for papers has been issues for a Special Edition of Espace, Populations, Sociétés (December 2010).

Espaces, Populations, Sociétés is an interdisciplinary and international journal, and has published original contributions in French, English and Spanish since 1983. Espaces, Populations, Sociétés is a thematic journal, with each issue focussing on a specific topic.

In this special issue the aim is to present a variety of empirical and conceptual papers which illuminate risks for health in societies, as operating at and across different geographic levels from the local, regional, national and international levels, and in developing and developed countries.

Papers are sought which address risks for health in societies in various ways, through the development of theoretical and conceptual frameworks, analysis of primary or secondary empirical data, qualitative or quantitative review of existing literature, or policy analysis. For example, this might include:

-     The unequal distribution of risks for health within and across societies, vulnerability and resilience

-     The influence of social, economic, cultural and policy context for risk and health

-     New and emerging (infectious) diseases and sanitary crisis

-     New risks and uncertainties for health

-     The impact of globalisation on health

The co-editors of the thematic issue on Health, Risk, and Society are: Alain Vaguet, Department of Geography, University of Rouen (Upper Normandy), France. Laboratory CNRS-IDEES, 6266. Mylene Riva, Department of Geography, Institute of Hazard and Risk Research, and the Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University, UK.

Ideas should initially be submitted in the form of a 350 word abstract by 15th January 2010, send by email to alain.vaguet@univ-rouen.fr and mylene.riva@durham.ac.uk.  Decision of acceptance of abstracts is 15th February 2010. Final date for submitting articles will be April 30th 2010.

A new report released today at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Bonn Meeting, says climate change may cause vast human migrations on an order not previously experienced. The report, In Search of Shelter: Mapping the Effects of Climate Change on Displacement and Migration, was written by CIESIN, the United Nations University, and CARE International.

The report:

• Draws on empirical evidence from a new survey of every continent.
• Contains original maps created by CIESIN that pinpoint potential locations of critical displacements.
• Aims to inform critical policy making via a comprehensive discussion of the linkages between environmental change, displacement, and migration.

More information here

Report link (pdf) here.

A new book launched under the Understanding Population Trends and Processes  (UPTAP) programme, edited by John Stillwell,  Ernestina Coast and Dylan Kneale

     Fertility, Living Arrangements, Care and Mobility

      Understanding Population Trends and Processes – Volume 1

      Stillwell, John; Coast, Ernestina; Kneale, Dylan (Eds.)

      2009, Approx. 350 p., Hardcover

      ISBN: 978-1-4020-9681-5

      More information

Many parts of the world are experiencing rapid demographic restructuring, resulting in an ageing population with increasingly significant work and care pressures on cohorts less able or willing to provide support. This book examines some of the important trends that have underpinned reductions in fertility, including delayed child-bearing and increased childlessness. It demonstrates how relationships between partners have resulted in new living arrangements with changing attitudes from marriage to co-habitation as the social norm, and it considers the health and well-being for particular at risk groups such as the elderly and stepparents as well as aspects of mobility such as household migration and commuting to school.

The book brings together a series of studies that all involve quantitative analyses of secondary data from censuses, surveys or administrative records. The trends and patterns reported provide new and interesting insights into behaviour of the household and the roles of adults and children, and point to questions of critical importance for practitioners and policy makers.

“This book is the first of three volumes on ‘ Understanding Population Trends and Processes’. Volume 2 will report the findings of research on a further set of dimensions including population change, deprivation, educational attainment, employment, health and well-being, identity, religiosity, social values and trust, whilst Volume 3 will have a more specific focus on ethnicity and integration.”