DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES ALONG THE KONKAN COAST

The life of man is totally dependent on his environment. From the first stage of evolution of human societies, man obtained all the resources needed for his survival from the environment. As human societies grew, man and environment relationships became adverse. Dynamics of this relationship can be understood through the stages of food gathering and hunting, animal rearing and community living, plant cultivation and agricultural development, science, technology and industrial revolution. Today, man’s relationship with his environment is highly negative. This has affected the equilibrium of the environment, thereby creating a host of environmental problems for him to deal with. Thus, there is an urgent need to bring about a so-called ‘Degree of Balance’ in this give and take relationship. The present paper deals with demographic aspects of the coastal people in mangrove areas of Konkan. The parameters taken and interpreted for the study include population growth and density