Roots in the African Dust

Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-0-521-45785-9
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 237 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 351 g

The image of Africa in the modern world has come to be shaped by perceptions of the drylands and their problems of poverty, drought, degradation, and famine. Michael Mortimore offers an alternative and revisionist thesis, dismissing on theoretical and empirical grounds the conventional view of runaway desertification, driven by population growth and inappropriate land use. In its place he suggests a more optimistic model of sustainable land use, based on researched case studies from East and West Africa where indigenous technological adaptation has put population growth and market opportunities to advantage. He also proposes a more appropriate set of policy priorities to support dryland peoples in their efforts to sustain land and livelihoods. The result is a timely and remarkably clear synthesis of much of the best work that has emerged over the past decade.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mortimore, Michael

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Trockengebiete und Wüsten
• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Regionalgeographie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Nachhaltigkeit

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; 2. Global perspectives on Africa's drylands; 3. A smallholder's perspective; 4. Risk in the rangelands; 5. Risk for the farmer; 6. Risk for the household; 7. Degradation; 8. Intensification; 9. Conservation; 10. Systems in transition.