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  1. Home
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  3. Roots in the African Dust
  • Cited by 85
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
October 2010
Print publication year:
1998
Online ISBN:
9780511560064
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511560064
Subjects:
Economics, Human Geography, Geography, Economic Development and Growth
Information

Book description

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 remarkably clear synthesis of much of the best work that has emerged over past years.

Reviews

‘… admirably demonstrates how both herders and farmers recognise and act upon environmental variability in their short and long-term decision making.’

Source: Cambridge Anthropology

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