African Environment and Development: Rhetoric, Programs, Realities (King's Soas Studies in Development Geography)

This edited volume explores the connections between African rural livelihoods, environmental integrity and broader scale political economy. It is organized under three main themes relating to this goal - the influence of global environmental narratives in the African context; the implications of regional political economy for rural African livelihoods; and the empirical manifestations of contemporary conservation and development principles through policy and programmes at the community, national, regional and global levels. Including case studies from Southern, West and East Africa, the book examines a wide range of livelihood activities (pastoralism, farming, gardening and hunting) and environmental issues (dam projects, cash cropping, burning practices, civil war, pesticide use, oil exploitation, community-based natural resources management and transnational parks). The studies demonstrate the necessity of grounding environment and development policy discussions within a broader understanding of the economy, history, politics and power.