The Overstory Book
The Overstory Book

Author: Craig R. Elevitch

Publisher: PAR

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 550

ISBN-13: 0970254431

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Whether in a small backyard or a larger farm or forest, trees are vital to the web of life. Protecting and planting trees can restore wildlife habitat, heal degraded land, conserve soil, protect watersheds, diversify farm or garden products, beautify landscapes, and enhance the economic and ecological viability of land use systems. Careful planning and sound information is needed to reach these goals. The Overstory Book distills essential information about working with trees into 134 short, easy-to-read, single-subject chapters. Each chapter shares key concepts and useful information, so readers can get back to planting and protecting more trees, gardens, and forests, more effectively. * Discover time-tested agricultural and conservation techniques from indigenous and traditional peoples * Work with beneficial microorganisms, from mycorrhizal fungi to nitrogen-fixing bacteria and more * Create abundance with fruit trees, timber trees, vine crops, vegetables, mushrooms, and more * Form alliances with animals, from wildlife, birds, and insects to integrated, free-range livestock * Design effective tree-based windbreaks, noise barriers, live fences, and erosion buffers * Understand how to grow or obtain the highest quality seeds, seedlings, and plant materials * Restore fertility, productivity, and biodiversity with trees * Work with multipurpose plants including trees, palms, bamboos, and more * Market products effectively to improve economic returns sustainably * Locate helpful internet sites, organizations, people, and publications * And much more!

Subsistence and Survival
Subsistence and Survival

Author: Timothy P. Bayliss-Smith

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2016-01-26

Total Pages: 443

ISBN-13: 1483288110

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Subsistence and Survival: Rural Ecology in the Pacific covers the ecology of man's environment, man's use and perception of biological resources, and the physiology and health of the human organism itself. The geographical range of this text extends from the glaciated uplands of Papua New Guinea, through the montane forests and grasslands of the Highlands, into the coastal jungles, and across to the smaller islands and atolls of the South West Pacific. This book is organized into five parts encompassing 14 chapters. The first part deals with the theory and applications of human ecology. The next part considers first the International Biological Program in New Guinea concerning the link between human ecology and biomedical research. This part also explores the nutritional adaptation among the Enga and in Melanesia, and then introduces the principles of environmental health engineering as human ecology. The subsequent two parts highlight the impact of human activities on the environment, with an emphasis on the association between environmental exploitation and human subsistence. The final part discusses the relevance of self-subsistence communities for world ecosystem management. This book will be of great value to anthropologists, geographers, human biologists, nutritionists, botanists, and public health engineers.

Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests
Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests

Author: John Robinson

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2000-02-08

Total Pages: 612

ISBN-13: 9780231504928

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Throughout the world people are concerned about the demise of tropical forests and their wildlife. Hunting by forest-dwelling people has a dramatic effect on wildlife in many tropical forests, frequently driving species to local extinction, with devastating implications for other species and the health of the forests themselves. But wildlife is an important source of protein and cash for rural peoples. Can hunting be managed to conserve biological communities while meeting human needs? Are hunting rates as practiced by tropical forest peoples sustainable? If not, what are the biological, social, and cultural implications of this failure? Answering these questions is ever more important as national and international agencies seek to integrate the development of local peoples with the conservation of tropical forest systems and species. This book presents a wide array of studies that examine the sustainability of hunting as practiced by rural peoples. Comprising work by both biological and social scientists, Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests provides a balanced viewpoint on the ecological and human aspects of this hunting. The first section examines the effects of hunting on wildlife in tropical forests throughout the world. The next section looks at the importance of hunting to local communities. The third section looks at institutional challenges of resource management, while the fourth draws on economic perspectives to understand both hunting and sustainability. A final section provides synthesis and summary of the factors that influence sustainability and the implications for management. Drawing on examples from Ecuador to Congo-Zaire to Sulawesi, Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests will be a valuable resource to policymakers, conservation organizations, and students and scholars of biology, ecology, and anthropology.

Environmental Management in the Tropics
Environmental Management in the Tropics

Author: Randall Baker

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2021-06-23

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1000444864

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The arrival of western science and economic interests to the tropics has dramatically changed the tropical environment and its ecology. Environmental Management in the Tropics discusses the ecology of the tropics and examines how it is different from the temperate zone where western science evolved. The author discusses how native people traditionally subsisted in different ecological zones of the tropics and how they rationalized their relationship. The author also takes a critical look at the impact of colonialism in the tropics and how it changed traditional cultures and their relationship with the environment. The current clash between economics and ecology in the tropics is explored in depth. According to the author, we are now able to draw "a line in the sand" and illustrate the consequences of continuing current practices. Environmental Management in the Tropics shows how this situation developed and discusses how the two opposing concepts must be brought back into harmony. The book is one of the few studies to take a truly interdisciplinary approach combining the serious inevitabilities of natural science with the variables of history, culture, politics, and economics. It gives us a new respect for the past and tradition of the tropics and clearly spells out why dramatic changes must occur to prevent further degradation of the tropical environment. Environmental Management in the Tropics is an important reference for ecologists, conservationists, scientists, researchers, environmental consultants, land managers and developers, members of the world regulatory community, and anyone working on projects in tropical regions.

Lost Crops of Africa
Lost Crops of Africa

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1996-02-14

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 0309176891

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Scenes of starvation have drawn the world's attention to Africa's agricultural and environmental crisis. Some observers question whether this continent can ever hope to feed its growing population. Yet there is an overlooked food resource in sub-Saharan Africa that has vast potential: native food plants. When experts were asked to nominate African food plants for inclusion in a new book, a list of 30 species grew quickly to hundreds. All in all, Africa has more than 2,000 native grains and fruitsâ€""lost" species due for rediscovery and exploitation. This volume focuses on native cereals, including: African rice, reserved until recently as a luxury food for religious rituals. Finger millet, neglected internationally although it is a staple for millions. Fonio (acha), probably the oldest African cereal and sometimes called "hungry rice." Pearl millet, a widely used grain that still holds great untapped potential. Sorghum, with prospects for making the twenty-first century the "century of sorghum." Tef, in many ways ideal but only now enjoying budding commercial production. Other cultivated and wild grains. This readable and engaging book dispels myths, often based on Western bias, about the nutritional value, flavor, and yield of these African grains. Designed as a tool for economic development, the volume is organized with increasing levels of detail to meet the needs of both lay and professional readers. The authors present the available information on where and how each grain is grown, harvested, and processed, and they list its benefits and limitations as a food source. The authors describe "next steps" for increasing the use of each grain, outline research needs, and address issues in building commercial production. Sidebars cover such interesting points as the potential use of gene mapping and other "high-tech" agricultural techniques on these grains. This fact-filled volume will be of great interest to agricultural experts, entrepreneurs, researchers, and individuals concerned about restoring food production, environmental health, and economic opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. Selection, Newbridge Garden Book Club

The African Diaspora and the Disciplines
The African Diaspora and the Disciplines

Author: Tejumola Olaniyan

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 0253354641

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Focusing on the problems and conflicts of doing African diaspora research from various disciplinary perspectives, these essays situate, describe, and reflect on the current practice of diaspora scholarship. Tejumola Olaniyan, James H. Sweet, and the international group of contributors assembled here seek to enlarge understanding of how the diaspora is conceived and explore possibilities for the future of its study. With the aim of initiating interdisciplinary dialogue on the practice of African diaspora studies, they emphasize learning from new perspectives that take advantage of intersections between disciplines. Ultimately, they advocate a fuller sense of what it means to study the African diaspora in a truly global way.