Perspectives on Development in Arid and Semi-Arid East Africa
Perspectives on Development in Arid and Semi-Arid East Africa

Author: John G. McPeak

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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This study investigates perspectives on development held by individuals living in arid and semi-arid areas of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. Overall, we find that interventions to meet basic human needs (access to water, health care and education) are the most highly desired. Projects supporting pastoral livelihoods (livestock health and marketing-oriented, restocking and conflict resolution) are second most important, followed by those that support alternatives to pastoralism (cropping, other income generating activities). Econometric analysis indicates that variation in rankings is mostly driven by variation across communities rather than across households within communities, lending support to community-based approaches to priority setting.

Management of Semi-Arid Ecosystems
Management of Semi-Arid Ecosystems

Author: B.H. Walker

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2012-12-02

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 0444599975

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Extensive regions of the world have a climate which, whilst permitting development of a continuous vegetative cover, is too dry for successful annual cropping. These are the semi-arid areas where land use is based on the natural vegetation. Easily degraded and difficult to maintain, they are under increasing pressure as expanding human populations move in and endeavour to force a living from them. As a result they contain some of the worst examples of resource degradation. This book examines the problems and opportunities involved in man's use of semi-arid areas. The authors are all actively involved in research and land management in the areas discussed. Each chapter begins with a detailed, up-to-date account of the ecology of the region (its climate, soils, vegetation, fauna and main ecological characteristics). This is followed by a history of land use, problems involved in its management, a review of current research and recommended land use practices. The common features of semi-arid ecosystems are brought together in a final section.

Eastern and Southern Africa
Eastern and Southern Africa

Author: Debby Potts

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-02-04

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 1317904915

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A unique and comprehensive introduction to contemporary development issues in East and Southern Africa, and represents a significant departure from the often descriptive approach adopted by existing regional and development texts on African regions. Each contribution is carefully chosen to highlight the theoretical basis to development issues, and the practical problems of implementing development plans, in this vital subregion. Overall this produces comprehensive and balanced coverage of historical, economic, political and social issues. The twin issues of globalisation and modernisation give the book a clear focus.

Resilience and Collapse in African Savannahs
Resilience and Collapse in African Savannahs

Author: Michael Bollig

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-11

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1351973673

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This book assesses the causes and consequences of environmental change in East Africa, asking whether local African communities are sufficiently resilient to cope with the ecological and social challenges that confront them. It focuses on the savannahs of the Baringo-Bogoria basin, and the surrounding highlands of Kenya’s northern Rift Valley that form the social-ecological system of the specialised cattle pastoralists and niche agricultural farmers who occupy these semi-arid lands. Historical studies of resilience spanning the past two centuries are linked with analysis of current environmental challenges, and the ecological, social, economic and political responses mounted by local communities. The authors question whether the most recent challenges confronting the peoples of eastern Africa’s savannahs – intensified conflicts, mounting poverty driven by demographic pressures, and dramatic ecological changes brought by invasive species – might soon led to a collapse in essential elements of the specialised cattle pastoralism that dominates the region, requiring a re-orientation of the social-ecological system. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Eastern African Studies.

The Arid Zones
The Arid Zones

Author: Hilton Kramer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 175

ISBN-13: 135148589X

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The hot and temperate deserts and their marginal steppe lands comprise one-third of the land surface of the world and are an increasingly critical area for the economic wellbeing of world populations. The remarkable mechanisms of floral, faunal, and human adaptation to the distinct and difficult environment of these arid zones, as well as the potential of modern technology for facilitating adaptation, are described and explained by Walton in the light of our most recent knowledge of the phenomena and processes involved.Beginning with a clarification of the definitions of arid and semi-arid regions and with the delineation of techniques for measuring the degree of aridity in these areas, the author shows that there is wide variation among the arid zones in landscape and climate and that there are numerous local and microclimates within any single arid region. The life cycles of the plants and animals of the arid zones are described and the water resources, including problems of salinity, mineral contamination, and the construction of reservoirs, are examined. Extensive treatment is given to potential agricultural adaptations and to pastoralism as the most widespread response to dry land. A final chapter summarizes attempts at adaptation to prevailing drought and discusses the kinds of future development that the author deems most likely in arid zones.Throughout the book emphasis is placed on specific, detailed analysis, with adequate tables and formulas for in-depth understanding of particular aspects of aridity. Examples from both Old and New Worlds are used to demonstrate the spheres in which progress is being made and to show the mistakes in past and present land use in arid areas. An essential supplement for courses in physical geography, the book will be useful in many area studies and in studies of economic development.

African Environments and Resources
African Environments and Resources

Author: L. A. Lewis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-07-26

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 113688095X

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First published in 1988, this work provides a comprehensive picture of the range of physical environments in Africa, focusing upon those characteristics and issues central to the management of environmental resources. Beginning with an overview of the geographical and environmental history of Africa, the authors also provide to the evolution of the management of resources and then details a broadly defined ecosystem approach, in which major environmental resource issues are identified and addressed in the tropical rainforest, the Savannah dry-forest, the arid and semi-arid areas, the highlands, and the extra-tropical zones of Northern and Southern Africa. The book is designed to contribute to a better understanding of African environmental and resource-management problems and this reissue should be welcomed by students of Africa and of environmental resource management problems in general.

Sensitivity of Cropping Patterns in Africa to Transient Climate Change
Sensitivity of Cropping Patterns in Africa to Transient Climate Change

Author: Alexander Lotsch

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 33

ISBN-13:

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The detailed analysis of current cropping areas in Africa presented here reveals significant climate sensitivities of cropland density and distribution across a variety of agro-ecosystems. Based on empirical climate-cropland relationships, cropland density responds positively to increases in precipitation in semi-arid and arid zones of the sub-tropics and warmer temperatures in higher elevations. As a result, marginal increases in seasonal precipitation lead to denser cropping areas in arid and semi-arid regions. Warmer temperatures, on the other hand, tend to decrease the probability of cropping in most parts of Africa (the opposite is true for increases in rainfall and decreases in temperatures relative to current conditions). Despite discrepancies and uncertainties in climate model output, the analysis suggests that cropland area in Africa is likely to decrease significantly in response to transient changes in climate. The continent is expected to have lost on average 4.1 percent of its cropland by 2039, and 18.4 percent is likely to have disappeared by the end of the century. In some regions of Africa the losses in cropland area are likely to occur at a much faster rate, with northern and eastern Africa losing up to 15 percent of their current cropland area within the next 30 years or so. Gains in cropland area in western and southern Africa due to projected increases in precipitation during the earlier portions of the century will be offset by losses later on. In conjunction with existing challenges in the agricultural sector in Africa, these findings demand sound policies to manage existing agricultural lands and the productivity of cropping systems.