In print

The Daily Globe - environmental change, the public and the media

Edited Joe Smith
Published by Earthscan, 120 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JN, UK
Email: earthinfo@earthscan.co.uk Website http://www.earthscan.co.uk
2000, 280pp ISBN 1 8538 3664 8 (pb) £14.95

By reading New Agriculturist you are demonstrating an interest in how the media, in this case an online magazine, portrays agricultural development. And there can be none who do not wonder at what guides the decisions of those in the media to accept one story, deny another, take this or that angle on a third. Many will have a professional rather than a mere passing interest. For those who want to know what makes the media work in the way that it does, and how to make it work better on issues of fundamental importance, but which are perceived by the public as fundamentally boring, The Daily Globe is a good read.

Accepting that environmental change and sustainable development are among the most important issues of our time, why is it so hard to get press and broadcast coverage? Contributors to The Daily Globe, who include broadcast journalists, newspaper editors, academics, scientists, environmental activitists, politicians and policy makers, respond to the question in 16 separately written chapters which are, for the most part, entertainingly revealing. For example, a sad fact, but undoubtedly true, is that the phrase 'sustainable development' is enough to send a news editor to sleep before the end of the seventh syllable. You may feel this should not be so but, knowing that it is, is worth knowing.

Environmental journalists struggle to get their stories into the media, and scientific institutions and environmental pressure groups struggle to get their stories to top the pile on the editor's desk. Stories that make the headlines are those in which it is clear who is 'the goodie' and who is 'the baddie' but to force contention where none exists is distasteful to scientists who, by and large, distrust the media. And scientists never say that something is certain for, if the hypothesis cannot be proven wrong, it is not scientific. The public is not generally much interested in news about narrowing uncertainty, nor in a story that takes decades rather than days to change. As one contributor puts it, 'when you're up to your neck in alligators you don't worry a lot about global warming', although adding the rider that most of us are at more risk from global warming than alligators.

Biotechnology is covered in a chapter written by Devinder Sharma, one of the few contributors whose experience is not based primarily in the UK. Most, although not all, of the examples quoted throughout the book are drawn from UK broadcasting and print journalism. But contrasts are drawn between attitudes in other Western countries, including the USA, and developing countries where journalists often face far greater obstacles to their efforts to achieve objective reporting on environmental issues.

Whether it is comforting to know, or not, the public is even more suspicious of journalists than it is of politicians, and both groups fall far below scientists in a table of perceived trustworthiness. But environmental change and policies to mitigate or adapt to those changes require an informed and supportive public and the media is the route through which to inform them. Much depends on the quality of the material that the media receives, not least from scientists.

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Vital Signs 2000: The environmental trends that are shaping our future

Buy it here for £7.97

by Lester R. Brown, Michael Renner and Brian Halweil
published by Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20036 USA
Email: mcaron@worldwatch.org or www.worldwatch.org
2000, 192 pp., ISBN 0 393 320227 (Pb) Single copy $13.00

Also available from:

Earthscan Publications Ltd, 120 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JN, UK Email: earthinfo@earthscan.co.uk or http://www.earthscan.co.uk
ISBN 1 85383 746 6, (Pb) £12.95

Vital Signs 2000 is an excellent companion to Worldwatch's State of the World (see In Print 00-2). This ninth volume gives concise and easy access to emerging global trends, which are both negative and positive. Amongst those on the down side are the worrying trends of proliferation of synthetic chemicals, many introduced without determining their potential effects on human and animal welfare; deteriorating and declining water supplies; increasing infections from HIV and TB; and the increasing unpredictability and catastrophic nature of severe weather events. However, on the positive side organic farming acreage in Europe has doubled in three years to 4 million hectares and sale of organic food has risen by more than 20% a year (see Focus on Organic - and certified). Renewable energy technology use has also increased with wind-power surging to 39% (see news), production of solar cells expanding to 30% and sales of energy-efficient compact florescent lamps growing to 11%.

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Vanishing Borders: Protecting the Planet in the Age of Globalization

By Hilary French
published by Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20036 USA
Email: mcaron@worldwatch.org or www.worldwatch.org
2000, 257pp, ISBN 0 393 32004 9 (Pb) Single copy US$13.95

Note: This book is also available electronically in two downloadable and separately purchasable segments see www.worldwatch.org

"The surge in movements of goods, money, species, and pollution across international borders is placing unprecedented strains on the planet," says Hilary French, vice president for research at the Worldwatch Institute and author of Vanishing Borders. The results of this international trade are outlined in the first half of the report but French goes on to argue that globalization should be channelled and redirected to protect, rather than undermine, the earth's natural systems. Although encouraging examples are provided where innovative partnerships are being forged to reverse ecological decline, French maintains that international treaties and institutions are in need of reforming in order to integrate ecological considerations into the still embryonic rules of global commerce.

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Issues and Responses: Land use planning in Eastern and Southern Africa

Edited by Wayne Caldwell
Published by Weaver Press, PO Box A1922, Avondale, Harare, ZIMBABWE
Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd, 27 park end Street, Oxford OX1 1HU, UK
Email: abc@dial.pipex.con or http://www.africanbookscollective.com
2000, 292pp., ISBN 0 7974 2016 9 (Pb), £14.95/US$24.95

This book is a series of papers from authors who have been associated with The Environment Capacity Enhancement Project. The Project's aim, during the past four years, has been to contribute to improved environmental management in Eastern and Southern African. This has involved participants from 13 countries (Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe). The Project has concentrated upon six environmental areas: eco-tourism, ecological agriculture, land use planning, small-scale mining, waste management and watershed management. As a result, the chapters in the book cover a much wider and more interesting range of subjects than its title would suggest and include subjects such as: Drama as communication in planning; Technology choice, environmental and socio-economic issues in small-scale mining in Uganda; Diffusion of science and technology for environmental and natural resource management in a fragile mountain ecosystem; and Planning with nature and managing drought in Mozambique.

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Buy it here for £6.10

Brazil

By Jan Rocha
Published by Oxfam Publishing, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK
Email: publish@oxfam.org.uk
2000, 88pp., ISBN 0 85598 433 3 (Pb) £6.95/US$9.95

Brazil, with a population of 160 million people, is the world's fifth largest country and ninth richest economy. However, it is an economy of huge disparities where the wealthiest ten percent of the population enjoy more of the national income than the poorest fifty per cent share between them. More than a quarter of the population of Brazil survives on less the US$1 a day. Agriculturally, Brazil has millions of acres of fertile land and produces a diverse range of produce. It is the world's largest exporter of coffee, third largest for fruit, meat, soybean, sunflower and sugar, fourth for cocoa and some grains, and the tenth largest for cotton and rice. However, nearly half of the arable land of Brazil is still in the ownership of one per cent of landowners, some with vast estates of over 100 million acres. Land disputes and land reform movements are an increasing focus of Brazilian economic life.

This book is another in the Oxfam Country Profile series, which give a fascinating insight into the background, issues and people of the countries researched. (See also In Print 00-3 Ghana)

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Social Investment and Economic Growth: a strategy to eradicate poverty

By Patrick Watt
Published by Oxfam Publishing, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK
Email: publish@oxfam.org.uk
2000, 128pp., ISBN 0 85598 434 1(Pb) £6.95/US$11.95

Although we live in a world of unprecedented prosperity a quarter of the world's population still lives in absolute poverty surviving on less than a dollar a day. The author draws on examples from East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to offer details and realistic policy recommendations for using wealth creation to meet the needs of the poorest of the poor. As he says in his chapter on Livelihoods "Reducing vulnerability to poverty, and reducing poverty itself, requires expanding the effective freedoms available to poor people." It must thus be applied and integrated across the whole spectrum of intervention whether it be politically, economically or socially.

For such a well-researched and cogently argued book, this is a very reasonably priced publication. (see also Points of View - Sustainable Livelihoods)

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Climate Change and Global Crop Production

Edited by K. R. Reddy and H. F. Hodges
Published by CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8DE, UK
Email: orders@cabi.org or http://www.cabi.org/bookshop
2000, 488pp., ISBN 0 85199 439 3 (Hb) £75.00/US$140.00

There can be nobody in the world from the most eminent researcher to the humblest food producer who has not seen or experienced the effect of global climate change. And these changes are expected to accelerate during this coming century at a rate faster than that of the previous 10,000 years. The resultant climate and weather-induced instability in food and fibre supplies will alter social and economic stability and regional competitiveness. (See also Developments 00-4 and Points of View 00-3).

The major aim of the book is to quantify the impact of altered climatic factors on different crops. There are individual chapters on the main cereal crops, soybean, cotton, vegetables, roots and tubers, as well as trees, grasslands and rangelands. Written by leading international authorities from Australia, Europe, Japan, New Zealand and the USA, this book will be of interest to agronomists, horticulturist, crop production specialist, environmental physiologists and those concerned with global environmental issues.

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OECD Agricultural Outlook 2000-2005

Published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2 rue André Pascal, 74775 Paris, Cedex 16, FRANCE
Email: sales@oecd.org or http://www.oecd.org/
2000, 190pp., ISBN 92 64 17641 1 (Pb) £19/FF200

The Agricultural Outlook provides a medium term assessment of future trends and prospects in the major agricultural commodity markets of the OECD countries. The sixth edition analyses the major forces that will shape agricultural markets for the main temperate zone products up to the year 2005.

This book provides the reader with information on market trends and commodity projections, shows how these are influenced by government policies and highlights potential pitfalls and uncertainties that may influence the Outlook. Tables provide detailed commodity projections to 2005 for production, trade, stocks and prices in OECD countries. In addition there is selected information on other countries including Argentina, China and the New Independent States (NIS).

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A Guide to World Resources 2000-2001 - People and Ecosystems: The fraying web of life

Published by World Resources Institute, 10 G Street NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA
Email: lorih@wri.org or http://www.wristore.com
2000, 25pp., ISBN 1 56973 445 3 (Pb) US$27.00

Ecosystems are communities of interacting organisms and the physical environment in which they live. This guide looks at five critical ecosystems: croplands, coastal zones, forests, freshwater systems and grasslands, and assesses how they have been shaped by the interaction of physical environment, biological conditions and human intervention. All these ecosystems produce a wide variety of goods and services, some of which have not been recognised or valued, but all of which sustain human life. The aim of the report is two-fold: to look at what is already known and what more needs to be known on how ecosystems work, interact and how they could be sustainably managed; and secondly how to achieve this at international, national and local level.

Although only 25 pages, this synthesis of a full report due out in September, is a highly readable publication, packed with graphically and colourfully presented information. It would provide a most useful resource for any senior school, college or library.

The report was produced in collaboration with UNDP, UNEP and The World Bank.

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Full text available (pdf)

Pure Profit: The financial implications of environmental performance

By Robert Repetto and Duncan Austin
Published by World Resources Institute, 10 G Street NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA
Email: lorih@wri.org or http://www.wristore.com
2000, 58pp., ISBN 1 56973 442 9 (Pb) US$20.00

Although public awareness of environmental issues has increased dramatically over the past decade, for the most part these issues have remained outside the mainstream of financial analysis and valuation that form the basis upon which investment decisions and corporate strategy are formulated. In this report, economists Robert Repetto and Duncan Austin present an approach that is readily adaptable to a range of environmental issues to assist investors and analysts evaluate how uncertainties and trends may be translated into sound financial decisions and practice.

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Sampling and Monitoring in Crop Protection: the theoretical basis for developing practical decision guides

By M. R. Binns, J. P. Nyrop and W. van der Werf
Published by CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8DE, UK
Email: orders@cabi.org or http://www.cabi.org/bookshop
2000, 304pp., ISBN 0 85199 347 8 (Hb) £49.95/US$90.00

Efficient field sampling is a corner stone of pest management and the basis upon which management decisions are made. Options may include introducing natural enemies, spraying with pesticide, or adopting a wait-and-see approach. The book is for students specialising in pest management and the authors assure their readers that they have kept mathematical requirements and statistical theory to a minimum. Those working in pest management, including extension specialists, consultants and researchers, should also find the book of interest.

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A History of Farming Systems Research

Edited by M. Collinson
Published by The Food and Agriculture Organization, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, ITALY
2000, 432pp., ISBN 92 5 104311 6 (Pb), US$35.00
Email: publications-sales@fao.org or http://www.fao.org/catalog/giphome.htm
Note: The paperback version is available from FAO for developing countries only. For other countries, a hardback version is available from CABI Publishing
Email: orders@cabi.org or http://wwwcabi.org/bookshop ISBN 0 85199 405 9 £65.00/US$120.00

'A History of Farming Systems Research' charts the development and evolution of FSR within Agricultural Research and Development from the late 60s to the present day. It mainly looks at FSR in its original role with small-scale farmers in developing countries although it includes the application of FSR in developed country agriculture. The book draws on a diversity of material provided by nearly 50 contributors from 20 different countries to provide a wealth of information and insight for all concerned with agricultural development.

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These three books from Zed Books tackle topical issues of concern to developing countries. As one author puts it, globalisation offers nothing to the developing countries "but a race to the bottom". However, as well as looking at the background of the different issues raised, the authors offer concrete options available to Third World countries to assert themselves and shift the balance of inequity in their favour.

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