In print

AIDS in the Twenty-First Century: Disease and Globalization

By Tony Barnett and Alan Whiteside
Published by Palgrave Macmillan
Website www.palgrave.com
2002, 416pp, ISBN 1-4039-0006-X (Pb), £19.99

Each turn of the cultivating seasons will see a small, significant and usually negative change in farming. At the smallest scale, labour intensive cash crops are likely to be abandoned in favour of food for the household. Vegetables will give way to starchy root crops such as cassava. Cattle may be sold to pay for medical care. Land may be left uncultivated. Although it may be reversible in the short term, uncultivated land will eventually be hard to reclaim from the bush or from those who may have taken it over. Will anyone notice other than those immediately affected? Destitute households simply disappear. How do you plan a response to the impact of HIV/AIDS when the impact is hard to see?

So far it has been impossible for most governments to grasp the potential effects of the epidemic, much less put responses in place. AIDS in the Twenty-First Century explains the background to the epidemic, and explores why Africa has been hit so hard and why some countries have been hit harder than others. Reading this book will shock you into an understanding of the long - perhaps century-long - impact we are all going to feel from this disease. Public health is no longer a local or even a national issue. HIV/AIDS is a global issue and none of us are immune.

So why is it taking so long for governments to recognise that passive acceptance of the inevitable, combined with the hope of a medical breakthrough, is compounding the disaster? Is it lack of understanding, denial or the argument that the problem is overwhelming and that nothing can be done or afforded? And yet some countries have shown that planning for prevention and impact works. Uganda and Thailand are the prime examples. Some corporations have shown that caring for their HIV positive employees (and their families) is not only consistent with corporate responsibility but is cost effective too. Here the diamond mining company, Debswana, provides a shining example. But these, sadly, are isolated cases. There are already over 13 million orphans worldwide as a result of AIDS. Twelve million are in Africa where foster care is uncertain at best. What will happen to these children and what kind of adults, and eventually parents, will they become? Will a disrupted childhood create an irresponsible, unruly youth? In a continent mired in conflict, HIV/AIDS marches, literally, with the soldiers.

Written in a style that combines underlying anger with academic control, it seems heartless to say that the authors have produced 'a good read' - but they have. Readers who work in development will realise that their efforts are meaningless without taking HIV/AIDS into account. Readers who work in government will realise they must plan for an 'active future', and take responsibility for planning for the impact of AIDS. This involves far more than providing treatment and hospital beds, although that would be a start. It is about land tenure and inheritance laws, about government staffing levels, skills training, about primary health care, education and the rights of individuals, of women, of children - and good governance. Efforts to control the spread of AIDS, and making plans for dealing with its impact, could mean that the plans are no longer needed. Is that not better than failing to plan at all?

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Agricultural Biodiversity of Smallholder Farms in East Africa

Edited by Fidelis Kaihura and Michael Stocking
Published by United Nations University Press
Website: http://www.unu.edu/unupress/index.htm
2003, 304pp, ISBN 928081088X, US$32.00(Pb)

Biodiversity in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) provides families not just with a source of food, but also marketable produce and other useful resources such as medicines and construction materials.

Agricultural Biodiversity in Smallholder Farms of East Africa draws on lessons learned from the United Nations University PLEC project, funded by the Global Environment Facility under the provisions for the Convention on Biological Diversity. Case studies from the three countries, highlight the multitude of species found on smallholder farms; the equally diverse uses those species are put to; and the role of smallholder farmers as both custodians and beneficiaries of such diverse biodiversity. It shows how the accumulated knowledge and experience of smallholders and their diverse practices lead to clear benefits for both biodiversity and society.

With contributions from researchers, extension staff, policy-makers and the participating farmers themselves the book shows the potential of learning from farmers and basing policy on tried and tested ways of managing complex agricultural systems.

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Ending Hunger in our Lifetime

By C. Ford Runge, Benjamin Senauer, Philip G. Pardey, Mark W. Rosegrant
Published by The John Hopkins University Press
Email: hfscustserv@mail.press.jhu.edu
Website: http://www.press.jhu.edu
2003, 288pp, ISBN 0801877261, £15.00 (Pb), ISBN 0801877253 £40.50 (Hb)

World hunger can be ended, say the authors of this new book, but only if we make a concerted effort to increase investments, produce technological innovations, create new and more effective institutions at the local, national and international levels, and strengthen or establish viable social safety nets for the poor. Ending Hunger in our Lifetime argues that we already know how to reduce hunger and details the main actions required to make it happen in ways that sustain future food production while protecting the natural environment. Part One looks at 'The Challenges' which include 800m people chronically undernourished and food insecure and 1.2 billion trying to live on less than a dollar a day. It investigates the link between poverty and hunger, the effect of food prices on hunger and issues of sustainability. It also analyses the role of science in raising productivity including genetic modification and intellectual property rights. Solutions are the focus of Part Two and in particular the role of policy and institutions. The book is aimed at anyone with a direct interest in issues of hunger, whether they be in an international or government agency, an NGO or elsewhere. It will also be of use and interest to students on development related courses.

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Plan B: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilisation in Trouble

By Lester R. Brown
Published by Earth Policy Institute
Email: lesterbrown@earth-policy.org
Website: www.earth-policy.org
2003, 286pp, ISBN 0 393 32523 7 (Pb), US$15.95

"We are creating a bubble economy - an economy whose output is artificially inflated by drawing down the earth's natural capital," says Lester Brown in this new book Plan B. "Each year the bubble grows larger as our demands on the earth expand. The challenge for our generation is to deflate the global economic bubble before it bursts." Throughout history we have lived on the earth's sustainable yield - the interest from its natural endowment. But now we are consuming the endowment itself. Our existing economic output is based in part on cutting trees faster than they grow, overgrazing rangelands and converting them into desert, overpumping aquifers and draining rivers dry, says Brown who is founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute.

Deflating the bubble economy involves drastic international measures to raise water and land productivity, halve carbon emissions by 2015, stabilise populations, make basic education available to everyone and curb the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Easier said than done? Brown is confident that it is possible: "We can build an economy that does not destroy its natural support systems, a global community where the basic needs of all the earth's people are satisfied, and a world that will allow us to think of ourselves as civilised. This is entirely doable," he says. "The choice is ours."

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Stolen Fruit: The Tropical Commodities Disaster

By Peter Robbins
Published by ZED Books
Website: zedbooks.co.uk
2003, 196pp, ISBN 1 84277 280 5(Hb), £32.95; ISBN 1 84277 281 3 (Pb), £9.99

Fifty of more developing countries depend on the tropical commodities or minerals they produce. However, the markets for such commodities are unfair and damaging to producers, says Peter Robbins who was a commodity trader in London before working as a consultant for the United Nations. In Stolen Fruit he says that encouraging so many countries to grow coffee, sugar, cotton and other crops has been a disaster. Small farmers only get a tiny share of the final price received in supermarkets in the north for these commodities. Prices have collapsed terms of trade between the north and south have widened, and in their wake, foreign exchange earnings, tax revenues and economic growth in developing countries have plummeted.

None of the various strategies currently being used to address the disaster caused by the collapse of tropical commodity prices are making a significant enough impact, says Robbins. Instead, we need to implement a drastic world wide "supply management programme". This would "cut the volumes of supplies until they are, once more, balanced by volumes of demand at price levels that are high enough to deliver a fair reward to producers, but not so high that they deter consumers from buying the products." It would involve plantations currently being used to grow coffee or cloves or cocoa, being turned over to food production. "Management of such a programme on a world scale would be a difficult task," he says "[but this is] the only solution to the tropical commodity crisis."

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World Resources 2002 to 2004 Decisions for the Earth: Balance, Voice and Power

By UNDP, UNEP, The World Bank, World Resources Institute
Published by World Resources Institute
Email: publications@wri.org
Website: www.wristore.com
2003, 316pp, ISBN 1 56973 532 8 (Pb), £20.50

The focus of this issue of World Resources is environmental governance - the processes and institutions used to make decisions about the environment. The building blocks of good environmental governance are the access principles, say the authors. But access alone is not enough to ensure good environmental outcomes: "One of the most apparent failures over the decade since Rio has been the inability to mainstream environmental thinking into economic and development decisions," they say.

Illustrated with photographs and diagrams throughout, Part One tackles subjects such as public participation and access, decentralisation, accountability and international environmental governance. A plethora of information is included in clear tables and figures, making it palatable and easy to understand. Part Two is a compilation of data tables covering governance and access to information, government expenditure, economic indicators, biodiversity, climate, energy, and natural resources for 155 countries. Further data tables are available from the WRI website. The full report is also available online (in pdf format or html).

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The Coconut Odyssey: The Bounteous Possibilities of the Tree of Life

By Mike Foale
Published by ACIAR
Email orders@edspubs.co.uk (UK and Europe) or publishing.sales@csiro.au
Website: www.eurospan.co.uk (UK and Europe) or www.publish.csiro.au
2003, 132pp, ISBN 1863203699 (Pb) £11.50/AUS$25.00

Mike Foale of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, and the author of this new book, is a coconut fanatic and both his enthusiasm and expert knowledge are evident here as he tells the story of the coconut odyssey. He gives a history of the plant, from its humble beginnings on the northern coasts of the great landmass of the Southern Hemisphere, Gondwana, to its success as a plantation crop and source of fruit, oil, milk and wood. He describes the life cycle of the coconut from seed to seedling, to flowering and fruiting, with colour photographs of each stage, and offers invaluable advice on looking after your own palms. The fruit and its parts, the products made from the plant and processing are also tackled. The final chapter considers the future of the coconut, its role in overcoming obesity, as a treatment for hyperthyroidism and diabetes in humans and as an energy source for racehorses. A colourful and appealing book, competently and authoritatively written, this is a very approachable source of information.

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The Names of Ankole Cows

By Mark Infield with Patrick Rubagyema and Charles Muchunguzi
Published by Fountain Publishers
Email: abc@africanbookscollective.com or msupress@msu.edu
Website: www.africanbookscollective.com or http://msupress.msu.edu
2003, 107pp, ISBN 9970 02 393 4 (Pb) £16.95/US$27.95

The naming of cows has a long history in Ankole - the part of southern Uganda famous for its longhorned cows. However, Mark Infield (a UK scientist who worked as an advisor to the Uganda Wildlife Authority) believes that there is a danger that many of the names may be lost unless they are recorded. This illustrated guide to the names of longhorned Ankole cows is his contribution to conserving Banyankore pastoral culture, and the special understanding amongst the Bahima of the beauty and significance of those cows. The names, with their accompanying descriptions and photographs, are divided into the categories of colour, pattern, horns, form and marks. For example, Bihogo (a rich red brown) is the favoured colour for a cow amongst the Bahima herders, Kyasha is a cow with a white patch on its face, while cows with large white horns are called Bishunga.

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Egg Marketing: A guide for the production and sale of eggs

By FAO
Website: www.fao.org/icatalog/inter-e.htm
2003, 126pp, ISBN 92 5 104932 7 (Pb), US$14.00

Eggs are a fundamental foodstuff for developing countries, however it is not enough to just produce supplies at a reasonable cost, says this new FAO manual. Instead, egg producers must make arrangements to ensure that their eggs are assembled, packed and transported in good condition and distributed through conveniently placed retail outlets. This book covers all aspects of egg production from the practicalities of keeping laying hens (lighting, temperature and production planning) to quality issues (grading, packaging, transportation and storage). The latter chapters focus on the next stage of the egg marketing business with information on marketing channels, pricing, and finally live bird marketing. The section of colour photographs at the back of the book contains interesting illustrations of laying houses, examples of quality issues and packaging used in smaller systems through to mechanisation in intensive egg production systems. An invaluable guide to those involved in egg production and sale in developing countries.

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Cactus (Opuntia spp.) as forage

By FAO
Website: www.fao.org/icatalog/inter-e.htm
2002, 147pp, ISBN 92 5 104705 7 (Pb), US$24.00

Cactus (Opuntia) may not be the obvious choice for a forage crop, but Mexican farmers have been feeding it to their livestock since pre-Hispanic times. In recent years there has been increased interest in the Opuntia species for the important role they play - and are likely to play - in sustainable agricultural systems in marginal areas of arid and semi-arid zones. As well as providing a history of the use Opuntia as forage, this book covers ecophysiology, germplasm resources, and breeding for fodder production. It then focuses on case studies of countries including Mexico, Brazil, the USA, Chile, Ethiopia and Southern Africa which give detailed information of production and harvesting systems for Opuntia, its role in livestock production systems. Through the case studies, issues such as pests and diseases, comparisons with other forage crops and nutritional benefits are also covered. This detailed, and at times very scientific, reader will probably be most useful to those interested in the technical issues of Opuntia production.

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