In print

The river runs black: The environmental challenge to China's future

By Elizabeth C. Economy
A Council on Foreign Relations book published by Cornell University Press
Website: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
2004, 368pp, ISBN 0 8014 4220 6(Hb), $29.95

To many people living outside Asia, China may seem a remote country where events have little effect on our lives. In The river runs black, Elizabeth Economy leaves readers in no doubt that this is far from the truth, and that China's very serious environmental problems now have far-reaching implications. With one-quarter of the world's population, China is currently one of the major contributors to global environmental problems such as climate change, ozone depletion and biodiversity loss; while regionally, China is adding significantly to air pollution, fisheries depletion and problems with international water resources such as the Mekong River. China's environmental problems, and how its leaders decide to deal with them, should be of concern to us all.

Recent massive economic growth is usually cited as the cause of China's current environmental crisis, but Economy explains how, in fact, the situation has resulted from centuries of mismanagement. She suggests that "a deeply rooted cultural tradition that accords little value to some of the core elements of effective environmental governance" underpins today's crisis, the core elements being independent scientific enquiry, a transparent political system, and accountable leadership. Further, while nature was respected within Confucianism, Taoism and other early Chinese schools of thought, there has also been a pervasive belief in man's right to 'use' nature for his needs: thus "continual cycles of social transformation, including war, population growth, economic development, and eco-environmental change resulted in astonishing levels of deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, and flooding."

Of course, China's recent rapid economic expansion has precipitated the current crisis, with its global implications. Twenty-five years ago, Chinese leaders decided to gamble their environment in their efforts to improve the lives of their citizens. And, says Economy, "they have cause for great pride... Increasing standards of living, better access to goods and services, and greater freedom of movement and job choice all have reshaped the opportunities and life prospects of hundreds of millions of Chinese." Such rapid change could not accommodate environmental protection - "The maxim 'First development, then environment' was a common refrain throughout the 1980s and much of the 1990s."

But is it too late to undo the damage? The author believes China still has a chance to avert the crisis, if Chinese leaders and citizens - helped by the international community - now embrace new technologies along with effective environmental protection policies. She describes a hopeful futuristic scenario of green cities, clean air and safe rivers; but two alternative scenarios are also presented, with self-explanatory titles: 'Inertia sets in' and 'Environmental meltdown'. As Economy concludes, "Millions of people concerned with the environment, both in China and elsewhere, are hoping that the first scenario of growing prosperity, democracy, and environmental protection becomes reality."

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The burning of the rice: A Cambodian success story

By Don Puckridge
Published by Sid Harta
Website: sidharta.com/au/
2004, 326pp, ISBN 1 877059 73 0(Pb), Aus$24.95

The burning of the rice is a unique book. Built around an agricultural project to restore rice farming systems in Cambodia, it interweaves the lives of the project workers with the stories - sometimes tragic, often inspiring - of the Cambodian people they meet and work with, and sets this within the recent and ancient history of the country. Puckridge was one of the central scientists on the project, but is also a gifted writer. He skillfully manages the combination of personal views and observations with the more objective story of the project progression. His style is very much in the mode of popular travel writing, which makes this fascinating book accessible far beyond the obvious 'science' audience. Highly recommended.

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Mendel in the kitchen: A scientist's view of genetically modified foods

By Nina Fedoroff and Nancy Marie Brown
Published by Joseph Henry Press
Website: www.jhpress.org
2004, 384pp, ISBN 0 309 09205 1(Hb), $24.95
(also available as PDF files: whole book $17, individual chapters $1.60)

Molecular biologists working in the field of plant genetic engineering are facing an uphill struggle to explain their science to those outside their labs. Fedoroff, who is one of those scientists, believes that when people understand "this new science" they are unlikely to oppose it, hence this elegantly written book. While lay people see genetic engineering as a leap into the unnatural, Fedoroff argues - with conviction - that it is in fact a small step on the long journey of plant domestication that began more than 10,000 years ago. But more than that, it is a vital step at this point in history, when "the human population is too large, and the earth too small, to sustain us in the way our ancestors lived." The combination of scientist and science writer has produced a beautifully written contribution to the GM food debate that will enlighten all who read it, and convert many.

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The world's greatest fix: A history of nitrogen and agriculture

By G.J Leigh
Published by Oxford University Press
Website: www.oup.com
2004, 250pp, ISBN 0195165829 (Hb), £20

All you wanted to know about nitrogen fixation but were afraid to ask. This wonderful book combines clearly written science and agricultural history to explain how the ability of certain bacteria - and more recently of humans - to extract ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen, has permitted the existence of life as we know it. The opening chapter summarises the case, including a much appreciated explanation of how biological nitrogen fixation actually works, at a simple level. A more in depth review of our current understanding of this mysterious process occurs later in the book, including the failure of genetic science to incorporate the nitrogen fixing property into crops that do not naturally have the gift.

In between, Leigh explores the history of mankind's ingenuity in maintaining soil fertility, something that became vital once we began living in fixed settlements and farming the same land year on year. His survey includes the methods developed by the ancient Chinese, as well as the Incas, Maya and Romans. The focus then moves to England, in particular the development of crop rotations, followed by more sophisticated use of fertilizers, plants and animals. There are also chapters devoted to the development of industrial nitrate production, and the growth of the global fertilizer industry, with a final chapter on the value of nitrate and the environmental risks it poses to human and ecosystem health. The modern science of chemistry has its roots in the arts of alchemy. In The world's greatest fix Leigh has managed something similar, transforming what could be dull material into nuggets of fascinating clarity.

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Eat here: Reclaiming homegrown pleasures in a global supermarket

By Brian Halweil
Copublished by W.W. Norton and the Worldwatch Institute
Websites: www.wwnorton.com, www.worldwatch.org
2004, 251pp, ISBN 0 393 32664 0(Pb), US$13.95

Halweil's contribution to the growing movement opposing the global agro-industrial food system condenses the solution to buying and eating locally grown food wherever possible. He explains, engagingly and with examples from around the world, how this would benefit consumers, farmers and local communities in both developed and developing countries. His arguments are convincing: "Proponents of the current system argue that it has succeeded because it is better and more efficient, but this is only true to the extent that many of the costs are not accounted for..." He suggests that "rebuilding local food systems might offer the first genuine economic opportunity in farm country in years." A well-written and useful addition to the expanding library on the search for a sustainable food system for the future.

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The resilient family farm: Supporting agricultural development and rural economic growth

By Gaye Burpee and Kim Wilson
Published by ITDG Publishing
Website: www.itdgpublishing.org.uk
2004, 176pp, ISBN 1 85339 592 7(Pb), £11.95

In a constantly changing and often unpredictable world, resilience is all important. For small-scale farmers in developing countries, it means the difference between a successful farm that feeds the family year round, and one where people go hungry for increasing periods. But why are some small farms more resilient, and hence more successful, than others? This book explains with clear and attractively illustrated text the complexities of small farms, revealing that "the secret of the healthy family farm is that it taps into and takes full advantage of the diversity."

The second part of the book is the more practical, with chapters devoted to extension services, building farm assets, developing farm enterprises, and selling farm products, for example. With a traditional approach to each area ('The dilemma', 'What can be done?', 'Some cardinal rules'), these chapters provide sensible and useful information for anyone who works to support smallholder farmers. But mostly, the authors would like the 'experts' who read the book to take away the message that they need to appreciate the complexities of the small family farm before they can usefully support it: "We ask experts to draw on equal measures of respect, collaboration, good listening and an appreciation of local wisdom as they apply their expert solutions."

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A manufactured plague: The history of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain

By Abigail Woods
Published by Earthscan/James & James
Website: www.earthscan.co.uk
2004, 224pp, ISBN 1 84407 080 8(Hb), £19.99

The inside cover pages have the title of this book as a question - 'A manufactured plague?' On the front cover the same words are a statement, and this more accurately reflects of the author's view. Foot-and-mouth disease is rarely a fatal condition, and while reducing productivity of livestock - particularly modern, intensively bred animals - is, arguably, not so devastating as to justify the slaughter of 10 million animals, as seen in the UK in 2001. In other words, argues Woods, foot-and-mouth is a plague, not because of its impact on animal health, but because of the methods used by humans to control it. Her book traces the development of those methods in the context of British history since 1839, the time of the first outbreak. It is a predictably murky story, with policies and scientific enquiries directed and defended for reasons of national pride, political rivalry and professional advancement more often than concern for either animal or human welfare. Moreover, the policy of isolation and slaughter, applied to ruthless effect in 2001, originated from a period that had little understanding of how diseases spread.

The penultimate chapter offers a concise and gripping summary of the events of the 2001 outbreak, the steps that were taken to control it, and the polarised reactions they produced. There follows an analysis of what lessons should be learned. Sadly, however, both this final chapter, and much of the rest of the book, suffer, at least for the general reader, from offering 'too much information' and not enough pithy comment. Few but the veterinary history aficionado are likely to be captivated by the unending refinements of legislation that took place in Europe and the UK from the mid 19th Century, and yet with no 'potted version' to get the essential facts across, the important story at the heart of the book loses impact.

Many will wish to know what the likely course of action will be in the event of another outbreak. Unfortunately the author is unable to offer any firm answers, although the pushing through of an Animal Health Bill in 2002 giving the government legal power to enforce an extended cull, offers a clue. According to law professors David Campbell and Robert Lee, the passing of the Bill - in the face of opposition from the House of Lords - suggests the UK government 'is avoiding any lessons to be learned, by purporting to give itself the legal power to repeat its mistakes.'

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India

By Pamela Bhagat
Published by Oxfam
Website: www.oxfam.org.uk/publications
2004, 95pp, ISBN 0 85598 495 3(Pb), £7.95

To write this latest in Oxfam's series of country profiles, Indian journalist Bhagat travelled the country to find out first hand the issues that confront people today. Some of the stories she heard she simply retells, and they enhance the broader narrative, which is informed and interesting. Chapters cover religion, caste and regional culture; population and trends; economy and trade; untapped human potential; the place of women in Indian society; rural livelihoods; and the future. Photographs, some colour, also add interest. A nice and relevant addition to a useful series.

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Banana wars: The price of free trade

By Gordon Myers
Published by Zed Books
Website: zedbooks.co.uk
2004, 203pp, ISBN 1 84277 453 0(Pb), £12.95/$22.50

Smallholder banana growers in the Caribbean have always been in a vulnerable position. Hurricanes that flatten an entire island's crop have competed with wars that disrupt transportation to distant markets, to make farmers' livelihoods precarious. So far the resilient islanders, with some help from importing countries, have always recovered following these setbacks. But free trade may finally mean the end for profitable small-scale banana growing in the Caribbean, which cannot hope to compete with much larger industrialised producers in Latin America.

Banana wars begins by tracing the history of banana growing in the Caribbean, an interesting story but also one which helps to explain the UK's role in promoting trade in bananas between the EU and the Caribbean, through preferential terms of trade. These arrangements were challenged in the 1990s by the World Trade Organization, and are now in the process of being dismantled. Many small farmers will lose their livelihoods and island economies are in jeopardy - on Dominica, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, for example, one-third of the population will be directly affected, and export earnings will plummet. This is a story about bananas in the Caribbean, but the author warns of the broader implications: "This presented the acid test of the compatibility of free-trade rules of the WTO with the economic well-being of small states highly dependent on one product. The results of that test were ominous - and not just for Caribbean banana growers."

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Indigenous Water-Harvesting Systems in West Asia and North Africa

Edited by Theib Oweis, Ahmed Hachum and Adriana Bruggeman
Published by ICARDA
Website: www.icarda.cgiar.org
2004, 178pp, ISBN 92 9127 147X(Pb), free

This book would appear to be a follow up to the very good Water Harvesting: Indigenous knowledge for the future of the drier environments (Review in New Agriculturist 02-5). The water harvesting team was obviously asked to produce a more comprehensive description of the many techniques used to harvest rainwater by the people of West Asia and North Africa. Unfortunately, while the earlier book took the reader straight to the heart of the issue, and tackled the subject in a thematic manner, this book begins with laboured answers to such questions as 'What is indigenous knowledge?' and 'Why is water important to life?', and proceeds to cover the various technologies through a country-by-country analysis. Anyone interested in knowing how water harvesting might be relevant to them, but not aware of the particular geography of Tunisia, Yemen or the other seven countries featured, may find this approach less than helpful. The earlier book is, however, strongly recommended.

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