In print

State of the World 2005: Redefining global security

Edited by Linda Starke
Published by The Worldwatch Institute
Website: www.worldwatch.org
2005, 237pp, ISBN 0 393 32666 7 (Pb), $18.95

At the time of President Bush's inauguration in January, international polls revealed unease about America's role in world security. In his inauguration speech however, the President remained defiant that US counter-terrorism measures would continue and although this might not necessarily be the 'task of arms', a military approach was not discounted. Reflecting our current preoccupation with global security, the State of the World 2005 report picks up on world insecurity concerns and delves deeper into the issues that lie behind terrorism and regional conflict.

In the foreword, Mikhail Gorbachev, now Chairman of Green Cross International, asks why the opportunities that emerged at the end of the Cold War have been squandered and so much ground lost in the past few decades. Hunger, malnutrition, disease, environmental degradation and conflict over resources are just some of the issues which, the authors believe, lie behind the current state of world poverty and insecurity. Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor has stated, in his recent unveiling of the UK's five-point plant to meet the MDGs, that "debt relief, more generous aid, and higher levels of trade, health and education are the areas where the international community has to act." Whilst co-ordinated and unified action in these areas would undoubtedly help to ameliorate the livelihoods of many in poor countries, the possibility of disruptive climate change and catastrophic weather events will, according to Christopher Flavin, have "immense human consequences, particularly in the world's poorest countries." Flavin, who is the current President of the Worldwatch Institute, goes on to argue that the world's over-dependence on oil not only impacts on climatic stability but on global economic and civil security, as its commodity value compromises efforts to achieve peace, civil order, and democracy in many regions. Our focus and demands on non-renewable energy need to change.

The tsunami disaster in Asia has highlighted the need for nations to come together if effective long-term development is to be achieved in the region. World-wide, peace and prosperity will only be achieved if all countries unite in their efforts. Hence, the report ends with chapters on 'peace through environmental co-operation and 'laying the foundations of peace'. The first of these two chapters, although written before the award was announced, is a fitting tribute to the environmental activist and 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Wangari Maathai. The chapter emphasises that environmental co-operation does not occur easily, nor will it automatically enhance peace. But co-operation is the key; Michael Renner in 'Security Redefined' concludes that real security cannot be achieved on a purely national basis, but that "a multilateral and even global approach is needed to deal effectively with a multitude of transboundary challenges."

We may live in uncertain times but there is certainty that nations can no longer act alone. Global issues will only be solved through global alliance and this is the thread that weaves through the latest State of the World report. Timely, extensively researched and eminently readable, this book is highly recommended.

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Faces of Africa

By Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher
Published by National Geographic Books
Website: shop.nationalgeographic.com
2004, 256pp, ISBN 079226830X (Hb), £19.99

It has taken thirty years of travel among 150 African cultures to collect the stunning photographs in Faces of Africa. More than 250 photographs are carefully juxtaposed to convey the cultural diversity found in contrasting landscapes, from equatorial forests to deserts, to mountains and savannah grasslands. The image of a mother and daughter putting the finishing touches to bridal preparations in a Maasai hut in Kenya is followed by two friends in Niger braiding hair before a courtship festival. Featuring equally men and women, the young and the very old, the reader is left in no doubt about the central role of ceremony at every stage of life, and the vital importance of family and community.

The voices in the text that accompany the images are those of the photographers, Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher, describing the lengths they went to in order to reach the often remote locations where the photographs were taken, and their impressions of those they met on their travels. Yet the book lacks explanation or portrayal of the survival skills of those they depict. Faces of Africa focuses on ceremony but less on the underlying routines of caring for livestock or land, or the ways in which traditional farming and survival skills are passed on from one generation to the next. There are a few compelling images which do give context to the culture. The Wodaabe women of Niger struggling with a leather bucket full of water they have hauled sixty feet up from a well to give to their thirsty animals waiting at a trough. Or the Tuareg nomad of Niger, cross-legged atop his camel, manoeuvring his way through a herd of long-horned Zebu cattle. Such portraits capture not only the landscape and the livelihood but above all the formidable skills that lie at the heart of traditional African life.

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Livestock biodiversity: Genetic resources for the farming of the future

By Stephen J.G. Hall
Published by Blackwell Publishing
Website: www.blackwellpublishing.com
2004, 269pp, ISBN 0 632 05499 9(Hb), £59.50

Our local wildlife park specialises in breeding endangered species; tigers, red pandas, the usual suspects. But ask them what the most endangered animal in the park is, and the answer is surprising: the Suffolk Punch. It's a huge, golden-chestnut horse, once, no doubt, a common sight in the area, but now confined largely to a small number of ploughing display teams and specialist horse breeders. Yet even though the threat to domestic livestock breeds is extreme, to most of us it is not obvious. Wildlife extinctions - poached rhinos, lonely gorillas - are relatively easy to see and quantify. Domestic livestock are different. Repeated mating with another breed will change the genotype of a livestock population in a few generations; extinction, but not as we normally think of it. What's more, many countries have no policy designed to protect their traditional breeds. With the growing availability of high-performing breeds in a global market of semen and animals, the danger is that the world's livestock biodiversity, developed over the last 10,000 years, will be quickly supplanted by homogeneity.

Would that be a problem? Certainly, argues Stephen Hall. Livestock farming continues to face new challenges: emergent diseases, consumer dissatisfaction with current livestock systems, environmental disruption and shortage of grazing land in developing countries, plus a booming demand for milk and meat from the increasingly wealthy global population. Preserving our domesticated animal genetic resources will be essential in meeting those challenges, and this has profound implications for the scientific community and for policy-makers, at whom this book is aimed. In particular, Hall is writing for students of the newly developing science of conservation biology, a science which seeks input from a number of disciplines. If livestock biodiversity is to be preserved, he argues, an integrated approach that recognises both the historical and cultural context of breed development, as well as the biology of adaptation and the practicalities of conservation policy, will be needed.

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Outgrowing the Earth: The food security challenge in an age of falling water tables and rising temperatures

By Lester R. Brown
Published by WW Norton
Website: www.wwnorton.com
2005, 239pp, ISBN 0 393 32725 6(Pb), US$15.95

Global grain stocks have, since the turn of the century, dropped to their lowest level for 30 years. Record temperatures in 2003 contributed to a world harvest shortfall of 94 million tons - five per cent of world consumption. And in many regions the demand for water exceeds the sustainable capacity of aquifers and rivers. Lester Brown has reported on falling grain harvests and water tables for some years, but in Outgrowing the Earth the data is brought together to emphasise the pressure that our growing demands are placing on the world's natural resources. Brown also reports on the increasing import needs of China and the effects this will have on world market prices, and on Brazil, a country with potential to expand its crop production but at what price? Food security is no longer the sole responsibility of ministries of agriculture, he says. A holistic approach is required and ministries of energy, water, health and family planning all need to collaborate if the trends are to be reversed. Echoing observations made in the State of the World 2005 report, Brown concludes that unless nations change their ways "food security could quickly eclipse terrorism as the overriding concern of governments."

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The Equitable Forest: Diversity, community, and resource management

Edited by Carol J. Pierce Colfer
Published by RFF Press and CIFOR
Email: rffpress@rff.org
Website: www.rffpress.org
2004, 335pp, ISBN 1 891853 78 3(Pb), US$29.95

The Equitable Forest is a presentation, largely through case studies, of Adaptive Collaborative Management (ACM), as a means of improving the fairness and effectiveness of forest management by communities. The method has been developed in reaction to what the authors argue is the patchy record of externally-planned approaches to forest management; in particular their failure to recognise the importance of diversity within forest communities, which affects how a community adapts to changes in its resource base. Such standardised solutions have failed to address both human and environmental needs, say the authors, while ACM has the potential to achieve both, through strengthening local institutions and using the knowledge and skills of local groups to enhance the life of forests and the people who live in and around them. The book contains a detailed account of the various tools that comprise the method, drawing on the first attempts at implementation from Asia (Nepal and Indonesia), Africa (Cameroon and Zimbabwe), and Latin America (Peru, Brazil and Bolivia).

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Donkeys, people and development

Edited by Denis Fielding and Paul Starkey
Published by CTA on behalf of the Animal Traction Network for Eastern and Southern Africa
Website: www.cta.int
2004, 248pp, ISBN 92 9081 219 2(Pb), PDF files of individual papers can be downloaded free at www.atnesa.org

In the first overview chapter of this book, editor Starkey and co-author Fernando make a clear and compelling case for the neglected donkey. The development focus of recent years on economic growth has, they point out, failed to eliminate poverty. While the fortunes of many have improved, many others have found themselves increasingly marginalised, lacking the resources to take advantage of new development opportunities. This appears to be one of the reasons why donkeys, which are relatively cheap, are on the increase in Africa. Clearly "an appropriate and affordable technology for people with minimal resources", and of increasing importance to such people, they have nonetheless been neglected by the research community, perhaps partly due to their low status and association with poverty.

This is the first of two resource books resulting from a 1997 workshop organised by ATNESA, the Animal Traction Network for Eastern and Southern Africa. The 46 short papers are concerned with social and economic issues surrounding donkeys, while the second volume will address animal science and technology. Papers are segregated by region though it may have been more useful to group them by topic; nonetheless there is much valuable information here.

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Training across cultures: A handbook for trainers and facilitators working around the world

Edited by Gillian Martin Mehers
Published by LEAD International
Available from Earthprint
Email: customerservices@earthprint.com
Website: www.earthprint.com
2004, 72pp, ISBN 0 9546927 9 9(Pb), US$10

Unusual, and extremely practical, Training across cultures offers a summary of what to expect, and how to respond, when training in 13 different countries or regions, plus an extra chapter on training international groups. Each chapter follows a standard pattern, with short, pithy paragraphs giving hints and tips on subjects such as building trust, gender issues, language considerations, understanding and meeting expectations, potential logistical problems, and planning for food and leisure time. The countries and regions covered include: Francophone Africa, Southern Africa, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Indonesia. But even for those not working in one of the specific countries described, the issues raised about trainee expectations, and how to satisfy them, will provide useful food for thought.

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Interventions in smallholder agriculture: Implications for extension in Zimbabwe

Edited by Alex Bolding, Jeff Mutimba and Pieter van der Zaag
Published by University of Zimbabwe Publications
Distributed by African Books Collective
Email: abc@africanbookscollective.com
Website: www.africanbookscollective.com
2004, 345pp, ISBN 0 908307 52 7(Pb), £17.95/ US$34.95

Agricultural extension is clearly failing many of the smallholder farmers it is intended to help, and this is certainly the case in Zimbabwe, where "the past weighs heavily on present day extension practices." The bulk of this book comprises detailed case studies examining farmer-extension interactions, yet the implications for the future of extension in Zimbabwe are not clearly drawn out. The final chapter, which claims to "distil the salient features raised in the empirical chapters", is only 10 pages long, of which just 4 pages are devoted to "bridging the gap". The case study information and historical background are nonetheless useful, and readers may expound their own lessons for the future.

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Wild edible fungi: A global overview of their use and importance to people

By Eric Boa
Published by FAO
Website: www.fao.org/icatalog/inter-e.htm
2004, 148pp, ISBN 92 5 105157 7(Pb), US$24

Are you mycophilic or mycophobic? The answer may depend on where you come from. If you are Chinese, Turkish or Malawian, there's a much greater chance that wild edible fungi are a regular part of your diet, whether as a tasty treat or a regular source of protein. You may even value and use their medicinal properties. Those from northern Europe are more likely to be suspicious of fungi, a suspicion born from stories of poisonings and fungi-induced fatalities. In fact, as Dr Boa is keen to point out, such incidents are extremely rare, at least in comparison with the age-old, regular consumption of safe species. In this book - number 17 in the FAO's series on Non-Wood Forest Products - he seeks to raise the profile of edible fungi as a useful source of nutrition, medicine and income, and, in certain places, as an agent of forest health. With greater recognition these species can, he believes, offer much to sustainable rural development, particularly in areas where over-exploitation of timber resources has led to restrictions on forest use for local communities. However, improved management of wild fungi demands reliable data on yields, productivity and nutritional benefits, information that will not be generated without funded research. Hopefully the clear presentation provided in this book will help that cause.

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Soil organic matter in sustainable agriculture

Edited by Fred Magdoff and Ray R Weil
Published by CRC Press
Website: www.crcpress.com
2004, 398pp, ISBN 0849312949 (Hb), £60.99

Recognition of organic matter as a key factor in both soil quality and plant health is booming. The management of soil organic matter is increasingly regarded as an essential part of ensuring good soil structure, in optimising water infiltration and storage and reducing susceptibility to erosion. It can also improve nutrient availability and pH, and reduce plant pest pressure. This substantial book brings together the critical issues for organic matter management, including the scientific background to the processes involved, and descriptions of practices that enhance soil organic matter. These include the contributions of fungi and earthworms to soil quality and crop growth, and the links between below-ground food webs and above-ground food webs that influence crop health and productivity. Aimed firmly at the scientific community, the editors aim to pose the questions that science must address in order to better understand soil organic matter, and thereby improve soil management systems.

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