Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 42, Nos. 1/2/3, 2010
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Book Review Sustainable Land Management in the Tropics – Explaining the Miracle by Kees Burger and Fred Zaal Reviewed by Jean Hugé Human Ecology Department and Policy Research Centre for Sustainable Development, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090 Brussels, Belgium E-mail:
[email protected] Published 2009 by Ashgate, Hampshire, UK. ISBN: 978-0-7546-4455-2 Keywords: book review. Reference to this book review should be made as follows: Hugé, J. (2010) ‘Sustainable Land Management in the Tropics – Explaining the Miracle by Kees Burger and Fred Zaal’, Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 42, Nos. 1/2/3, pp.289–290. Biographical notes: Jean Hugé has a Master in Bioscience Engineering and a Master in Development Studies from Ghent University, Belgium. Currently a Researcher at the Human Ecology Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, he works on sustainability assessment and environmental mainstreaming of development interventions.
This book makes an enlightening contribution to the population-environment debate. It is designed as a follow-up and extension of the findings published in Tiffen, Mortimore and Gichuki’s landmark publication More people, less erosion. These authors, working in the Kenyan Machakos district, found that increasing population pressure can actually lead to more sustainable agriculture and higher standards of living, and thus provided an optimistic example of socio-environmental innovation fostering sustainable development. Burger and Zaal’s book, inspired by a Dutch-sponsored research programme on agricultural transition towards sustainable tropical land use, fits well within the topical ‘transition’ debate, which has recently been receiving much attention from scholars, governments and businesses alike. The United Nations Environment Programme’s ‘Green Economy Initiative’ is one of the major international initiatives fostering society’s transition towards sustainability. By focusing on regional and local settings in a tropical context, this book manages to turn ‘transition to sustainability’ from an abstract concept to a tangible reality.
Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
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Book Review
Theoretical and empirical insights are presented, allowing answers to very concrete questions. What makes farmers act in one way instead of another when it comes to long-term investments in environmental conservation? What are the key capacity-related and motivational factors pushing farmers to invest in soil and water conservation? Case studies in four different countries (Benin, Cameroon, Kenya and the Philippines), based on questionnaires and mathematical models, identify elements that can be used to forecast the ‘transition tendency’ of a particular region. Prospects of sustainable agricultural change are shown to depend mostly on market access opportunities. Although the question of general validity remains, the case studies carry inspiring lessons for farmers and governments all over the tropics. Whilst avoiding overly simplistic causal explanations, the clarity of the findings strengthens the case for a holistic and open-minded approach to development. Indeed, one of the key messages is that the adoption of sustainable agricultural techniques is more limited by market opportunities than by investment capacity, which might contrast with commonly held views. Sustainable agricultural practices thus appear to be a by-product of the adjustment to changing economic conditions. Moreover, the authors invite development actors to look beyond the greatly artificial urban-rural divide in developing countries. The concluding chapter provides a clear synthesis of the population-environment research, which is expected to gain even more relevance in the coming years, as the United Nations’ World Population Prospects may become reality. Minor shortcomings, such as insufficient information on the authors’ interpretation of ‘sustainable agriculture’ and a lack of identified linkages with strategic policy choices (e.g., linkages between market access for farmers and international trade negotiations), do not affect the general quality of this thought-provoking volume.
