Sustainable Land Management in the Tropics: Explaining the Miracle / Edition 1

by Fred Zaal, Kees Burger

Overview

Bringing together case studies from Kenya, Benin, Cameroon and the Philippines, this volume provides a multidisciplinary overview of the economics of natural resource management in Tropical regions, at household and village level. By comparing a wide array of climatic and economic conditions, it examines the effect of location and access to the market - as well as the importance of national policies - have on soil and water conservation. The book not only analyzes the benefits of soil and water conservation based on econometric studies, but also assesses the costs involved. In doing so it challenges commonly held assumptions about poorer community's ability to finance such measures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780754644552
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/28/2009
Series:	International Land Management Series
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr Kees Burger, Department of Development Economics, Wageningen University, The Netherlands and Dr Fred Zaal, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface; Optimistic determinism or explaining a miracle, Ton Dietz with Jan Willem Gunning, Andries Klaasse Bos and Adri Zuiderwijk; Beyond population growth: intensification and conservation in dryland small-scale agriculture: Machakos and Kitui districts, Kenya, Fred Zaal and Remco H. Oostendorp; Farm- and household-level drivers of agricultural innovation in Machakos and Kitui districts, Kenya, Remco Oostendorp and Fred Zaal; Impact of transaction costs and risks on terracing in Kenya, Samuel M. Mwakubo, Michael K. Bowen, Wilson K. Yabann and Henry K. Maritim; The productivity of indigenous soil and water conservation in Benin, Esaïe Gandonou and Remco Oostendorp; More market, less poverty, less erosion? The case of Benin, Esaïe Gandonou and Kees Burger; Agricultural intensification in the Koza plain drylands, Cameroon: ongoing trends and possible futures, Wouter T. de Groot and Adri B. Zuiderwijk; Forest fringe farmers on the way to sustainability: an econometric and cost-benefit analysis, Wouter T. de Groot and Marino R. Romero; Transition as induced innovation, Kees Burger; Lessons on land management, Fred Zaal and Kees Burger; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'This volume analyses and follows up the impact on the population environment debate made by More People, Less Erosion, 1994, a study of sixty years of environmental and social change in Machakos, Kenya. Including a detailed farm-based questionnaire and a careful mathematical analysis of four countries this book confirms that given a road to market and some land scarcity, farmers can find means to protect the soils. It is a finding that bears repeating.' Mary Tiffen, formerly of the Overseas Development Institute, London 'Sustainable Land Management in the Tropics is a timely addition to Ashgate's International Land Management Series...the book provides well-considered and engaging fodder for anti-Malthusians and related discourses on people-environment relationships.' Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 'This book makes an enlightening contribution to the population-environment debate.' International Journal of Environment and Pollution

From the Publisher