| | It is almost ten years since the Review focused on Africa's environment. In 1988 (No. 42) the issues which were examined in particular were drought, toxic waste dumping and the green revolution. The concern was to counter conservationist discourse which 'framed the problems in terms of population growth surpassing national resources and herds outstripping the land's carrying capacity' (No. 42, 1). And the concern was to rebuff the policy implications of such a characterisation of Africa's crisis which focussed unsurprisingly on population and animal control. In many respects the neo-Malthusian orthodoxy persists whether in academic, national policy-making, or international financial institution circles. The poor are blamed for land degradation and too many people chasing too few resources are often identified as the cause of environmental crisis. |
