The article by Fairhead and Leach examines the conventional narrative of deforestation in the region of Kissidougou in Guinea and offers another perspective. It first describes the situation in the area; it is mostly savannah with pockets of forest surrounding Read More …

Robert Netting looks at the ‘truths’ of Western scientific and engineering knowledge as they apply to agricultural practices. He begins with a critique of the long standing assumption of social evolutionists about the superiority of Western technology. This view is Read More …

In the article Benefits of the Commons, Berkes et. al challenge the idea of the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’, proposed by Garrett Hardin in 1968. The idea, that resources held in common are vulnerable to overexploitation as there is no Read More …

Simon Dalby castigates Richard Kaplan’s article “The Coming Anarchy”, a pessimistic view of societal collapse. Kaplan theorized that rapid population growth will overload resources, especially in urban slums, leading to an increase in crime. Beginning in Western Africa, he claims Read More …

 Lisa Cliggett discusses the usefulness of the concept of carrying capacity in her article “Carrying Capacity’s New Guise”. Since the term came into use in the 1940s researchers have tried to measure carrying capacity as an exact value. Cliggett discusses Read More …