Africa in Crisis: The Causes, the Cures, of Environmental Bankruptcy (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 241 proudly nationalist movement, it would be most unlikely to end up beholden to any foreign power." Two of the papers seem out of place, given the tenor of the rest of the book. Nzongola-Ntalaja's piece, "United States Policy toward Zaire," while persuasive, stands alone in its wholesale condemnation of U.S. policy toward Zaire since independence . For different reasons Edmond Jouve's piece, "France and Crisis Areas in Africa," while informative, does not really belong in this collection. It is appropriate only to the extent that its discussion of France's handling of the regionalist/globalist problem in the formulation of its policy toward Africa provides a foil to the U.S. approach. African Crisis Areas and U. S. Foreign Policy is an excellent summary of current U.S. policy toward Africa, together with its rationale, strengths and weaknesses, and evolution over the last decade. However, as David B. Abernethy notes in the concluding piece, "Reflections on a Continent in Crisis," the work skips over socioeconomic problems that are inextricably linked to Africa's geopolitical crises. In addition to the standard geopolitical considerations, famine, drought, population growth, and general economic decline must be accorded a place in the formation of U.S. policy toward Africa. Nonetheless, though inconsistent and incomplete, African Crisis Areas and U. S. Foreign Policy is recommended reading for anyone wanting a useful discussion of Africa's major geopolitical problems and U.S. policy toward them. Africa in Crisis: The Causes, the Cures, of Environmental Bankruptcy. By Lloyd Timberlake. London and Washington: Earthscan/International Institute for Environment and Development, 1985. 232 pp. $9.95/paper. Reviewed by Peter Goldstein, M.A. Candidate, SAIS. In 1985, for the second time in twelve years, famine entered the living rooms of the United States and Western Europe in the form of television footage of starving Africans. And for the second time, the images on the nightly news caused a strong public reaction in the world's wealthiest nations. While Government and private relief officials may have been late to recognize the severity of the famine, the large amount of aid which eventually reached Ethiopia, the Sudan, and other Sahel nations helped save thousands of lives. The plight of the starving was reduced, at least in the short term. But what about the future? Is it possible to eliminate the need for disaster relief every decade or so by sparing Africa another round of drought and famine? Or is African famine caused by climatic trends beyond human control? Africa in Crisis is Lloyd Timberlake's argument that a viable solution is possible, provided existing resources are managed better. The book is a call to aid donors to shift their priorités away from stopgap famine relief and toward a lasting, comprehensive solution to the problem of African famine, and a call to African governments to manage their resources with an eye to the prevention of future 242 SAIS REVIEW food crises. "Now," the author writes "radical changes must be made or 'disaster' will become a permanent way of life for many Africans." Timberlake's central assumption is that the misuse and overuse of Africa's land leads to environmental deterioration, fragile ecosystems, and declining agricultural productivity. These policies reduce the resilience of the land in the face of even brief climatic adversity. The author rejects the idea that famine is inevitable once the rains stop as fatalistic and argues that with proper management , minor droughts need not cause major crises. Agricultural practices are part of the problem. Timberlake centers his attack on bad environmental management in three areas: cultivation, pastoral systems, and woodfuels. In cultivation and pastoral systems he calls for a return to the traditional systems of shifting areas of cultivation, intercropping and crop diversification, and increasing the range used by animals. Village woodlots and small-scale tree plantations are suggested as ways to increase the wood biomass in areas where a rising population has increased the demand for wood supplies. Agricultural reform is not, however, a cure-all. One of the reasons more environmentally responsible traditional methods have been abandoned is the inattention of African governments to rural populations. The political groups which African...