Books

This eight-chapter volume, African Military Geosciences: Military History and the Physical Environment, is a tour-de-force covering nearly 500 years of African military geosciences. It is a truly global book that reveals keen insights into regional, national and international military-forces activities centered in Africa and how the understanding of geosciences plays important roles. It is written…

This book examines the trend in Africa today to replace communal forms of customary tenure with Western-type private land tenure arrangements. These are markets in land that treat it as a commodity like any other, and forms of rural credit involving land as collateral. The author develops an aetiology of the main actors in this…

Once marginalized in the world economy, Africa has emerged as a major global supplier of crucial raw materials like oil, uranium and coltan. With its share of world trade and investment rising and the availability of natural resources falling, the continent finds itself at the centre of a battle to gain access to and control…

Chocolate is one of the world’s most everyday luxuries, the very word conjuring up a hint of the forbidden and a taste of the decadent. Every year, more chocolate is sold in the West even as obesity and health fears grow. Yet the story behind the chocolate bar is rarely one of luxury. The crop…

Winner of the 2011 Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Best Business Book of the Year AwardBillions of government dollars, and thousands of charitable organizations and NGOs, are dedicated to helping the world’s poor. But much of their work is based on assumptions that are untested generalizations at best, harmful misperceptions at worst.Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo have…

African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa faces three major opportunities that can transform its agriculture into a force for economic growth: advances in science and technology; the creation of regional markets; and the emergence of a…

Agriculture is the lifeblood of the majority of people in Africa. It is not just a provider of food, it is a way of life for rural people. Whilst subsistence farming is the most practiced form of agriculture, there are many parts of Africa where agriculture is highly developed and progressive. In many instances it…

Evaluating how land ownership relates to workings of global capital and the lives of both women and men, this analysis draws from field research in Cameroon, Ghana, Vietnam, and the forests of South America to explore relations between land ownership, gender, and class. The study considers how, in each situation, the people’s resistance to global…

This book outlines current thinking and evidence on climate change and the impacts such change will have on Africa. Global warming above the level of two degrees Celsius would be enormously damaging for poorer parts of the world, leading to crises with crops, livestock, water supplies and coastal areas. Within Africa, it’s likely to be…

Nowhere in the world is China’s rapid rise to power more evident than in Africa. From multi-billion dollar investments in oil and minerals to the influx of thousands of merchants, labourers and cheap consumer goods, China’s economic and political reach is redefining Africa’s traditional ties with the international community. This book investigates the emerging relationship…

Pastoral land tenure is little understood and even less respected by many African governments and western donors alike, with the consequence that pastoralists throughout Africa are suffering through the loss of their lands. This book examines the plight of pastoralists in East and West Africa through a series of case studies describing how pastoralists organise…

This book provides, for the first time, a detailed analysis of the role of big business in Africa’s agriculture. It exposes the past and present activities of foreign companies in the diversion of much of Africa’s food potential to the cash crop demands of Europe. Most aspects of company activity are illustrated with examples and…

This open access collection of papers offers technical analyses, policy recommendations and an overview of success stories to date. Each carefully selected paper provides valuable insights for improved policy making and defines relevant strategic priorities on Africa’s sustainable transformation process, which is in line with the international development agenda. Although agriculture remains the main source of income…

Africa is one continent severely affected by the ravaging effects of global environment change yet it is least responsible for this. The continent’s rural and urban poor are particularly vulnerable to reduced agricultural production, worsening food security, increased incidence of both flooding and drought, spreading of disease and heightening risk of conflict over scarce land…

“Now that economic development is starting to pick up in many countries in Africa, the question arises how such development can be balanced with the need for adequate environmental protection. This crucial issue, inherent in the notion of sustainable development, is addressed in this innovative and path-breaking volume. For the first time, academics from seventeen…

Transformation and rapid population growth in Africa indicates that urbanisation is one of the key determinants of the future of social dynamics and development of the continent. Linked to these changes are increased production levels of Municipal Solid Waste. This book provides recommendations and solutions that derive from current situations, experiences and observations in Africa….

West African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis examines the food security threats facing 11 of the countries that make up West Africa — Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo — and explores how climate change will increase the efforts needed to achieve sustainable food…