The choice of material

Development is conceived here generally to include all modern planning and project implementation which is designed to increase productivity, to modernize traditional systems, and to raise living standards, especially in the Third World, irrespective of the possibility of direct benefits to the investor or donor. The argument for the differentiation of three dimensions in this context should ideally be made on the basis of a careful evaluation of accumulated experience. However, to attempt to review all the ecologically oriented work in the natural and social sciences and its application in development over the last decade would be over-ambitious. The same objective may, perhaps, be achieved by narrowing the focus to a sample of areas of research and application which have been especially important during this period. Because of the impact of the Sahelian drought on ecological thought, I have chosen to concentrate on work generated by the special problems of arid and semi-arid lands - the world's dry lands - and especially desertification. Within that corpus, I am mainly concerned with questions raised by the growing demand for attention to the human factor. The argument is illustrated with cases from South-west Asia, where I have had considerable field experience. They are also appropriate on the more objective criteria of length of historical record and density of population, as well as economic and general human significance.