Sustaining the Future. Economic, Social, and Environmental Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNU, 1996, 365 p.): Part 4: Institutional issues: Modes of international and regional research cooperation: Networking

Sustaining the Future. Economic, Social, and Environmental Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNU, 1996, 365 p.)

Note to the reader from the UNU

Preface

(introduction...)

Background

Regional environmental futures

References

Opening address by the Hon. Minister of Environment, Science and Technology

Introduction

(introduction...)

Economy and society: Development issues

Environmental issues and futures

Environment and resource management

Institutional issues

Environment and development in Ghana

Recommendations

References

Part 1: Economy and society: development issues

Poverty, vulnerability, and rural development

(introduction...)

The nature of poverty

Rural poverty and development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Aspects of economy and society in SS Africa

Vulnerability

Poverty and economic reform

Conclusion

References

Environmental management and social equity

(introduction...)

Introduction

The key notions

The political-economic context of contemporary environmental management

Social equity and environmental management: Some examples

The way forward

References

Introduction to population, resources, and sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa

(introduction...)

Introduction

Internal and international migration

Natural resources

Human resources

Population, agricultural land, and food supply

Population, economy, and sustainable development

References

Urbanization and industrialization: What future for Sub-Saharan Africa?

(introduction...)

Introduction

The continuing rapid rate and scale of urbanization

The urban environment

The limitations of industrialization

The impact of structural adjustment

Sub-Saharan Africa as the global periphery

Implications for urbanization and industrialization

References

Urban environmental management and issues in Africa south of the Sahara

(introduction...)

Introduction

The process of urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa

The nature of environmental problems

Causes of the current problems

The way forward

Concluding remarks

References

Part 2: Environmental issues and futures

Towards sustainable environmental and resource management futures in Sub-Saharan Africa

(introduction...)

Introduction

The concept of sustainable development and its implications

Driving forces

Levels of environmental effects of human activities and sustainability concerns

Constraints on sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Recommendations

References

Drought, desertification, and water management in Sub-Saharan Africa

(introduction...)

Introduction

Droughts in Sub-Saharan Africa and their implications for planning and development

Desertification

Land degradation and management of soil and water

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

References

Tropical deforestation and its impact on soil, environment, and agricultural productivity

(introduction...)

Introduction

TRF and its conversion

Soils of the TRF ecosystem

Forest conversion and soil productivity

Deforestation and the emission of radiatively active gases

Deforestation and hydrological balance

Sustainable use of the TRF ecosystem

Research needs

References

The coastal zone and oceanic problems of Sub-Saharan Africa

(introduction...)

Introduction

The value of the coastal zone and oceans

The main problems and their causes

Remedies

References

Part 3: Environment and resource management

Agricultural development in the age of sustainability: Crop production

(introduction...)

Introduction

The ecological zones of Sub-Saharan Africa

General crop production constraints and potentials for overcoming them

Technologies with potential for sustainable resource management

Women's underexploited potential

Suggested approaches to sustainable production

Summary

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

References

Agricultural development in the age of sustainability: Livestock production

(introduction...)

Introduction

Livestock production, productivity, and feed resources

The effect of government policy on livestock production

Networking

One thing in common between all the above and other similar efforts is that they are based on a networking principle. International networks of research and training institutions as well as individual scholars are set up in order to agree on a joint research agenda, to focus efforts, and to benefit from economies of scale. The networks also have the central function of capacity-building in developing countries.

To demonstrate this point, consider international cooperation in agricultural research. One of the questions is whether our present concepts of international and national resources research as related to African farmers are still capable of meeting the challenges of the more systemic approach that is now required.

Much of the research is based on cooperation between the centres within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), national research bodies, and actors at the "grass-roots" level. The main function of international centres such as the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) or the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) and their related networks seems to be to provide technologies that in a second step could be adapted to national and local conditions. This strategy has been largely successful, and some national administrations have been able to adopt the right research topics at the user level.

In many national research systems, however, this does not work because of the lack of trained professional staff, limited funding, and other administrative and fiscal obstacles. It has also been difficult to introduce priority problems from the farmers' and resource users' level into the research agendas of the international bodies. Investigations have shown time and again that, particularly as regards the small traditional peasant farmer, there still exist great problems of acceptance (Hatch 1976; Chambers 1983; Jazairy et al. 1992). The technological application gap seems to be as wide as ever, and much of the extension work of past decades has not been very successful (Merrill-Sands 1986).

From the farmers' point of view, the world looks very different compared with an international expert's view. Innovations may be refused because too much risk is involved or because they do not fit within the socio-economic reality of the farmers' environment. Risk minimization is of central importance to smallholders, who by processes of trial and error have generally acquired long experience in resource management, which they will not easily give up for something unknown, however promising.

What is needed is an even stronger reorientation of at least some of the international research towards the level of smallholders' problems, including a better appraisal of their traditional knowledge. Several of the new initiatives, including UNU/INRA and PLEC, are designed with this in mind.

This approach, which has been accepted for some time, also calls for increased interdisciplinary cooperation, including social scientists. A number of new concepts have been tried out during the past 10-20 years. The work on farming systems research (Shaner et al. 1982), on on-farm research (Byerlee and Collinson 1980), on the "farmer-firstand-last" model (Chambers and Ghildyal 1985), and on on-farm clientoriented research (Merrill-Sands and McAllister 1989) may serve as examples.

A participatory approach will improve the probability that internationally advocated technological innovations will eventually be adopted at the local and national levels. It is to be hoped that UNU/ INRA can also make a substantial contribution here.

Another example of successful research networking for capacitybuilding in developing countries is the UNU-International Mountain Society programme on Mountain Ecology and Sustainable Development. The programme has been operational since 1978 and, in recognition of its contribution in the field, it was selected to prepare the UNCED mountain agenda (Stone 1992). One of the central objectives since its initiation has been institutional support to mountain and highlands research in developing countries. For example, the programme was instrumental in establishing the African Mountain Association, which is now a fairly self-sufficient network of mountain researchers from Africa. The mother programme continues to support the global as well as regional networking activities through the journal Mountain Research and Development and newsletters.