Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-2dmjx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-09T10:53:28.821Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ecology and Development: An Attempt to Synthesize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Christiaan Geerling ,
Henk Breman  and
Eva T. Bérczy
Christiaan Geerling
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer, Department of Nature Conservation, Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Henk Breman
Affiliation:
Senior Research Officer, Centre for Agro-Biological Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Eva T. Bérczy
Affiliation:
Research Fellow, Department of Nature Conservation, Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the context of ‘ecology’ and ‘development’, both these terms are usually ill-defined. Development, a finite process, is nevertheless conceived as sustainable, while ecology is only used in a qualitative way in this context. Development concerns resources—renewable and nonrenewable—both of which are finite in their exploitability. Ecology in land-use concerns the interference of Man as a biological species in ecological processes.

Integration of ‘ecology’ in ‘development’ requires the following steps:

1. Quantify the resources, both renewable and non-renewable, to be developed in terms of carrying capacity and inputs available.

2. Determine the regulating ecological factors in both the natural ecosystem and the land-use system.

3. Assess the interventions needed to counter limiting factors, their effectiveness, and their (side-)effects.

4. Define measures to be taken in such a way that they can be integrated with cultural, social, and economic, data, in order to arrive at a balanced approach to development.

Information

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1986 , pp. 211 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Allaby, M. (1972). Development and environment: the problem that need not exist. The Ecologist, 2(6), pp. 23–6.Google Scholar
Arizo-Nino, E.J., Herman, L., Makinen, M. & Steedman, C. (1980). Livestock and Meat Marketing in West Africa, Volume I, Part I: Synthesis Report. Center for Research on Economic Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA: vii + 203 pp.Google Scholar
Berczy, E.T. (1985). Ecologie en Ontwikkeling, een Kritische Beschouwing. Department of Nature Conservation, Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands: 52 pp.Google Scholar
Breman, H. & Traore, N. (Eds) (in prep.). Analyses des Conditions de l'Élevage et Propositions de Politiques et de Programmes; Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali. Club du Sahel, Paris, France/CILLS, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (Upper Volta).Google Scholar
Breman, H. & Wit, C.T. De (1983). Rangeland productivity and exploitation in the Sahel. Science, 221, pp. 1341–7, illustr.Google Scholar
Buringh, P. (1977). Food production potential of the World. World Development, 5, pp. 477–85.Google Scholar
Diarra, L. (1976). Composition floristique et productivity des paturages soudano-sahéliens sous une pluviosité annuelle moyenne de 1100 à 400 mm. Thèse de 3ème cycle. Centre Pédagogique Supérieur, Bamako, Mali: 95 pp.Google Scholar
Fluck, R.C. (1985). A model of resources and human needs. Environmental Conservation, 12(3), pp. 249–53, fig.Google Scholar
Geerling, C. & Diakite, M.M. (in press). RURGS Rapport Final. Department of Nature Conservation, Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Geerling, C. & Breman, H. (in prep.). Ecology and Development: An Approach.Google Scholar
Horberry, J. (1983). Environmental Guidelines Survey: An Analysis of Environmental Procedures and Guidelines Governing Development Aid. IUCN-IIED, Washington, DC, USA: 81 pp.Google Scholar
Meadows, D.H., Meadows, D.L., Randers, J. & Behrens, W.W. (1972). The Limits to Growth. Universe Books, New York, NY, USA: 207 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Sachs, I. (1984). Ecology and development in the tropics. Pp. 71–85 in Ecology in Practice, Part 1: Ecosystem Management (Eds di Castri, F., Baker, F.W.G. & Hadley, M.). (Natural Resources and the Environmental Series, Vol. 16 (1).) Tycooly, Dublin, Eire/UNESCO, Paris, France: xx + 524 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Vries, F.W.T. Penning De & Djitèye, M.A. (Eds) (1982). La productivité des pâturages sahéliens—Une étude des sols des végétations et de l'exploitation de cette ressource naturelle. (Agricultural Research Reports 918.) Pudoc, Wageningen, The Netherlands: xxii + 525 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Wit, C.T. De (1975). Etudes au moyen de modèles sur la production réelle et la production possible des pâturages dans les régions arides. Pp. 329–31 in Inventaire et Cartographic des Pâturages Tropicaux Africains. (Actes du Colloque, Bamako, Mali 1975.) ILCA, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
World Conservation Strategy (1980). The World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development. IUCN-UNEP-WWF (obtainable from IUCN, Avenue du Mont-Blanc, 1196 Gland, Switzerland: pack of ca 50 unnumbered pp., illustr., in stiff folder).Google Scholar