This study summarizes the findings of a multi-year interdisciplinary research project in pastoral areas of Kenya and Ethiopia. The cultures and ecology of these areas are described, with a particular focus on the myriad risks that confront people living in these drylands.

This book presents important case studies highlighting social, economic, political, and biological dimensions of environmental degradation in the Third World. Focusing on areas identified as experiencing or at risk for deterioration, the studies are drawn from nearly every continent and cover most of the larger ecosystems of the Third World, including arid and semiarid rangelands, tropical rain forests, steep-sloped mountains and hills, tropical river basins, and coastal lowlands. The authors use local data to examine, test, and refine larger explanatory models and theories, showing how...