This module is about water resources, their complex relationship with the environment and the economy and the growing problem of water scarcity and the various options that exist to deal with this problem. The module examines how water is allocated between various competing demands and explores the role that water plays in food security, public health, people’s livelihoods and other aspects of social and economic development.

An organic vegetable exporter from Malawi explains the difficulties that small scale farmers may have if they want to export crops to foreign markets.

A medicinal herb grower from South Africa describes the process of cleaning and certifying her farm for organic production, and the potential for other farmers.

At independence in 1960, Africa was a modest food exporter while Asia was engulfed in a food crisis. The Green Revolution boosted food production in Asia and the global food problem shifted to Africa. However, science and technology have been promoted on an ad hoc basis in Africa's 45 years of independence. This chapter analyses why the Asian Green Revolution failed to take root in Africa, and why the average African grain yield has been flat since 1960.

Briquettes made from waste charcoal dust

Mr. Lotto Simon of Tanzania?s Zonal Plant Protection Centre, explains the advantages and disadvantages of not using chemical pesticides, and a local training and certification process.

This book focuses primarily on changes that have taken place in the Malinau area in East Kalimantan in recent years. The Punan Malinau, who inhabit the area, are former nomads who subsist on a wide range of forest-oriented activities, including swidden agriculture, hunting and the collection of and trade in forest products. During the past ten years, the arrival of a growing number of powerful outsiders, including NGO's, timber and mining companies, has contributed to increasing competition for land and for various new sources of income.