ABSTRACT
The environment, or rather the environments, of tropical Africa have been much in the news in recent years and have been blamed for many of Africa’s problems. Diverse, inhospitable and unpredictable are de-scriptions of African environment which are used as much today as they were over a century ago when the European powers were examining the possibilities of colonizing the ‘dark continent’ (see Figure 3.1). This criticism of environment is unwarranted, since what may be perceived as a purely environmental issue in fact often has complex social, economic and political elements to it. For example, famine can rarely be explained in purely environmental terms. Civil war, economic instability and government policy have played an important role in contributing towards famine in many cases. The conditions in Somalia in August 1992 testify to this. Widespread starvation was largely brought about by civil war that destroyed the capital Mogadishu and destabilized social life and food production in even the remotest communities.
