ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores the unsustainability, for a village that has lost its young men and women can hardly be sustainable. It seems to reinforce this message as depleted soil resulted in decreased production and various strategies designed to cope with this, including the planting of more legumes. The book focuses on livelihoods threw the situation back into doubt as there was no obvious situation of unsustainability in the village. It explores the ambiguity further, and draws some conclusions by examining sustainability from a western perspective. The book looks at the suitability of the methodology employed. Setting of appropriate scales for analysing sustainability receives much attention in the literature. Spatial scales, with their geographic and agro-ecological units provide boundaries within which one can operate, though it is clear that these are permeable.
