ABSTRACT
The synthesis recounts how application of Africa environmental crisis hypothesis misled development and the prospects for improving the situation. The synthesis is in two parts. The first part provides key conclusions from the nine chapters. The case studies under each theme dwelt on different aspects of African environmental crisis. The second part of the synthesis concerns the epilogue that examines the trends of research during the decades of post-independence. It examines emergence of the “big science” in terms of institutional make-up that promoted large-scale and global networks of research, promoting long-term ecological research (LTER), systems analysis for decision making and on the application of new ecology in rangeland research. Finally, emerging issues for planning research and development in the twenty-first century are described. It advocates for use of knowledge systems, examines new challenges to research and developments in the context of changing local and global drivers of environmental change. Using a conceptual model, it presents a framework for integrating ecological and socio-economic methods to conduct assessments. It advocates for the future research and developments to support the adaptative strategies of local communities where the use of indigenous knowledge combined with scientific knowledge becomes a priority.
