Focuses on a district of Ghana that is typical of so much of Africa where successive waves of intensive export-oriented monocropping have destroyed both local self-sufficiency and a biologically rich and stable environment. The author suggests a new policy framework for environmental conservation based on regeneration of the local economy, diversification of products and markets, community participation in drawing up environmental agendas, and making use of the knowledge of local farmers.
` This is a model case study ... excellent on interweaving long-term environmental change, broad shifts in political economy and specific changes induced by local human agency ... An excellent and very timely contribution to debates on environmental resource management in the African tropics.' Paul Richards