Option 1:
Africa's Growing Population, Environment and Economy. Using first-hand, time series case studies from Africa's main
ecological zones, popular assumptions are challenged by examining
when population growth is a recipe for disaster, and when it acts
as a catalyst for economic and environmental enhancement.
Option 2:
Re-thinking basic criteria - concepts of AEZ, critical carrying capacity, threshold density, biological optima,
economic optima, soil fertility, fragility and resilience, with
special reference to the changing Sahara and Sahel.
Option 3:
Rethinking methodologies - using oral history, remote sensing and participatory observation in longer-term time
series studies of environmental change, with sepcial reference to
biases in data collection and 'cleaning' arising from differences
in indigenous and foreign perceptions.
Note:
This subject combination is particularly suitable for debates and
participatory workshops.