Development's displacements : ecologies, economies, and cultures at risk /

Water control, forest management, agriculture, or mineral extraction projects are undertaken in most developing countries in hopes of enhancing economic opportunities for the nation. The hope is to create jobs, foreign trade, industrial expansion, and agricultural modernization. The downside of such development is that people live and work in the areas where such projects take place. Those people are displaced by these projects and lose homes, fields, income, pasture, and the history and sense of community to which they are accustomed. Vandergeest, Idahosa, and Bose (all York Univ., Canada) have collected a series of studies of development projects in Asia, Central America, and South America that illustrate the problems of displacement as a byproduct of development. The power imbalance between the companies and governments carrying out the projects, and the people displaced, puts the people at substantial disadvantage in negotiations and ultimately in their ability to readjust to the changed landscape and economy. In particular, displacement disrupts the already tenuous food security. Second, it results in an increase in poverty. Third, there is a loss of traditional livelihood and culture. The articles discuss causes and solutions in the various projects studied. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers; students, lower-division undergraduate and up; researchers and professionals. D. E. Mattson Anoka-Ramsey Community College