Wasting the Rain

The development of water resources in Africa has always been central to plans for its economic development. This book reveals how although reservoirs and irrigation schemes dot the landscape, environmental problems continue to dominate thinking and reportage on Africa's crisis. Far from helping to solve Africa's environmental problems, critics have said that large-scale water development projects have themselves added to existing, or have created wholly new, environmental problems. It is commonly said that the vast sums of money expended on such development have been wasted. It is also explained that some people have been left in debt and have been displaced and disaffected as a consequence. This book, which looks at the ecological impact and political context of water development in Africa, discusses whether this analysis is correct and, if so, why these things have happened and why this form of development has not stopped.