Is 'holistic resource management' the answer for African rangelands?

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Title:	Is 'holistic resource management' the answer for African rangelands?
Authors:	Bayer, Wolfgang Niamir, Maryam Waters-Bayer, Ann
Year:	1987
Pages:	7
Language:	English
Series:	Paper (ISSN 0951-1911)
City of publisher:	London
Publisher:	Agricultural Administration Unit, Overseas Development Institute
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	environment grasslands
Abstract:	At a workshop on 'Holistic Resource Management' (HRM) held 15-17 December 1986 in Uppsala, Sweden, Allan Savory, founder and director of the Centre for Holistic Resource Management in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, outlined the HRM concept. HRM has three major features: a thought model; an assumption that four missing keys to understanding rangelands and environmental degradation have been found (holism, the concept of brittle and non-brittle environments, the importance of animal impact for regeneration of vegetation, and the concept that overgrazing is a function of time rather than animal numbers); and a method of grazing management called the Savory Grazing Method (SGM). The purpose of the authors in this brief paper is to examine these features critically, from the standpoint of their general applicability in Africa. To sum up, they conclude that in its present state of development HRM cannot be regarded as the key to practical range management and to solving the problem of environmental degradation. It should be regarded, rather, as a set of highly interesting hypotheses which still need careful testing.