Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3197/096734023x16869924234804
Elijah Doro
During the first half of the twentieth century, white settler farmers in colonial Zimbabwe raised incessant complaints and alarm over ‘mysterious’ and inexplicably frequent incidences of cattle mortalities. These mortalities were attributed to poisoning from careless handling of arsenical dips, ingestion of arsenic sprayed grass and grazing in veld impregnated with arsenic trioxide. The arsenic question occupied the attention of experts from the colonial Branch of Chemistry, toxicologists, bacteriologists, veterinary officials and white settler farmers in contested cattle-centred narratives. Within the framing of colonial toxic politics, cattle poisoning disproportionately received more elaborate scrutiny and attention than that of humans and other species. The colonial archive only affords limited and vague visibility to the toxic encounters of humans and non-bovine species. This paper seeks to transcend and interrogate bovine-centric poisoning discourses with which colonial sources are replete and to use existing cattle poisoning records to amplify and construct multi-species toxic histories connecting cattle, humans, landscapes and other species in a co-constituted narrative of arsenic toxicities. The paper employs vicarious imagination of experiences to reframe Africa’s ‘arsenic century’ and colonial toxic histories outside the body-centric script, and examines the intricate and complex chemical relations enmeshing cattle, humans and other species in ecosystems of mutual toxic vulnerabilities and slow chemical violence. The paper uses archival sources, toxicological reports from the Branch of Chemistry and veterinary records of cattle poisoning in colonial Zimbabwe.
{"title":"No Body, No Crime? Vicariously Imagining Africa’s Arsenic Century: Bovines, Arsenic Poisoning and Multi-Species Toxic Histories in Southern Rhodesia (Colonial Zimbabwe), 1900–1940s","authors":"Elijah Doro","doi":"10.3197/096734023x16869924234804","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3197/096734023x16869924234804","url":null,"abstract":"During the first half of the twentieth century, white settler farmers in colonial Zimbabwe raised incessant complaints and alarm over ‘mysterious’ and inexplicably frequent incidences of cattle mortalities. These mortalities were attributed to poisoning from careless handling of arsenical dips, ingestion of arsenic sprayed grass and grazing in veld impregnated with arsenic trioxide. The arsenic question occupied the attention of experts from the colonial Branch of Chemistry, toxicologists, bacteriologists, veterinary officials and white settler farmers in contested cattle-centred narratives. Within the framing of colonial toxic politics, cattle poisoning disproportionately received more elaborate scrutiny and attention than that of humans and other species. The colonial archive only affords limited and vague visibility to the toxic encounters of humans and non-bovine species. This paper seeks to transcend and interrogate bovine-centric poisoning discourses with which colonial sources are replete and to use existing cattle poisoning records to amplify and construct multi-species toxic histories connecting cattle, humans, landscapes and other species in a co-constituted narrative of arsenic toxicities. The paper employs vicarious imagination of experiences to reframe Africa’s ‘arsenic century’ and colonial toxic histories outside the body-centric script, and examines the intricate and complex chemical relations enmeshing cattle, humans and other species in ecosystems of mutual toxic vulnerabilities and slow chemical violence. The paper uses archival sources, toxicological reports from the Branch of Chemistry and veterinary records of cattle poisoning in colonial Zimbabwe.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82256150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3197/096734022x16627150608122
S. Govaerts
This article provides a preliminary overview of the species of wild birds that lived in the fourteenth-century County of Holland, now the Netherlands, on the basis of archaeological and historical sources. It argues that scholars should devote more attention to the Late Middle Ages (1300–1500) as a historical baseline for the study of biodiversity, and demonstrates the value of using medieval financial administration (accounts) as a source for such research. The article identifies 46 species of birds, most of which had substantial socio-economic value (birds of prey, wildfowl, herons and spoonbills). Because some bird populations were actively managed to secure a steady supply, it is possible to gain insight into historical population dynamics. This study can also serve as an example in designing similar research on other species and geographical regions.
{"title":"Biodiversity in the Late Middle Ages: Wild Birds in the Fourteenth-Century County of Holland","authors":"S. Govaerts","doi":"10.3197/096734022x16627150608122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3197/096734022x16627150608122","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides a preliminary overview of the species of wild birds that lived in the fourteenth-century County of Holland, now the Netherlands, on the basis of archaeological and historical sources. It argues that scholars should devote more attention to the Late Middle Ages (1300–1500) as a historical baseline for the study of biodiversity, and demonstrates the value of using medieval financial administration (accounts) as a source for such research. The article identifies 46 species of birds, most of which had substantial socio-economic value (birds of prey, wildfowl, herons and spoonbills). Because some bird populations were actively managed to secure a steady supply, it is possible to gain insight into historical population dynamics. This study can also serve as an example in designing similar research on other species and geographical regions.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86996473","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3197/096734023x16788762163696
F. Mofrad, M. Ignatieva
Canberra was built in harmony with its landscape setting, creating a legacy of urban form well-connected to the natural environment. Its urban design and planning not only amplified the surrounding natural landscape such as forested hills and mountains but also created a human-made green urban character. However, plans for future development as a compact city pose a challenge to conserving the city’s green spaces. A green infrastructure plan is necessary to consider the city’s green space design heritage and the linked socio-ecological values while minimising the urban footprint. The paper employs a historical literature review to understand the factors and characteristics that shaped Canberra’s green character and the socio-ecological values of its green spaces. The research found the influence of historical and modern design and planning concepts in consolidating green infrastructure and creating ecological corridors and social infrastructure. One of the essential conditions for maintaining the unique character of Canberra is the preservation of the socio-ecological values of its existing green spaces. A trade-off study must be conducted to balance green infrastructure planning while considering these values, in light of development changes.
{"title":"From a Grassland to a Bush Capital: A Historic Review of Canberra’s Green Infrastructure Development","authors":"F. Mofrad, M. Ignatieva","doi":"10.3197/096734023x16788762163696","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3197/096734023x16788762163696","url":null,"abstract":"Canberra was built in harmony with its landscape setting, creating a legacy of urban form well-connected to the natural environment. Its urban design and planning not only amplified the surrounding natural landscape such as forested hills and mountains but also created a human-made green urban character. However, plans for future development as a compact city pose a challenge to conserving the city’s green spaces. A green infrastructure plan is necessary to consider the city’s green space design heritage and the linked socio-ecological values while minimising the urban footprint. The paper employs a historical literature review to understand the factors and characteristics that shaped Canberra’s green character and the socio-ecological values of its green spaces. The research found the influence of historical and modern design and planning concepts in consolidating green infrastructure and creating ecological corridors and social infrastructure. One of the essential conditions for maintaining the unique character of Canberra is the preservation of the socio-ecological values of its existing green spaces. A trade-off study must be conducted to balance green infrastructure planning while considering these values, in light of development changes.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":"92 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74208212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3828/096734022x16627150608122
SANDER GOVAERTS
This article provides a preliminary overview of the species of wild birds that lived in the fourteenth-century County of Holland, now the Netherlands, on the basis of archaeological and historical sources. It argues that scholars should devote more attention to the Late Middle Ages (1300–1500) as a historical baseline for the study of biodiversity, and demonstrates the value of using medieval financial administration (accounts) as a source for such research. The article identifies 46 species of birds, most of which had substantial socio-economic value (birds of prey, wildfowl, herons and spoonbills). Because some bird populations were actively managed to secure a steady supply, it is possible to gain insight into historical population dynamics. This study can also serve as an example in designing similar research on other species and geographical regions.
{"title":"Biodiversity in the Late Middle Ages: Wild Birds in the Fourteenth-Century County of Holland","authors":"SANDER GOVAERTS","doi":"10.3828/096734022x16627150608122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/096734022x16627150608122","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides a preliminary overview of the species of wild birds that lived in the fourteenth-century County of Holland, now the Netherlands, on the basis of archaeological and historical sources. It argues that scholars should devote more attention to the Late Middle Ages (1300–1500) as a historical baseline for the study of biodiversity, and demonstrates the value of using medieval financial administration (accounts) as a source for such research. The article identifies 46 species of birds, most of which had substantial socio-economic value (birds of prey, wildfowl, herons and spoonbills). Because some bird populations were actively managed to secure a steady supply, it is possible to gain insight into historical population dynamics. This study can also serve as an example in designing similar research on other species and geographical regions.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135667103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3197/096734023x16702350656933
J. Cropper
This article offers a historical critique of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahel and the Sahara (GGW) – an audacious project to stop the southern encroachment of the Sahara Desert by constructing a wall of trees across the continent. By situating the GGW within the longue durée of the Sahel’s environmental history, it examines how the narratives of environmental decline that underpin the initiative are not only misguided but born out of the transatlantic slave trade, imperialism and colonialism, and the neoliberal development projects of the postcolonial period. In doing so, it argues that narratives of environmental decline have not only served as a dynamic framework to rationalise Western exploitation of the Sahel’s environments over time, but have obscured, or even silenced, the effective practices of dryland regeneration of Sahelian communities.
{"title":"‘Growing a World Wonder’: The Great Green Wall and the History of Environmental Decline in the Sahel, 1450–2022","authors":"J. Cropper","doi":"10.3197/096734023x16702350656933","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3197/096734023x16702350656933","url":null,"abstract":"This article offers a historical critique of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahel and the Sahara (GGW) – an audacious project to stop the southern encroachment of the Sahara Desert by constructing a wall of trees across the continent. By situating the GGW within the longue durée of the Sahel’s environmental history, it examines how the narratives of environmental decline that underpin the initiative are not only misguided but born out of the transatlantic slave trade, imperialism and colonialism, and the neoliberal development projects of the postcolonial period. In doing so, it argues that narratives of environmental decline have not only served as a dynamic framework to rationalise Western exploitation of the Sahel’s environments over time, but have obscured, or even silenced, the effective practices of dryland regeneration of Sahelian communities.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90496483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3828/096734023x16788762163687
ANNA GUASCO
Eastern North Pacific gray whales are famed for their remarkable ecological history: from near extinction to recovery and from ‘devil-fish’ to ‘friendly whale’. This article critically examines the origins and development of the narrative framing of gray whales’ history as one in which the whales were long known as ‘devil-fish’, until they became ‘friendly whales’ in the 1970s. Drawing on archival sources from the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, this article interrupts the premise of a smooth and linear transition from devil-fish to friendly whale. Instead, gray whale histories reveal much more complex and even contradictory human–whale encounters along the California coast. Throughout the time period examined, precursors of the familiar contemporary narrative of gray whale history emerged, each building on prior remembrances of gray whale pasts. More broadly, this article contributes to contemporary conversations in more-than-human historical studies about nonhuman agency, multispecies encounters, memory, and environmental histories of emotion.
{"title":"From Devil-Fish to Friendly Whale? Encountering Gray Whales on The California Coast","authors":"ANNA GUASCO","doi":"10.3828/096734023x16788762163687","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/096734023x16788762163687","url":null,"abstract":"Eastern North Pacific gray whales are famed for their remarkable ecological history: from near extinction to recovery and from ‘devil-fish’ to ‘friendly whale’. This article critically examines the origins and development of the narrative framing of gray whales’ history as one in which the whales were long known as ‘devil-fish’, until they became ‘friendly whales’ in the 1970s. Drawing on archival sources from the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, this article interrupts the premise of a smooth and linear transition from devil-fish to friendly whale. Instead, gray whale histories reveal much more complex and even contradictory human–whale encounters along the California coast. Throughout the time period examined, precursors of the familiar contemporary narrative of gray whale history emerged, each building on prior remembrances of gray whale pasts. More broadly, this article contributes to contemporary conversations in more-than-human historical studies about nonhuman agency, multispecies encounters, memory, and environmental histories of emotion.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135667106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3828/096734023x16702350656924
MICA JORGENSON
Almost every year, ash drifts from forest fires in north-western Canada into northern Europe, altering forecasts on both continents, settling in Antarctic ice and turning the skies over the world’s major cities an apocalyptic orange. As smoke drifts from the forests into nearby communities and distant urban centres, it becomes the medium through which most people experience forest fire, leaving traces on memories and bodies. Although wildfires and their associated plumes are getting worse, people have a long and dynamic relationship with forest fire smoke which can be understood through the lens of air pollution and forestry history. Using British Columbia, Canada as a case study, I argue that the difficulty of separating wildfire smoke from other types of air pollution has worked to the advantage of land managers interested in supporting the forestry industry, with negative impacts for northern communities.
{"title":"Wild Smoke: Managing Forest Pollution in Northern British Columbia since 1950","authors":"MICA JORGENSON","doi":"10.3828/096734023x16702350656924","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/096734023x16702350656924","url":null,"abstract":"Almost every year, ash drifts from forest fires in north-western Canada into northern Europe, altering forecasts on both continents, settling in Antarctic ice and turning the skies over the world’s major cities an apocalyptic orange. As smoke drifts from the forests into nearby communities and distant urban centres, it becomes the medium through which most people experience forest fire, leaving traces on memories and bodies. Although wildfires and their associated plumes are getting worse, people have a long and dynamic relationship with forest fire smoke which can be understood through the lens of air pollution and forestry history. Using British Columbia, Canada as a case study, I argue that the difficulty of separating wildfire smoke from other types of air pollution has worked to the advantage of land managers interested in supporting the forestry industry, with negative impacts for northern communities.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":"0 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135667101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3828/096734023x16702350656960
BISWAJIT SARMAH
The greater one-horned rhinoceros or Indian rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros unicornis ) faced extinction in British India at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1908, the Government of Assam established the Kaziranga Game Reserve (KGR, now Kaziranga National Park) to preserve the vanishing rhino. As the twentieth century progressed, creating wilderness – by demonising the presence of the peasants and graziers – became a global panacea for protecting wildlife. Contrary to that belief, this article will show how the rhino population revived amidst human existence dictated by agro-ecological interactions and bureaucratic expediencies. The rhino’s ethology and its place in the imagination of rural people minimised its enemies. Moreover, in fluvial geography that constantly transformed the KGR’s boundaries, peasants and graziers creatively negotiated their usufruct rights and supported rhino preservation. Locating the KGR in the historical analysis of fluvial agro-ecology, this study illuminates how a critical interaction between different actors, i.e. human and non-human and coloniser and colonised, accentuated the cultural and material contestations amidst which the rhino eventually survived.
{"title":"Empire, Nature and Agrarian World: A History of Rhino Preservation in the Kaziranga Game Reserve, India (1902–1938)","authors":"BISWAJIT SARMAH","doi":"10.3828/096734023x16702350656960","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/096734023x16702350656960","url":null,"abstract":"The greater one-horned rhinoceros or Indian rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros unicornis ) faced extinction in British India at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1908, the Government of Assam established the Kaziranga Game Reserve (KGR, now Kaziranga National Park) to preserve the vanishing rhino. As the twentieth century progressed, creating wilderness – by demonising the presence of the peasants and graziers – became a global panacea for protecting wildlife. Contrary to that belief, this article will show how the rhino population revived amidst human existence dictated by agro-ecological interactions and bureaucratic expediencies. The rhino’s ethology and its place in the imagination of rural people minimised its enemies. Moreover, in fluvial geography that constantly transformed the KGR’s boundaries, peasants and graziers creatively negotiated their usufruct rights and supported rhino preservation. Locating the KGR in the historical analysis of fluvial agro-ecology, this study illuminates how a critical interaction between different actors, i.e. human and non-human and coloniser and colonised, accentuated the cultural and material contestations amidst which the rhino eventually survived.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135667097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3828/096734022x16552219786636
ATTE ARFFMAN, ANTERO HOLMILA
In August 1969 Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi coast. We argue that the disaster caused by the Hurricane was an outcome of the entanglement between human and non-human agents. As a non-human agent, Hurricane Camille thrust the prevailing socio-economic situation in the segregationist South into the spotlight, with all its political and cultural ramifications – much to the annoyance of the local political elite that had long sought to isolate southern politics from civil rights and the desegregation agenda. Consequently, it (re)invigorated and furnished the civil rights movement and the politics defining that era with new arguments and approaches that would have been impossible to develop from the perspective of human agency alone. By examining both local and national press discourses relating to the crisis caused by Hurricane Camille in the state of Mississippi in August 1969, we argue that historical agency should not be seen in purely anthropocentric terms but as an entanglement between human and non-human events.
{"title":"Race, Environment, and Crisis: Hurricane Camille and the Politics of Southern Segregation","authors":"ATTE ARFFMAN, ANTERO HOLMILA","doi":"10.3828/096734022x16552219786636","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/096734022x16552219786636","url":null,"abstract":"In August 1969 Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi coast. We argue that the disaster caused by the Hurricane was an outcome of the entanglement between human and non-human agents. As a non-human agent, Hurricane Camille thrust the prevailing socio-economic situation in the segregationist South into the spotlight, with all its political and cultural ramifications – much to the annoyance of the local political elite that had long sought to isolate southern politics from civil rights and the desegregation agenda. Consequently, it (re)invigorated and furnished the civil rights movement and the politics defining that era with new arguments and approaches that would have been impossible to develop from the perspective of human agency alone. By examining both local and national press discourses relating to the crisis caused by Hurricane Camille in the state of Mississippi in August 1969, we argue that historical agency should not be seen in purely anthropocentric terms but as an entanglement between human and non-human events.","PeriodicalId":45574,"journal":{"name":"Environment and History","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135667098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.3828/096734023x16702350656933
JOHN CROPPER
This article offers a historical critique of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahel and the Sahara (GGW) – an audacious project to stop the southern encroachment of the Sahara Desert by constructing a wall of trees across the continent. By situating the GGW within the longue durée of the Sahel’s environmental history, it examines how the narratives of environmental decline that underpin the initiative are not only misguided but born out of the transatlantic slave trade, imperialism and colonialism, and the neoliberal development projects of the postcolonial period. In doing so, it argues that narratives of environmental decline have not only served as a dynamic framework to rationalise Western exploitation of the Sahel’s environments over time, but have obscured, or even silenced, the effective practices of dryland regeneration of Sahelian communities.
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