Bioresource Technology 3 5 ( 19 91 ) 10 7-10 8

Book Reviews

Infectious Waste Management. F. L. Cross Jr, H. E. Hesketh and P. K. Rykowski. Technomic Publishing, Basel, Switzerland, 1990. 150 + x pp. SFr 99.00. ISBN 0-87762-751-7.

This book is, perhaps, not of general interest to readers of the journal as it deals with the disposal of hospital wastes. However, some readers may have to deal with hospital wastes, and infectious materials may get into other kinds of wastes, for instance, in an outbreak of disease on a farm or a more general 'scare' about the possibilities of an infection being transmitted in a waste: for example the recent problem of the disposal of brains and spinal cords of cattle in slaughter houses because of the possibilities of transmission of BSE.

The first chapter deals with the types and com- positions of hospital wastes and the second the methods available for disposal: incineration, steam treatment, radiation, etc. However, as pro- bably the only really safe method of dealing with a solid hazardous waste is to burn it, the larger pro- portion of the book deals with incineration. The chapters consider types of incinerators, the opera- tion and control of incinerators and waste-heat recovery and testing, among other topics, in a comprehensive manner.

The book is well provided with good diagrams of incinerators, feed systems and related plant, and also has many statistics on the performance of plants and the costs. Although the figures for costs are in dollars and figures for emission limits and so on refer to US state laws, they could be trans- posable or related to legislation and costs in other countries. The book is well printed and should find a place in the libraries of any organisations concerned with research on, or supply of, plants for dealing with hazardous wastes.

P. N. Hobson

Agroforestry in Africa: A Survey of Project Experi- ence. P. Kerkhoff. Panos Institute, London, 1990. 116 pp. £20.00.

Read this book -- but don't believe it all! Why? -- because all development projects must be seen as

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changing continuously and the eye of the beholder has built-in biases, a problem we all suffer from. Having said that, I can highly recommend this book as being the first one I am aware of where the author has actually visited all the projects writ- ten about. It substantiates another bias of mine, that one should never believe any claims (written or verbal) pertaining to development projects whether they be biomass, agroforestry, forestry or whatever. There is no short cut to trying to under- stand the successes and failures of projects except by prolonged and repeated local visits and discus- sions over an extended time with diverse groups associated with a project. If this is not done con- scientiously, and short-cuts to evaluation are undertaken, what is concluded about a particular project and the generalizations made therefrom can often be biased and widely off-target.

Paul Kerkhoff has done an admirable job of surveying 19 different agroforestry projects (defined in the widest sense) from 11 different countries in East and West Africa. Projects cover diverse types of agroforestry -- alley cropping, wind breaks, commercial fuelwood production, rural afforestation, cattle destocking and land rehabilitation, tree planting around wells, farming systems, forest management, and so on. However, it is very easy to discern which are his favourites and/or with which he has worked. But this does not detract from the ability of Kerkhoff and his editors (Gerald Foley & Geoffrey Barnard as tea makers) to generalize from these project experi- ences to make key recommendations to 'the people most directly involved in the design and implementation of projects'. Note that the study is not directed to the local people who are the intended beneficiaries of such agroforestry deve- lopment projects. This is a deliberate bias and begs the question as to whether such generaliza- tions from very site-specific studies (and rightly so recognized) can be made for Africa as a whole and indeed for the rest of the world. That is really the key question which will be hotly debated by those who read this book thoroughly, including Part III which makes some general and specific recommendations. Do not scan this book just for its 'flavour'; if you really wish to understand the difficulties and nuances in trying to implement

107 Technology (35) (1991)--© 1991 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd, England. Printed in

108 Book reviews

sustainable biomass projects, which are so site specific and difficult, you must read the details of each of the 19 projects so clearly described, but do not try to trace the references, which are generally untraceable or unobtainable since they are derived mainly from project documents. The suc- cesses, problems and failures of the various pro- jects are crucial to understanding the wider implications.

The closing two pages neatly summarize some most important generalizations about measuring impacts of agroforestry projects and these are encapsulated in the quotes 'measuring precisely the success or failure of a project is thus difficult if not impossible'; 'projects often have intangible results which are difficult to pin down'; 'informa- tion on physical accomplishments alone often says little about whether the project has brought any worthwhile long term benefits to the people living in the area'. The long term impact of agroforestry (and biomass projects in general) depends on 'sustainability', 'replicability' and 'flexibility'.

From one's own experiences and biases with biomass projects, the importance of early involve- ment by and benefits to the local people, the essen- tiality of flexible aims, a long-term approach and multiple benefits, all stand out as being essential to success. If these key requirements are not

recognized by donor and/or implementing agencies (and they are very often not) much money will be lost and much distress to people and environment caused. What is so alarming in reading this book is how much money has been spent on projects with blinkered aims by well- meaning donors and implementing people. It is, however, generally to the credit of the book that it points out how many projects have recognized the errors of their ways and now have a much more flexible view of biomass-oriented projects, which will undoubtedly in the long term benefit the local people for whom they are intended.

In conclusion, I repeat that this book must be read from cover to cover by anyone concerned with trying to implement biomass and, more generally, land use policies. If mistakes and money wastage continue to prevail in such types of pro- jects (as they undoubtedly will) such profligate donors have only themselves to blame -- but, more importantly, they might actually harm local people and their environment while they are throwing large sums of money down the drain. There is no short cut to evaluating biomass-type projects carefully from past experiences and future requirements for success.

D. O. Hall