Cheap Engineering Solutions in Conservation of Natural Resources in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands,

Abstract

Traditional economic behaviour is very much influenced by the environment. In the absence of sophisticated technology, environmental control over livelihood patterns and means of production becomes almost absolute. Since choices are carefully defined, man strives to utilize and fulfil such choices to the best of his knowledge and needs. Concepts such as rational resource-use and protection become essential in achieving an unchallenged existence and continuity of life. As such, it is rational to assume that traditional societies avoid man-made environmental catastrophes, since these will drastically affect their lives. Because of such fears, people regulate the use of available resources and become sensitive to environmental demands and changing conditions. For example, shifting cultivation and pastoral nomadic migration are forms of rational resource-use and exhibit an inherent human reaction and sensitivity to particular environments in the absence of scientific knowledge and advanced technology. Such behaviour or adjustments are intended to achieve subsistence and to strike a balance between environmental conditions and the present and future needs of society. To achieve this, the sense of the environment is embodied in local cultures, and in the process of evolution many institutions and simple organizations have emerged to regulate resource-use and to make it possible to meet the limited demands of traditional life systems