104 Book Reviews

and cover a wide spectrum of interests - historical and advances our general appreciation of the relationships contemporary, developed world and developing suggested by the title. world. Despite the original intention, however, it is BILL GOULD difficult to see the volume as an integrated whole that University of Liverpool, UK

ATLAS OF WORLD DEVELOPMENT edited by T. Unwin. Wiley, Chichester, 1994. No. of pages: xviii + 346. Price: €59.95 (hardback). ISBN 0 471 94991 4.

This atlas takes as its starting point a central concern with global developmental differences, be they demo- graphic, environmental, social, economic, cultural or political, and seeks to address the reasons for them. Two major strengths of the work are first, the collation of recent data from across an enormous range of subjects, and secondly, the tackling of this challenging task in a way that creates at least a ‘feel’ of complementarity. The volume has been compiled under the aegis of the Developing Areas Research Group (DARG) of the Institute of British Geographers. Although only comprising six ’chapters’, these contain in total 113 sections on different subjects by some 53 contributors (overwhelmingly geographers).

The essence of the atlas is to draw together concise overviews which depict both global, areal and national variations and often their development and change over time. The focus is not only the ’developing’ or ’Third World, but is emphatically placed upon global differences incorporating the rich countries as well as the poor. Given the breadth of topics, it would be impossible to provide a comprehensive listing. The subjects are organised, with useful editorial introduc- tions into the following ’chapters’: definitions of development and historical context; the environment of development; production, class, and education and exchange; the economic structure of development; states, wars and elections, the political structure of development; and images, religion and language, the ideological structure of development. The range of subject sections includes not only ’mainstream’ topics such as ’one world or many worlds’, ’human develop- ment indicators’, ’global climate’, ’global population density, and the ‘global organisation of industqf, but also more specific themes such as ‘a Renaissance view of the world, ‘rural settlement and society, southern Andean Peru’, ’wildlife exploitation’, and ’warfare’. The above subject sections are here noted not as being in any way especially representative of the volume, but rather have been selected almost at random to give a sense of the breadth of coverage. Indeed, this volume could be enjoyed by just ’dipping into‘ the varied sections.

The basic format of each section is about one page of discussion accompanied by one or more maps, figures

and tables. It has a generous lay-out and is clearly written. Maps are provided at different scales, but most are global and this provides some visual thread of continuity. The Eckert IV projection was selected for the global maps for its advantages as an equal area projection and reduced distortion of shape. In some cases depiction of patterns using (generally) national level data can be misleading, especially with respect to the largest countries. However, the vast majority of depictions are useful. Much of the global data used in the sections are drawn from that collated by the World Bank, the World Health Organisation and various United Nations agencies.

The volume differs from many atlases in that it attempts not only to depict patterns but also to discuss the underlying processes of change. It cannot be easy (especially for academics) to feel that they can do justice to describing and discussing in about one page subjects as broad as, ’the development of a modern world system‘, ‘urban air pollution in Asia’ and ‘political stability’, for example. My feeling is that, overall, the contributors have admirably met the challenge and provided syntheses of a high quality. The fact that useful accounts have been presented within these extreme limits of space reflects the value of using the map to depict enormous amounts of information and also the contributors’ strong grasp of their subject matter. Essentially this is a source book which provides clear introductory overviews. Each section is accompanied by a small number of suggested further readings and there is a comprehen- sive final bibliography from which the reader may wish to further pursue the selected topic.

The volume does not explicitly address any specific target audience, but would be especially useful as a reference volume to accompany introductory degree courses in geography. It will also appeal to many, both across the social and environmental sciences and outside academia, who have an interest in develop- mental issues. Specialists will also find the volume of interest in terms of its overviews of topics beyond their own. The price of the atlas, at €59.95, may well be a drawback to many potential purchasers and a lower priced softback version would probably be appre- ciated.

There is no conclusion to the atlas and, given the range of topics, such a ’drawing together’ would not be useful. Furthermore, although there is a clear framework structuring the sections there is no overall

Book Reviews

line of argument. The vast range of contributors draw upon different perspectives, but present them in a balanced form. A basic question which could be addressed to such a volume is: would it have been beneficial to focus upon a more limited range of subjects, making it possible to distill some more coherent 'position'? My answer to this is a resounding

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'no'. The value of the volume lies in its innovative range of subject matter (linked by the theme of differences in development). The atlas testifies to the breadth and quality of (mainly British) geographers' involvement in the field of development.

NICHOLAS FORD University of Exeter, UK

POPULATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN CHINA by Q. Geping and L. Jinchang, Translated by J. Baozhong and G. Ran. Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd, London, 1994. No of pages: xii + 217. Price: €35.00 (hardback). ISBN 1 85396 257 0.

Anyone who has coughed and wheezed their way through a winter in one of China's urban areas, looked down in amazement on the white mountains of polystyrene food trays alongside railway tracks or gazed on in horror as an attendant throws bags of rubbish over the side of a boat into the Yangtze will welcome a book such as this, which deals with the ever increasing problem of resource utilisation, pollution and population in China. The premise of the book is a valid one - that the problems of the environment are intertwined with the demands of a growing popula- tion. In the introduction to this book, however, population is still seen as providing China with a competitive advantage and the authors claim that what is needed is the efficient mobilisation of that resource on the road to development. Thus it seems from their conclusions that China needs to tread a very fine and difficult line between the competing demands of the population and resource exploitation. This must take place within a holistic view of the environment, rather than conceptualised into the neat discussion sections used in this book.

The initial chapters of the book offer a general introduction to the theme of the historical integration of the population with both environment and energy use. There is a brief outline of Malthusian and Marxist as well as more current theories of the population- environment association. The difficult subject of the inputs of earlier Chinese demographers such as Ma Yinchu are also tackled. A discussion of the problems facing China and the terms under which measures and aims to control the population and environment have been implemented is emphasised by an outline of the strategies by which problem mitigation should be implemented. These strateaes acknowledge some of the most recent problems in Chinese society such as the rise of a mobile population and the need to provide regulations and incentives to motivate the individual and the group into environmental protection.

A third chapter offers an interesting, if basic, historical outline of the development of the Chinese population based on dynastic histories and provides a measure of the scale of environmental degradation and level of population associated with each period. Familiarity with Chinese history would be a help here and throughout the book, as in many cases no contemporary dates are offered as a baseline compar- ison for dynasties or the five year plans in the modern period. This outline is followed by a discussion of more contemporary issues relating to population structure and distribution and short descriptions of the types of environmental problems currently being faced in China such as water and air pollution, and deforestation. This serves as a brief introduction to the second part of the book which discusses separate aspects of the environment in relation to the popula- tion, leading to separate chapters dealing with population and land availability, population and mineral resources, and population and energy resources.

Each chapter contains a short historical section followed by an assessment of the current situation focusing on the causes of current problems. These are discussed as separate subtopics; thus forests, for example, are described in terms of separate projects for reforestation and preservation. Such divisions can sometimes be too brief and suffer from overgenerali- sations which affect the whole quality of the book. The associated data is not necessarily immediately acces- sible or well organised; the section on desertification being such an example. The final section of each chapter examines strategies for the management of resources and population. For example in the chapter dealing with mineral resources, concerns are centred in economic development, public awareness, pricing and accounting and, interestingly, property rights.

Some of these policies lie more in the realm of generality and hope rather than actuality. There are dictates but the authors stop short of providing detailed examples of practicalities. Perhaps too much faith is put into the role of education in terms of resource conservation amongst the Chinese popula- tion. Education in the western world on the limited nature of resources has not noticeably reduced our