Soil and Water Conservation in the 20th Century: A History of Coercion and Control

This very interesting history of SWC worldwide argues that over the last century conservation policies and practices have treated farmers as bad managers of soil and water. Through coercion and financial incentives, they have been made to adopt externally imposed measures. While enormous amounts of time and money have gone into this, the results have been minimal if not counter-productive and have destroyed much of the credibility of conservation work. New approaches to SWC must consider the farmer as the potential solution rather than the problem, and use interactive and empowering participatory processes to put local knowledge and skills at the heart of new programmes. Three short examples of success are given.