Living off the land

Following international concern about the impact of climate change, Bangor University's centre for arid zone studies is to investigate the lifestyle of three African communities dependent on communal land.

The areas to be studied are the Kalahari Sand Veld in Botswana, the Highlands of Lesotho and part of the North Cape Province of South Africa. All three are arid areas with particular land management problems.

The three-year project will investigate the regions' ecology and look at the social and economic factors that govern local community life.