After having listened to very interesting papers presented by my classmates, I realized that the problems of the Sahel are not necessarily unique. Deforestation, consequences of population explosion, growth of urbanization, economic policies that advocate agricultural, and social conflicts between people who share scarce resources are common issues throughout the world. Most interestingly, I have also realized that although the case studies presented were very different from one another, the policies suggested can also be applied to the Sahel or elsewhere to a great extent. The three common themes among the papers that could be comparable are conflict over natural resources, agricultural policies, and urbanization.

The paper presented on the effects of population growth in Burundi was very similar to the conditions of the Sahel. Like the Sahel, Burundi is practicing deforestation at an alarming rate because land needs to be cleared for a very densely populated region that relies on subsistence agriculture. Therefore, there is a striking resemblance between the Sahel and Burundi where the quality and the quantity of natural resources, such as land, is decreasing in order to accommodate for a growing population. The situation then results in conflict or violence. The conditions in Burundi may be slightly different because of the ethnic conflicts involved in relation to access to land, but nevertheless, like the Sahel, unequal access to land depends on who has the upper-hand in the conflict. Furthermore, the poor have the least access to natural resources or are subjected to the worst environmental conditions because they have no economic assets or representation as in the Sahel, Burundi and even Michigan. Environmental injustice is widespread. In order to reduce conflict and poverty, the policy to reduce population growth was commonly suggested.

The correlation between population growth and the use of agriculture as a policy to accommodate for the increase in population density has also been a common theme. The Sahel shares the consequence of poor agricultural policies with the present situation in Southeast Asia. Due to population pressures, deforestation in Southeast Asia is also occurring at a fast pace. After loggers use the forests, the farmers use the land to the extent that they can, and then leave the area to farm elsewhere. This is a case, as in the Sahel, where poor forest resource management exists. There is no incentive for reforestation and intensification of land use. However, agriculture as a policy can also be beneficial if practiced correctly as in the Mekong River region of Vietnam. In this case, agriculture is a means to support an extremely densely populated region. This is also the case in the Sahel where agriculture has the potential for serving more people and integrating the region into the world economy. The success of this policy will only come about in both the Sahel and Vietnam through greater fertilizer use, the products of the Green Revolution, and most importantly, intensification of land use, not extensification.

In relation to population growth and the failure of agricultural policies in rural areas, more people are moving into urban areas for employment opportunities. As in the Sahel, there is also a considerable amount of internal migration from former East Germany to the West and in Russia. This has caused difficulties in terms of availability of living space and work opportunities. Although the process of "decentralization" of living space is different for all three cases, the policies recommended have all suggested development in the outskirts of the cities or rural areas. For example, in the Sahel, "decentralization" of space may come through reforestation programs in rural areas; the German government may encourage development in the former East Germany; and communist Russia advocated dispersion through mandates that were a part of the centralized planning process.

It is truly amazing to realize that even though conditions of population and environment dynamics may vary around the world, suggested policies relating to population growth, agriculture, and urbanization can be the same to remedy problems. This clearly shows the potential of learning from the mistakes and situations in other countries in order to improve the ecological and social conditions of a particular nation in trouble.