African Wildlife Environment Issue 75 FINAL

GENERAL

GOOD READS

Book reviews by Dr John Ledger

Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment (UK), Chartered Environmentalist with the Society for the Environment (UK), and professional scientist registered with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions. Over the past 30 years Dr Mentis has gained deep experience working on some of the largest infrastructure and resource exploitation projects in southern Africa (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho and South Africa), offering his expertise in environmental management consulting, mine rehabilitation assessment, risk management, and project management. He is coordinator of the environmental panel of experts on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. He has also developed an automated system of mine rehabilitation assessment that assesses site data, scores against standards, identifies weaknesses, and develops recommendations. Dr Mentis has published over 100 scientific and popular articles in local and international journals, and is the author of the book Environmental Risk Management in South Africa . Environmental Rehabilitation Guide for South Africa is his second book. He is a member of the editorial board for the Springer open access journal, Forest Ecosystems (Beijing, China).

Fixing the land Mentis, Mike (2019). Environmental Rehabilitation Guide for South Africa . Quickfox Publishing. Johannesburg, South Africa. Soft cover, 15x23 cm, 205 pp, illustrated with colour photographs, tables and sketches. ISBN 978-0-63980-492-7. R460 available as a

print edition in South Africa (www.publisher.co.za), and in e-book format (Kindle and ePub) from major international retailers. More about the book and a short preview can be accessed on www.publisher. co.za This very useful book aims to help environmental managers and practitioners, farmers, consultants, government officials, politicians, environmental activists and decision-makers in industry understand why environmental rehabilitation is necessary, the standard to which it should be done, and how to do it. Though the book focuses on rehabilitation in the humid and semi-arid regions of South Africa, the principles it uses are applicable across environmental management. It is a practical guide that explains, for any given case, derivation of a rehabilitation objective, its boundary conditions, the interventions to be applied, and simple powerful metrics that can be used to measure achievement. The key elements of much rehabilitation – landscaping, runoff control and revegetation – are explained in terms of what the finished rehabilitation product should look like and how to get there. The book includes 67 exhibits featuring full-colour images of rehabilitation and revegetation examples, useful summary tables, problem-solving flow charts, graphs, and more. Dr Mike Mentis has a BSc (Botany & Zoology), BScHons (Zoology), an MSc in Nature Conservation, a PhD in Agriculture, and an MBA. He is a Principal Environmental Auditor and Full Member of the

Lions Somerville, Keith (2019). Humans

and Lions: Conflict, Conservation and Coexistence. Routledge Environmental Humanities, Earthscan, Abingdon, England and New York, USA. Soft cover, 15x23 cm, 233 pp. ISBN 978-0-63980- 492-7 978-1-13855-803- 8. UK Pounds 34.99.

This is a definitive academic publication, meticulously prepared with extensive referencing by Professor Keith Somerville, a member of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent, UK, where he teaches at the Centre for Journalism.

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