The following is quoted from Plugging the Leaks a handbook on how to nurture sustainable communities. The African Savanna is a plain that has an astonishing variety of wildlife that live off one another and the plant-life in the area. A key part of this ecology is the elephant, which eats the small budding seeds of a particular type of tree. Although few in number compared to the countless herds of grazing animals, if the elephants were to be removed then there would be no other animal to eat those saplings. Soon they would grow into large trees and the Savanna would become a forest. And with it the entire ecology of the area would change, as the type of plant-life and animals that happily survived in the plains would be quite different from the type that thrives in forests.
Just as removing an elephant from the Savanna would have huge impacts on its ecology, so it is with vital components of the local economy, like village shops which support a dense network of local producers who sell through them. The removal of the final cashpoint or Post Office facility can be just as devastating to the local economy as the high-profile closure of a factory or coalmine. The loss of the main shop that 'anchors' people to a high street or shopping parade. The wider impacts of all such decisions – and they are decisions – cannot always be foreseen. But many of the impacts can frequently be predicted if they are carefully thought through. It really should have been no surprise when Wheathampstead lost a bakery, dry cleaners and newsagents in the months following the high street bank's closure.
So – if your economy has bits you like and bits you would like to see developed then you need to take action to make that happen. It isn't going to happen naturally.
Photo by Roddy Smith. Roddy Smith is a wildlife conservationist and safari guide based in the Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia.
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