Author: Akin L. Mabogunje

R. P. Misra, now Vice-chancellor of Allahabad University, is an eminent scholar of development studies, urban and regional planning and rural economics. Among the positions he has held are Professor of Geography and Director, Institute of Development Studies, University of Mysore; and Vice Director, United Nations Centre for Regional Development, Nagoya, Japan. He has been closely associated with development programmes in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Fiji, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Israel, Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Brazil and Argentina on behalf of the United Nations. Author of over ten books, and editor of twenty five volumes on emerging development issues, he has been a frequent contributor to learned journals on regional planning, urban and rural development and environmental problems. While at the UNCRD, he undertook a multinational comparative study on regional development alternatives in predominantly rural societies. Eight countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America came under the marathon study involving painstaking on-the-spot investigations helped by local consultants and governments. This series of five volumes is the outcome of this pioneering effort. Bertha K. Becker is Professor of Geography, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Akin L. Mabogunje is Professor of Geography, University of Ibadan Nigeria. He was President, International Geographical Union during 1980-84.