Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers

This thought-provoking book takes a fresh look at controversial political debates over the environment in Northern Thailand. . . . The book is full of detailed case studies and draws on a large amount of research to uncover the complex reality of environmental change in the North. -- Oliver Pye * Critical Asian Studies * Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers succeeds in its primary mission to destabilize commonly held assumptions about upland agriculture, especially perceived effects downslope, such as erosion, pollution, or water shortages. . . . [It] is well written, and it provides engaging, revisionist critiques that will surely generate a lot of responseespecially among the many environmentalist groups active in this region. * H-Environment * Forsyth and Walker raise provocative questions about the environmental situation in northern Thailand. Their critical dissection of environmental narratives forces the reader to rethink assumptions. Grounded in thorough research, they offer a valuable contribution to environmental studies in Thailand. Their book is well worth reading, and it promotes thinking about the complexities of the situations they discuss . . . . they challenge how we think which is crucial to moving the social and political understandings of environmental situations forward. * Pacific Affairs * This is a book whose messages will resonate as commonsensical with many readers and yet will simultaneously provoke unease. . . the authors cross a number of boundaries, and they slay not a few sacred cows along the way. The book deserves to be read by all with an interest in the societal and epistemological bases of environmentalism, and all with an interest in environmental issues in Thailand. It also gives very specific and extended treatment to issues that continue to lie at the heart of environmental debates in Thailand. * Journal of Contemporary Asia * Tim Forsyth and Andrew Walker set forth a provocative thesis that argues against both positivist science and political ecology in the explanation of the environmental processes. [This] is a critical book that is clearly and engagingly written. In definitely offers a stimulating perspective and incisive method for going beyond the apparent conflict between livelihood and conservation in Thailand's upland. * Journal of Southeast Asian Studies * This is highly recommended for the cross-disciplinary student of undergraduate and graduate studies in anthropology, ecology, sociology, global studies, ethnic studies, and Southeast Asia. * Electronic Green Journal * In compelling prose, authors Tim Forsyth and Andrew Walker- who have deep knowledge of the conditions of the population and long experience with the challenging problems of Thailand's environmental issues- bring to the reader's attention new scholarship that revises previously held opinions on the subject of deforestation. * Chicago Botanic Garden *

Tim Forsyth is a reader at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Andrew Walker is a fellow in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, the Australian National University.

Foreword / K. Sivaramakrishnan Acknowledgments 1. Environmental Crisis and the Crisis of Knowledge 2. Mountains, Rivers, and Regulated Forests 3. Upland People 4. Forests and Water 5. Water Demand 6. Erosion 7. Agrochemicals 8. Biodiversity 9. Rethinking Environmental Knowledge Notes Bibliography Index