Two broad themes taken up in the literature will be the focus of this essay: how far colonialism was an ecological watershed, and how producers responded to new pressures. The third issue is of what we can or should learn (or unlearn) from the colonial experience.

This collection of essays examines the history of human interaction with forest and marine ecosystems in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, where many of the contributors have conducted fieldwork.

This article discusses the need to broaden the debate about land rush by including a few key issues that have been neglected. Control over land is increasingly dictated by global actors and processes, leading to a patchwork of locally disembedded land holdings, not conducive for inclusive and sustainable development at the local level.