forestry

Douglas Sheil reviews the book Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge Sustaining Communities, Ecosystems and Biocultural Diversity by John A. Parrotta and Ronald L. Trosper.

The author examines the advent of native forest conservation in New Zealand’s Colony and the role of Thomas Potts in advocating exotic tree-planting as a response to timber shortage.

The author examines the role of plantation forestry through the shift within the New Zealand State Forest Service from an orthodox state forestry model to one favoring large-scale exotic plantations.

Synthesizing ethnographic case studies from mainland Southeast Asia, the authors critically review the implementation of REDD+, a UN project to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. They argue that REDD+ maps onto local power structures and political economies in its implementation, rendering it blunt as a tool for change.

Through a collection of 445 photographs taken from precisely the same places at intervals of months, years and decades,Die Zeit des Waldes [The forest over time] offers a stop-action look at the diversity of transformations within Germany’s forests.

The authors investigate how land cover, land use, and protected area management affects communities around a forest reserve in the Philippines. They conclude that incorporating local livelihoods into forest conservation strategies results in a measure of sustainability and positively impacts the socioeconomic well-being of communities near the protected area.