{"product_id":"forest-guardians-forest-destroyers-the-politics-of-environmental-knowledge-in-northern-thailand-9780295988221","title":"Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The Politics of Environmental Knowledge in Northern Thailand","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this far-reaching examination of environmental problems and politics in northern Thailand, Tim Forsyth and Andrew Walker analyze deforestation, water supply, soil erosion, use of agrochemicals, and biodiversity in order to challenge popularly held notions of environmental crisis. They argue that such crises have been used to support political objectives of state expansion and control in the uplands. They have also been used to justify the alternative directions advocated by an array of NGOs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn official and alternative discourses of economic development, the peoples living in Thailand's hill country are typically cast as either guardians or destroyers of forest resources, often depending on their ethnicity. Political and historical factors have created a simplistic, misleading, and often scientifically inaccurate environmental narrative: Hmong farmers, for example, are thought to exhibit environmentally destructive practices, whereas the Karen are seen as linked to and protective of their ancestral home. Forsyth and Walker reveal a much more complex relationship of hill farmers to the land, to other ethnic groups, and to the state. They conclude that current explanations fail to address the real causes of environmental problems and unnecessarily restrict the livelihoods of local people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe authors' critical assessment of simplistic environmental narratives, as well as their suggestions for finding solutions, will be valuable in international policy discussions about environmental issues in rapidly developing countries. Moreover, their redefinition of northern Thailand's environmental problems, and their analysis of how political influences have reinforced inappropriate policies, demonstrate new ways of analyzing how environmental science and knowledge are important arenas for political control.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book makes valuable contributions to Thai studies and more generally to the fields of environmental science, ecology, geography, anthropology, and political science, as well as to policy making and resource management in the developing world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Tim Forsyth, Andrew Walker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Washington Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/16\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.92lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.84h x 7.33w x 0.73d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780295988221\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eScitech Book News\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2008 pg. 134\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTim Forsyth \u003c\/b\u003eis a reader at the London School of Economics and Political Science. \u003cb\u003eAndrew Walker \u003c\/b\u003eis a fellow in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, the Australian National University.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Washington Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":39949067550835,"sku":"9.78E+12","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_d870324b-15fe-4e0b-b50e-984cf5d535f4.jpg?v=1648475942","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/forest-guardians-forest-destroyers-the-politics-of-environmental-knowledge-in-northern-thailand-9780295988221","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}