Robin L. Chazdon
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226117911
- eISBN:
- 9780226118109
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226118109.003.0014
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This chapter discusses how tropical forests regenerate within a larger spatial context of human-modified landscapes, where natural or semi-natural habitats coexist within a matrix of different types ...
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This chapter discusses how tropical forests regenerate within a larger spatial context of human-modified landscapes, where natural or semi-natural habitats coexist within a matrix of different types and extents of agricultural land uses. The spatial distribution of regenerating forests within tropical forest landscapes is not random, in large part because the distribution of prior deforestation, land use, and land abandonment are not random. Deforestation and reforestation pathways emerge from the coupled dynamics of ecological and social systems. In our globalized economy, migration, employment outsourcing, and trade relationships link the fate of forests, agricultural production, and human populations across national borders. Reforestation success in tropical developing countries is affected by socio-economic factors, institutional factors, technical factors and biophysical factors. Forest transitions can proceed as part of a deliberate plan at the local, regional, or national level or can occur as an unintended consequence of economic and political change.Less
This chapter discusses how tropical forests regenerate within a larger spatial context of human-modified landscapes, where natural or semi-natural habitats coexist within a matrix of different types and extents of agricultural land uses. The spatial distribution of regenerating forests within tropical forest landscapes is not random, in large part because the distribution of prior deforestation, land use, and land abandonment are not random. Deforestation and reforestation pathways emerge from the coupled dynamics of ecological and social systems. In our globalized economy, migration, employment outsourcing, and trade relationships link the fate of forests, agricultural production, and human populations across national borders. Reforestation success in tropical developing countries is affected by socio-economic factors, institutional factors, technical factors and biophysical factors. Forest transitions can proceed as part of a deliberate plan at the local, regional, or national level or can occur as an unintended consequence of economic and political change.
Susanna B. Hecht, Kathleen D. Morrison, and Christine Padoch (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226322667
- eISBN:
- 9780226024134
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226024134.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Deforestation was one of the defining features of the late 20th century, but forest recovery is one of the surprising dynamics of the 21st. New research in ecology, geography, anthropology, ...
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Deforestation was one of the defining features of the late 20th century, but forest recovery is one of the surprising dynamics of the 21st. New research in ecology, geography, anthropology, archaeology and history are recasting received ideas about the pasts of forests, how people used and shaped them, and the implications of this complex environmental history for understanding how forested landscapes unfold today. This innovative collection draws together distinguished analysts from all over the world, and from the natural and social sciences to reflect on forests past, present and future. The authors illuminate the interactions between humans and landscapes in the creation of forests as both human artifact and habitat -- and emphasize that forest landscapes incarnate social as well as biotic processes. They clarify the importance of ideologies and iconography of forests, imagined and actual histories, institutional arrangements, competing knowledge systems and economic structures in shaping how we understand the “natures” of forests and how these now inform our woodland practices and politics. Current trends reveal surprising new forest frontiers in urban and agricultural contexts, in deforested “sacrifice” zones like the Sahel and El Salvador. The forest landscapes we think of today as empty, wild, and “natural” often have humanized “pre-histories” that are often less far in the past than we imagine with political, institutional and violence shaping the transitions that underpin them. This collection provides an overview of the complexities, trajectories and surprising socio-natures of forested ecosystems.Less
Deforestation was one of the defining features of the late 20th century, but forest recovery is one of the surprising dynamics of the 21st. New research in ecology, geography, anthropology, archaeology and history are recasting received ideas about the pasts of forests, how people used and shaped them, and the implications of this complex environmental history for understanding how forested landscapes unfold today. This innovative collection draws together distinguished analysts from all over the world, and from the natural and social sciences to reflect on forests past, present and future. The authors illuminate the interactions between humans and landscapes in the creation of forests as both human artifact and habitat -- and emphasize that forest landscapes incarnate social as well as biotic processes. They clarify the importance of ideologies and iconography of forests, imagined and actual histories, institutional arrangements, competing knowledge systems and economic structures in shaping how we understand the “natures” of forests and how these now inform our woodland practices and politics. Current trends reveal surprising new forest frontiers in urban and agricultural contexts, in deforested “sacrifice” zones like the Sahel and El Salvador. The forest landscapes we think of today as empty, wild, and “natural” often have humanized “pre-histories” that are often less far in the past than we imagine with political, institutional and violence shaping the transitions that underpin them. This collection provides an overview of the complexities, trajectories and surprising socio-natures of forested ecosystems.
Susanna B. Hecht
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226322667
- eISBN:
- 9780226024134
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226024134.003.0009
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Forest resurgence or forest transition—the widespread recovery of forests in the tropics and more generally—is explained in several bodies of bio-social and economic theory, including urbanization, ...
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Forest resurgence or forest transition—the widespread recovery of forests in the tropics and more generally—is explained in several bodies of bio-social and economic theory, including urbanization, economic efficiency, environmental politics, and globalization of labor and commodity markets, many of which are derived from work in the temperate zone. Although earlier 19th and 20th century processes have relevance, current dynamics are often far different. This chapter reviews the debates regarding the social natures of forests as parts of different kinds of successions and transitions, as well as the emerging politics of environmental services. It suggests that twenty-first century rural politics may revolve somewhat less around the “agrarian question” and rather more around debates over environmental enclosures where “re-wooded” and inhabited landscapes vie with conservation and “re-wilding” set asides or with efficiency forests (plantations) for the capital flows associated with the emerging carbon economy and new attention to the ecological impacts of commodity chains.Less
Forest resurgence or forest transition—the widespread recovery of forests in the tropics and more generally—is explained in several bodies of bio-social and economic theory, including urbanization, economic efficiency, environmental politics, and globalization of labor and commodity markets, many of which are derived from work in the temperate zone. Although earlier 19th and 20th century processes have relevance, current dynamics are often far different. This chapter reviews the debates regarding the social natures of forests as parts of different kinds of successions and transitions, as well as the emerging politics of environmental services. It suggests that twenty-first century rural politics may revolve somewhat less around the “agrarian question” and rather more around debates over environmental enclosures where “re-wooded” and inhabited landscapes vie with conservation and “re-wilding” set asides or with efficiency forests (plantations) for the capital flows associated with the emerging carbon economy and new attention to the ecological impacts of commodity chains.
Susanna B. Hecht, Kathleen D. Morrison, and Christine Padoch
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226322667
- eISBN:
- 9780226024134
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226024134.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This chapter introduces the organizing principle of both the volume and the conference that gave rise to it—an argument that counters the “apocalyptic vision” that monopolizes both the popular and ...
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This chapter introduces the organizing principle of both the volume and the conference that gave rise to it—an argument that counters the “apocalyptic vision” that monopolizes both the popular and scientific literature on tropical ecosystems. It lays out the case for a complex relationship between the two billion people and the forest landscapes in which they reside and challenge the overly simplistic, unidirectional “human versus nature” narrative that dominates development studies and conservation biology, arguing that both in the present day and historically, relationships between humans and forest landscapes are and have been complex, even in regions that have been held up as “poster children” for this Malthusian view. It emphasizes the themes of complexity of forest recovery processes, created invisibility of recovering forests, and the importance of understanding forest histories to guide development and conservation efforts.Less
This chapter introduces the organizing principle of both the volume and the conference that gave rise to it—an argument that counters the “apocalyptic vision” that monopolizes both the popular and scientific literature on tropical ecosystems. It lays out the case for a complex relationship between the two billion people and the forest landscapes in which they reside and challenge the overly simplistic, unidirectional “human versus nature” narrative that dominates development studies and conservation biology, arguing that both in the present day and historically, relationships between humans and forest landscapes are and have been complex, even in regions that have been held up as “poster children” for this Malthusian view. It emphasizes the themes of complexity of forest recovery processes, created invisibility of recovering forests, and the importance of understanding forest histories to guide development and conservation efforts.