Thai Forestry

A Critical History

Ann Danaiya Usher

• $35.00s paperback (9789749511732) Add to Cart
• hardcover not available

• Published: September 2009
• Subject Listing: Forestry, Environmental Studies
• Bibliographic information: 238 pp., notes, bibliog., index, 5.5 x 8.5 in.
• Territorial rights: World rights except Southeast Asia
• Distributed for: Silkworm Books
• Contents

For nearly a century, Thai state forestry focused overwhelmingly on extracting timber and keeping local people away from the forests. In forest ecosystems that contain some three thousand species of trees, Thai state foresters have concentrated on just three - teak, pine, and eucalyptus. While in recent years foresters have shifted their focus to conservation, they continue to pursue policies that marginalize communities, leaving them with little option but to protest and resist.

Ann Danaiya Usher examines the historical ideas and styles of forestry that have long influenced the practice of Thai state forestry. She also traces the origins of the century-old conflict between foresters and forest communities and argues that unless some kind of resolution is found, the loss of forest is almost certain to continue until there is little left to protect.

Ann Danaiya Usher is a Thai-Canadian journalist who focuses on environmental and development issues. In 1990 she received the Thai Reporters' Association's
first Environmental Reporter of the Year Award. She is currently an editor of the Nordic journal Development Today.

Introduction

Part 1. Watersheds of Thai Forestry History
Nam Chon
The Logging Ban
Huai Kaeo
The Susan Kitti Scandal
Khor Chor Kor
The Death of an Honest Forester

Part 2. Scientific Forestry Enters Siam
The Problem of Diversity: The German Forestry Model
Herbert Slade's Legacy
Colonial Strategies and Historical Resistance
The Four Failures of Thai Forestry

Part 3. The Logical Conclusion: Factory Forests
The Danish Factor
Teak: Green Revolution Forestry
Pine: A Window on Colonial Forestry
Eucalyptus: Notorious camaldulensis
A "New" Policy
Industrial Strategies and Resistance
The End of the Road

Part 4. The Making of Thai Wilderness
Theft and Utopia: The American Model
George Ruhle and the Story of Glacier
Fathers of Thai Conservation
Conservation Unlimited

Reinventing Thai Forestry
Notes
Bibliography
Index