Publisher : Springer, Dordrecht
Place of publication :
Publication year : 1998
Thematic : Forestry
Language : English
Note
In an influential account of rain forest, the botanist P. W. Richards has suggested that Africa is the ‘odd man out’ in terms of human impact on rain forest ecology (Richards, P. W., 1996). In this view, the rain forests of tropical America and Asia are pristine or primary forest, whereas those of Africa (and especially West Africa) show clear signs of human disturbance and management. Ecological differences are paralleled by differences in the relationships between forest people and the environment in Asia, America and Africa. In Asia and tropical America, forest societies are commonly perceived as ‘indigenous people’, racially or culturally distinct from the encroaching wider modern society. Following on from this, the anthropologist’s role in conservation has been primarily one of advocate for indigenous rights, and of documenting cultures which are, like the forest, under threat. Thus in Amazonia, anthropologists have long been engaged in ethnobotanical inventory work, in establishing first contacts with tribal peoples, and in documenting their plight to the outside (western) world of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international agencies. (For a useful review of anthropology and the conservation of biodiversity, see Orlove and Brush, 1996.)
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Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
