Environmental change in South-East Asia
Subtitle: people, politics and sustainable development
By: edited by Michael J.G. Parnwell and Raymond L. Bryant.
Contributors: Parnwell, Mike.; Bryant, Raymond L., 1961-; Association of South-East Asian Studies in the United Kingdom.
Series: Global environmental change series
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1996
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 383
Subjects: Environmental policy -- Southeast Asia.; Sustainable development -- Asia, Southeastern.; Conservation of natural resources -- Economic aspects -- Asia, Southeastern.
Description: Environmental problems facing humanity are severe and the need for solutions is urgent. 'Sustainable development' has been embraced by many as the solution to the world's environmental problems. Can the rhetoric be turned into reality? South-East Asia, with its explosive mix of rapid economic growth and pervasive environmental degradation, epitomizes the dilemmas facing policy-makers as they seek to promote sustainable development.

Environmental Change in South-East Asia brings together scholars, journalist, consultants and NGO activists to explore the interaction of people, politics and ecology. The centrality of politics to environmental change and the human response to that change is examined. Ostensibly 'green' activities - plantation forestry, ecotourism, hydro-electricity - are revealed as guises used by elites to promote their own political and economic interests.

Highlighting fatal flaws in presently exclusive economic and ecological approaches, the authors stress that neither the quest for sustainable development nor the process of environmental change itself can be understood without reference to political processes.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 344-372) and index.
"Global environmental change programme."
"Based on the 1994 annual conference of the Association of South-East Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK), held at Royal Holloway, University of London"--Acknowledgements.