Environmental Management in the Tropics: An Historical Perspective (Hardcover)

by Randall Baker (Author) "Strictly speaking, the tropics is that part of the earth's surface bounded by the Tropic of Cancer (23 27' north) and the Tropic of Capricorn..." (more)
Key Phrases: administrative trap, critical population density, dryland areas, United States, Latin America, World Bank (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The arrival of western science and economic interests to the tropics has dramatically changed the tropical environment and its ecology. Environmental Management in the Tropics discusses the ecology of the tropics and examines how it is different from the temperate zone where western science evolved. The author discusses how native people traditionally subsisted in different ecological zones of the tropics and how they rationalized their relationship. The author also takes a critical look at the impact of colonialism in the tropics and how it changed traditional cultures and their relationship with the environment. The current clash between economics and ecology in the tropics is explored in depth. According to the author, we are now able to draw "a line in the sand" and illustrate the consequences of continuing current practices. Environmental Management in the Tropics shows how this situation developed and discusses how the two opposing concepts must be brought back into harmony. The book is one of the few studies to take a truly interdisciplinary approach combining the serious inevitabilities of natural science with the variables of history, culture, politics, and economics. It gives us a new respect for the past and tradition of the tropics and clearly spells out why dramatic changes must occur to prevent further degradation of the tropical environment.Environmental Management in the Tropics is an important reference for ecologists, conservationists, scientists, researchers, environmental consultants, land managers and developers, members of the world regulatory community, and anyone working on projects in tropical regions.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: CRC-Press; 1 edition (February 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873716612
• ISBN-13: 978-0873716611
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,234,294 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully written, January 7, 2009

By	Mehmet A. Demircioglu - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I took two courses from the author, Dr. Randall Baker, in Indiana University-Bloomington, and he is an outstanding scholar as well as a distinguished professor. He is the author of 17 books, and has worked over 90 countries, most of them from tropical area, and got Ph.D. degree from Africa. Thus, he has both theoretic knowledge and practical experience. The author always emphasized the "big picture", "comparison", and "historical perspective". This book is mostly related with most countries problems and solutions.At first glance, this book especially the author's word choice of "tropics" might remind readers a "tarzanian" image, or the author's word, "jungle" scenario (hot, humid, forests, lions...) (p. 13), yet the truth is the tropics cannot be defined in general or exact categories. Most tropics are desert, and the" risk" is very high if compared with the equatorial zone. This book's importance can be understood when the author writes in the preface that "The tropics, environmentally and economically, are in trouble and the only satisfactory way to understand why, and consequently what may be done about this situation, is to study the historical evolution of the changing nature environmental management in this part of the world" (preface).

This book is a truly multidisciplinary subject, combining the serious inevitabilities of natural science with the variables of history, culture, economics, politics, and myth, and it is well organized and easy to read. The book always asking why question, such as "Why are the majority of the poor countries of the world in the tropics, or sub-tropics?" Or, "How did the gap of rich and poor occur, which the gap is widening fast?" Is there an alternative to the "They are poor because they are poor" concept. The truth is the tropical environment with its ecology has been dramatically changed since Western countries arrived tropics owing to their economic and hegemonic interest to the tropics, which you need to read this book in order to understand. Western thought and perspective has explained the poverty and underdevelopment of tropical regarding of the doctrine of environmental determinism. Western approach to the Tropics is as Edward Said's word, orientalist, and includes prejudices, prides, and biases as seen most resources which are Western and not indigenous.

Overall, this book is not about apportioning blame; it is about understanding. The real issue in this book is to devise sustainable solutions and to consider the means of affecting them... It gives us a new respect for the past and tradition of the tropics and clearly spells out why drastic changes must establish in order to prevent further degradation of the tropical environment. It probably has no rival in the coverage of all kinds of problems and real solutions (such as "Super Environmental Ministry", p. 147, and "Here are the keys to real sustainability: access to resources and markets, fair recompense for labor, and a stake in lasting future" p. 204). embedded in an assessment, theory, and the methods to carry these problems and solutions.

Mehmet Akif Demircioglu