Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables, Graphs and Maps
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- CHAPTER 1 Introduction
- Part I Nature and Culture in the Early Nineteenth Century
- Part II Scientific Forestry, Forest Management and Environmental Change
- CHAPTER 5 Scientific Forestry and Social Control: Regulating Access to Forests
- CHAPTER 6 The New Forest Regime and Restructuring of the Livestock Economy
- CHAPTER 7 Commercialisation of Forests, Timber Extraction, and Deforestation
- CHAPTER 8 The Myth of Sustainability and the Fate of Forests
- CHAPTER 9 Separating Farms from Forests: Collapsing of the Hill Economy
- CHAPTER 10 Conclusion: Unravelling the Crisis
- Epilogue: From Despair to Hope
- Bibliography
- Index
CHAPTER 8 - The Myth of Sustainability and the Fate of Forests
from Part II - Scientific Forestry, Forest Management and Environmental Change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables, Graphs and Maps
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- CHAPTER 1 Introduction
- Part I Nature and Culture in the Early Nineteenth Century
- Part II Scientific Forestry, Forest Management and Environmental Change
- CHAPTER 5 Scientific Forestry and Social Control: Regulating Access to Forests
- CHAPTER 6 The New Forest Regime and Restructuring of the Livestock Economy
- CHAPTER 7 Commercialisation of Forests, Timber Extraction, and Deforestation
- CHAPTER 8 The Myth of Sustainability and the Fate of Forests
- CHAPTER 9 Separating Farms from Forests: Collapsing of the Hill Economy
- CHAPTER 10 Conclusion: Unravelling the Crisis
- Epilogue: From Despair to Hope
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The framing of a suitable working plan thus involves an intimate knowledge of the requirements of the various species dealt with and of their rate of growth, knowledge which depends largely on the results of scientific research, and without which working plans must necessarily be of a tentative and provisional nature, as indeed many Indian plans are at present.
‘The Work of the Forest Department in India’, a report prepared in 1920 under the direction of the Inspector-General of Forests, p. 14, in April 1920 B progs 45–56, Revenue and Agriculture (Forests), NAI.Although concern about and interest in the global role and fate of forests are currently great, the existing level of knowledge about forests is inadequate to develop sound forest management policies. Current knowledge and patterns of research will not result in sufficiently accurate predictions of the consequences of potentially harmful influences on forests, including forest management practices that lack a sound basis in biological knowledge. The deficiency will reduce our ability to maintain or enhance forest productivity, recreation, and conservation as well as our ability to ameliorate or adapt to changes in the global environment.
The USA National Research Council Report of 1990 entitled Forestry Research: A Mandate for ChangeForesters contend that scientific forestry meant sustainable management of forests. All forests were managed according to the working plans which prescribed only ‘maximum sustainable yield’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Himalayan DegradationColonial Forestry and Environmental Change in India, pp. 225 - 242Publisher: Foundation BooksPrint publication year: 2008