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1 - General introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2009

Navjot S. Sodhi
Affiliation:
Associate Professor National University of Singapore
Greg Acciaioli
Affiliation:
Anthropology and Sociology, School of Social and Cultural Studies The University of Western Australia
Maribeth Erb
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology National University of Singapore
Alan Khee-Jin Tan
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law National University of Singapore
Navjot S. Sodhi
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
Greg Acciaioli
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
Maribeth Erb
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
Alan Khee-Jin Tan
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
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Summary

Just over 150 years ago Alfred Russel Wallace began his peregrinations as a naturalist across the vast extent of islands stretching from the Malay Peninsula in the west to New Guinea in the east, a region he labelled the Malay Archipelago. In justifying his delay in publishing The Malay Archipelago, he noted that the region's ‘social and physical conditions are not liable to rapid change’ (Wallace 2000:ix). That characterization could not be less apt for the region's contemporary situation, especially in regard to the condition of the environment whose nineteenth-century richness he so scrupulously documented. Today that natural richness, which we now label biodiversity, is under increasing threat. Most of the area traversed by Wallace is now covered by two hotspots, ‘earth's biologically richest and most endangered terrestrial ecoregions’ (Mittermeier et al. 2004). It is a continuing tribute to Wallace that the border between this region's hotspots, Sundaland in the west and the eponymous Wallacea in the east, remains that remarkable line he delineated as dividing the two great natural regions of the archipelago (Wallace 2000:10–11).

Worldwide, 34 biodiversity hotspots, defined as ‘regions that harbour a great diversity of endemic species and, at the same time, have been significantly impacted and altered by human activities’, have been identified as areas in critical need of conservation (http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots). But these hotspots also tend to be the locales with high numbers of indigenous peoples whose land and resources have often been the targets of expropriation by their governments, previously in the name of ‘national development’, but increasingly now justified as well by conservation imperatives of national as well as global import.

Type
Chapter
Information
Biodiversity and Human Livelihoods in Protected Areas
Case Studies from the Malay Archipelago
, pp. 1 - 6
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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References

Mittermeier, R. A., Gil, P. R., Hoffmann, M.et al. (2004). Hotspots Revisited. Mexico City, Mexico: CEMEX.Google Scholar
Wallace, A. R. (2000). The Malay Archipelago. 10th edn (reprint). Singapore : Periplus.Google Scholar

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  • General introduction
    • By Navjot S. Sodhi, Associate Professor National University of Singapore, Greg Acciaioli, Anthropology and Sociology, School of Social and Cultural Studies The University of Western Australia, Maribeth Erb, Department of Sociology National University of Singapore, Alan Khee-Jin Tan, Faculty of Law National University of Singapore
  • Edited by Navjot S. Sodhi, National University of Singapore, Greg Acciaioli, National University of Singapore, Maribeth Erb, National University of Singapore, Alan Khee-Jin Tan, National University of Singapore
  • Book: Biodiversity and Human Livelihoods in Protected Areas
  • Online publication: 12 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511542169.001
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  • General introduction
    • By Navjot S. Sodhi, Associate Professor National University of Singapore, Greg Acciaioli, Anthropology and Sociology, School of Social and Cultural Studies The University of Western Australia, Maribeth Erb, Department of Sociology National University of Singapore, Alan Khee-Jin Tan, Faculty of Law National University of Singapore
  • Edited by Navjot S. Sodhi, National University of Singapore, Greg Acciaioli, National University of Singapore, Maribeth Erb, National University of Singapore, Alan Khee-Jin Tan, National University of Singapore
  • Book: Biodiversity and Human Livelihoods in Protected Areas
  • Online publication: 12 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511542169.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • General introduction
    • By Navjot S. Sodhi, Associate Professor National University of Singapore, Greg Acciaioli, Anthropology and Sociology, School of Social and Cultural Studies The University of Western Australia, Maribeth Erb, Department of Sociology National University of Singapore, Alan Khee-Jin Tan, Faculty of Law National University of Singapore
  • Edited by Navjot S. Sodhi, National University of Singapore, Greg Acciaioli, National University of Singapore, Maribeth Erb, National University of Singapore, Alan Khee-Jin Tan, National University of Singapore
  • Book: Biodiversity and Human Livelihoods in Protected Areas
  • Online publication: 12 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511542169.001
Available formats
×