Governing Cambodia's Forests: The International Politics of Policy Reform

The widespread destruction of Cambodia’s forests in recent decades saw the loss of the last major area of pristine tropical forest in Southeast Asia. The proceeds of often indiscriminate logging and sale of forest and plantation concessions have enriched the country’s ruling elite but cost its rural population dearly. It was, moreover, a process in which foreign aid donors were deeply involved, even if the outcome was contrary to their intentions.

The tragedy of Cambodia’s forests has received much international publicity from environmental NGOs like Global Witness, quoted above, but far less scholarly treatment. That deficiency is now addressed by this detailed and sophisticated case study of how externally sponsored reform agendas can be manipulated by domestic elites. It offers a powerful critique of ideas of ‘ownership’ as well as a clear and persuasive argument why forestry protection programmes so often fail within the modern international system. The book will appeal to people interested in political change in contemporary Southeast Asia, the politics of foreign aid, and those concerned with the conservation of the world’s remaining tropical forests.

For sale only in the U.S., its dependencies, Canada, and Mexico

• Andrew Cock, Author

  Andrew Cock has worked extensively on environmental issues in Southeast Asia and Australia including as forestry advisor with the NGO Forum on Cambodia (2000–04). He is a specialist on political economy and environmental change whose research activities encompass business and politics in Southeast Asia; the political economy of sustainable development; and the emerging resource constraints engendered in the interaction between the world’s agricultural and energy systems and policies aimed at mitigating climate change. Based in Tokyo, he currently works as an analyst at the UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability.