Tim Forsyth
Outside abstract 1
This article gives insight in to the Ecosystem Approach (EsA), which is a framework for integrated management of forest systems. Tim Forsyth examines the use of political ecology in the Ecosystem Approach by showing the ways by which politics can potentially influence forest management policies and vice versa. The examination of this influence is important because the “political authority of different knowledge claims” provokes scientific acknowledgement of environmental issues and the perspective of those utilizing or controlling those environments through “problem closures”. Forsyth breaks his article in to three sections: “Political influences on the formulation of the Ecosystem Approach”, “Political influences of state forest departments”, and then from the first two sections, suggests reformation of the Ecosystem Approach for improvements in specific locations.
The first section reviews the purpose of the Ecosystem Approach as the “integration of conservation and development” yet shows an unclear aspect of its application as either an overall guiding plan or a matter of “diverse objectives”. Indefinites leave room for influence by political actors that may not represent their full range of objectives. Forsyth gives examples of the use of such uncertainties to manipulate policies for forest systems.
The second section shows how past development of forest classification and management techniques have influenced contemporary policy. This point is developed through the use of two case studies from Thailand and West Africa showing the differences in perspective used by diverse political, cultural, and environmental settings.
The Ecosystem Approach claims that the roles of humans are integral to an ecosystem. The point of Forsyth’s article is to show the necessary incorporation of diverse forest management practices as well as the acknowledgment of the influence of predetermined generalizations about forest qualities.