M. V. Nadkarni with Syed Ajmal Pasha and L. S. Prabhakar. The Political Economy of Forest Use and Management.

Ibrahim, Sahiba

M. V. Nadkarni with Syed Ajmal Pasha and L. S. Prabhakar. The Political Economy of Forest Use and Management. New Delhi: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd. 1989.6-182pp.

This book is the outcome of the research unit at the Institute for Social and Economic Change for the Study of Ecology Economics. The book focuses on the relationship between ecology, environment and the sustainable use of national resources in the course of economic development in India, especially in Karnataka.

The book provides a different perspective to the problem of forest use at two levels. Firstly, it combines historical analysis with the field study of the contemporary situation in forest resources utilization. And secondly at uses the political economy approach in analysing the class structure of the target population which has been selected on the basis of a household survey of certain villages.

The concluding part of the study discusses political and economic aspects of the problem. It suggests some policy options to deal with the problems encountered and suggests that an alternative institutional forms be evolved which involve local populations including poor peasants and the landless in forest management, not just in India, but in other developing countries as well.

This book is useful to those concerned with ecological and environmental issues.

* Prepared by Ms Sahiba Ibrahim, Assistant Faculty Member at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.