Plantations are playing an increasingly important part in the development and the economies of the South. Plantation Politics is the first book to examine their rationale and purpose, exposing the misconceptions and myths that have surrounded their role, and describing the contribution they can make to sustainable development. At their best, industrial plantations can become a major asset to local development by providing raw materials, infrastructure, employment, income and environmental and recreational services. At their worst, plantations, usually imposed from a 'top-down' perspective and ignoring local needs, values and rights, have monopolized land in times of food shortage, degraded wild animal and plant populations, and destroyed habitats and landscapes.

The contributors analyse the conditions appropriate for both simple and complex plantations, and the contributions each can make. Complex plantations, whether established from scratch or within natural forest, are more suitable in most cases, where they are subject to numerous different claims and needs. However, their ownership, management and silviculture present new challenges ? challenges which, without the carefully researched guidelines offered here, current policy and research may well be ill-equipped to take up.

Caroline Sargent is the Director and Stephen Bass is the Associate Director of the Forestry Programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development.

Originally published in 1992