Environment and empire

by William Beinart

"Environmental history deals with the reciprocal interaction between people and other elements in the natural world. This study illustrates diverse environmental themes in the history of the British empire. It concentrates initially on the material factors that shaped patterns of extraction and environmental change. But a core theme throughout is the tension between exploitation and conservation. India needed forests for its railways; Australia required pastures for its sheep. Soil erosion was seen to threaten African agriculture. Conservation aimed to preserve resources by exclusion, as in wildlife parks and forests, or to guarantee efficient use of soil and water." "This study concludes by describing political reassertions by colonized peoples over natural resources. In a post-imperial age, they have found a new voice, reformulating ideas about nature, landscape, and heritage, and challenging - at local and global level - views about who has the right to regulate nature. Environment