Commonwealth forestry & environmental history: empire, forests and colonial environments in Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and New Zealand

Contemporary anxieties about global warming and climate change impacts have unsettled the ways in which we think about environmental politics and human history. Intense discussions continue over whether we need to reconsider what we understand by the term ‘environmental change’ and if humans have truly become a ‘geo-physical’ force with a transformative effect on the planet. Put differently, How should we recast our understanding of the planet’s varied environmental pasts in order to make sense of the Anthropocene present? This collection of 19 essays on forestry and environmental change in the erstwhile colonies of the British Empire - today comprising the ‘Commonwealth of Nations’ - builds on Richard Grove’s quest for achieving a ‘global synthesis’ in an effort towards writing environmental histories on a planetary scale. The book examines the Commonwealth of Nations as a single environmental bloc for study, enquiry and historical scrutiny, explores connected environmental histories, compares dissimilar ecological regions and debates ideologies for environmental management. Commonwealth Forestry and Environmental History is intended to enable conversations between environmental historians, foresters, sustainable development practitioners, policy makers and those keen on understanding contemporary politics brought on by concerns about climate change.