Challenges scholars, policymakers, and resource managers to reexamine long-held assumptions about "environmental degradation." Through a case study of northern Thailand the authors ask how, why, and with whose influence environmental situations are defined. Their conclusion that misleading and simplistic explanations fail to address the real causes of environmental problems, and unnecessarily restrict the livelihoods of local people, will be a valuable contribution to broader international academic and policy discussions. Tim Forsyth is a reader at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Andrew Walker is a research fellow in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, the Australian National University.
