Cultural Severance and the Environment: The Ending of Traditional and Customary Practice on Commons and Landscapes Managed in Common

Citation

(2013), "Cultural Severance and the Environment: The Ending of Traditional and Customary Practice on Commons and Landscapes Managed in Common", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 24 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/meq.2013.08324faa.011

Cultural Severance and the Environment: The Ending of Traditional and Customary Practice on Commons and Landscapes Managed in Common

Cultural Severance and the Environment: The Ending of Traditional and Customary Practice on Commons and Landscapes Managed in Common

Article Type: Books and resources From: Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Volume 24, Issue 6.

Edited by Ian D. RotherhamSpringerBerlin2013447 pagesISBN: 978-9400761582€148.99

This book tackles issues of landscape and biodiversity conservation on a par with climate change in terms of their importance. A standpoint of many of the contributions is that it is important or even vital to understand the past, our history, if we are to address effectively future environmental challenges. Often, this is not the case, since the environment and nature, are treated as “natural” rather than eco-cultural. Issues of common ownership and rights to natural resources present major challenges in the contemporary global world and the market forces of capital driven economics. Yet the long-term consequences, of the separation or severance of people from nature, are tangible and potentially disastrous at many levels. However, most contemporary actions towards conservation and sustainability fail to address this fundamental relationship between communities and local environments. This reflects perhaps, the ethos of Hardin's 1960s “Tragedy of the commons” and from this perspective the chapters in this volume challenge such precepts and assumptions and through this, raise new and critical paradigms.