This title was first published in 2000: An ethnographically-based study which examines rainforest practices and conflicting land uses from the indigenous standpoint. Agroforestry, logging, conservation and eco-tourism are viewed in historical context, from pre-colonial production systems through colonial developments to modern encounters with Asian logging companies

Contents: Conceptualising the rainforest; Conceptualising Melanesian agroforestry; Life on the lands of Marovo; Above the seashore: land use in Marovo; The wet and the dry: Marovo agroforestry at European contact; The great transformations,1880-1910; Colonialism, coconut overlay and the 'age of development'; Towards the twenty-first century: adapting the indigenous system; The forest as commodity: selling logs to Asia; After logging: reforestation - or what?; Small is beautiful?: steps towards sustainable forestry; Rumours of utopia: conservation and eco-tourism; Epilogue: rainforest narratives; Bibliography; Index.

Edvard Hviding, Tim Bayliss-Smith