In This Issue of the Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia

Donna Amoroso

See Select Issue on the Homepage Sidebar to find Issue 1.

The second issue of the Kyoto Review focuses on environmental disaster and efforts by communities, NGOs, and governments to rehabilitate damaged forests and other resources. As our contributors make clear, natural habitat recovery is not simply an ecological and economic question, but also concerns the rights and livelihoods of people who have traditionally maintained the land.

In Review Essays, Wil de Jong and Momose Kuniyasu trace the evolution of ideas and practices—community forestry and ecological studies, respectively. Sato Yuichi examines the specific disaster of illegal logging in Indonesia and draws lessons from his experience there. And Fujita Wataru critically compares the work of a Japanese scholar and Thai scholar-activist who write about rural Thailand.

In Features, longer essays examine environmental management efforts, giving us insight into the complicated nature of “illegal logging” and community management. Tuong Vi Pham looks at gender and access to natural resources and development; Le Thi Van Hue details one village’s experience with mangrove management; and Phan Nguyen Hong, Quan Thi Quynh Dao, and Le Kim Thoa assess the potential of ecotourism in Vietnam. From an historical and institutional viewpoint, respectively, Pinkaew Laungaramsri and Pearmsak Makarabhirom explain why local people have thus far not been at the center of rehabilitation efforts. Finally, three commentaries give scholars’ thoughts on international aid, globalization, and the process of nomadic people becoming sedentary.

Books of Notes examines the impact of illegal timber trafficking in Indonesia, land tenure and customary rights in Borneo, participatory planning in Makassar Strait islands, and reforestation efforts by an upland community in the Philippines.

In Reprints, we present a news story and a stimulating discussion between an activist, a congressman, and an academic on the controversial garbage issue in the Philippines. Two reports on the pollution of mainland Southeast Asia’s major rivers – the Chao Phya and the Mekong – shed light on the problems faced by those who depend on water, perhaps the next global environmental issue that will demand our attention.

Finally, we would like to thank Prof. Terry Rambo and Wataru Fujita of CSEAS for their timely help, as well as our translators for this issue: Andi Amri and Retno Kusumanigtyas, Sophia Guillermo, Suzuki Shinji, and Jiranthara Srioutai and Somjit Jirananthiporn of the Chalermprakiat Center of Translation and Interpretation at Chulalongkorn University.