ABSTRACT
Forestry as institution and practice fluctuates over time and varies across space (Hannigan, 1995). Created by individual practices, societal institutions and global-local environmental discourses, forestry is not simply a natural fixed biophysical reality; rather, it can be conceived of as a politically and culturally constructed entity in which knowledge, power and discourses interweave to create a historically and geographically situated establishment (see Cline-Cole and Madge, this volume) As such, it is possible to ask 'which forestry matters, and why'? Why is it that mainstream scientific forestry to date has focused on the planted, the quantifiable and the economic, still continuing, in the main, to ignore the spiritual and cultural domain (Beemans, 1997)? Indeed, in the few instances where spirituality is considered in forestry literature and practice it tends to be as an add on (Raintree, 1991), or as a contextual backdrop (Sibanda, 1997), rather than as a vital force structuring forestry/society relationships.
