ABSTRACT
In conjunction with empirical observations of its shortcomings, a number of powerful critiques of the good governance agenda in international development have emerged. Drawing on this larger critical literature, this chapter provides an overview of the ways in which environmental anthropology and related fields offer critical perspectives on good governance initiatives in forest conservation. It begins with a brief account of the rise of the good governance agenda in international development generally and forest conservation specifically. The chapter identifies the following three main approaches. The first focuses on decentralised and participatory resource management projects and on their theoretical underpinnings, namely common-pool resources (CPR) theory. A second line of critique focuses more specifically on corruption and the way its role in deforestation is conceptualised. The third is provided by recent insights in ecology and historical ecology, which problematise key ecological assumptions informing the good governance agenda in forestry.
