The startling message of this book is that the so-called virgin forests of the world owe much to their symbiotic relationship with the indigenous peoples who live in and on the margins of the forests. Examples of forests are taken from Asia, Africa and South America, thus reflecting the global nature of the phenomenon. The book's conclusions will have far-reaching implications for all who are concerned with the conservation of forests and their indigenous human population. This book is published in the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Series.

Foreword vii
FRANZ SCHMITHOSEN
1. Introduction 1
KLAUS SEELAND
2. Culturing trees: socialized knowledge in the political
ecology of Kissia and Kuranko forest islands of Guinea 7
JAMES FAIRHEAD AND MELISSA LEACH
3. The perceived environment as a system of knowledge and
meaning: a study of the Mewahang Rai of eastern Nepal 19
BARUN GURUNG
4. Tatari: livelihood and danger in upland Japan 28
JOHN KNIGHT
5. Forests and trees in the cultural landscape of Lawa
swidden farmers in northern Thailand 44
DIETRICH SCHMIDT-VOGT
6. Tree marriage in India 51
ROBERT PARKIN
1. The influence of religious beliefs and rituals on forest
conservation in Nepal 57
ANDREW W. INGLES
8. The Huaorani and their trees: managing and imagining
the Ecuadorian rain forest 67
LAURA RIVAL
9. Where trees do matter for society: the socio-cultural aspects
of sal (Shorea robusta) and salap (Caryota urens L.) in the
Similipal hills of Orissa, India 79
MIHIR KUMAR JENA, KLAUS SEELAND AND KAMALA KUMARIPATNAIK
10. War, forests and the future: the environmental understanding
of the young in Sierra Leone 90
PAUL RICHARDS
11. Indigenous knowledge of trees and forests in non-
European societies 101
KLAUS SEELAND
12. Forests and trees in the world of two Tamang villages in
central Nepal: observations with special reference to the
role of Tamang women in forest management 113
BETT1NA MAAG
Appendix to Chapter 12 130
Notes on contributors 136
Notes 138
Bibliography 142