Contested Country: Local and Regional Natural Resources Management in Australia

Abstract

I was attracted by the book title at first glance. "Contested Coumry" is such powerful description to one of the major challenges in the field of natural resources management (NRM) where conflicts emerge between stakeholders over the valuation and utilization of natural resources. In fact, this is also the site where asymmetrical power relations are embedded. Although this volume focuses mainly on the Australian context, its significance has great implications for both local and international practice of NRM policy implementation. As the editors point out in the introduction, it is open to question whether the current regional NRM approach is realistic in addressing the environmental crisis and achieving biodiversity conservation. Therefore, this book is very ambitious in its effort to critically ancllyse the efficiency of the regional and community-approach of NRM which has been largely implemented since the mid-1990s. Apart from this, what the future holds for NRM is another key theme tackled in this volume by contributors.