Borneo

Description

In recent years, the pace of environmental, economic, and social change in Borneo has stimulated interest amongst both researchers and the general public in issues such as logging, the future of once-isolated ethnic groups, shifting agriculture, and balanced economic growth. Borneo: Change and Development seeks to provide the necessary context - historical, economic, environmental, and social - within which to evaluate such issues. It is also the first book to examine change and development for the island as a whole. Fragmented largely through the impact of colonialism, its political divisions into Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei Darussalam, and Kalimantan have tended to obscure the strong similarities in development patterns throughout the island. . The book is divided into three parts. Part I, 'The Legacy of the Past', examines aspects of the economic and social history of the Island: archaeological work, the rise of the Islamic city-states, the colonial imprint, and post-independence change. Part II, 'Contemporary Patterns and Processes', considers the nature of rural and urban change on Borneo, the character of shifting agriculture (the mainstay of island people), and the management of natural resources. In Part III, 'Issues in Development', topical questions such as logging and the Penans, environmental conservation, and the oil sector are considered. The book, whilst drawing on a wide range of academic, governmental, and newspaper sources, has been written in a style accessible to both those with an academic concern for Borneo and for the general reader interested in one of the most rapidly changing parts of the world today. Its central aim, to stimulate informed discussion and debate on matters relating to the island, is one which the authors hope will ultimately benefit the diverse peoples of Borneo.

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