Women's Voices from the Rainforest explores the position of the women whose families are tearing down the rainforest. These women of Central and Latin America have been largely invisible until now, but they are at last turning their voices into action. International development policy and its top-down culture must take much of the blame for environmental and social destruction of the rainforest. Presenting the contrasting results of different methodologies, a comprehensive literature review, and the voices of the rainforest women themselves, told in life histories, the authors argue for the adoption of "grassroots" strategies, not international solutions.

International development policy is responsible for much of the destruction of Central and Latin American rainforests. This explores how indigenous women are at last turning their voices to action, demanding grassroots strategies as the solution.

The rainforest has become increasingly topical in today's eco-conscious society, yet people remain ignorant of the many issues concealed by the language and methods of international development policy. Women's Voices from the Rainforest analyses the causes and effects of such policy.

This edited volume explores how a feminist political ecology framework can bring fresh insights to the study of rural and urban livelihoods dependent on vulnerable rivers, lakes, watersheds, wetlands and coastal environments. Bringing together political ecologists and feminist scholars from multiple disciplines, the book develops solution-oriented advances to theory, policy and planning to tackle the complexity of these global environmental changes. Using applied research on the contemporary management of groundwater, springs, rivers, lakes, watersheds and coastal wetlands in Central and South Asia, Northern, Central and Southern Africa, and South and North America, the authors draw on a variety of methodological perspectives and new theoretical approaches to demonstrate the importance of considering multiple layers of social difference as produced by and central to the effective governance and local management of water resources. This unique collection employs a unifying feminist political ecology framework that emphasizes the ways that gender interacts with other social and geographical locations of water resource users. In doing so, the book further questions the normative gender discourses that underlie policies and practices surrounding rural and urban water management and climate change, water pollution, large-scale development and dams, water for crop and livestock production and processing, resource knowledge and expertise, and critical livelihood studies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of environmental studies, development studies, feminist and environmental geography, anthropology, sociology, environmental philosophy, public policy, planning, media studies, Latin American and other area studies, as well as women’s and gender studies.

Feminist Political Ecology explores the gendered relations of ecologies, economies and politics in communities as diverse as the rubbertappers in the rainforests of Brazil to activist groups fighting racism in New York City. Women are often at the centre of these struggles, struggles which concern local knowledge, everyday practice, rights to resources, sustainable development, environmental quality, and social justice. The book bridges the gap between the academic and rural orientation of political ecology and the largely activist and urban focus of environmental justice movements.

Focusing on the term empowerment this book examines the various meanings given to the concept of empowerment and the many ways power can be expressed - in personal relationships and in wider social interactions.

Making Development Geography is a timely new book which introduces readers to the major themes and debates in development geography. It argues cogently that the field is engaged in an ongoing process of reinventing itself as critical development geography, and highlights issues such as identity, globalization, social movements and sexuality. Readers are guided through the key concepts and developments of the last 50 years, surveying the themes of Keynesianism, Marxism and post-colonialism. At the same time, each chapter uses international examples to discuss important contemporary issues so that the real-world applications of theory can be understood. This enlightening book offers a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental debates for anyone with an interest in development issues.