Changing environments or changing views? A political ecology for developing countries

Landscapes and enviroments are perceived and interpreted from many different and contested points of view which reflect the particular experience, culture and values of the viewer. A more "interactionist' approach to the study of society and environment has recently gained acceptance and converges with other developments in the social sciences. In the place of scientific "truths' about the environment, discourses allow a critical evaluation of different versions of environmental issues. Appeals to better and more environmental science, better law and governance and to the logic of the market, in order to re-establish certainty and order in global management, are only partly successful. The author calls for a more politically aware understanding of the plurality of points of view regarding the environment, for "environmental brokerage' and the opening up of spaces for negotation between different parties