No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
The international influence of Pierre Poivre's environmental law leadership
Abstract
The pressing challenges of our changing climate continue to dominate headlines and government agenda around the world. On the surface, this appears to be a contemporary phenomenon, the result of recent scientific awareness of human impacts on the environment. Yet in the 18th century, island vulnerabilities, the causes of extreme weather events and the changing climate were beginning to be understood. In particular, ‘desiccationism’ was a concept both known and pursued by Pierre Poivre in the Ile de France. There is little doubt that Poivre had considerable insight, demonstrated in the many different ways in which he administered the islands, but less well-known is the global influence his leadership has had. Poivre’s belief in the link between deforestation and changing rainfall patterns led to his early adoption of legislation in Ile de France, focused largely on forest conservation. His influence, though, was not limited to the Ile de France, and later developments in the Caribbean and USA can be traced to the Mauritian legislation. Poivre was, therefore, an early leader in forest conservation to prevent changes in climate, and an influencer of global environmental legal and administrative efforts. His administration was followed by others, during which the legislation he led was strengthened, starting a long history of climate action that can still be felt today. This presentation explores Poivre’s actions in Mauritius and his environmental law influence far beyond its shores.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
The accelerating interpenetration of nature and culture is the hallmark of the new "light-green" social order that has emerged in postwar France, argues Michael Bess in this penetrating new history. On one hand, a preoccupation with natural qualities and equilibrium has increasingly infused France's economic and cultural life. On the other, human activities have laid an ever more potent and pervasive touch on the environment, whether through the intrusion of agriculture, industry, and urban growth, or through the much subtler and more well-intentioned efforts of ecological management. "The Light-Green Society" limns sharply these trends over the last fifty years. The rise of environmentalism in the 1960s stemmed from a fervent desire to "save" wild nature-nature conceived as a qualitatively distinct domain, wholly separate from human designs and endeavors. And yet, Bess shows, after forty years of environmentalist agitation, much of it remarkably successful in achieving its aims, the old conception of nature as a "separate sphere" has become largely untenable. In the light-green society, where ecology and technological modernity continually flow together, a new hybrid vision of intermingled "nature-culture" has increasingly taken its place.
The development of political science and forest policy in the United States is traced and compared. Political science began initially as comparative historical analysis and has progressively emphasized more social science methods and objective analytical approaches. Modern critics question the possibility of purely objective and neutral analysis of politics, but trends toward more vigorous standards and theoretical constructs remain. Forest policy research generally follows the comparative historical approach and modern political science methods have been applied only recently. Future applications of political science theory and methods will ironically be limited by political factors and scarce budgets.
The Island and the History of Environmentalism: The case of St Vincent' in Nature and Society in Historical Context
- Richard Grove
Richard Grove, 'The Island and the History of Environmentalism: The case of St Vincent' in Nature and
Society in Historical Context Mikulas Teich et al (Eds) p.148.
Ecology, Climate and Empire, 60. 70 Voyages of a Philosopher
- Grove
Grove (1997), Ecology, Climate and Empire, 60.
70 Voyages of a Philosopher.
Back to the future: environmental security in nineteenth century global politics', Global Security: Health, Science and Policy
- Peter Hough
Peter Hough (2019), 'Back to the future: environmental security in nineteenth century global politics',
Global Security: Health, Science and Policy, doi.org/10.1080/23779497.2019.1663128,.10
- Grove
Grove (1997), Ecology, Climate and Empire, 65-66.
Deforesting the Earth
- Williams
Williams (2006), Deforesting the Earth, 328.
Green Imperialism, 472
- Grove
Grove (1996), Green Imperialism, 472; Huffman (1978), 245.
The Culture of Islands
- Grove
Grove (2000), The Culture of Islands.