ABSTRACT
To appreciate the ways in which environmental change is politicised in the Third World is in considerable measure to understand how the state has sought to manage the peoples and environments within its jurisdiction. Chapter 2 noted that most actors contribute to environmental change as they pursue their interests, but it is the state which has traditionally played a leading role in conditioning how diverse actors interact with the environment. To speak of a politicised environment is thus to signal the historical and contemporary importance of this actor.
