Deforestation and Reforestation in Namibia: The Global Consequences of Local Contradictions

In the twentieth century, north-central Namibia experienced both dramatic deforestation and reforestation as a result of population pressure. It also witnessed the de-globalization of a pre-colonial global resource - cattle. Since the early 1960's, the exact causes and consequences of deforestation have been hotly contested by experts, politicians, and CEO's alike. The prevailing literature focuses predominantly on evaluating environmental change against a base line (e.g. Nature) to assess whether the outcome is environmentally neutral or whether it constitutes environmental degradation or improvement. Kreike shows us how the environmental history of north-central Namibia suggests that environmental change should be understood to be multi-directional, involving multiple sub-processes with multiple outcomes - not only in north-central Namibia but also elsewhere in Africa and beyond.