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NOTES 1 environmental crisis and the crisis of knowledge 1. The English-language daily, The Nation. 2. The focus is on the upland areas in the provinces of Chiang Rai, Phayao, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Nan, Phrae, and Uttaradit. The physical characteristics of this region are discussed in detail in chapter 2. 3. Tuenjai Deetes cofounded the Hill Area Development Foundation in 1986. 4. There is insufficient space in this book to summarize all debates about scienti fic knowledge, but the term “positivism” has various applications. Early positivists such as the physicist Ernst Mach (1838–1916) sought to observe generalizable trends in empirical data. This was then enhanced as “logical positivism” under the so-called Vienna School of philosophers during the 1920s, who reformed the scientific method to focus on verification of such trends. Most famously, Karl Popper then challenged logical positivism in the 1960s by arguing that verification should be replaced by falsification as the means of inferring statements about reality. Under Popper’s approach, scientists should consider theories and hypotheses true until empirical evidence contradicted them, thus generating new theories and hypotheses. Popper called this approach “critical rationalism ,” but it is still popularly called “positivism.” See Hess (1997) and Forsyth (2003: chapter 3) for an extended discussion. 5. Haas (1992:3) defined an epistemic community as a “network of professionals with recognized experience and competence in a particular domain and an authoritative claim to policy-relevant knowledge within that domain or issue area. . . . What bonds members of an epistemic community is their shared belief or faith in the verity and the applicability of particular forms of knowledge or specific truths.” This definition places much emphasis upon a definition of expertise as located within formal scientific networks. Later work has suggested that epistemic communities may become broader if a more inclusive definition of expertise is adopted (such as activists, journalists, or local resource users). An advo247 cacy coalition is an alliance between different organizations in order to help parties gain expertise or political help towards an objective. They frequently include alliances between international ngos and grassroots activists. 6. Cultural Theory is largely based on the work of Mary Douglas; the capital C and T indicate its difference from other cultural theories. 7. Desire to follow rules is sometimes known as “grid,” and to act communally as “group.” Hence, egalitarians prefer to act communally but distrust rules set by the state; individualists dislike both rules and acting communally; hierarchists like to set rules and act in groups; and fatalists feel powerless either to set rules or to act communally. 8. Dryzek (1997:8) defines a discourse as follows: “A discourse is a shared way of apprehending the world. Embedded in language, it enables those who subscribe to it to interpret bits of information and put them together into coherent studies or accounts. Each discourse rests on assumptions, judgments, and contentions that provide the basic terms for analysis, debates, agreements and disagreements.” 2 mountains, rivers, and regulated forests 1. See discussion of discourse coalitions in chapter 1. 2. Some areas of the upper north do not drain into the Chao Phraya river system. In the far north, the Kok and Ing Rivers flow into the Mekong, their catchments areas marking the boundaries of Chiang Rai and Phayao provinces. In recent years, controversial plans for major engineering works have been proposed to divert water from the Kok and Ing Rivers into the Chao Phraya basin. And in Mae Hong Son province the Pai and a number of other tributaries flow into the Salween. 3. When annual streamflow data at a gauge in the Chaem River catchment were compared with rainfall data from the catchment area above the gauge the r2 correlation was 0.79 (A. Walker 2002:220). 4. Nok Nguak is the pseudonym of a Western environmental columnist in the Bangkok Post. The pseudonym is the Thai name for a hornbill. 5. Information in this section is derived from Rundel and Kansri (1995), Pooma and Barfod (2001), and Thawatchai (1988). 6. The Royal Forest Department defines the northern region as including the provinces of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Phayao, Lamphun, Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Nan, Phrae, Uttaradit, Phetchabun, Phitsanulok, Sukothai, Khampheang Phet, Phichit, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, and Tak. 7. In this book the far northern provinces are defined as Chiang Rai, Phayao, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Nan, Phrae, and...

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