NATURAL-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - THE REPRODUCTION AND USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MISINFORMATION IN GUINEAS FOREST SAVANNA TRANSITION ZONE

An erroneous analysis of environmental change has informed environmental policy in part of Guinea for a century. Using this case study, the relationship between the production of information about environmental problems and external institutions which address them, is examined. To see how certain analyses of change have gained credence and validity, while others - including local people's own - have been excluded fro investigation, the relative dominance of particular disciplines, of methods and data sets within them, and of deductive theories guiding data interpretation, are considered. Such dominance depends on the socio-political and financial structures within which environmental policy institution have evolved and operate.