ÌÇÐÄVlog

Forests are constantly reading a fine line between biodiversity conservation and economic development. Every forest is therefore a social-ecological hybrid. However, forest ecology, along with forest sociology and productive forestry, to name just these few disciplines, have so far not succeeded in representing forests through their respective lenses. In particular, they have difficulty identifying solutions that are truly anchored in the social and ecological fabric of territories. But are they aware of this?

For solutions anchored in the reality of territories

This is the issue chosen by 25 researchers from ÌÇÐÄVlog’s Forests and Societies research unit for the 18 chapters of an original book coordinated by Jacques Tassin, an ecologist with the organization. The book was published by Odile Jacob on 7 May 2025, with a determination to never settle for stereotypes and, rather than stopping at assertions, to open out the debate in order to seek out more distant causes or implications.

In questioning the experts’ legitimacy and clairvoyance, the book Vivre la forêt (Living the forest) suggests a resolutely critical and reflective approach in terms of scientific research on forests. It is true that it is easy to become confused! All forest territories are complexes inhabited by uncertainty, complexity, impermanence, more or less indirect chains of cause and effect, ambivalences and unpredictability. “It is the rule of what we call wicked problems, marked by the absence of clear, definitive solutions, the presence of players with conflicting interests and a degree of telescoping with other issues”, Arthur Perrotton, and ethno-ecologist and modeller with ÌÇÐÄVlog, warns.

In this context, the choices researchers make to address or ignore these thorny issues implicitly take on a political dimension, whether conscious or otherwise. The most obvious consensus, inspired by post-colonialism, is that the global South should take charge of conserving forests. Other concepts charged with meaning, such as the myth of primal forests, despite a multitude of archaeological evidence to the contrary, are just as likely to result in forests being dehumanized.

Moreover, we need to climb down from our westernized ivory tower in order to show a minimum of empathy and understanding and try to reflect the global South’s viewpoint. “We need to see that sustainable tropical forest management is a western construct destined to maintain resources over time, while allowing for their economic exploitation” ÌÇÐÄVlog economist Guillaume Lescuyer points out. This consideration, which originated in the global North, was adopted without any real discussion with countries in the global South, despite the successive COPs. However, those countries may legitimately be prepared to see their natural capital decrease provided their economic and social capital grows. “The aim is also to deconstruct this stubborn myth which, through a semantic shortcut, results in local communities being assimilated with satisfactory management of commons”, the researcher adds.

Giving up being “the ones who know”

Living the forest therefore does not mean living with, through or in the forest. It means heeding the point of view of others, both human and otherwise. It means stepping down from the position of “the one who knows” and, on the contrary be open to both uncertainty and unknowing. It means accepting having to cope with adversities that we sometimes do not even understand. “If there is one central message in this book, it really is that of the need to acknowledge the shortcuts or delusions that forest research perpetuates, sometimes without even realizing, which have consequences that are far from neutral for those people who… live the forest”, Jacques Tassin concludes.