A critical analysis of the post-Rio consensus on environment and development which questions the role of particular forms of internationalized elite scientific expertise. It asks why certain understandings of environmental change stick with such tenacity. In exploring this, the authors unravel the politics of knowledge surrounding policymaking, looking particularly at Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe and their land and soils management. The book also looks at prospects for more inclusive, participatory forms of policymaking.

James Keeley is a Research Officer at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex. Ian Scoones is a Professorial Fellow at IDS, editor of Dynamics and Diversity (2001) and co-editor of Sustaining the Soil (1996).