Erosion, flooding and afforestation: Founding myths of the contemporary forest

Abstract

Through the study of forest management in France and Chile, the article attempts to show, as common features of contemporary forests, the discourses on the dangers of erosion and the need for forestry to stop this threat, the emergence of new forestry techniques based on the monoculture of fast-growing species suitable for the needs of contemporary industry, the crisis of ancestral rural economies in the face of new territorial planning, environmentalist criticisms of forest monocultures and external investment in the region subsidized by the State.