This book takes a hard look at the traumatic cultural changes that our planet's remaining hunter-gatherer societies experienced in the twentieth century, and the precarious future that is about to engulf them in the twenty-first century. The nine authors in this volume all agree that the foraging way of life, humankind's most successful adaptation for many thousands of years, has come to a close with the end of the second millennium. Case studies are presented here looking at the past and the uncertain future for post-foraging societies, and specifically the central African Pygmies, the San Bushmen, and the Agta Negritos. Interwoven with these chapters are emphases on tropical deforestation and indigenous human rights, looking at these through the framework of human ecology. As Alan Barnard, U Edinburgh, states, "If the human rights of proud former foraging peoples are given the attention they deserve, then there can be a bright future for them in Millennium Three. The task is not an easy one, but this book will help greatly to focus our attention on the issues that matter."
