Broad interpretation of land use and forest cover studies has been limited by the biophysical and socio-economic uniqueness of the landscapes in which they are carried out and by the multiple temporal and spatial scales of the underlying processes.

Present biodiversity conservation programmes in the remaining extensive forest blocks of the humid trop-ics are failing to achieve outcomes that will be viable in the medium to long term. Too much emphasis is given to what we term grand design-ambitious and idealistic plans for conservation.

National parks are often places where people have previously lived and worked-they have been formed by a combination of natural and human processes that embody an identifiable history of cultural and political values.

This article examines the problematic processes in a case that has had few parallels in Indian judicial history. The apex court in T. N. Godavarman took upon the responsibility of deciding how forest resources in the country should be accessed and who is (or is not) to have such access.