Droefenis en duurzaamheid: beheer en exploitatie van de bossen op Java onder Daendels (1808-1810)

Governor-General Daendels established in 1808 a Forest Department for Java. It was the fi rst centralized colonial forest service in Asia, and it came almost a century earlier than a comparable organization in the mother country, the Netherlands. In this article, the developments leading up to the creation of the Forest Department will be dealt with, focusing on the large demand of the Dutch East India Company for timber, locally leading
to the depletion of the forests at an early stage. Th e main sections of the article describe and analyze the measures taken by Daendels to arrive at a better management of the forests, and the way these measures were carried out. Th e article deals with the European and indigenous employees of the Forest Department, their daily activities, and the technological innovations which Daendels attempted to introduce. Finally Daendels’ measures will be assessed in the context of the sustainability of the production of timber
under his command.