This title offers an inside look at the most successful campaign in forest conservation history. "Roadless Rules" is a fast-paced and insightful look at one of the most important, wide-ranging, and controversial efforts to protect public forests ever undertaken in the United States. In January 2000, President Clinton submitted to the Federal Register the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, prohibiting road construction and timber harvesting in designated roadless areas. Set to take effect sixty days after Clinton left office, the rule was immediately challenged by nine lawsuits from states, counties, off-road-vehicle users, and timber companies. The Bush administration refused to defend the rule and eventually sought to replace it with a rule that invited governors to suggest management policies for forests in their states. That rule was attacked by four states and twenty environmental groups and declared illegal. "Roadless Rules" offers a fascinating overview of the creation of the Clinton roadless rule and the Bush administration's subsequent replacement rule, the controversy generated, the response of the environmental community, and the legal battles that continue to rage more than seven years later. It explores the value of roadless areas and why the Clinton rule was so important to environmentalists, describes the stakeholder groups involved, and takes readers into courtrooms across the country to hear critical arguments. Author Tom Turner considers the lessons learned from the controversy, arguing that the episode represents an excellent example of how the system can work when all elements of the environmental movement work together - local groups and individuals determined to save favourite places, national organizations that represent local interests but also concern themselves with national policies, members of the executive branch who try to serve the public interest but need support from outside, and national organizations that use the legal system to support progress achieved through legislation or executive action.

With forests now enshrined in the Paris climate agreement, REDD+ initiatives and low emission development strategies (LEDS) will need insights like the ones provided in this timely and important volume to make a difference on the ground. The book draws on the perspectives of government officials from multiple sectors and at multiple levels to present a rich analysis of the economics, conditionalities and accountabilities for the design of intergovernmental fiscal transfers aimed at forest conservation - in competition with the income and jobs generated by natural resource exploitation. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking practical ways forward on climate mitigation.' - Anne M. Larson, Center for International Forestry Research, PeruIntergovernmental fiscal transfers (IFTs) are an innovative way to create incentives for local public actors to support conservation. This book contributes to the debate about how to conserve tropical forests by implementing mechanisms for reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). With Indonesia as a case study, the authors adopt an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on political science, economics, and public policy. They consider the theoretical justification, as well as the wider political and administrative context for developing the design of IFTs for conservation. Students and scholars looking at conservation, ecological economics, decentralisation, forest policy and climate change will find this book to be of interest. It will also be of considerable use to policy-makers and practitioners working on forest policy, particularly those implementing REDD+.

According to available estimates, forests cover more than one quarter of the world's total area. About sixty percent of these forests are situated in tropical countries. However, these forests are disappearing at a very fast pace. Between 1980 and 1995, an area larger than Mexico had been deforested. This accelerated destruction of forests poses a serious threat to the environmental and economic well-being of the earth. Several studies have demonstrated that natural forests are the single most important repository of terrestrial biological diversity--of ecosystems, species, and genetic resources. Forests also act as major carbon sinks, absorbing massive quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Deforestation, according to these studies, is directly linked to adverse climate change, soil erosion, desertification, and water cycling. Until recently deforestation was deemed to be a local/national problem. However, increased awareness and scientific data have pointed out that the problem transcends national boundaries. Deforestation affects the entire earth's environment and economic development.

This collection of essays analyzes the forces responsible for deforestation, the governmental policies that effect this destruction and the roles multilateral aid agencies, NGOs, play in the environmental debate. The collection critically examines the principles and criteria suggested by forest-experts for a sustained economic growth vis-a-vis forest stewardship in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. An invaluable resource for scholars, students, researchers, and policymakers involved with environmental and public policy issues.

The extraordinary story of Israel's forests, from ancient times to the present. In this insightful and provocative book, Alon Tal provides a detailed account of Israeli forests, tracing their history from the Bible to the present, and outlines the effort to transform drylands and degraded soils into prosperous parks, rangelands, and ecosystems. Tal's description of Israel's trials and errors, and his exploration of both the environmental history and the current policy dilemmas surrounding that country's forests, will provide valuable lessons in the years to come for other parts of the world seeking to reestablish timberlands.

Gale explains why international negotiations have not produced a sustainable solution to tropical rainforest degradation. Using an innovative, critical approach to international regimes, the author analyzes the structure and operation of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). He shows how the timber industry and producing- and consuming-country governments created a blocking alliance that favoured developmentalist interests and ideas. The ITTO bolstered this alliance by permitting environmentalists merely to voice, but not to negotiate, their concerns.

This book explores the relationship between the land use choices of small-scale farmers and the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Although sustainable agriculture was introduced to the Amazon area about 10 years ago, it has been adopted by only a few farmers. Jill L. Caviglia analyses why this practice has not been more widely adopted and offers policy prescriptions to address this. The major source of deforestation in the Amazon is the use of slash-and-burn agriculture by small-scale farmers. The adoption of sustainable agriculture by these farmers could reduce the rate of deforestation dramatically. The author uses new, original case studies of farms in the area to estimate the probability of the adoption of sustainable agriculture and, once the adoption decision has been made, the intensity of adoption. The author finds that this is influenced greatly by farmer organizations and by providing the farmers with the knowledge that sustainable agriculture is a viable alternative to slash-and-burn practices. This book will be of great interest to scholars and policymakers in the areas of environmental economics, environmental policy and Latin American studies.

"As the international community struggles with major issues such as deforestation, it is increasingly turning to sustainable development and market-based mechanisms to tackle environmental problems. Focusing on forestry, this book investigates the legitimacy of global forums and evaluates the quality of global governance in the current era"--Provided by publisher.

Regional intercomparisons between ecosystems on different continents can be a powerful tool to better understand the ways in which ecosystems respond to global change. Large areas are often needed to characterize the causal mechanisms governing interactions between ecozones and their environments. Factors such as weather and climate patterns, land-ocean and land-atmosphere interactions all play important roles. As a result of the strong physical north-south symmetry between the western coasts of North and South America, the similarities in climate, coastal oceanography and physiography between these two regions have been extensively documented. High Latitude Rain Forests and Associated Ecosystems of the West Coast of the Americas presents current research on West Coast forest and river ecology, and compares ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest with those of South America.

Behind the headlines about the loss of tropical forests in Latin America lies a complex and fascinating story of the social pressures which cause it. Trees, People and Power looks at the various groups, interests and conflicts involved, and explores the repercussions for forestry, the environment and the livelihoods of the rural and urban poor. Until the social and political dimensions of deforestation and forest protection schemes are understood, measures to prevent or slow deforestation are likely to involve technical interventions which will prove ineffective in the long run, and may well result in further impoverishment and environmental degradation. Peter Utting takes a critical look at the experience of forest protection and tree planting in a number of countries and considers how social and political factors affect the feasability of such schemes. Many environmental projects and programmes have failed to balance concerns for the environment with those of human welfare. Until they do, it is unrealistic to expect any significant progress towards sustainable development. Peter Utting is a senior researcher coordinator with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. He is the author of Economic Adjustment under the Sandinistas (UNRISD, 1991) and Economic Reform and Third World Socialism (Macmillan, 1992). Originally published in 1993

It was hoped that by paying forest dependent peoples and countries for their 'service' of conserving their forests, REDD+ would lead to a reduction in deforestation greenhouse gases. The complexities have, however, left some ambiguities. It was never agreed who would pay for the programme, and it has been criticised as ignoring the root causes of forest loss. Considering the motivations of those who promoted REDD+ this book proposes remedies to its shortfalls and recommends more efficient, equitable and effective conservation policies. Describing REDD+ from an agency perspective, this book provides a first-hand account of how individuals and institutions influenced international negotiations. It offers a comparative analysis of REDD+ as a forest conservation regime and of the way it was incorporated into the 2015 Paris agreements. In doing so, this book shows how contextual inequalities and power imbalances can result in international regimes which favour the economically powerful, and proposes providing greater roles for the assumed beneficiaries of environmental agreements in negotiations. This is an excellent introduction to REDD+, its background and execution, and will be a vital resource for students of international environmental governance, as well as for academics and researchers working on REDD+, forest policy and international governance in general.

Get cutting-edge agroforestry research and data Deforestation and the rampant use of fossil fuels are major contributors to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and are enormous influences on global warming. Agroforestry systems and tree plantations can help mitigate the resulting climate change and degradation of biodiversity and accelerating climate change. Environmental Services of Agroforestry Systems addresses these global concerns with an essential collection of presentations on biodiversity and climate change from the First World Congress in Agroforestry (Orlando, Florida, 2004). Respected experts discuss the latest research and data on how agroforestry systems can help solve environmental problems through carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. Years ago, agroforestry's environmental benefits were mainly seen as being soil amelioration, erosion control, microclimate control, and the alleviation of the effects of drought in semiarid areas. Environmental Services of Agroforestry Systems goes beyond the regional considerations of years past to focus on the challenges of today's most pressing global environmental concerns. The contributors describe the latest research and concepts in agroforestry systems, reforestation efforts, soils, vegetation, and agriculture while reviewing their economic aspects. Incentives for reforestation and agroforestry are explored in detail. Each chapter is carefully referenced and includes tables to clarify ideas and data. Environmental Services of Agroforestry Systems addresses: advantages of mixed-species plantations tropical pasture and silvo-pastoral systems tropical forest ecosystem management research on the economic feasibility of various land-use systems socio-economic considerations of coffee-growing ecosystems agroforestry systems in Costa Rica Environmental Services of Agroforestry Systems is essential reading for researchers and scientists, as well as professionals in agroforestry, forestry, soils, global change, climate change, and environmental studies, educators, and graduate and undergraduate students.

This text argues that the scale of deforestation wrought by West African farmers during the 20th century has been vastly exaggerated and global analyses have unfairly stigmatized them and obscured their more sustainable, landscape-enriching practices. On a country by country basis (covering Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin) and using historical and social anthropological evidence, it illustrates that more realistic assessments of forest cover change, and more respectful attention to local knowledge and practices, are necessary bases for effective and appropriate environmental policies.

Reframing Deforestation suggests that the scale of deforestation wrought by West African farmers during the twentieth century has been vastly exaggerated and global analyses have unfairly stigmatised them and obscured their more sustainable, even landscape-enriching practices.
The book begins by reviewing how West African deforestation is represented and the types of evidence which inform deforestation orthodoxy. On a country by country basis (covering Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin), and using historical and social anthropological evidence subsequent chapters evaluate this orthodox critically. Together the cases build up a variety of arguments which serve to reframe history and question how and why deforestation has been exaggerated throughout West Africa, setting the analysis in its institutional and social context.
Stessing that dominant policy approaches in forestry and conservation require major rethinking worldwide, Reframing Deforestation illustrates that more realistic assessments of forest cover change, and more respectful attention to local knowledge and practices, are necessary bases for effective and appropriate environmental policies.

In order to optimally manage the environment and natural resources, it is vitally important to recognize that there is much more to consider than just the environment itself and the natural resources it provides. A key consideration is also the interrelationship between natural ecosystems and human involvement and behavior. This interaction is where the field of environmental resource management comes into play: the complex ecological and sociological systems of the natural world intertwined. The purpose of this book is to consider such matters, and to help readers develop their own capacities as environmental managers and stewards. Bruce Mitchell's textbook Resource and Environmental Management served as the gold standard for many environmental science courses when the first edition published in 1997. Now, twenty years later, an updated third edition allows for the inclusion of recent developments. The book covers the basic theories and concepts of environmental resource management, and guides students to be able to apply those concepts to practical situations. By covering basic theories and concepts, and by using case studies to show how these have been applied, Bruce Mitchell's new edition seeks to ensure that students have competence in both aspects. The text enhances the reader's capacity to conduct practice and research in resource and environmental management.

Controlling deforestation, which is responsible for about one-fifth of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, has become a major tool in the battle against global warming. An important new international initiative - Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) - provides economic incentives to forest users to encourage preservation of trees. Nearly all Latin American countries are introducing national REDD strategies and pilot schemes. This insightful book raises questions over some of the basic assumptions that underpin REDD policies in Latin America. It raises doubts about whether sufficient account is being taken of the complex social, economic, cultural and governance dimensions involved, advocating a comprehensive 'social development' approach to REDD planning. Forests and Climate Change is the first book to comprehensively examine REDD policies across Latin America, including a focus on social aspects. It will prove invaluable for academics and postgraduate students in the fields of environmental studies, environmental politics, geography, social planning, social and environmental impact assessment, development studies, and Latin American area studies. Policy makers, planners and practitioners working on REDD at national and international levels (both official and NGO sectors) will also find plenty of refreshing data in this much-needed resource.

In the early 1920s, in many a sawmill town across the South, the last quitting-time whistle signaled the cutting of the last log of a company's timber holdings and the end of an era in southern lumbering. It marked the end as well of the great primeval forest that covered most of the South when Europeans first invaded it. Much of the first forest, despite the labors of pioneer loggers, remained intact after the Civil War. But after the restrictions of the Southern Homestead Act were removed in 1876, lumbermen and speculators rushed in to acquire millions of acres of virgin woodland for minimal outlays. The frantic harvest of the South's first forest began; it was not to end until thousands of square miles lay denuded and desolate, their fragile soils -- like those of the abandoned cotton lands -- exposed to rapid destruction by the elements. With the end of the sawmill era and the collapse of the southern farm economy, the emigration routes from the South to the industrial cities of the North and Midwest were thronged with people forced from the land. Yet in the first quarter of this century, even as the destruction of forest and land continued, a day of renewal was dawning. The rise of the conservation movement, the beginnings of the national forests, the development of scientific forestry and establishment of forest schools, the advance of chemical research into the use of wood pulp -- all converged even as the 1930s brought to the South the sweeping reclamation programs of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Tennessee Valley Authority; in their wake came a new generation of wood-using industries concerned not so much with the immediate exploitation of timber as with the maintenance of a renewable resource. In The Greening of the South, this dramatic story is told by one of the participants in the renewal of the forest. Thomas D. Clark, author of many books about southern history, is also an active timber producer on lands in both Kentucky and South Carolina

This highly topical study of tropical deforestation reports on the first phase of a large, integrated, multi-institutional, and team-based study. Based in Mexico, it is designed to understand and project land changes in a development frontier that pits the rapidly growing needs of smallholder farmers to cut down forests for cultivation against federally sponsored initiatives committed to various international programmes of forest preservation and complementary economic programmes.

Members of the Hymenopteran order range from the familiar ants, bees, and wasps to a huge variety of predatory, parasitic, and plant-feeding insects. They are of immense economic significance, primarily as pollinators but also because of their increasing use as biological control agents. For many years, Costa Rica has been a prime location for research in neotropical ecology and as a result is an ideal area for extensive research on the Hymenoptera. "The Hymenoptera of Costa Rica" is the first published study of its kind. It covers the classification, biology, morphology, and economic importance of the group, with illustrated keys to families and subfamilies. Numerous photographs and an extensive bibliography of key works for the study of Central American Hymenoptera make this a good resource for researchers and biological control scientists.

'Inspiring. [...] Crammed with lively interviews and grounded examples' Ashish Kothari, founder of Kalpavriksh Permaculture is an environmental movement that makes us reevaluate what it means to be sustainable. Through innovative agriculture and settlement design, the movement creates new communities that are harmonious with nature. It has grown from humble origins on a farm in 1970s Australia and flourished into a worldwide movement that confronts industrial capitalism. The Politics of Permaculture is one of the first books to unpack the theory and practice of this social movement that looks to challenge the status quo. Drawing upon the rich seam of publications and online communities from the movement as well as extensive interviews with permaculture practitioners and organisations from around the world, Leahy explains the ways permaculture is understood and practiced in different contexts. In the face of extreme environmental degradation and catastrophic climate change, we urgently need a new way of living.