Tomatoes could not be grown commercially without the help of their wild relatives. A single wild species of rice has helped double rice production in Asia. Wild silk-worms are enabling India to expand its silk industry. A wild carp with resistance to cold has been used to extend Soviet carp production further into the north. Wild genetic resources - the heritable characteristics of wild plants and animals - are used increasingly to improve domesticated crops and livestock and as new sources of food and of raw materials. But habitat destruction, over-exploitation and competition from introduced species is destroying many gene pools even before they have been identified. Genes from the Wild describes the growing contribution of wild genetic resources to the production of food and raw materials, describes their characteristics, explains the benefits and problems of using them and outlines the ways in which they are threatened and the measures being taken to conserve them. Originally published in 1988

The IUCN Strategies for Sustainable Development Handbook Series This handbook is one in a series being produced by IUCN and its partners to assist countries and communities implement Agenda 21, the action programme of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The series will include handbooks on national strategies for sustainable development, local strategies, assessing progress towards sustainability, biodiversity action plans, .involving indigenous peoples, and on integrating population and resource use planning; and regular companion volumes of case studies addressing the key issues of concern to strategy implementation. Many international agreements and action plans now call for countries to undertake national strategies. These strategies seek to involve communities in united approaches to sustainable development. Some are sectoral, such as tropical forest strategies, others are thematic, covering topics such as biodiversity, education or climate change. Still others, such as national conservation strategies and national environment action plans, are evolving to become more comprehensive processes, drawing together economic, social and environmental development actions. This handbook is for people? involved in strategies. It draws on experiences in different regions of the world to present options and examples of the role of strategies in sustainable development. Originally published in 1995

The IUCN Strategies for Sustainable Development Handbook Series This handbook is one in a series being produced by IUCN and its partners to assist countries and communities implement Agenda 21, the action programme of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The series will include handbooks on national strategies for sustainable development, local strategies, assessing progress towards sustainability, biodiversity action plans, .involving indigenous peoples, and on integrating population and resource use planning; and regular companion volumes of case studies addressing the key issues of concern to strategy implementation. Many international agreements and action plans now call for countries to undertake national strategies. These strategies seek to involve communities in united approaches to sustainable development. Some are sectoral, such as tropical forest strategies, others are thematic, covering topics such as biodiversity, education or climate change. Still others, such as national conservation strategies and national environment action plans, are evolving to become more comprehensive processes, drawing together economic, social and environmental development actions. This handbook is for people involved in strategies. It draws on experiences in different regions of the world to present options and examples of the role of strategies in sustainable development. Originally published in 1995

Tomatoes could not be grown commercially without the help of their wild relatives. A single wild species of rice has helped double rice production in Asia. Wild silk-worms are enabling India to expand its silk industry. A wild carp with resistance to cold has been used to extend Soviet carp production further into the north. Wild genetic resources - the heritable characteristics of wild plants and animals - are used increasingly to improve domesticated crops and livestock and as new sources of food and of raw materials. But habitat destruction, over-exploitation and competition from introduced species is destroying many gene pools even before they have been identified. Genes from the Wild describes the growing contribution of wild genetic resources to the production of food and raw materials, describes their characteristics, explains the benefits and problems of using them and outlines the ways in which they are threatened and the measures being taken to conserve them. Originally published in 1988

"Sustainable development is the Holy Grail of governments and leaders but has remained elusive and undefined. "Wellbeing of Nations" provides the diagnostics to turn sustainability into reality. This is the ultimate travel guide to a sustainable future." --Jose Maria Figueres, former President of Costa Rica, World Economic Forum "At long last, a real metric for measuring sustainability and wellbeing. It provides a way to chart a better future. The cornerstone of any working library on environment, development, and quality of life. A volume without peer." --Thomas E. Lovejoy, Chief Biodiversity Advisor, The World Ban.The use of indicators to gauge human progress is common and well understood; Gross Domestic Product and the Index of Leading Economic Indicators are two well-known examples. Yet most of the widely cited indicators focus exclusively on economic activity, and even the most progressive of indicators fail to account for key issues of sustainability. "The Wellbeing of Nations" addresses that shortcoming by combining indicators of human well-being with those of environmental stability to generate a more comprehensive picture of the state of our world.The author combines 39 indicators of health, population, wealth, education, communication, freedom, peace, crime, and equity into a Human Wellbeing Index, and 39 indicators of land health, protected areas, water quality, water supply, global atmosphere, air quality, species diversity, energy use, and resource pressures into an Ecosystem Wellbeing Index. The two indexes are then combined into a Wellbeing/Stress Index that measures how much human wellbeing each country obtains for the amount of stress it places on the environment.Seventy color-coded geopolitical maps vividly portray the performance of each of the 180 nations for all indexes, and the main indicators that go into them. In addition, all data are given in 160 pages of tables, and the highly accessible methodology is described in appendices so that readers can undertake their own assessments.Produced in collaboration with the leading international organizations involved with sustainable development, "The Wellbeing of Nations" is a one-of-a-kind reference for development and environmental policy professionals, as well as for students and scholars in environmental studies, international studies, and international development.