A detailed look at the expansion and renewal taking place on the three U of I campuses The University of Illinois System’s universities have undergone a dramatic transformation. This lavishly illustrated volume showcases the major capital projects and renovations dedicated to keeping facilities on the cutting edge while at the same time preserving history at the universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield. Fueled by an ambitious capital initiative launched in 2018, these essential and forward-looking changes include more than 500 projects valued at $4 billion over 10 years. The initiative harnesses a mix of innovative funding programs like public-private partnerships, thoughtful use of capital reserves and bonding authority, and generous state funding. Covering completed and ongoing projects, Building Momentum offers a one- or two-page feature on each undertaking that covers its history and purpose while providing specific details about its unit, campus, architect, square footage or renovation size, budget, and LEED or other certifications. More than 100 architectural drawings and commissioned and historical photographs round out the descriptions.

Global society is once again focusing its attention on the Amazon, but the outlook is bleak. Top-down approaches that depend on macroeconomic policies are not changing the behaviour of the inhabitants of the forest frontier. Efforts to improve law enforcement have failed because frontier societies are profoundly unequal; inequality encourages informality, breeding corruption and illegality. Indigenous people have stepped into the breach and are doing what they can to stave off disaster, but they are vastly outnumbered. Most inhabitants - who are also citizens that vote - pursue conventional production models that are fundamentally non-sustainable. They might choose different pathways, given the opportunity, but these are limited by the frontier economy and the social reality of their communities. We are losing the Amazon. Volume One of Tim Killeen's serial monograph delivers an unvarnished description of the obstacles to conserving the world's largest and most important tropical forest. Chapter One starts with a lucid narrative of the complex and interrelated social and economic forces driving deforestation, with a critical review of policy initiatives designed to change that trajectory towards a more sustainable future. Chapters Two (Infrastructure), Three (Agriculture) and Four (Land) lay bare the history, economics and business models that underpin the conventional economy. Two further volumes will address other key aspects of a sustainable future, including: the extractive sector (Ch. 5); the culture wars that divide the populace (Ch. 6); evolving governance systems (Ch. 7); the potential of the forest economy (Ch. 8); advances in biodiversity science (Ch. 9); the looming impact of climate change (Ch.10); the indigenous awakening (Ch.11); conservation policy (Ch.12); and, finally, the future (Ch.13). Killeen's enormously ambitious effort seeks to understand and explain all the complex and interrelated phenomena driving (and impeding) change across the region. If you are concerned about the fate of the Amazon, you must read this book.

Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado, located in eastern Bolivia where the moist forests of the Amazon meet the dry forests of the Cerrado, contains numerous unique ecosystems and exceptionally high levels of biodiversity. This book presents the results not only of an intensive biological survey of the area conducted in 1991, but also of long-term research conducted from 1987 to 1995. Among other findings, the survey discovered 26 new species of plants, one new mammal species, and three new species of reptiles.
This report, with text in both English and Spanish, includes extensive data appendices, a large fold-out satellite map of vegetation, and conservation recommendations for the region.