In Regional Cooperation in Amazonia: A Comparative Environmental Law Analysis, Maria Antonia Tigre provides a broad overview of the international, regional and national law applied to the Amazon rainforest and investigates efforts at regional cooperation for the protection of the Amazonian ecosystem. For the last four decades, cooperation among the eight countries in which the rainforest lies was primarily induced by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT). Originally adopted to ensure national sovereignty, the ACT gradually evolved towards a framework for sustainable development. Based on the challenges faced by the treaty and its subsequent instruments, Maria Antonia Tigre analyzes ways in which the ACT can be more effectively applied, leading to practical results that reduce deforestation. These specifically relate to the enforceability of the right to the environment, the implementation of protected areas, and the development of financial mechanisms to fund initiatives.

Provides an assessment of the international forest regime, in reponse to calls from many quarters, including the UN Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) and the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, as well as several NGOs. The focus is mainly on action taken by countries at the global level, in the framework of legally binding instruments and institutions. It builds on previous analyses of the international forest regime by looking beyond the legal mandates to begin exploring the actual performance of the components against their mandates. With the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) Proposals for Action as the point for departure, the effectiveness and impact of individual legal instruments and global instutions are analyzed, as is the potential for synergy between them.

The future of the world's forests is at the forefront of environmental debate. Rising concerns over the effects of deforestation and climate change are highlighting the need both to conserve and manage existing forests and woodland through sustainable forestry practices. The Forests Handbook, written by an international team of both scientists and practitioners, presents an integrated approach to forests and forestry, applying our present understanding of forest science to management practices, as a basis for achieving sustainability. Volume One presents an overview of the world's forests; their locations and what they are like, the science of how they operate as complex ecosystems and how they interact with their environment. Volume Two applies this science to reality; it focuses on forestry interventions and their impact, the principles governing how to protect forests and on how we can better harness the enormous benefits forests offer. Case studies are drawn from several different countries and are used to illustrate the key points. Development specialists, forest managers and those involved with land and land-use will find this handbook a valuable and comprehensive overview of forest science and forestry practice. Researchers and students of forestry, biology, ecology and geography will find it equally accessible and useful.

Area Studies - Regional Sustainable Development Review: Africa is a component of Encyclopedia of Area Studies - Regional Sustainable Development Reviews in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on Area Studies - Regional Sustainable Development Review: Africa discusses matters of great relevance to our world in general and to the African Continent in particular as it deals with topics such as: International Cooperation for Sustainable Development in Africa; Food Security in Africa: Challenges and Prospects; Combating Poverty in Africa; Demographic Dynamics and Sustainability in Africa; Protection and Promotion of Human Health in Africa; Strategies for Promoting Human Development in Africa; Integrating Environment into Decision-Making in Africa; The Planning and Management of Land Resources in Africa; Combating Desertification and Drought in Africa; Conservation of Biological Diversity in Africa; Ecotoxicology of Stable Pollutants in African Marine Ecosystems; Safe and Environmentally Sound Management of Radioactive Waste; Strengthening Business and Industry for Sustainable Development in Africa; Concepts and Trends in Environmental Education for Sustainable Development; International Institutional Arrangements; International Legal Instruments and Mechanisms; Agreements: Forestry Principles: Focus on the Congo Basin Rainforests; The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development; Peace, Security, and Sustainable Development in Africa; Literature and Culture - The Sustainability Connection from an African Perspective; History and Civilizations: Impacts on Sustainable Development in Africa; The Sustainable Development of Tourism in Africa; Environmentally Displaced People These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Area Studies - Regional Sustainable Development Review: Europe theme is a component of Encyclopedia of Area Studies - Regional Sustainable Development Review in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. This theme on Area Studies - Regional Sustainable Development Review: Europe reviews initiatives and activities towards sustainable development in Europe such as: International Cooperation; Toward Sustainable Forest Management; Sustainable Mountain Development in Europe; Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development; Protection of the Quality and Supply of Freshwater Resources; Local Authorities' Initiatives in Support of Agenda 21 - Europe; Strengthening the Role of Farmers; Transfer to and within Europe's Rural Areas; Exploring Pathways to Sustainable Living: Emancipatory Environmental Education; The Development of International Agreements Covering the World's Forests; The Nature Of Peace and Security; The Ethics of Sustainability; Sustainable Transport in Europe; Resort Europe: The Limits of Mass Tourism and the Rise of Sustainable Practices. Although these presentations are with specific reference to Europe, they provide potentially useful lessons for other regions as well. This volume is aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.

First published in 1997. 1997 marked the fifth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development - the celebrated ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro which represented the high-water mark of intergovernmental action for sustainable development. Whilst some were tempted to dismiss the Conference as a gesture of concern by the participating governments, the list of resolutions which arose from the Summit is formidable, and the key text to emerge from the conference process, Agenda 21, had proven to be crucial to efforts to disseminate and implement the principles of globally sustainable development. The Way Forward outlines the successes and failures of those first five years. Calling on a list of eminent experts, it provides an unparalleled analysis of the agreements that were reached, and the stakeholders who were charged with implementing them. It reviews the progress that was made at the intergovernmental, national and grassroots levels, and offers a cogent summary of the major issues that needed to be addressed for the future. Lucid, compact and authoritative, this is the essential guide to ‘Rio plus five’.

This book addresses current global and regional issues concerning the world's forests, societies and the environment from an independent and non-governmental point of view. A main message is that cooperation on a global scale is not only commendable, but essential if solutions to the problems facing the world's forests are to be found. To achieve this, modern science needs to find a clearer picture of relationships between forests, human activity and the environment and of the consequences of environmental change for the ability of societies to survive. Part I, Editorial Perspectives, is analyzing the ongoing globalization processes of forests, societies and the environment. Part II, Society and Environment, reviews worldwide trends with significance for the future of forests and forestry. While the trends are influenced by forest sector issues, that sector is influenced to a much larger extent by external factors - such as demography, urbanization, or technological development. Part III, Importance of Forests, looks at the value of the goods and services of forests; tangible and intangible; market and non-market; and concludes that failure to recognize their full value is one of the crucial impediments to sustainable development. In Part IV, Global Forum, scientists take up global forestry themes - deforestation, trade and the environment, climate change, biodiversity - with the aim of stimulating wider discussion. Part V, Regional Forum, looks at major themes of particular relevance to Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, North America and Europe, such as farm and agroforestry, corruption and concessions, urban forestry and environmental conflicts. Part VI introduces the special theme - forest sectors in transition economies. Teams of scientists from Russia and China focus on the implications of the transition from plan to market economy, illuminating both the very different nature of the forest sector in the two countries and the different transition paths that they have adopted. In the past millennium the entire world has been discovered. In the past half century the contribution of forests to the economy worldwide has been perceived, while only recently have their societal and environmental benefits been globally recognized. Globalization is a demanding process requiring knowledge and information. This book offers knowledge, facts and information – but also values from diverse human and cultural perspectives – about world forests, society and environment to help us towards equity in our use of the global forest, to create a clearer vision on a unasylva.

The 4 volumes in this set, originally published between 1988 and 1997, draw together research by leading academics in the area of sustainability and provides a rigorous examination of related key issues. The volumes examine environmental policy and plans for a sustainable future. This set will be of particular interest to students of Environmental Studies.

This book examines the question of why effective action has been taken to ameliorate some global environmental problems while no improvement has been made on others. This book provides a comprehensive typology of the potential costs and benefits of effective agreements and clarifies the leader's true interests on particular environmental issues.