This book provides an empirically formulated foundation for conflict-sensitive conservation, a field in which the existing literature relies primarily on anecdotal evidence. Seeking to better understand the impact of conflict on the implementation and outcomes of environmental projects, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Independent Evaluation Office and the Environmental Law Institute undertook an evaluation of GEF support to fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Following a qualitative and quantitative analysis of documents from more than 4,000 projects, the research team discovered a statistically significant negative correlation between a country’s Fragile States Index score and the implementation quality of environmental projects in that country. In this book, the evaluation and research team explain these groundbreaking findings in detail, highlighting seven key case studies: Afghanistan, Albertine Rift, Balkans, Cambodia, Colombia, Lebanon, and Mali. Drawing upon additional research and interviews with GEF project implementation staff, the volume illustrates the pathways through which conflict and fragility frequently impact environmental projects. It also examines how practitioners and sponsoring institutions can plan and implement their projects to avoid or mitigate these issues and find opportunities to promote peacebuilding through their environmental interventions. Examining data from 164 countries and territories, this innovative book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental management, conservation, international development, and the fast-growing field of environmental peacebuilding. It will also be a great resource for practitioners working in these important fields. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This situation analysis was undertaken to inform responses to several resolutions made at the 5th World Conservation Congress in 2012 about the plight of large vertebrates in West and Central Africa. It draws on a wide range of information to provide information on the status of these species, important sites, pressures, legislation, the effectiveness of protected areas, and both community-based incentives for conservation and institutional responses. The overriding conclusion is of substantial wildlife declines and inadequate responses to either long-standing pressures or rapidly escalating threats that have emerged in recent years.

Rehabilitation and translocation programmes are increasingly becoming an important component of conservation action plans for threatened species. Translocation can help address gibbon conservation issues (gibbons are recognized as one of the most threatened primate families globally) by allowing gibbons held in captivity to be rescued, rehabilitated and then returned to the wild. These guidelines for the translocation of gibbons have been developed in collaboration with stakeholders in hylobatid conservation. This process was initiated druing a workshop on gibbon rehabilitation, reintroduction and translocation, facilitated by the IUCN SSC PSG Section on Small Apes (SSA), and the result of this process is the current document, which is based on shared knowledge and experience to date. The guidelines are designed to be a practical and useful document available for all stakeholders, with the aim of equipping field projects and decision makers with the tools for scientifically sound practice in gibbon rehabilitation and translocation.

Temperature plays a critical role in animal survival and climate warming is one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity in the future. It is already affecting species and communities with severe impacts and it is predicted that climate warming will cause species extinctions and distributional shifts in the coming decades. The impact of climate warming is expected to be particularly severe on ectothermic animals, including fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. Thus, assessing species’ responses to ongoing climate warming and determining what conservation actions should be taken are among the most significant and controversial challenges for ecologists. Identifying the most vulnerable species to extinction as a result of climate warming is an appropriate first step in mitigating the impacts of a changing world. An organism’s vulnerability to climate warming depends on its sensitivity to environmental changes, its exposure to the change, and its ability to recover from and potential to adapt to change. The interaction of these factors makes predicting the effects of climate warming on species a complex and major challenge for ecologists. Developing a deeper knowledge of ectotherms’ vulnerability to climate warming is crucial to enhance our understanding of extinction processes and significantly contribute to conservation efforts by guiding the implementation of better policies and management strategies to prevent the extinction of remaining populations. Investigations of climate warming vulnerability are likely to benefit from measurements of environmental conditions taken at the scale at which organisms experience them. Therefore, the main objective of this interdisciplinary Research Topic is to bring together research on how ectotherms respond to climate warming at various levels. We will particularly focus on the life-history, energy strategy, physiological response, etc. We encourage inter-and multidisciplinary research approaches linking molecular biology, thermal physiology (and ecology), behavioral ecology, functional ecology, evolutionary genetics, and bioenergetics.

The Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a comprehensive assessment of the scientific literature relevant to climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. The report recognizes the interactions of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies, and integrates across the natural, ecological, social and economic sciences. It emphasizes how efforts in adaptation and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions can come together in a process called climate resilient development, which enables a liveable future for biodiversity and humankind. The IPCC is the leading body for assessing climate change science. IPCC reports are produced in comprehensive, objective and transparent ways, ensuring they reflect the full range of views in the scientific literature. Novel elements include focused topical assessments, and an atlas presenting observed climate change impacts and future risks from global to regional scales. Available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

As evidence accumulates that we may already be witnessing the early signs of global climate change, the need to communicate this issue to both policymakers and the general public becomes ever more urgent. Third world countries are particularly vulnerable, and it is vitally important to be able to assess vulnerability and develop adapting capabilities. UNEP, African experts and GRID Arendal have combined to create this easily understandable scientific information for policy makers and others interested in the impact of climate change in Africa. The main points of the IPCC 2001 report are presented in easily understandable graphics and short texts with a special focus on Africa. It also contains high quality overhead transparencies for those who give lectures on the subject using traditional projectors.