Protected areas are the cornerstone of virtually all national and international conservation policies. About 10% of the world's forests are to be found in protected areas, and Forest Protected Areas make a critical contribution to conservation. The purpose of this publication is to address two questions, both of which are strategic, complex and politically significant: What is, and what is not, a Forest Protected Area? What other forms of forest protection are there, and how do they relate to Forest Protected Areas?
This joint venture between ICOMOS, the advisory body to UNESCO on cultural sites, and the International Astronomical Union is the second volume in an ongoing exploration of themes and issues relating to astronomical heritage in particular and to science and technology heritage in general. It examines a number of key questions relating to astronomical heritage sites and their potential recognition as World Heritage, attempting to identify what might constitute "outstanding universal value" in relation to astronomy. "Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy--Volume 2" represents the culmination of several years' work to address some of the most challenging issues raised in the first ICOMOS-IAU Thematic Study, published in 2010. These include the recognition and preservation of the value of dark skies at both cultural and natural sites and landscapes; balancing archaeoastronomical considerations in the context of broader archaeological and cultural values; the potential for serial nominations; and management issues such as preserving the integrity of astronomical sightlines through the landscape.Its case studies are developed in greater depth than those in volume 1, and generally structured as segments of draft nomination dossiers. They include seven-stone antas (prehistoric dolmens) in Portugal and Spain, the thirteen towers of Chankillo in Peru, the astronomical timing of irrigation in Oman, Pic du Midi de Bigorre Observatory in France, Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and Aoraki-Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve in New Zealand. A case study on Stonehenge, already a World Heritage Site, focuses on preserving the integrity of the solstitial sightlines.As for the first ICOMOS-IAU Thematic Study, a international team of authors including historians, astronomers and heritage professionals is led by Professor Clive Ruggles for the IAU and Professor Michel Cotte for ICOMOS.
The native British flora is today relatively ant species on the continent, such as Picea impoverished. Today the British Isles has a abies (Norway spruce), did not get into Britain flora of only about 1500 species of native in time. However, we must not over flowering plants. France and Spain, each emphasize the importance of Britain being an geographically only about twice the area, island. A comparison of floras on either side have 3-4 times as many species each. The of the English Channel shows that there are comparison is more marked when consider species present in England and not in ing the endemic species, those specialities of northern France as well as vice versa. Many each geographical region which grow of the species present in northern France but nowhere else. If only normal sexual species absent from England are weeds adapted to are considered, then there are only about 13 French agriculture. Others may be limited endemic species in the British Isles while 1000 not by the sea but by the climate. species are endemic to Spain. Nevertheless, the example of Ireland, However, the poverty of the British flora is which was isolated much earlier than the rest not a unique phenomenon. The whole of of the British Isles, does show the effect of north-western Europe, an area including isolation because it does have a much poorer northern France and much of Germany and flora and fauna.
This stunning and original British travel guide charts lesser known gardens, spectacular meadows, the best kitchen garden food, plus wild places to camp and stay.
As an investigative journalist, Monbiot found a mission in his ecological boredom, that of learning what it might take to impose a greater state of harmony between himself and nature. He was not one to romanticize undisturbed, primal landscapes, but rather in his attempts to satisfy his cravings for a richer, more authentic life, he came stumbled into the world of restoration and rewilding. When these concepts were first introduced in 2011, very recently, they focused on releasing captive animals into the wild. Soon the definition expanded to describe the reintroduction of animal and plant species to habitats from which they had been excised. Some people began using it to mean the rehabilitation not just of particular species, but of entire ecosystems: a restoration of wilderness. Rewilding recognizes that nature consists not just of a collection of species but also of their ever-shifting relationships with each other and with the physical environment. Ecologists have shown how the dynamics within communities are affected by even the seemingly minor changes in species assemblages. Predators and large herbivores have transformed entire landscapes, from the nature of the soil to the flow of rivers, the chemistry of the oceans, and the composition of the atmosphere. The complexity of earth systems is seemingly boundless."
Rabies was a constant threat in Victorian Britain and gripped popular imagination, not least because its human form, hydrophobia, produced a vile death with the mind and body out of control. This book explores the changing understanding of rabies amongst veterinarians, animal welfare campaigners, state officials, politicians and the public.
At the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 the UK Prime Minister and over 150 other heads of state or government committed their countries to working towards national strategies for the protection of our local, national and global environment. The four UK official strategies were published simultaneously: Sustainable development, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Sustainable Forestry. They should be of interest to everyone concerned with or involved in the future of our environment throughout the world.
