Mountain Area Research and Management
Mountain Area Research and Management

Author: Martin F. Price

Publisher: Earthscan

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1849772010

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This book brings together scientists and practitioners from five continents to present their experience in undertaking activities that contribute to our understanding and informed management of mountain areas. In particular, they address the challenges of working in interdisciplinary teams and of effectively involving stakeholders. The result is a powerful book that integrates research from different disciplines in the natural and social sciences, and in some cases indigenous knowledge, to address the question of how knowledge is gained about mountain areas and how can it be integrated and used in effective management.A comprehensive introduction covers the challenges in mountain area research and management, and the need for integrated approaches. This is followed by chapters that look at key areas of mountain research and management over the past 25 years, covering inter-and trans-disciplinary research, subsistence cultures and sustainable development, innovations in watershed management and biodiversity conservation. Subsequent chapters cover key areas of research and management on five continents with a focus on comparison of common challenges and solutions across regions. The concluding chapter brings these experiences together.Published with Parks Canada

Development with Identity
Development with Identity

Author: Robert E. Rhoades

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 0851999492

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This book reports on a 6-year interdisciplinary research project on sustainable agriculture and natural resource management in Cotacachi, Ecuador, where scientists and indigenous groups seek common ground. It discusses how local people have engaged the environment over time to create contemporary Andean landscapes. Human-environment interaction in relation to biodiversity, soils and water, and equitable development are also discussed. This book is intended for social and biological scientists researching environment and agriculture in rural communities. The book has 21 chapters and a subject index.

Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development

Author: Paul Sillitoe

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2014-08-01

Total Pages: 573

ISBN-13: 1782383727

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With growing evidence of unsustainable use of the world’s resources, such as hydrocarbon reserves, and related environmental pollution, as in alarming climate change predictions, sustainable development is arguably the prominent issue of the 21st century. This volume gives a wide ranging introduction focusing on the arid Gulf region, where the challenges of sustainable development are starkly evident. The Gulf relies on non-renewable oil and gas exports to supply the world’s insatiable CO2 emitting energy demands, and has built unsustainable conurbations with water supplies dependent on energy hungry desalination plants and deep aquifers pumped beyond natural replenishment rates. Sustainable Development has an interdisciplinary focus, bringing together university faculty and government personnel from the Gulf, Europe, and North America -- including social and natural scientists, environmentalists and economists, architects and planners -- to discuss topics such as sustainable natural resource use and urbanization, industrial and technological development, economy and politics, history and geography.

Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century
Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2010-07-25

Total Pages: 598

ISBN-13: 0309148960

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In the last 20 years, there has been a remarkable emergence of innovations and technological advances that are generating promising changes and opportunities for sustainable agriculture, yet at the same time the agricultural sector worldwide faces numerous daunting challenges. Not only is the agricultural sector expected to produce adequate food, fiber, and feed, and contribute to biofuels to meet the needs of a rising global population, it is expected to do so under increasingly scarce natural resources and climate change. Growing awareness of the unintended impacts associated with some agricultural production practices has led to heightened societal expectations for improved environmental, community, labor, and animal welfare standards in agriculture. Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century assesses the scientific evidence for the strengths and weaknesses of different production, marketing, and policy approaches for improving and reducing the costs and unintended consequences of agricultural production. It discusses the principles underlying farming systems and practices that could improve the sustainability. It also explores how those lessons learned could be applied to agriculture in different regional and international settings, with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. By focusing on a systems approach to improving the sustainability of U.S. agriculture, this book can have a profound impact on the development and implementation of sustainable farming systems. Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century serves as a valuable resource for policy makers, farmers, experts in food production and agribusiness, and federal regulatory agencies.

Himalayan Perceptions
Himalayan Perceptions

Author: Jack Ives

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-08-05

Total Pages: 629

ISBN-13: 1134369077

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In the 1970s and 1980s many institutions, agencies and scholars believed that the Himalayan region was facing severe environmental disaster, due primarily to rapid growth in population that has caused extensive deforestation, which in turn has led to massive landsliding and soil erosion. This series of assumptions was first challenged in the book: The Himalayan Dilemma (1989: Ives and Messerli, Routledge). Nevertheless, the environmental crisis paradigm still commands considerable support, including logging bans in the mountain watersheds of China, India, and Thailand, and is constantly being promoted by the news media. Himalayan Perceptions identifies the confusion of misunderstanding, vested interests, changing perceptions, and institutional unwillingness to base development policy on sound scientific knowledge. It analyzes the large amount of new research published since 1989 and totally refutes the entire construct. It examines recent social and economic developments in the region and identifies warfare, guerrilla activities, and widespread oppression of poor ethnic minorities as the primary cause for the instability that pervades the entire region. It is argued that the development controversy is further confounded by exaggerated reporting, even falsification, by news media, environmental publications, and agency reports alike.

Integrating Biodiversity in Agricultural Intensification
Integrating Biodiversity in Agricultural Intensification

Author: Jitendra Srivastava

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 54

ISBN-13: 9780821342633

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"Southeastern Nigeria has some of the highest population densities in Sub-Saharan Africa and one of the most threatened ecosystems on the continent: the rainforests of West Africa. As population pressure has mounted, fallow periods have declined... Instead of doggedly pursuing old strategies, farmers shifted their agricultural practices in the face of mounting population pressures. Farmers have intensified their traditional bush-fallow cultivation system by adopting several strategies..." What agrobiodiversity is, what it does, and its importance to the environment and agriculture form the bases of discussion in this volume. Agrobiodiversity is defined as biological resources that directly and indirectly contribute to crop and livestock production. With the need to increase food production and to concurrently protect the environment a worldwide priority, agrobiodiversity is arguably the single most important natural resource. It is key to transforming agricultural systems that are currently wreaking havoc on wildlife and human health. This report highlights case studies in which modern and traditional agriculture has successfully transformed to enhance biodiversity without sacrificing yield. Lessons learned from this review help to identify sound practices for designing and monitoring agricultural projects so that they improve rural incomes while safeguarding environmental assets, particularly biodiversity. Suggestions for sound practices include modifications of the policy environment and ways to strengthen research institutions and extension services so that agriculture can be intensified while better protecting and managing biological resources.

Tourism and Development in the Himalaya
Tourism and Development in the Himalaya

Author: Gyan P. Nyaupane

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-06-29

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1000598594

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This book examines the unique characteristics of the Himalaya that mark them as a special region among other orographic regions of the world. The Himalayan range is an important global asset for ecological, climatic, cultural, spiritual, and economic reasons. Its diversity of landscapes, climates, and biotic systems makes the Himalaya an extremely attractive region for tourism. The book examines tourism and development in the Himalaya region, exploring its sociocultural, environmental, and economic dimensions. The contributors address Himalayan issues from a holistic perspective, emphasizing the uniqueness of the region, together with concerns it shares with other montane, developing parts of the world. With a framework of sustainable development, this book elucidates interdisciplinary perspectives on nature, society, economic development, poverty, justice, health, social and environmental vulnerability, faith and culture, Indigenous rights, women, conflict, heritage and living culture, and many other concepts that broaden our understanding of tourism and development in mountain areas. Many contributors are from the Himalaya region, or have worked there extensively, lending strength through native and insider perspectives. This work will be useful for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, research and teaching scholars, policy makers, practitioners, and anyone interested in the Himalaya and their distinctive tourism and development-related potential and challenges.