Foundations of Environmental Sustainability The Coevolution of Science and Policy

by Rockwood, Larry; Stewart, Ronald; Dietz, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780195309454
• ISBN10: 0195309456
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book reviews and analyzes the period (roughly from the 1950s to the present) when the "environment" became an issue as important as economic growth, or war and peace; to assess the current situation, and begin planning for the challenges that lie ahead. Most people are aware of both the environmental destruction taking place around the world and of the specter of climate change. The devastation of New Orleans by hurricane Katrina illustrates the potential for disaster when climate change is combined with the mismanaged environmental policy. How did we get tot his point? What has been done and what can be done to avoid future environmental disasters? Thirty-two contributing chapter authors (among them, one of the principal drafters of the National Environmental Policy Act, Chief of the African Environment Division and the World Bank, Vice President of the Center for Conservation Innovation at the World Wildlife Fund, President of the Zoological Society of London, former President of the Ecological Society of America) use their unique, authoritative perspective to review the evolution of environmental science and policy in the past half century. Each author describes the evolution of environmental science and policy in the past half century and consider the challenges of the future. Although the authors of this book com from various fields, they have followed paths that have generally converged on the concept of sustainability. This book attempts to define what sustainability is, how we can achieve it, and what the prospects for sustainability in the future are.

Table of Contents

Introduction The Quest for Environmental Sustainability: The Coevolution of Science, Public Awareness, and Policy	p. 3
Setting the Stage: Perspectives on Ecology and the Environmental Movement	p. 25
The Environmental Movement in the United States	p. 31
International Environmental Policy: Some Recollections and Reflections	p. 42
The Global 2000 Report and Its Aftermath	p. 47
Sustainable Conservation: Can It Be Done?	p. 51
Biodiversity, Wildlife Ecology, and Management	p. 63
Conservation of Sensitive Biodiversity Areas	p. 67
Protected Areas: Science, Policy, and Management to Meet the Challenges of Global Change in the Twenty-First Century	p. 81
Ecological and Intellectual Baselines: Saving Lions, Tigers, and Rhinos in Asia	p. 98
Observations on Trends and Issues in Global Conservation	p. 118
Forest and Range Ecology and Management	p. 125
Half Century of American Range Ecology and Management: A Retrospective	p. 129
Policy Failures in African Rangeland Development	p. 148
The Role of Science and Scientists in Changing Forest Service Management Relative to Sustainability	p. 157
Marine Conservation, Ecology, and Management	p. 181
Sustainable Use of Wild Marine Living Resources: Notion or Myth?	p. 185
Marine Mammal Conservation	p. 202
Marine Wildlife Policy: Underlying Ideologies	p. 231
Environment and Development: Conservation and Management	p. 245
Overcoming Barriers to Interdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainable Development	p. 251
The Global Challenge of Sustainable Development	p. 257
Biodiversity Conservation in the Real World: Incentives, Disincentives, and Disconnects	p. 268
Resource Wars	p. 287
Conservation and Development: The Nam Theun 2 Dam Project in Laos	p. 300
Environmental Policy and Management	p. 317
A Biocultural Basis for an Ethic toward the Natural Environment	p. 321
Evolving Earth's Environmental Law: Perspectives on a Work in Progress	p. 333
The Evolution of Sustainability in Forest Management Policy	p. 380
Looking to the Future	p. 405
The Future of Ecology and the Ecology of the Future	p. 409
A New Environmentalism: Conservation and the Core of Governmental Purpose	p. 415
Climate Change and Prospects for Sustainability	p. 423
Index	p. 429
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