Earthscan

First published in 1995, The Forest Certification Handbook has become the landmark book concerning all aspects of forest and wood product certification from policy to business to in-the-field technical issues. Yet since first publication an enormous amount has happened in the field.

Natural resource governance is central to the outcomes of biodiversity conservation efforts and to patterns of economic development, particularly in resource-dependent rural communities. This volume examines the political dynamics of natural resource governance processes through a range of comparative case studies across east and southern Africa.

Rangelands are large natural landscapes that can include grasslands, shrublands, savannahs and woodlands. They are greatly influenced by, and often dependent on, the action of herbivores. In the majority of rangelands the dominant herbivores are found in domestic herds that are managed by mobile pastoralists. Most pastoralists manage their rangelands communally, benefitting from the greater flexibility and seasonal resource access that common property regimes can offer.

This book provides essential analysis to help policy-makers, practitioners and other stakeholders understand risks and develop effective responses at a critical moment when the main architecture for climate governance is being developed.

This publication presents innovative ways that have been used to influence policy processes, from community pressure groups through elected and unelected leaders, to scientific discourse at the levels of directors of economic planning and conservation. The book analyzes experiences from a variety of conservation interventions by IUCN and other agencies, primarily in Eastern Africa, and challenges the notion of policymaking as a cyclical process.

The TEEB study is underpinned by an assessment of state-of-the-art science and economics. The goal is to provide the conceptual foundation to link economics and ecology and to posit a paradigm of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services. This aspect of the study tackles the challenges of valuing ecosystem services, as well as issues related to economic discounting.

At the heart of co-management of natural resources is a process of collective understanding and action by local communities and other social actors. The process brings about negotiated agreements on management roles, rights, and responsibilities, making explicit the conditions and institutions of sound decentralised governance. De facto, co-management is about sharing power.