IUCN

Dragonflies, those beautiful and colourful creatures which can often be seen hovering above water, pre-date dinosaurs. Today, some 5,000 species have been described and many more await discovery and description.

Found in a variety of forms and sometimes with very attractive flowers, cacti and other succulents have elicited widespread interest and tremendous popularity worldwide. Although the subject of a certain amount of debate, about 10,000 species of plant are recognised as belonging to the succulent group. Of these, an estimated 2,000 are threatened with global extinction in the wild and many more are regionally or nationally threatened.

The Ethiopian wolf is one of many species endemic to the highlands of Ethiopia but with only about 400 adults remaining, it is also the most endangered canid in the world. The main threats to this creature are loss of habitat to subsistence farming and livestock over-grazing, human development with all its subsidiary effects whereby human activity encroaches on the wolf's territory.

This handbook illustrates concepts, methods and tools for "primary environmental care", an approach that seeks to empower communities to meet basic needs while protecting the environment. In particular, it focuses on how population size, structure, growth (or decline) and movements relate to the quality of the environment and the quality of life. Emphasis is placed on a community-led process of participatory action research in which local knowledge and skills are fully utilized.