Ecosystem services

Forests cover vast regions of the globe and serve as a first line of defense against the worst effects of climate change, but only if we keep them healthy and resilient. The authors present an overview of forests around the globe, describing basic precepts of forest ecology and physiology and how forests will change as earth's climate warms. Drawing on years of research and teaching, they discuss the values and uses of both natural and plantation-based forests.

A companion volume to Keeping the Wild: Against the Domestication of Earth, Protecting the Wild provides a necessary addition to the conversation about the future of conservation in the so-called Anthropocene. Even as the biodiversity crisis accelerates, a growing number of voices are suggesting that protected areas are passé. Protecting the Wild offers a spirited argument for the robust protection of the natural world.

Globally, disasters due to natural hazards takes an enormous toll in terms of human lives, destruction to crops and livelihoods, and economic losses. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) has therefore become a critical part of sustainable development strategies. Over the past decades, the role of healthy ecosystems in providing cheap, reliable protection against natural hazards has been increasingly recognized.

Globally, disasters due to natural hazards takes an enormous toll in terms of human lives, destruction to crops and livelihoods, and economic losses. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) has therefore become a critical part of sustainable development strategies. Over the past decades, the role of healthy ecosystems in providing cheap, reliable protection against natural hazards has been increasingly recognized.

The recent increase in exposure to natural hazards among the communities of Bangladesh is linked to the new generation of threats posed by climate variability and change resulting from anthropogenic activity. Adaptation is not a new approach, but there are still a number of challenges inherent in adaptation and in building resilience to climate-induced threats.

This booklet is an attempt to redress the lack of general knowledge on target_idal flats and create awareness about their importance and the current threats facing these little-known ecosystems. 

Coastal lagoons and estuaries, lying at the boundary between ocean and land, house a unique mosaic of habitats, giving rise to high species diversity and the creation of ecotones. They are also ecologically and economically important ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Yet, these coastal ecosystems are facing a gamut of human-induced threats.

Asia has a rich cultural and natural heritage, but rapid development, population growth and an erosion of traditional practices are resulting in habitat loss and degradation, which is putting protected areas in Asia at risk and leading to serious decline in the biodiversity they harbour.