Environmental impacts

This book focuses on the relationship between climate change and biodiversity. It opens with general perspectives on the main issues, pointing out the need to take an holistic approach and to urge policy makers to take action, even when scientific evidence is not always conclusive. Evidence on climate change and biodiversity loss in an historical context is presented, and the impact of climate change on terrestrial flora and fauna and on aquatic life closely examined.

Examines the environmental impact of mining and the mineral industry, with a special emphasis on tropical forests. Two cases are described in detail, the Carajás area in Brazil and the Mt Nimba iron ore project on the border of Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa. The report also looks into the environmental cost of Dutch mineral trading and the Dutch involvement in mineral project in rainforest areas.

This report makes a positive contribution toward informing governments, agencies and NGOs of actions that need to be taken to reduce significantly the adverse conditions of future droughts.

Based on thorough bibliographic research of a highly controversial topic, this report, jointly sponsored by IUCN, UNEP and WWF, shows the potential of plantations, while also exposing problems which may arise if massive tree plantations proposed for the tropics are to be established.