Guidelines

This guide serves as a resource for policy makers and staff of conservation and population organizations who wish to integrate population dynamics into environmental planning for sustainable development. It presents the basic rationale for linking population and environmental issues, including the demonstrable impact that population dymanics and rising consumption are having on the environment.

Cave and karst landforms are distributed widely around the world. They have many values and are an integral component of the world's biodiversity. Some are habitats for a wide range of endemic species of flora and fauna, while others house rare and endangered species. Still others are the sources of rare minerals and some are important for resources such as groundwater, while some are venerated as sites of religious, spiritual and cultural importance.

These proceedings document the initial results of a joint initiative by IUCN and the World Bank to address, with key stakeholders, one of the most controversial issues in environment and development today. In April 1997, IUCN and the World Bank Group jointly hosted a two-day workshop in Gland, Switzerland to discuss the findings of an internal World Bank review of 50 large dams financed by the Bank.