Social aspects

Le processus collectif de compréhension et d’action par les communautés locales et d’autres acteurs sociaux se trouve au cœur de la « cogestion » des ressources naturelles. Ce processus aboutit à des accords négociés sur les rôles de gestion, les droits, les responsabilités et rendent explicites les conditions et institutions pour une gouvernance saine et décentralisée. De fait, la cogestion revient à partager le pouvoir.

The January 2009 floods in Fiji were reported as the worst in the history of the country since the 1931 floods. Many parts of the country were affected by a number of consecutive flood events that spread over several days. This study was undertaken to assess the economic costs of the recent floods on the sugar cane farmers, sugar cane production and household livelihoods, and cane access roads and farm drainage infrastructure.

Drylands cover 41 percent of the earth’s terrestrial surface. The urgency of and international response to climate change have given a new place to drylands in terms both of their vulnerability to predicted climate change impacts and their potential contribution to climate change mitigation. This book aims to apply the new scientific insights on complex dryland systems to practical options for development.

This book looks at the rationale for addressing the links between conservation and poverty reduction, arguing that such a focus is both ethically essential and a source of opportunities. It emphasizes the importance of multiple scales and negotiating trade-offs between scales and tackles the complex issue of institutional landscapes and the way in which changes at various institutional levels can lead to different and more positive outcomes.

An environmental flow is the water regime provided within a river, wetland or coastal zone to maintain ecosystems and their benefits where there are competing water uses and where flows are regulated. Pioneering efforts in South Africa, Australia and the United States have shown that the process to establish them poses great challenges.

The Earth's biodiversity-the rich variety of life on our planet-is disappearing at an alarming rate. And while many books have focused on the expected ecological consequences, or on the aesthetic, ethical, sociological, or economic dimensions of this loss, Sustaining Life is the first book to examine the full range of potential threats that diminishing biodiversity poses to human health.

This technical report uses the framework of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to extend awareness on the value of coastal ecosystems, their products and services for human well-being (i.e. livelihood security and development benefits) and shows how economic valuation of coastal ecosystem services can be a valuable tool for conservation managers and development decision-makers. It presents case studies from Sri Lanka and Thailand.