Caribbean

The West Indian Iguanas form a unique group of species inhabiting tropical dry forests throughout the Bahanas and the Greater and Lesser Antilles. They are among the most endangered of the world's lizards, primarily because much of their fragile island habitat has been eliminated by human developemnt or severely degraded by exotic species. The Jamaican iguana, considered by some to be the rarest lizard in the world, may number no more than 100 adults.

This landmark publication builds on previous work between IUCN/WCPA and the European Commission and addresses the key protected area policy issues and needs of the ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) countries. It describes the actions that are required if protected areas are to be successful in the next century.

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.

This study makes use of extensive spatial datasets, not previously available, to provide for the first time a comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of biodiversity in the terrestrial tropics. The extent to which potential habitats and closed moist forests are represented in protected areas is assessed. Priorities for conservation action are identified on the basis of a country's relative importance for a given habitat and the extent to which it is protected.

This global directory provides detailed bibliographic information with full abstracts on more than 420 reports for 180 countries. Information can be found by region, country or subject and complete order details are provided for each entry. The reports provide information on environmental conditions and trends, assessments of problems as well as the strategies and plans developed to address those problems.

The threats to the forests of tropical America have been the centre of international environmental concern for some time, yet the material in this atlas highlights the continuing extent of scientific uncertainty over the critical issues that will determine the future use and conservation of these forests. Preceded by Asia and the Pacific, 1991; Africa, 1992 (both now out of print), this atlas completes the series.

Part of a series of regional reviews of multi-sectoral strategies for sustainability at the national, provincial and local levels, complementing the volume on Strategies for National Sustainable Development; each volume summarizes the status of strategies in the region, reviews and analyses case studies to provide an analytical history and status report on each strategy.