Myanmar

Our knowledge of species diversity within the inland waters of Indo-Burma is poorly documented and the region remains relatively under-surveyed. In this volume we aim to address this knowledge gap and present the most up-to-date information on the distribution and extinction risk of freshwater species in all inland water ecosystems across the Indo-Burma hotspot, and where appropriate, the reasons behind their declining status.

The Water and Nature Initiate’s (WANI) activities in the Mekong followed a strategy of mobilizing grass-roots engagement of local stakeholders in decision making, while facilitating high-level dialogues. This helped to build networked, multi-stakeholder processes which could begin to bridge local to national and regional decision making in the basin to support improved transboundary basin management.

Biodiversity within inland water ecosystems in the Eastern Himalaya region is both highly diverse and of great regional importance to livelihoods and economies. However, development activities are not always compatible with the conservation of this diversity, and the ecosystem requirements of biodiversity are frequently not considered in the development planning process.

The tsunamis of Sunday 26 December 2004 struck without apparent warning on a clear day. Not only was there a devastating loss of life, but coastal resources and infrastructure in the Indian Ocean suffered massive destruction as well. This book focuses on the impacts on the natural coastal resources, especially the coral reefs and associated ecosystems, and the responses by the international community.

The report focuses on the harvest and trade controls for A. Malaccensis in key range countries, reviews available information on wider trade in agarweood and recommends actions required to tackle issues such as unsustainable harvesting and illegal trade.

The commitment of the international community to ensure an equitable supply of food and nutrition to everyone on Earth has been reiterated many times. However, there are very few practical examples on how such equity and benefit sharing principles are to be put into practice. The proceedings of this workshop held in February 1998 relate experiences and lessons from a South-South perspective and critically address the translation of recommendations from this workshop into actions.

Little attention is given to the state of nature and natural resources in situations of armed conflict. Because of the human disaster involved, three is often a reluctance to focus on the environmental consequences. Nevertheless, there is no reason to assume that nothing can de done to conserve natural resources and biodiversity.