Official IUCN publications

This is a unique publication relating to legal frameworks of natural resources management. Following the “Legal and Institutional Frameworks for Sustainable Soils” (EPLP 45), this publication contributes to the revision of existing, and drafting of new, legislation relating to soils. It highlights the need for national soil policy, and sets out a soil management plan.

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.

Water ecosystems have long been perceived by decision makers as having little value simply because their economic value is poorly understood and rarely articulated. Calculating the economic value of an ecosystem is a means of providing information which can be used to make better and more informed choices about how resources are managed, used and allocated.

Among the various innovative instruments linked to the Kyoto Protocol is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which offers developed countries a chance to offset some of their greenhouse gas emissions by funding development projects in areas such as renewable energy and forestry. Over the last two years, the rules of the CDM and those relating in particular to afforestation and reforestation have evolved significantly.

The Vth IUCN World Parks Congress held in 2003 in Durban, South Africa was host to a stream of workshops dedicated to the broad topic of building support for protected areas. As a means of providing a more coherent picture, a separate set of workshops was held on communicating the benefits of protected areas. The collection of papers contained within this publication brings together the experience and wisdom of the leading thinkers and practitioners of protected area planning and management.

There is an urgent need for concrete steps to foster the mutual supportiveness of the objectives embodied in the Convention on Biological Diversity and multilateral trade rules under the World Trade Organization. Intellectual property is one area of debate where such efforts could be undertaken.

El V Congreso mundial de Parques constituyó el encuentro más numeroso de expertos en áreas protegidas que haya tenido lugar hasta ahora. En septiembre de 2003, se reunieron unos 3.000 participantes en Durban, Sudáfrica, durante 10 días de reflexiones, discusiones, debates y creación de redes, a fin de considerar la situación de las áreas protegidas del mundo, los desafíos que se les presentan y las oportunidades que existen cara al futuro.

Le Ve Congrès mondial sur les parcs de l’UICN a été le plus grand rassemblement consacré aux aires protégées, En septembre 2003, près de 3000 participants se sont réunis à Durban (Afrique du Sud) en vue de 10 jours de réflexion, d’échanges, de débats et de travail en réseau afin de faire la bilan de l’état des aires protégées dans le monde, des difficultés rencontrées et des voies d’avenir.

La flore des îles de la Méditerranée comprend de nombreuses espèces endémiques rares et localisées. Certaines sont particulièrement menacées d'extinction en raison des multiples pressions engendrées par l'homme et ses activités sur les écosystèmes méditerranéens. Ce livre propose, au moyen de fiches descriptives, une sélection de 50 espèces spécialement menacées sur la base des critères de l'UICN pour les listes rouges.

The decade from 1966 to 1976 was a tumultuous time in the history of the Lower Mekong Basin, with three of the four countries at war. Remarkably, this was also a time of major planning for developing the agricultural production systems of the region. This publication describes the pioneering work done in that decade under the auspices of the Committee for the Coordination of Investigations in the Lower Mekong Basin, otherwise known as the Mekong Committee.