Official IUCN publications

As part of the preparations for the Vth World Parks Congress, a high-level team was assembled by IUCN to consider the long-term future of protected areas. They prepared three scenarios, plausible futures, rather than predictions: The Triple Bottom Line, where economic growth, social well-being and environmental sustainability were given equal treatment; the Rainbow, a world where globalization was replaced by regional alliances; and But Your Eden, where economics ruled.

This primer was developed to increase the knowledge about biodiversity prospecting and its implications and was conceptualised after repeated requests from groups working in southern Africa on these difficult issues.

Our oceans are slowly dying, and the instruments of governance are inadequate to stop it. The international dimensions of ocean problems loom larger as we learn more about threats to marine species and ecosystems - invasive species are transported by international shipping, oceans fill with persistent organic pollutants, and nutrients from sewage and fertilizers cause excessive growth of marine plants.

By far the largest habitat for life on earth and the cradle of new species, habitats and undiscovered ecosystems, our oceans are being intensively exploited and heavily degraded. Marine Protected Areas can be used to restore, safeguard and halt the negative impacts on the biodiversity of these oceans.

This book draws on the papers presented and discussions held at two workshops of biodiversity planners from 15 Asian countries. It is, in essence, a snapshot of the NBSAP process in Asia, and although many practitioners may have moved on since this book was compiled, it serves as an important instrument to share experiences. As every NBSAP process is in a different stage of development, it is important to map the journey so that others may follow.

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.

Energy has recently emerged at the forefront of sustainable development. The United Nations Development Programme’s World Energy Assessment (2000) linked energy and most of the ills of modern society in both developed and developing countries. The World Summit on Sustainable Development selected energy as one of its five major agenda issues, devising a Plan of Implementation emphasising the role of energy in eradicating poverty.

Our oceans are slowly dying, and the instruments of governance are inadequate to stop it. The international dimensions of ocean problems loom larger as we learn more about threats to marine species and ecosystems - invasive species are transported by international shipping, oceans fill with persistent organic pollutants, and nutrients from sewage and fertilizers cause excessive growth of marine plants.