Official IUCN publications

Biodiversity-related laws and institutions will be key mechanisms for attaining the objectives of the Convention on biological diversity. As part of the national biodiversty planning process, legal and institutional profiles should be undertaken to ascertain which laws apply to and affect biodiversity and which institutions oversee legislation and portfolios which intersect with biodiversity conservation, sustainable use and benefit-sharing of genetic resources.

Sharks and their relatives, the rays and chimaeras, are the diverse group of cartilaginous fishes that have evolved over 400 million years. Historically considered of low economic value to large-scale fisheries, today many of these fishes have become the target of directed commercial and recreational fisheries around the world, and they are increasingly taken in the by-catch of fisheries targeting other species.

In 1994, IUCN launched Parks for life: Action for Protected Areas in Europe - a plan devised by IUCN with 200 partners to ensure an adequate, effective and well-managed network of protected areas in Europe. In November 1997, some 150 protected area experts from 34 countries met to review progress and chart a course for future work.

A comprehensive bibliographic catalogue of over 1,600 IUCN publications. Includes not only the titles published by IUCN but also those produced in collaboration with others, as well as the publications of the Ramsar Convention Bureau, the CITES Secretariat, TRAFFIC and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC). Also available in this catalogue, an expanded list of Red Data Books and Lists, including those published nationally. Author, title, series and subject indexes provided

Describes a field-level assessment of how people living near the Mount Elgon National Park in Uganda use the park's forest resources. It argues that extractive use of a range of timber and non-timber forest products, if properly monitored and controlled, is not necessarily a threat to biodiversity. The book explains clearly which data gathering methods were chosen and why, and how the results of this assessment can be used to develop collaborative management agreements with local people.

A collection of papers, many translated from Russian, originally presented at a seminar held in 1995 to increase international awareness about Kyrgyzstan's unique walnut-fruit forests. Subject matter includes the historical and present-day utilization and management of these forests, their ecological diversity and importance for biodiversity conservation, and measures adopted for the genetic improvement of walnut, Juglans regia, and other commercially important species.

Based on a workshop held to analyse the viability of extraction of NTFPs in Africa and improve knowledge and understanding of the role and potential of NTFPs in forest conservation. Also includes country overview of NTFPs use from fifteen countries.

Provides a wealth of practical tools and methods for our field workers who work with local communities in developing collaborative management of forests. While the manual focuses on participatory techniques for community forests in Nepal, many of the techniques can be readily applied to other forms of collaborative natural resource management