This book presents a wide range of contributions addressing diverse aspects of biodiversity exploitation and conservation. These collectively provide a snapshot of ongoing action and state-of-the-art research, rather than a series of necessarily more superficial overviews. Examples presented here derive from studies in 17 countries including Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. These reports will stimulate future work toward attaining a sustainable balance between the conservation and exploitation of biodiversity.

The loss of the earth's biological diversity is widely recognized as a critical environmental problem. That loss is most severe in developing countries, where the conditions of human existence are most difficult. Conserving Biodiversity presents an agenda for research that can provide information to formulate policy and design conservation programs in the Third World. The book includes discussions of research needs in the biological sciences as well as economics and anthropology, areas of critical importance to conservation and sustainable development. Although specifically directed toward development agencies, non-governmental organizations, and decisionmakers in developing nations, this volume should be of interest to all who are involved in the conservation of biological diversity.

Biodiversity Conservation and Habitat Management is a component of Encyclopedia of Natural Resources Policy and Management in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Biodiversity is declining worldwide at a very unprecedented rate as a complex response to several human-induced changes in the global environment. The magnitude of these changes is so large and their effects are so strongly linked to the altered ecosystem processes and to human (ab-)use of natural resources that biodiversity loss is today perceived as one of the most important issues that humankind should face with extreme urgency. Disseminating information, raising awareness, and propelling concern within a diversified target audience (general public, schools, local authorities, and government agencies) are also essential to develop shared responsibility and to encourage collaborative efforts and compliance. This has been the main objective of “Biodiversity Conservation and Habitat Management”. The Theme on Biodiversity Conservation and Habitat Management provides the essential aspects and a myriad of issues of great relevance to our world in eight major topics of discussion, and is focused on 1) History and Overview of Biodiversity Conservation and Protected Areas, 2) Management of Forests and other Wooded Habitats, 3) Management of Savannahs and Other Open Habitats, 4) Management of Wetlands, 5) Management of Tourism and Human Recreation Pressure, 6) Conservation Strategies, Species Action Plans and Translocation, 7) Captive Breeding and Gene Banks, and 8) Eradication and Control of Invasive Species. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

The use of wildlife for food and other human needs poses one of the greatest threats to the conservation of biodiversity. Wildlife exploitation is also critically important to many people from a variety of cultures for subsistence and commerce. This book brings together international experts to examine interactions between the biology of wildlife and the divergent goals of people involved in hunting, fishing, gathering and culling wildlife. Reviews of theory show how sustainable exploitation is tied to the study of population dynamics, with direct links to reproductive rates, life histories, behaviour and ecology. As such theory is rarely put into practice to achieve sustainable use and effective conservation, Conservation of Exploited Species explores the many reasons for this failure and considers remedies to tackle them, including scientific issues such as how to incorporate uncertainty into estimations, as well as social and political problems that stem from conflicting goals in exploitation.

During the past century, tropical rain forests have been reduced to less than half of their original area, with a consequent loss of biodiversity. This book takes a close look at how this has happened and what the consequences may be, with an emphasis on strategies that have proven successful in stemming the loss of plant and animal species. The book highlights the important role of protected areas such as sacred groves, royal preserves, and today's national parks, which have long served to shield the delicate forest habitats for countless species. It argues that, although programs that combine biodiversity protection and human economic development have become increasingly important, a system of protected areas must still be the cornerstone of all conservation strategies aimed at limiting the inevitable reduction of our planet's biodiversity.

This book is roughly organized into three themes: what is overfishing, what kind of fisheries are there and what is the environmental impact. Chapters include Historical Overfishing, Recreational Fisheries and Marine Protected Areas, to name a few. Within each chapter a list of questions are posed and answered with a few paragraphs.

The deep ocean is by far the planet's largest biome and holds a wealth of potential natural assets. Human exploitation of the deep ocean is rapidly increasing whilst becoming more visible to many through the popular media, particularly film and television. The scientific literature of deep-sea exploitation and its effects has also rapidly expanded as a direct function of this increased national and global interest in exploitation of deep-sea resources, both biological (e.g. fisheries, genetic resources) and non-biological (e.g. minerals, oil, gas, methane hydrate). At the same time there is a growing interest in deep-sea contamination (including plastics), with many such studies featured in high profile scientific journals and covered by global media outlets. However, there is currently no comprehensive integration of this information in any form and these topics are only superficially covered in classic textbooks on deep-sea biology. This concise and accessible work provides an understanding of the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, both at the seafloor and in the water column, and how these might be affected as a result of human interaction, exploitation and, ultimately, environmental change. It follows a logical progression from geological and physical processes, ecology, biology, and biogeography, to exploitation, management, and conservation. Natural Capital and Exploitation of the Deep Ocean is aimed at marine biologists and ecologists, oceanographers, fisheries scientists and managers, fish biologists, environmental scientists, and conservation biologists. It will also be of relevance and use to a multi-disciplinary audience of fish and wildlife agencies, NGOs, and government departments involved in deep-sea conservation and management.