The forgotten story of Central Asia's enlightenment—its rise, fall, and enduring legacy In this sweeping and richly illustrated history, S. Frederick Starr tells the fascinating but largely unknown story of Central Asia's medieval enlightenment through the eventful lives and astonishing accomplishments of its greatest minds—remarkable figures who built a bridge to the modern world. Because nearly all of these figures wrote in Arabic, they were long assumed to have been Arabs. In fact, they were from Central Asia—drawn from the Persianate and Turkic peoples of a region that today extends from Kazakhstan southward through Afghanistan, and from the easternmost province of Iran through Xinjiang, China. Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects. They gave algebra its name, calculated the earth's diameter with unprecedented precision, wrote the books that later defined European medicine, and penned some of the world's greatest poetry. One scholar, working in Afghanistan, even predicted the existence of North and South America—five centuries before Columbus. Rarely in history has a more impressive group of polymaths appeared at one place and time. No wonder that their writings influenced European culture from the time of St. Thomas Aquinas down to the scientific revolution, and had a similarly deep impact in India and much of Asia. Lost Enlightenment chronicles this forgotten age of achievement, seeks to explain its rise, and explores the competing theories about the cause of its eventual demise. Informed by the latest scholarship yet written in a lively and accessible style, this is a book that will surprise general readers and specialists alike.

This text is a history of the world's oldest global conservation body - the World Conservation Union, established in 1948 as a forum for governments, non-governmental organizations and individual conservationists. The author draws on unpublished archives to reveal the often turbulent story of the IUCN and its achievements in, and influence on, conservation and environmental policy worldwide - establishing national parks and protected areas and defending threatened species.

Cover Crops in West Africa Contributing to Sustainable Agriculture

The European DayWater project has developed a prototype of an Adaptive Decision Support System (ADSS) related to urban stormwater pollution source control. The DayWater ADSS greatly facilitates decision-making for stormwater source control, which is currently impeded by the large number of stakeholders involved and by the necessary multidisciplinary knowledge. This book presents the results of this project, providing new insights into both technical and management issues. The main objectives of its technical chapters are pollution source control modelling, risk and impact assessment, and evaluation and comparison of best management practices. It also covers management aspects, such as the analysis of the decision-making processes in stormwater source control, at a European scale, and stormwater management strategies in general. The combination of scientific-technical and socio-managerial knowledge, with the strong cooperation of numerous end-users, reflects the innovative character of this book which includes actual applications of the ADSS prototype in significant case studies. DayWater: an Adaptive Decision Support System for Urban Stormwater Management contains 26 chapters collectively prepared by DayWater scientific partners and end-users associated with this European Research and Development project. It includes: A general presentation of the DayWater Adaptive Decision Support System (ADSS) structure and operation modes A detailed description of the major components of this ADSS prototype The assessment of its components in significant case studies in France, Germany and Sweden The proceedings of the International Conference on Decision Support Systems for Integrated Urban Water Management, held in Paris on 3-4 November 2005. The book presents the ADSS prototype including a combination of freely accessible on-line databases, guidance documents, “road maps” and modelling or multi-criteria analysis tools. As demonstrated in several significant case studies the challenge for stormwater managers is to make the benefits of urban stormwater management visible to society, resulting in active co-operation of a diversity of stakeholders. Only then, will sustainable management succeed. DayWater: an Adaptive Decision Support System for Urban Stormwater Management advances this cause of sustainable urban management through Urban stormwater management, and makes achievable (by means of risk and vulnerability tools which are included) the goal of integrated urban water management (IUWM).