Biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate due to anthropogenic activities around the world. This book is the first volume in the new series Biodiversity Hotspots of the World, which highlights the 36 hotspot regions of the world, regions that were designated as reaping maximum benefit from preservation efforts. This series is our humble attempt to document these hotspots as a conservation and preservation measure. This first volume in the series focuses on the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, construed as forming a community of species because of their shared biogeographical history. The volume explores the diversity and conservation efforts of the extraordinarily rich species found here, including plants, many of which are found nowhere else in the world; forests, which face tremendous population pressure and have been dramatically impacted by demands for timber and agricultural land; as well as the hotspot’s diverse mammals, birds, insects, and amphibian species, and more. The volumes in this series will be essential resources for researchers and practitioners in the fields of conservation biology, ecology, and evolution.

To explore what extended competition between the United States and China might entail out to 2050, the authors of this report identified and characterized China’s grand strategy, analyzed its component national strategies (diplomacy, economics, science and technology, and military affairs), and assessed how successful China might be at implementing these over the next three decades.

Restoration ecology, as a scientific discipline, developed from practitioners’ efforts to restore degraded land, with interest also coming from applied ecologists attracted by the potential for restoration projects to apply and/or test developing theories on ecosystem development. Since then, forest landscape restoration (FLR) has emerged as a practical approach to forest restoration particularly in developing countries, where an approach which is both large-scale and focuses on meeting human needs is required. Yet despite increased investigation into both the biological and social aspects of FLR, there has so far been little success in systematically integrating these two complementary strands. Bringing experts in landscape studies, natural resource management and forest restoration, together with those experienced in conflict management, environmental economics and urban studies, this book bridges that gap to define the nature and potential of FLR as a truly multidisciplinary approach to a global environmental problem. The book will provide a valuable reference to graduate students and researchers interested in ecological restoration, forest ecology and management, as well as to professionals in environmental restoration, natural resource management, conservation, and environmental policy.

This book takes a practical approach to understanding and describing collaborative governance for resolving environmental problems. It introduces a new collaborative governance assessment model and recognizes that collaborations are a natural result of organizations converging around complex issues. Rather than identifying actors by their type of organization, the actors are identified by the type of role they play. This approach is aligned with how individuals and organizations interact in practice, and their dependance on collaborations to solve emerging environmental problems. The book discusses real cases with governance issues and creates new frameworks for collaborations. Features: Addresses communities at all levels and scales that are gravitating toward collaborations to solve their environmental issues. Prepares and enables individuals to participate in collaborative governance and design collaborative governance frameworks. Introduces the first simplified and standardized model to assess governance using governance actors and styles. Explains governance in simple terms and builds governance frameworks from the individual’s perspective; the smallest, viable unit of governance in a collaboration. Describes "tools of convergence" for collaborative leaders to organize and align activities to create shared-governance outcomes and outputs.

This Unasylva issue aims at showcasing forest and landscape restoration (FLR) opportunities and recent developments that have the power to upscale restoration, in order to achieving the Bonn Challenge pledge and other national and international commitments (Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) Post-2020 Agenda, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Land Degradation Neutrality, Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)) and addressing the needs of the UN Decade 2021-2030 on Ecosystem Restoration. The content adresses thematics of relevance to various audiences: i) flagship restoration initiatives that differ from the so-called “business-as-usual” as they channel more funds, better empower local stakeholders and provide enhanced technical assistance through partners’ coalitions; ii) technical advances that can spread FLR and have a huge potential to be mainstreamed for different reasons (low cost, adaptability, relevance to many ecosystems and contexts, ease of implementation…); iii) the enabling factors for restoration, i.e. coordination, policy environment, resources, knowledge and capacities, as these are the enabling conditions for action to take place on the ground.

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