A landmark book that strives to provide both grand theory and practical application, innovatively describing the structure and dynamics of human ecosystems As the world faces ever more complex and demanding environmental and social challenges, the need for interdisciplinary models and practical guidance becomes acute. The Human Ecosystem Model described in this landmark book provides an innovative response. Broad in scope, detailed in method, at once theoretical and applied, this grand study offers an in-depth understanding of human ecosystems and tools for action. The authors draw from Goethe’s Faust, classic anthropology and sociology studies, contemporary ecosystem ecology, Buddhist ethics, and more to create a paradigm-shifting model and a major advance in interdisciplinary ecology.

This paper develops the structural Ricardian method, a new approach to modeling agricultural performance using cross-sectional evidence, and uses the method to study animal husbandry in Africa. The model is intended to estimate the structure beneath Ricardian results in order to understand how farmers change their behavior in response to climate. A survey of over 5,000 livestock farmers in 10 countries reveals that the selection of species, the net income per animal, and the number of animals are all highly dependent on climate. As climate warms, net income across all animals will fall, especially across beef cattle. The fall in net income causes African farmers to reduce the number of animals on their farms. The fall in relative revenues also causes them to shift away from beef cattle and toward sheep and goats. All farmers will lose income but the most vulnerable farms are large African farms that currently specialize in beef cattle. Small livestock and large livestock farms respond to climates differently. Small farms are diversified, relying on dairy cattle, goats, sheep, and chickens. Large farms specialize in dairy and beef cattle. Estimating a separate multinomial logit selection model for small and large farms reveals that the two types of farm choose species differently and specifically have different climate response functions. The regressions of the number of animals also reveal that large farms are more responsive to climate. The results indicate that warming will be harmful to commercial livestock owners, especially cattle owners. Owners of commercial livestock farms have few alternatives either in crops or other animal species. In contrast, small livestock farms are better able to adapt to warming or precipitation increases by switching to heat tolerant animals or crops. Livestock operations will be a safety valve for small farmers if warming or drought causes their crops to fail.

This study estimates the vulnerability of Latin American agriculture to climate change using a Ricardian analysis of both land values and net revenues. Examining a sample of over 2,500 farms in seven countries, the results indicate both land value and net revenue are sensitive to climate. Both small farms and large farms have a hill-shaped relationship with temperature. Estimating separate regressions for dryland and irrigated farms reveals that dryland farms are more sensitive to temperature but irrigated farms are more sensitive to precipitation. Examining the effects from future climate change scenarios reveals that severe scenarios could reduce farm earnings by as much as 62 percent by 2100, whereas more moderate scenarios could reduce earnings by about 15 percent. Small and large farms are equally sensitive to global warming. Land value and net revenue analyses produce quite similar results.

Top researchers share their expertise on conservation and sustainability in areas that extend across national borders! This informative and insightful book examines strategies being used by governments and NGOs to protect wild areas that cross national borders and cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic boundaries. In addition to presenting case studies from five continents, Transboundary Protected Areas: The Viability of Regional Conservation Strategies provides several theoretical overviews that suggest viable approaches to conserving biodiversity in these difficult-to-protect areas. From the editors: “Historically, the borders of protected areas have been defined by convenient social, political, or proprietary boundaries rather than by ecological boundaries. Today, many scientists and practitioners are in agreement that the world's biodiversity and other natural resources can best be conserved on an ecosystem or regional scale, which may or may not be consistent with political boundaries. Efforts to protect land on an ecosystem scale have led to the creation of numerous transboundary protected areas, also referred to as international peace parks or transfrontier conservation areas. These areas, which often cross linguistic, socioeconomic, and cultural boundaries as well as national borders, represent regional conservation at its most complex. While many scientists and practitioners promote eco-regional approaches to conservation, many also advocate pursuing conservation goals on local or community scales. Conservationists therefore endeavor to achieve a seemingly incongruous mandate: to pursue top-down (regional) goals using bottom-up (local) approaches.” Transboundary Protected Areas: The Viability of Regional Conservation Strategies addresses the vital questions associated with this mandate: Is it reasonable and realistic to approach regional conservation this way? What strategies have been employed to achieve these goals—and how successful have they been? Who benefits from transboundary conservation—and what are the costs? Reflecting the information delivered at the 2001 conference of the Yale chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF), this book provides you with the best answers available at this time. The contributors include social and natural scientists, resource managers, policymakers, and community leaders. Transboundary Protected Areas: The Viability of Regional Conservation Strategies brings them together for an interdisciplinary exploration of these questions and other critical issues related to conservation in and around transboundary protected areas. Specific cases that are thoughtfully examined in Transboundary Protected Areas: The Viability of Regional Conservation Strategies include: the public reaction to the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) Conservation Initiative the ways in which the establishment of southern Africa's existing and proposed Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) can help conserve biodiversity, aid socioeconomic development, and promote international peace development and conservation efforts in the Maloti-Drakensberg mountains of southern Africa, which straddle the borderlands between South Africa and Lesotho the cultural aspects of protected area management in Venezuela and Guyana the impact of transfrontier collaboration as evidenced by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) in the Virunga-Bwindi region of Africa (Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) how the Nepalese have addressed the problems of poaching, commercial logging, illegal harvesting and smuggling of forest products, and illegal trade of wildlife and wildlife products in the eastern Himalayas by implementing a transboundary biodiversity conservation initiative Helpful maps, tables, and figures make geographical regions and conservation information easy to assimilate.