The North American Mosaic has four overarching features. First, it is, to the extent feasible, based on comparable information on the status and trends of major indicators of the state of the environment in Canada,Mexico, and the United States. Second, the report confirms that these three countries together make up an incredibly complex, dynamic, and interconnected ecosystem in which humans play a dominant and decisive role. Third, the report raises important and sometimes disquieting questions concerning the sustainability of some current trends. Finally, the report is a reminder that our economic, social, and physical well-being are utterly dependent on the life-sustaining services provided by nature. This report emphasizes the importance of developing mutually compatible economic, social, and environmental goals and policies across the three-country region.

This publication deals with key issues in land tenure, especially as they relate to food insecurity and rural development situations. Land tenure issues are frequently ignored in rural development interventions, with often long-lasting, negative results. This guide is designed to assist technical officers in governments and civil society in understanding why and how land tenure issues should be considered in rural development projects. It analyses important contexts such as environmental degradation, gender discrimination, and conflicts, where land tenure is currently of critical concern.

Approach; Major ecosystem types, major habitat types, and ecoregions of LAC; Conservation status of terretrial ecoregions of LAC; Biological distinctiveness of territorial ecoregions of LAC at different biogeographic scales results; Integrating biological distinctiveness and conservation status; Conservation assessment of mangrove ecosystems.

The understanding that some pesticides are more hazardous than others is well established. Recognition of this is reflected by the World Health Organization (WHO) Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard, which was first published in 1975. The document classifies pesticides in one of five hazard classes according to their acute toxicity. In 2002, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) was introduced, which in addition to acute toxicity also provides classification of chemicals according to their chronic health hazards and environmental hazards.

The overall objective of this 10-year Regional Queen Conch Fishery Management and Conservation Plan is to guide the implementation of a set of identified management measures that can be applied at the regional or sub-regional level for the sustainability of queen conch populations and for the maintenance of a healthy fishery and livelihood of the people involved in the fishery. The ecosystem approach forms the basis of this Regional Queen Conch Fishery Management and Conservation Plan, enhanci ng partnerships and collaboration throughout the Wider Caribbean region to improve the long-term governance of queen conch fisheries across the Caribbean. The Regional Queen Conch Fishery Management and Conservation Plan was formulated with the following specific objectives: 1. To improve the collection and integration of scientific data needed to determine the overall queen conch population status as the basis for the application of ecosystem-based management. 2. To harmonize measures aimed a t increasing the stability of the queen conch population and to implement best-management practices for a sustainable fishery. 3. To increase coordination and collaboration toward achieving better education and outreach, monitoring and research, co-management and strengthening, optimizing and harmonizing regional governance arrangements. 4. To adopt regional management measures, which incorporate the precautionary approach

This report considers the biological and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie the pathogenicity of tobacco smoke. Many Surgeon General's reports have considered research findings on mechanisms in assessing the biological plausibility of associations observed in epidemiologic studies. Mechanisms of disease are important because they may provide plausibility, which is one of the guideline criteria for assessing evidence on causation. This report specifically reviews the evidence on the potential mechanisms by which smoking causes diseases and considers whether a mechanism is likely to be operative in the production of human disease by tobacco smoke. This evidence is relevant to understanding how smoking causes disease, to identifying those who may be particularly susceptible, and to assessing the potential risks of tobacco products.