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"This book provides the first contemporary assessment of area-based conservation and its implications for nature and society. Now covering 15% of the land surface and a growing area of ocean, the creation of protected areas is one of the fastest conscious changes in land management in history. But this has come at a cost, including a backlash from human rights organisations about the social impacts of protected areas. At the same time, a range of new types of area-based conservation have emerged, based on indigenous people's territories, local community lands and a new designation of "other effective area-based conservation measures". This book provides a concise overview of the status and possible futures of area-based conservation. With many people calling for half the earth's land surface to remain in a natural condition, this book taps into the urgent debate about the feasibility of such an aim and the ways in which such land might be managed. It provides a timely contribution by people who have been at the centre of the debate for the last twenty years. Building on the authors' large personal knowledge, the book draws on global case studies where the authors have first-hand experience, including Yosemite National Park (USA), Blue Mountains National Park (Australia), Bwindi National Park (Uganda), Chingaza National Park (Colombia), Ustyart Plateau (Kazakhstan), Snowdonia National Park (Wales) and many more. This book is essential reading for students, academics and practitioners interested in conservation and its impact on society"--

The predominant approach of protecting or restoring floral and faunal life after harming, displacing, or destroying them in service of human interests does not hold much promise for nature on Earth in the age of the Anthropocene. Such approaches fail to address the ethical and political-economic cores of what tend to be presented as techno-scientific or ecological problems. If the planet is to remain home to life beyond the human, mainstream human societies need to rethink their place, role, and entitlements on Earth, and relearn to cohabit with human and nonhuman others, even in the face of risk and uncertainty.

The Nature Conservancy Council has welcomed the implementation of the EC Directive on the assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment. This paper discusses its implications for nature conservation in fresh waters, particularly with reference to the land‐drainage and flood‐defence work carried out by the National Rivers Authority and its predecessors, to which the regulations SI 1217 apply. Environmental statements have been deemed necessary for only a small proportion of capital schemes initiated by the water industry since the Regulations came into force in 1988. The author has evaluated the nature‐conservation content of 15 of these statements against a combined set of objective and subjective criteria. The statements examined showed a high degree of variability in length, scope, style and presentation. In general, survey and data acquisition were poorly covered. The weakest area was considered to be the evaluation and prediction of potential impacts, and this is discussed in relation to the uncertainty and complexity inherent in biological systems. The need for monitoring the accuracy of predictions after the completion of a scheme received little attention, despite its fundamental importance in improving future project design, and in extending scientific understanding.

Nature plays a significant role in the discussion for and against modernism, which got under way from the late eighteenth century onwards. The rationalists of the Enlightenment considered not only human nature, but also the whole uncultivated realm of nature beyond, that of the animals and plants, as wild and dangerous. It should, according to them, be tamed for the benefit of mankind and put to use. Thus they laid the ideological foundations that made possible the unrestrained exploitation of natural resources for the free development of the market and specifically for industrialisation, ie for material and ideological modernisation processes. The Romantics, on the other hand, emphasised the importance of non-material values. In their view the inherent and irretrievable beauty of nature should not be sacrificed on the altar of utilitarianism. A century later the critics of unrestrained economic modernisation expanded on the Romantics' view. They criticised the 'tumours' of industrialisation, urbanisation and materialism, advocating greater preservation of the wilderness and, indeed, of agrarian land and the rural way of life. For them, such things were not just symbols of originality, beauty and health, but were also part of the 'national character'. They were unique treasures, unlike replaceable material interests. Nature, as a source of raw materials, became a multifunctional cultural heritage. 'Materialism' and the idea of progress, the central characteristics of modernisation, were challenged by criticism of civilisation and by historicism. Thus the basic cultural and political camps were established, but also the decisive ideological preconditions for the emergence of a nature conservation movement.

This innovative interdisciplinary study focuses on the history, science, and policy of tree planting and water conservation in South Africa. South Africa's forestry sector has sat—often controversially—at the crossroads of policy and scientific debates regarding water conservation, economic development, and biodiversity protection. Bennett and Kruger show how debates about the hydrological impact of exotic tree planting in South Africa shaped the development of modern scientific ideas and state policies relating to timber plantations, water conservation, invasive species control, and biodiversity management within South Africa as well as elsewhere in the world. Forestry and Water Conservation in South Africa shows how scientific research on the impact of exotic and native vegetation led to the development of a comprehensive national policy for conserving water, producing timber, and protecting indigenous species from invasive alien plants. Policies and laws relating to forests and water began to change in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a result of political and administrative changes within South Africa. This book suggests that the country's contemporary policies towards timber plantations, guided by the National Water Act of 1998, need to be reconsidered in light of the authors' findings. Bennett and Kruger also call for more interdisciplinary research and greater emphasis on integrated policies and management plans for forestry, invasive alien plants, water conservation, and biodiversity preservation.

International nature conservation programs were originally driven by field biologists. As environment has assumed increasing prominence on the international political agenda, the role of biologists has been marginalised. International programs now have ambitious targets set by politicians and aspire to save the world.There is a need to balance these global environmental initiatives with a set of shorter-term practical actions to maximise biodiversity conservation. Biological scientists can cooperate with other natural resource specialists and social scientists in defining more targeted cost-effective nature conservation programs. A case is made for the Prince Bernhard Chair at the University of UTRECHT to focus on this interface between science and conservation practices.