conservation
As a new strategy to conserve resources, decentralisation of political authority has displaced earlier coercive conservation policies in many countries. More than 60 countries claim to have decentralised forest control. In these countries, communities are supposed to be involved in joint strategies to conserve forests. The story is similar for other resources such as wildlife, water, and...
MRD asked Susanne Wymann von Dach, geographer and MRD Assistant Editor, to interview Engelbert Ruoss, a biologist and museologist who is project manager of the Entlebuch Biosphere Reserve (Projekt Biosphärenreservat Entlebuch, Chlosterbüel, 6170 Schüpfheim, Switzerland) and lectures at the Institute for Environmental Research (NLU), University of Basle. The interview was...
There are few countries in the world where the need to reconcile the requirements for conservation of natural resources with the exigencies of development is as acute as it is in Ethiopia. The country is affected by chronic food insecurity and is dependent on external food aid. It is one of the poorest countries in the world and ranks 171 (out of 174) on the United Nations Development Program...
The area set aside for conservation by concerned governments and communities covers almost 12 per cent of the Earth's land surface. Protected areas are such a significant factor in the planet's natural resource allocation that they are important indicators in global environment monitoring. Recognition of the importance of participatory approaches and the values of community-conserved areas...
There are important reasons why agrobiodiversity is currently a trendy topic. On one hand there is the prospect of dramatic transformation in world agriculture through the technology of genetic modification of material preserved in gene banks. On the other hand is the argument against the spread of intensive monoculture in agricultural practice, favoring instead a view of sustainability...
Much of El Salvador's crop production is in mountainous areas with gradients over 15%. The main crops are shade-grown coffee, sugar cane, citrus and other fruit trees, and staples for local consumption, including maize, beans, rice, and sorghum. The latter are produced on small-scale subsistence farms in mountainous zones (0.3–2 ha per farmer) characterised by intensive use...
Conservation of agricultural biodiversity has become an important paradigm in efforts to promote sustainable development throughout the world. This is especially the case in Andean countries, where ex situ conservation of crops has been a focus of attention since the 1970s. In Peru in the early 1990s, researchers and development specialists also focused on in situ conservation and...
Ethnobiology has a rich tradition of understanding and documenting ecological knowledge of traditional peoples living in montane environments. These peoples and their environments currently face great threats to their continued existence. The Highland region of Chiapas, Mexico, in particular, is an area of interest to both ethnobiologists and development practitioners. The montane...
Pages
