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  Environment on the Edge 2006 - 2007 »

  This publication presents five of the lectures from the 2006 - 2007 'Environment on the Edge' lecture series. It includes the following themes:

  •Europe on the edge Professor - Jacqueline McGlade
  •Are we running out of oil? - Dr Jeremy Leggett and Dr Ian Vann
  •The impacts of the Three Gorges Dam - Professor Zhang Jing
  •Humans and carbon: a Faustian bargain? - Professor Berrien Moore III
  •Valuing sustainability - Richard Saxon CBE
  •Transport: a case of systematic sclerosis? - Professor David Fisk

  Resource Type: Reports
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  Using Higher-Taxon Richness as a Surrogate for Species Richness: I. Regional Tests »

  In the first of two papers, we explored congruence between species and higher-taxon richness across protected areas in Indo-Malaya and the Pacific rim. Our results support the use of the higher-taxon approach in guiding tropical conservation, but with certain reservations. In all three groups examined, higher-taxon richness was quite closely related to species number. However, the precision with which absolute species richness of reserves could be predicted from higher-taxon richness was often surprisingly low, particularly for rich sites where surveying higher taxa rather than species would save most time. The performance of higher taxa as surrogates also dropped sharply with increasing taxonomic rank, resulting in a trade-off between time saved by high-level surveys and the value of those surveys. Lastly, we found that species richness within individual higher taxa was potentially as powerful an indicator of the overall species diversity of a site as the number of higher taxa it contained.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Global Environment Outlook (GEO) Reports »

  Since 1997, UNEP has produced Global Environment Outlook (GEO) reports providing assessments of the interactions between environment and society. With its core mandate of “keeping the global environment under review,” UNEP coordinated a series of scientific assessments that included extensive consultations and participatory processes, resulting in the production of GEO reports in 1997, 1999 and 2002.

  GEO-4 provides an overview of global social and economic trends, and the state-and-trends of the global and regional environments over the past two decades, as well as the human dimensions of these changes. It highlights the interlinkages as well as the challenges of environmental change and opportunities that the environment provides for human wellbeing. It provides an outlook for the future, and policy options to address present and emerging environmental issues.

  It places sustainable development at the core of the assessment, particularly on issues dealing with intra- and intergenerational equity. The analyses include the need and usefulness of valuation of environmental goods and services, and the role of such services in enhancing development and human well-being, and minimizing human vulnerability to environmental change
   

  Resource Type: Reports