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Seeds provide half of the calories consumed by humans today and helped grow human civilization. Just ten crops (rice, maize, wheat, potatoes, etc.) provide 75% of human energy needs. "Seeds: A Natural History" unearths the evolution of seeds from the time before dinosaurs to how they became our primary source of calories and protein today. Using vivid photos of seeds, which invite readers to appreciate their diversity of form and function, along with a text by an award winning science journalist and writer, "Seeds "harvests the importance of the nature and productivity of seeds. And to complete the narrative arc, Seeds" shows how modern scientific techniques of genetic profiling, seed banking, and plant breeding may be the answer to humanity s future. Seeds and humans have had a bountiful history and this book captures the scientific, artistic, and economic vitality of these incredible natural packages."
The Lake Chilwa Basin Climate Change Adaptation Programme was a seven-year research and development programme in Malawi that concluded in March 2017. The programme was designed to protect the livelihoods of the population and enhance resilience of the natural resource base upon which it depends. The Lake Chilwa Basin is an important wetland ecosystem which is a designated Ramsar Site under the Ramsar Wetland Convention and a Man and Biosphere Reserve designated by UNESCO. This book provides a review of the research and programme interventions done based on the ecosystem approach (EA), a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources. This is designed to promote bi...
Over the last two years, Worldwatch's Nourishing the Planet team has travelled to 25 sub-Saharan African nations - the places where hunger is greatest - and uncovered a treasure trove of innovations from farmers groups, private voluntary organizations, universities, and even agribusiness companies. These innovations offer global benefits - from the continent's role in preventing disastrous climate change to the way urban farmers are feeding people in cities and why even determined locavores are sustained by the crop diversity preserved by farmers thousands of miles away. This book assesses the state of agricultural innovations from cropping methods to irrigation technology to agricultural po...
Large carnivores include iconic species such as bears, wolves and big cats. Their habitats are increasingly being shared with humans, and there is a growing number of examples of human-carnivore coexistence as well as conflict. Next to population dynamics of large carnivores, there are considerable attitude shifts towards these species worldwide with multiple implications. This book argues and demonstrates why human dimensions of relationships to large carnivores are crucial for their successful conservation and management. It provides an overview of theoretical and methodological perspectives, heterogeneity in stakeholder perceptions and behaviour as well as developments in decision making,...
This volume provides a textbook and reference work on the physical and biotic landscapes of Southern Africa. It examines the links between these environments and the ways in which they have been, are and will likely be subject to change. It covers the geomorphology, soils, vegetation and land use across a range of landscapes, including mountains, coasts, savannah, drylands and wetlands, and identifies the impacts of current and potential climate change and other factors on these environments. The geographical focus is on the region defined by Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland. Illustrated throughout in full colour, the book will serve as a reference volume for researchers and environmental professionals internationally, as well as a textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate-level students of geography, ecology and environmental studies in Southern Africa.
Forest management auditing is expanding from its traditional focus on forest management, stewardship and Chain of Custody certification to more innovative topics such as ecosystem services, forest carbon credits, Non-Wood Forest Products, wood energy and Fair Trade certification. Forest managers, auditors and project developers require a new range of skills, capacities and expertise to monitor these issues. This book outlines the market-based tools that are required by such professionals to ensure corporate social responsibility in the forestry sector. It shows how a mutual learning process between established forest certification processes and innovative markets is needed. It addresses key ...
Onshore unconventional gas operations, in most jurisdictions, operate on the legal principle that all activities during exploration and extraction are ‘temporary’ in nature. The concept that the onshore unconventional gas industry has a temporary effect on the land on which it operates creates a regulatory paradox. On one hand, unconventional gas activities create energy security, national wealth and a bourgeoning export industry. On the other, agricultural land and agriculturalists may be significantly disadvantaged by unconventional gas activities potentially producing permanent damage to non-renewable fertile soils and spoiling the underground water tables. Thus, threatening future fo...
This book investigates the fundamental role that tropical bioproductivity - or more specifically net primary productivity - has played in shaping the global geographies of food, finance, governance and people. The book examines the basic astronomical and thermal properties of our planet to illustrate the dynamic nature of the tropics and how the region resides at the very heart of global energetics, driving the environmental flows that shape planetary climate and bioproductivity. The author explores how the region’s relatively small, but hyper-productive, land area provided the groundswell for the economic, social, political and demographic changes that fuelled empires, European colonialis...