Books in the Foundations of Contemporary Environmental Studies Series series

Meeting today's environmental challenges requires a new way of thinking about the intricate dependencies between humans and nature. Ecology and Ecosystem Conservation provides students and other readers with a basic understanding of the fundamental principles of ecological science and their applications, offering an essential overview of the way ecology can be used to devise strategies to conserve the health and functioning of ecosystems.The book begins by exploring the need for ecological science in understanding currenvironmental issues and briefly discussing what ecology is and isn't. Subsequchapters address critical issues in conservation and show how ecological science can be applied to them. The book explores questions such as:• What is the role of ecological science in decision making?• What factors govern the assembly of ecosystems and determinetheir response to various stressors?• How does Earth's climate system function and determine thedistribution of life on Earth?• What factors control the size of populations?• How does fragmentation of the landscape affect the persistenceof species on the landscape?• How does biological diversity influence ecosystem processes?The book closes with a final chapter that addresses the need not only to understand ecological science, but to put that science into an ecosystem conservation ethics perspective.

Today's mpressing environmental problems are planetary in scope, confounding the political will of any one nation. How can we solve them?Global Environmental Governance offers the essential information, theory, and practical insight needed to tackle this critical challenge. It examines ten major environmental threats-climate disruption, biodiversity loss, acid rain, ozone depletion, deforestation, desertification, freshwater degradation and shortages, marine fisheries decline, toxic pollutants, and excess nitrogen-and explores how they can be addressed through treaties, governance regimes, and new forms of international cooperation.Written by Gus Speth, one of the architects of the international environmental movement, and accomplished political scientist Peter M. Haas, Global Environmental Governance tells the story of how the community of nations, nongovernmental organizations, scientists, and multinational corporations have in recdecades created an unprecedented set of laws and institutions intended to help solve large-scale environmental problems. The book critically examines the serious shortcomings of currefforts and the underlying reasons why disturbing trends persist. It presents key concepts in international law and regime formation in simple, accessible language, and describes the currinstitutional landscape as well as lessons learned and new directions needed in international governance. Global Environmental Governance is a concise guide, with lists of key terms, study questions, and other features designed to help readers think about and understand the concepts discussed.