Products/Downloads
New Book published by United Nations University Press: Designing our Future: Perspectives on Bioproduction, Ecosystems and Humanity
This volume focuses primarily on society at the local and regional levels and on a scenario in which human beings coexist harmoniously with nature. This ideal society is examined in terms of the relationship between villages or towns and their natural environment and how these villages and towns can achieve local or regional independence in the face of pressures toward centralization and globalization. With economic globalization spearheading a trend toward standardization and uniformity in human values, this book highlights the importance of developing a society in harmony with nature through the networking of diverse communities to promote and achieve local independence. |
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The Role of Governance in Managing Ecosystem Service Trade-offs
Attempts to optimize one ecosystem service often lead to reductions or losses of others. In the Special Issue of Update, GLP Sapporo Nodal Office in collaboration with United Nations University highlights some of the asymmetries in ecosystem services and possible management responses to them. The article can be downloaded here |
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Special Feature on Land Use and Ecosystems published in Sustainability Science
GLP Sapporo Nodal Office has just edited a special feature on Land Use and Ecosystems in Sustainability Science. The Special Feature documents progress in Land Change Science and Environmental Research. Researchers from Clark and Michigan State Universities; US, Center for Development Research; Germany, Tokyo University; Japan, International Water Management Institute; and United Nations University contributed papers ranging from Land Change Modeling, Urbanization Challenges, Drought and Food Security, to Sustainability issues in Biodiversity Business
The articles are located at http://www.springerlink.com/content/1862-4065
Addressing Issues for Land Change Science published in Eos Transactions American Geophysical Union.
The GLP offices in Beijing and Sapporo recently featured an article in Eos on the major outcomes of the Land Systems Vulnerability Workshop held in Beijing in June 2009. The article discusses three pertinent issues that the Land Change Science community should address, namely plurality of definitions in vulnerability research, addressing trade-offs in land systems vulnerability and integrating science and policy for the design of adaptation measures. The article appeared in Eos 90 (38):334 on 22 September 2009 (http://www.agu.org/pubs/eos-news/).
Land Change Science for Environmental Sustainability
Land Change Science (LCS) is a fundamental component of sustainability research. It addresses sustainability issues related to the dynamics of land cover and land use as a coupled human-environment system. It deals with human-driven changes that have wide-ranging consequences for the structure and function of ecosystems to the earth system, with equally far-reaching implications for human well-being.
In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (http://www.pnas.org/), Billie Turner, Eric Lambin, and Anette Reenberg explain the daunting objectives of LCS, the major components of LCS research, the progress underway, and the challenges for the future. The article can be downloaded here.
New Book Synthesizes Knowledge on Impact of Land Use on Soil Resources
Soil is a basic resource for land use, but anthropogenic impacts undermine its ability to support life on Earth. Because such impacts occur imperceptibly, land managers hardly initiate timely ameliorative measures. |
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