Nearly 90 percent of the earth's land surface is directly affected by
human infrastructure and activities, yet less than 5 percent is legally
"protected" for biodiversity conservation--and even most large protected
areas have people living inside their boundaries. In all but a small
fraction of the earth's land area, then, conservation and people must
coexist. Conservation is a resource for all those who aim to reconcile
biodiversity with human livelihoods. It traces the historical roots of
modern conservation thought and practice, and explores current
perspectives from evolutionary and community ecology, conservation
biology, anthropology, political ecology, economics, and policy. The
authors examine a suite of conservation strategies and perspectives from
around the world, highlighting the most innovative and promising avenues
for future efforts.
Exploring, highlighting, and bridging gaps between the social and
natural sciences as applied in the practice of conservation, this book
provides a broad, practically oriented view. It is essential reading for
anyone involved in the conservation process--from academic conservation
biology to the management of protected areas, rural livelihood
development to poverty alleviation, and from community-based natural
resource management to national and global policymaking.