Biodiversity (Papers from the 1st National Forum on Biodiversity, September 1986, Washington, D.C.) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0309037395 ISBN 13: 9780309037396

Publisher: National Academy of Sciences, 1988

Synopsis

This important book for scientists and nonscientists alike calls attention to a most urgent global problem: the rapidly accelerating loss of plant and animal species to increasing human population pressure and the demands of economic development. Based on a major conference sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution, Biodiversity creates a systematic framework for analyzing the problem and searching for possible solutions.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• The Current State of Biological Diversity
• Part 1: Challenges to the Preservation of Biodiversity
• Part 2: Human Dependence on Biological Diversity
• Part 3: Diversity at Risk: Tropical Forests
• Part 4: Diversity at Risk: The Global Perspective
• Part 5: The Value of Biodiversity
• Part 6: How is Biodiversity Monitored and Protected?
• Part 7: Science and Technology: How Can They Help?
• Part 8: Restoration Ecology: Can We Recover Lost Ground?
• Part 9: Alternatives to Destruction
• Part 10: Policies to Protect Diversity
• Part 11: Present Problems and Future Prospects
• Part 12: Ways of Seeing the Biosphere
• Part 13: Epilogue
• Index

About this title

Book Description:

This important book for scientists and nonscientists alike calls attention to a most urgent global problem: the rapidly accelerating loss of plant and animal species to increasing human population pressure and the demands of economic development. Based on a major conference sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution, Biodiversity creates a systematic framework for analyzing the problem and searching for possible solutions.

From the Back Cover:

This book helps the reader understand the conceptual problems and real-world implications raised by efforts to protect biodiversity. The goal of this book is to clarify the role that human values play in creating practical definitions of the term biodiversity. The concept of biodiversity, according to the authors, is both more subtle and more difficult to employ in practical situations than is commonly appreciated.

Conceptualizing and assessing biodiversity and setting conversation priorities are not narrowly defined biological problems-they are broad based human enterprises with a large social and political component. Human resources are not sufficient to protect all of biodiversity, and difficult choices of what to conserve lie ahead. The goal of this book is to clarify the role that human values play in creating practical definitions of the term biodiversity.

This book is written for conversation decision makers: conversation biologists, lawmakers, and policy planners in governmental and non-governmental agencies; business people in fields such as agriculture, forestry, and paper products; and students in al of these fields.

About this edition

• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0309037395
• ISBN 13: 9780309037396
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 521
• Editor: Edward O. Wilson, Frances M. Peter