This document outlines a framework for sustainable land use in the coastal regions of North Africa. It emphasizes the need for land conservation to achieve food security and sustainable agriculture. The report highlights the natural resource base, current land use practices, and the impacts of land degradation. It proposes a strategy focusing on improving land use, increasing government advocacy, encouraging popular participation, and strengthening national and sub-regional institutions. The goal is to promote rational and optimal use of land resources to maintain productivity and biodiversity while addressing environmental degradation.

The rate of degradation and depletion of natural resources in Africa has been accelerated as a result of the increasing population pressure. The lack of reliable quantitative and qualitative information on vegetation cover and land use at national and regional levels has been the major limiting factor in development planning, sustainable management of agriculture and forestry resources, the food security early warning systems, environmental monitoring as well as in biodiversity assessment and protection. The overall objective of the project is production of vegetation cover and land use map at 1:1 million for the whole of Africa and at 1:200 000 (91:250 000) for priority areas, based on satellite remote sensing and GIS.

Biodiversity is a multifaceted phenomenon involving the variety of organisms present, the genetic differences among them, and the communities, ecosystems, and landscape patterns in which they occur. Society will increasingly value biodiversity and influence the passage of laws and writing of regulations involving biodiversity which rangeland managers will have to abide by over the coming decades. Even private and developing world rangelands will be affected. While taxonomic knowledge of vertebrates and vascular plants and their abundance, rarity, and distribution, in the developed nations is generally adequate, the same cannot be said of the developing world. Furthermore, adequate knowledge of invertebrates, nonvascular plants, and microbes is deficient everywhere. Although the basis of variation at all higher levels, genetic variation within rangeland species, even the major ones, has barely been assessed. Obtaining statistically adequate data on populations of rare species that are small and secretive is well nigh impossible. We have many means of measuring community diversity, but all of them are value laden. That is, choice of variables to measure and how they are indexed betrays what we consider are important. We should be more forthright in stating to the users the biases of these methods. There are many other, more useful ways to describe community-level diversity besides the traditional focus on species. Ungulate grazing is an important process in many ecosystems. Thus, removal of grazing destabilizes some systems. Livestock grazing will actually increase the chances of survival of some species. Moderate livestock grazing can also enhance community and landscape-level diversity in many instances. Attention is now shifting from "charismatic" species to defensively managing larger tracts of land with habitat or ecosystems holding suites of sensitive species. Since some accelerated extinction of isolated populations and species is inevitable, we need to know which species and ecotypes are most valuable. Understanding of modular, guild, and functional group structure would also help us identify keystone or critical link species and better focus our attention on truly important tracts of land where they live. It is probably more important to sustain soils and ecosystem processes than any randomly selected species, especially if functionally redundant species can be identified. Similarly, not all introduced, alien, or exotic species are equal threats; it depends on how they fit into ecosystems. Sustainable development will depend on finding balance between use and protection, from range sites 10 landscapes, and even on a global basis.

Tropical forests are one of the world's most important resources: they contain the vast majority of its species and play a vital role in the global balance. The unprecedented rate of deforestation over the last fifty years has led to growing concern for the fate of those areas which remain, and for the impact of deforestation on the earth's climate, on biodiversity, and on local people whose livelihoods depend on the forests. | This Reader draws together a selection of the most important contributions to the discussion, showing the different diagnoses and the various options available for dealing with the problems. The topics covered include policy and management of the forests, land use and degradation, international trade patterns and the role of the ITTO, forestry development aid, indigenous peoples and the conservation of biological diversity. The editor's comprehensive introduction evaluates the arguments, and places the contributions in context. By setting out the issues involved in a clear, accessible manner, this volume will make an invaluable sourcebook for students and all those concerned with the issues.

Land managers face the difficult challenge of maintaining biodiversity on lands also used for commodity production. We present an approach for managing the habitats of terrestrial vertebrates at the landscape scale on multiple—use lands. The approach is based on the hypothesis that animal community response to landscape change is a function of species life histories and local patterns of landscape change. Key steps are: (1) set clear objectives; (2) associate target species with specific habitat configurations; (3) assess the potential sensitivity of species by mapping habitat suitability and examining species life histories; (4) evaluate alternative management prescriptions using simulation models; and (5) implement preferred or experimental strategies and monitor the responses of habitats and species. The approach was demonstrated for a watershed in western Oregon. Management objectives were to maximize habitat diversity for early— and late—successional bird species and to produce saw timber at levels compatible with the habitat goals. Habitat associations of 51 bird species were described by four variables that encompass three spatial scales. An analysis of species sensitivity to landscape change revealed several species that may merit special attention. The landscape model LSPA and the gap model ZELIG.PNW were used to simulate four disturbance/management scenarios over a 140—yr period: natural fire, wood production, multiple use, and no action. The results indicated that 65% more saw timber would be produced under the wood production run than the multiple—use run, but the former would maintain habitats for many fewer bird species than the latter. The multiple—use scenario was selected as the preferred alternative. We suggest carrying out management experiments and rigorous monitoring during the implementation phase. While this approach has various limitations, it is an incremental step towards the effective management of species diversity on multiple—use lands.

Biological diversity in the Northern Sierra Madre [Philippines] mountains was evaluated using a combination of several survey techniques: namely, forty-hour line transect counting, mist-netting, general observations, bioacoustics, systematic trapping of non-volant mammals, and ethnobiological interviews with local people. In addition, information on existing land-use, logging practices, forest distribution and forest quality were compiled, together with a study focused on the Philippine Eagle. Thirteen study sites covering different forest types, habitat types and elevational gradients were identified. A total of 241 (200 breeding and 41 migratory) species of birds was identified. Nearly 80% of the breeding species known from Luzon have now been recorded. Eighty-seven percent of Luzon's Philippine endemics and 84% of all Luzon endemics are now known to occur in the area. This confirms the international importance of this mountain range as one of the 221 global key sites for conservation of biodiversity. Twenty-seven species of mammals (14 bats, 8 murid rodents, 1 monkey, 1 wild pig, 1 deer and 2 civets) were recorded, including 2 poorly known genera of rodents and a possibly undescribed species of bat. At present, about 70% of Luzon mammals are of unknown conservation status. It is evident that further reduction of the remaining primary forests and old residual forests in the mountain range will result in serious loss of biodiversity. And because of this and its limited distribution, the Isabela Oriole, Oriolus isabelae (not observed since 1961) maybe the first bird species endemic to the area that will face extinction. With the extinction of very vagile organisms such as some birds, it is apparent that organisms which are less vagile and thus, with low colonization capability, face greater threat of extinction

"Despite the billions in public funds spent each year on the administration of our nation's wildlands and the protection of endangered wildlife, plant and animal species continue to disappear at a staggering rate. While the reasons for this trend are not always quite so clear, obscured as they are in a tangled web of conflicting political agendas, ideological imperatives, and commercial interests, its ultimate consequences are all too clear - a seriously diminished way of life for our own species." "Where did we go wrong, and how must we reorient ourselves politically, scientifically, and ethically if we are to salvage what is left of our wild places before it's too late? In Reclaiming the Last Wild Places, leading environmentalist Roger DiSilvestro offers answers to these crucial questions and many more." "In tracing the history of conservation and federal land management in America from the nineteenth century to the present, DiSilvestro highlights the fundamental misconceptions, tactical errors, and fatal compromises that were made along the way. Foremost among these has been the historic practice of creating isolated pockets of wilderness, exposed on all sides to the dangerous influences of human "progress." Rather than creating wildlife sanctuaries, such places become ecological prisons affording animals far from sufficient room and resources within which to thrive. Add to this the time-honored philosophy of "most economic use" and the constant concessions made by Washington to the powerful logging, cattle, and mining lobbies, and it starts to become clear why traditional land management practices have consistently fallen far short of the mark." | "As a remedy DiSilvestro proposes an "applied biodiversity" approach which would concentrate efforts on protecting ecosystems rather than individual species or unique geological features. Practically, this would entail a combination of various new approaches outlined in the book, including ecosystem "gap analysis"--An inexpensive, underutilized technique for detecting and filling in the gaps of ecosystems - as well as the construction of wilderness corridors that would allow animals safe passage from one wilderness area to another. At the same time, strict legislative reforms are needed to reverse more than a century of mismanagement." "Combining a concise history of conservation in America - including compelling portraits of such conservationist-heroes as John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Bob Marshall, and others - along with a comprehensive plan to reform outdated conservation practices, Reclaiming the Last Wild Places is essential reading for anyone who believes that the future of our species depends on our learning how to live in harmony with nature."--Jacket.