Today's polarization of society ‘for’ or ‘against’ big hydro-projects relates to environmental costs, which are borne particularly by vulnerable ethnic minorities and the poor; such costs include species extinctions and tropical deforestation. This counter-productive polarization can be reconciled by transparency and mutuality of planning, by pluralism involving the local populace and especially all affected people, and by engendering national consensus on the best project that is available and practicable.

Birds are a serious threat to aircraft, particularly near airports. For civil aircraft about 75% of all bird-strikes occur near airports. Gulls and small flocking-birds provide the greatest threat to aircraft near airports. Birds are attracted to airports because they become habituated to the noise and traffic, and are attracted by the presence of areas for roosting, loafing, and feeding. Serious bird-strikes can be reduced around airports by reducing the number of birds, by making the birds get out of the way of airplanes, by having planes avoid birds, by adding physical protection to the airplanes, and by switching to new types of aircraft which are safer with respect to bird-strikes. The first two solutions involve bird control, while the last three involve modification of aircraft or aircraft routes. Airport personnel are usually involved only in controlling bird numbers or in dispersing them from the airport.

An historical reconstruction of how key decisions were taken on Nature-conservation issues provides a context for appraising contemporary initiatives, both on a national and an international basis. This paper has been focused on one of the most important landmarks in the development of Nature conservation in Britain, namely the establishment of the Nature Conservancy in 1949. It recounts how the advocacy of pressure-groups, and the appointment of ad hoc inquiries, ensured that Nature conservation had a place in the Government's post-war reconstruction programme, and how it came to be regarded primarily as a scientific rather than a planning issue.

There was nothing inevitable about the steps that were taken in the 1940s. They owed much to the way in which key personalities perceived shifts in public opinion towards the role of central government, and exploited the opportunities thrown up by the national parks movement. Despite the projection of the Nature Conservancy as a body that was modest in status and resources, its potential proved to be enormous. It had the responsibility not only for acquiring and managing Nature reserves, and for disseminating advice on wildlife conservation generally, but also for carrying out the research which was and always will be relevant to those functions. It is, however, doubtful whether the personnel who were responsible for the main initiatives in the 1940s fully appreciated the implications of what they were striving to achieve.

The coal-mining industry plays a vital role towards meeting the energy demands of the people of India. Whether the mining is opencast or underground, however, it affects the environment and ecology of the region. Land is a non-renewable resource and is the main component damaged by mining. In India, exploitation of minerals was carried out in early days with virtually no regard for land protection. Underground mining causes subsidence of strata, mine fires, disturbance of the water-table, topographic disorder, and damage to the land-use pattern.

A fact-finding survey was made at an underground coal project of Raniganj Coalfield in Eastern India, to assess the impact of mining on the topsoil, the study area being described. Generally the soils of the local agricultural land are brownish-grey and smooth while those of the ‘danga’ lands are yellowish brown with fine rock materials, the textural quality being, respectively, sandy loam and loamy sand. Field tests such as infiltration rate and field capacity were measured at all the sampling locations, and graphical representation of the infiltration rates are given.

Infiltration rates of ‘danga’ land were found to be higher than those of agricultural land, due to their generally coarser texture. Field capacity of agricultural lands were found to range from 17.94 to 21.05%, and of ‘danga’ lands from 12.86 to 14.65%. Wilting coefficients were found to range from 5.31 to 6.75% for agricultural land and from 4.70 to 5.25% for ‘danga’ land. Bulk density, soil pH, conductivity, moisture content, and fertility status of the area, were also studied and the results discussed. Soils are deficient in nutrients. Kharif crops give an average yield of 5.05 quintals (each of 100 kg) per acre (0.405 ha) and Rabi crops only 4.88 quintals per acre. Underground mining activity will create land subsidence and disturb the water-table, finally having a negative impact on the topsoil of the area.

National park management has the dual mission of protecting and conserving natural systems and providing services to visitors. These two goals are often contradictory, especially when levels of recreation and tourism increase. We studied whether and how the management of the 13 terrestrial national parks in Germany respond to increasing numbers of visitors. One to three managers from each national park completed an online questionnaire and were then interviewed by phone. We found no general strategy for managing high levels of recreational use. Adaptation to increasing visitor numbers seemed to be complex and arduous. Management options are particularly constrained by the mandatory public participation process, in which various stakeholders are involved in decision-making. Given the political pressure to make amends for restrictions imposed by designated protected areas, national park management is characterized by compromises, which results in a shift of priorities from conservation towards service provision. We argue that to maintain the balance between the dual objectives of conservation and recreation, park managers need the support of both social and biological research communities. Above all, the unique ecological merits of national parks could be more strongly highlighted to increase the general public’s acceptance of park restrictions.

Common lands, being a significant form of natural resource endowment in many developing countries, play a vital role in maintaining the ecological balance, and more particularly in supporting the people, especially the rural poor, in eking out their livelihood. However, the contributions of common lands to the rural economy and ecology have remained unappreciated which has led to the depletion and degradation of these lands. In an attempt to examine the nature and extent of contribution of common lands to household economies, 432 sample households from eight sample villages across four ecological regions in Haryana, northwest India, were surveyed using a structured questionnaire during 1995. We found that common lands still hold an important place in the household economy of rural people of this state. A significant proportion of the sample households obtained substantial biomass resources, income and employment from common lands. The contributions of these lands in terms of variety and extent were many times higher in the households belonging to less developed than developed regions, and those households belonging to poor than wealthy classes. Hence, there is an immediate need to develop effective strategies for the regeneration and sustainable use and management of common lands.

River margins are valued for agriculture in the western Amazon because of their fertile soils and level surfaces. Riparian forests along river margins also provide valuable ecosystem services by protecting water quality and providing resources to aquatic organisms. Because inhabitants of the region rely on these aquatic resources, riparian deforestation may have unintended negative feedbacks on the health and well-being of rural communities. A survey of 79 households of mixed cultural background investigated how riparian environments were used, what mechanisms were in place for their conservation, and how local people valued them. Corn, beans and peanuts were cultivated preferentially in riparian areas, complementing the manioc and plantains grown on upland soils. People valued riparian areas for their ecosystem services and generally left a protective buffer of forest along rivers. Both the agricultural and ecological values of riparian areas may be preserved through proper management.

Introduced rats depredate every life stage of island nesting seabirds, but the extent of predation is rarely quantified. Introduced black rat (Rattus rattus) and native deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus anacapae) predation on Xantus's murrelet (Synthliboramphus hypoleucus scrippsi) nests was experimentally quantified using artificial nests before and after rat eradication on Anacapa Island (California). The staged rat eradication programme provided experimental treatments: in 2002 rats were eradicated on one island (East Anacapa Islet) and remained on two islands (Middle and West Anacapa Islets), providing a control comparison, and, in 2003, rats were eradicated from the remaining islands (Middle and West Anacapa Islets). In 2002, 96% of artificial nests were depredated on control islands (rats present) with rats accounting for most predation. Nest predation on the treatment island (rats eradicated) in 2002 was significantly lower: 8% of artificial nests were depredated, mostly by endemic deer mice. In 2003, following rat eradication on the remaining islands (Middle and West Anacapa Islets), nest predation was reduced from 96% in 2002 to 3% of total nests in 2003. Predation of nests on East Anacapa Islet (rats eradicated in 2002) increased significantly due to reintroduction and recovery of native deer mouse populations, with 23% of artificial nests depredated. The inference is that rat predation on real Xantus's murrelet nests was responsible for the historically low nesting success and small population sizes of breeding murrelets on Anacapa Island. With rats removed, the hatching success of Xantus's murrelet chicks and the number of individuals nesting on Anacapa Island will increase dramatically. Artificial nest studies are particularly well suited to quantifying introduced rat impacts on hole and crevice nesting seabirds and can simultaneously serve as an effective monitoring tool to detect the presence of rats and the recovery of native nest predators.

Rakiura Maori (a tribe of indigenous people in New Zealand) continue a centuries-old customary use of Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus, titi, muttonbird) chicks from islands adjacent to Rakiura (Stewart Island). Some muttonbirders pluck chicks by hand, while others have recently changed to a plucking machine. We compared traditional and modern processing methods to see if new technology stands to increase the efficiency, size and cost effectiveness of harvest. On average, chicks were plucked 6 seconds quicker with a machine, which could potentially increase the catch by up to 4%. Innovation by using wax rather than water to remove down left after plucking saved muttonbirders 29–97 minutes per day, potentially allowing up to a 15% increase in the number of chicks harvested. Both wax and plucking machines increased costs, which led to a modest financial gain from using wax, but a net loss from using a plucking machine. Modern technologies have been introduced mainly for convenience and to ease labour in this customary use of wildlife. New technology may erode traditional skills, but does not necessarily pose a risk to the sustainability of a resource. Financial investment in harvest technologies might provide an incentive to increase harvest levels, but could equally provide an incentive to manage for sustainable use. Preservation lobbies are not justified in presuming that new technologies will always threaten wildlife traditionally used by indigenous people.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) relies on the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) and Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants Programme (MIKE) monitoring systems and trends in elephant numbers and the illegal killing of elephants to put resolutions forward to the Conference of Parties. Imprecision in elephant estimates and trends, as well as the spatial reality of elephant dynamics constrain CITES resolutions. Clusters of populations should instead serve as management units and demographic profiling predicting future population trends may complement existing approaches to inform CITES decisions.

Indigenous systems of management for regulating extraction of non-timber forest products (NTFP) have not been well documented in arid zone grazing lands. Conservation projects have therefore lacked information on customary rights to trees, while they have enforced systems of tree resource management that often conflicted with the indigenous system. This study focused on the indigenous tree tenure system of the Turkana pastoralists called ekwar (plural ngikwarin). The indigenous tree management system in 15.4 km2 of the Turkwel River floodplain woodlands near Lodwar, Kenya was investigated. The study began in 1990 after impoundment of the Turkwel Gorge Dam. In 1990 and 1998, Turkana pastoralists were interviewed about the ekwar. In individual ngikwarin woody cover, wood volume and woody-plant density were measured, and wood extraction assessed in terms of stems and twigs removed by the pastoralists and the urban population of Lodwar. Intensity of charcoal burning was assessed in terms of the density of earthen kilns, and livestock impact in terms of browsing frequency on woody plants. Potential Acacia tortilis litter production was estimated and an ekwar quality index developed to describe woodland productivity conditions. Tree produce was shared with and leased to friends and relatives. Woody cover showed no significant changes, while woody-plant density and volume declined, over the 8-year period. The Turkana usually do not cut live trees, but use dead trees and dry tree-parts for making charcoal. Increased kiln density and increased extraction of tree-parts were considered to be indicative of increased pressure on the riverine woodlands. Livestock browsing did not seem to contribute to woodland degradation. However, decline in woody-plant density and volume might have contributed to the reduction of litter production of A. tortilis. Trends in woodlands in the floodplain might be associated with damming of the Turkwel River and local anthropogenic pressures. Also, the ekwar system of tree tenure seemed to be threatened by the official forestry policy that it be ignored. Incorporating the ekwar system into the forestry conservation policy may achieve sustainable use and improve conservation of the Turkwel River floodplain woodlands.

Coastal ecosystems in the Arabian Gulf region are under increasing pressures from hostilities and other developmental activities; the region has a long history of crude-oil pollution. Because of the high ambient temperature, oil deposited along the coastline or inland evaporates, leaving a semi-solid tar. In Qatar, to clean up the polluted sites, the deposited tar is stripped off and dumped in the coastal marshes as confluent dome-shaped piles. Flowering plant colonization of tar-piles is described here as a chrono-sequence, ranging in age from 2 to 14 years. The successional patterns in vegetation, seed bank, species diversity and plant growth were predicted from tar-pile disturbances with different ages and tar content. The success of natural plant colonization and the establishment of plant communities on the tar-pile disturbances depend upon: (1) age of the tar-pile disturbances, (2) tar content of the piles and soil physico-chemical properties, (3) soil moisture content, (4) structure of plant communities in the surrounding landscape, (5) size of the disposal sites and the method of dumping, and (6) prevailing environmental conditions. A management and restoration framework is proposed to optimize the natural recolonization of tar-piles. To retain these ecosystems in a self-sustaining state, some native plant species might be used including: Aeloropus lagopoides, Aizoon canariense, Anabasis setifera, Fagonia indica, Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum, Reichardia tingitana, Salsola imbricata, Suaeda aegyptiaca, Senecio glaucus, Sporobolus arabicus, Zygophyllum quatarense, and Zygophyllum simplex. To clarify the biological and chemical aspects of the problem, further research on the chemistry of tar-polluted soil and its vegetation in relation to the food web is needed.

Community based natural resource management (CBNRM) engages groups of citizens in collective action towards sustainable conservation and natural resource management (NRM) within and across various tenure regimes. Substantial differences exist between developing and developed countries in terms of conditions conducive to CBNRM. There are also contextual differences from national to local scales, across different ‘spaces’ and ‘places’ within each. This paper focuses on developed countries in deriving and synthesizing some concepts from systems theory and landscape ecology, with lessons from facilitating novel CBNRM arrangements. Understanding the landscape context of interacting levels and scales of social and ecological systems can inform institutional development of resilient CBNRM. Efforts to increase the scale and effectiveness of social-ecological sustainability can benefit from novel arrangements facilitating holistic integration of environmental conservation across levels of institutions of communities and government, including tenure regimes (type and ownership of resources as ‘property’). Property and policy, together with ‘place’ attachment of communities can be viewed within a landscape framework. Such a ‘landscape lens’ provides an interdisciplinary meld that is important to sustainable CBNRM, but sometimes forgotten (or avoided) in government planning, policy deliberation and action.

Natural seasonal variations of the whole-body concentrations of six trace-metals in Mytilus californianus were determined by sampling fortnightly (‘biweekly’) for one year in a relatively pristine environment. Mussels of similar size were collected from a single mussel-bed, and within a discrete tidal range, in order to reduce variability unrelated to the availability of metals in the environment. The accumulation of iron, aluminium, and manganese, and to a lesser extent lead, was directly related to the input to inshore waters of terrigenous material via storm-generated runoff and bottom resuspension during the winter months.

Variations in the accumulation of copper appeared to be related to elevated concentrations of organic Cucomplexing compounds in the water-column both during the winter (e.g. humic acid, introduced via runoff) and during upwelling (e.g. extractable organic material from decomposing phytoplankton). Increased accumulation of cadmium by mussels during the spring was directly proportional to increased surface nutrient concentrations, indicating that Cd is upwelled to inshore waters.

Quantities of both Cd and Pb available to mussels during the Upwelling period appeared to be depleted by, and diluted within, the increased phytoplankton biomass present at that time. No relationship was observed between concentrations of any of the trace-metals analyzed and the reproductive condition of M. californianus.

The consequences of considering ecosystem services (ES) in conservation assessment are still widely debated. The degree of success depends on the extent to which biodiversity and ES can be secured under joint conservation actions. Unlike biodiversity, ES conservation is inseparably linked to human beneficiaries. Reconciling biodiversity with ES and conservation can be particularly challenging in sparsely populated areas. This study, in a sparsely-populated region of eastern Canada, focused on freshwater wetland biodiversity and ten ES provided by wetlands. Within a given maximal total area, the results showed that planning for biodiversity underrepresented local flow ES supply by 57% and demand by 61% in conservation networks. Planning for ES alone underrepresented wetland biodiversity surrogates by an average of 34%. Considering both biodiversity and ES simultaneously, all of the biodiversity and ES targets were achieved with only a 6% mean increase in area. Achieving all conservation targets starting from a network that was primarily built for either ES or biodiversity features alone was two to five times less efficient than considering both ES and biodiversity simultaneously in conservation assessment. A better framework is required to translate these spatial synergies into effective joint conservation actions.

Mostly for political reasons, rather little research has been done on the environmental impacts of military activities. However, some data on this theme have been collected, especially in North America, the Federal Republic of Germany, and The Netherlands. In this last-mentioned country the overall military environmental impact appears to be considerable, and can be compared qualitatively and quantitatively with the pressures on the environment which other economic sectors impose.

The contribution of the military sector to the world-wide environmental degradation problem is estimated at more than 6%, resulting from its share in the gross international product and the heavy character of military practice in both war and peace-time. In The Netherlands this share appears to be about 2 to 5%, which can be deduced from the military share in the national total consumption of energy. The military use of such poisonous and often rare elements as thallium, thorium, copper, beryllium, cadmium, zinc, and lead, varies from about 10 to 40% of their total national use.

In November 1983, the construction of the first part of an assembling plant of jackets to support oil-drilling platforms began at Punta Banda estuary, a 16.40 km2 coastal estuary located 150 km south of the USA-México border. The area that is being built on (0.45 km2) is located at the south-west corner of the estuary and is delimited by a dike. The second part of the construction, covering a further 0.40 km2, will extend to the south-east and will require some deflection of the main circulation channel.

Promoting environmentally conscious behaviour requires an understanding of the complex cognitive mechanisms by which people decide to act environmentally. Research suggests that locus of control (LOC), or the extent to which a person feels his or her own actions can produce broader change, is an important predictor of environmental behaviour; however, little is known about how LOC interacts with other cognitive motivators. This study uses a nationwide survey from China to test whether LOC moderates the effect of environmental attitudes on behaviour. Respondents with external LOC (i.e., those who believe personal actions cannot produce change) reported lower pro-environmental behaviour than those with internal LOC (i.e., those who believe personal actions can produce change). In addition, the influence of environmental attitudes on pro-environmental behaviour was stronger among respondents with external LOC than those with internal LOC. These results support efforts to promote conservation in China by promoting internal LOC and add a novel suggestion that attitude-based messaging is more efficacious among audiences with external LOC.