IndigenousAustralians comprise 2.5% of the population of Australia, but 32.5% of people in the Northern Territory. Studies have documented the critical importance for Indigenous people from rural and remote areas of “finishing up” (the culturally appropriate reference to death and dying) on “country” (ancestral community and lands). Transferring sacred knowledge, providing culturally appropriat...

Experiences worldwide reveal that degraded lands restoration projects achieve little success or fail. Hence, understanding the underlying causes and accordingly, devising appropriate restoration mechanisms is crucial. In doing so, the ever-increasing aspiration and global commitments in degraded lands restoration could be realized. Here we explain that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) biotech...

In the British Isles, control of cattle tuberculosis (TB) is hindered by persistent infection of wild badger (Meles meles) populations. A large­scale field trial—the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT)—previously showed that widespread badger culling produced modest reductions in cattle TB incidence during culling, which were offset by elevated TB risks for cattle on adjoining lands. Once cu...

Mediterranean-type ecosystems constitute one of the rarest terrestrial biomes and yet they are extraordinarily biodiverse. Home to over 250 million people, the five regions where these ecosystems are found have climate and coastal conditions that make them highly desirable human habitats. The current conservation landscape does not reflect the mediterranean biome's rarity and its importance for...

Economic incentive programs are increasingly promoted in the United States and Europe as a method to encourage sustainable forest management practices on privately owned lands. This paper employs spatial analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of one such program created in Illinois through passage of the Illinois Forestry Development Act (IFDA). The Act establishes economic incentives available...

IN TR O D U CTIO N For decades the highway location team has based consideration of alternatives on such basic factors as right-of-way and construction costs, length of alternative routes, number of structures required, number of homes displaced, benefit cost ratios and other traditional considera­ tions. This approach, originally applied to rural projects, gradually crept into use in urban hig...

Because habitat loss is the main cause of extinction, where and how much society chooses to protect is vital for saving species. The United States is well positioned economically and politically to pursue habitat conservation should it be a societal goal. We assessed the US protected area portfolio with respect to biodiversity in the country. New synthesis maps for terrestrial vertebrates, fres...

David Evans and Associates Inc. (DEA) conducted 15 case studies to evaluate examples of the integration of the Growth Management Act (GMA) and the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) since the adoption of the Regulatory Reform Act of 1995. The selected case studies included rural, urban, redevelopment, new development, master planned resorts, master planned sites, multijurisdictions, one GMA ...

Protected areas (PAs) not only serve as refuges of biodiversity conservation but are also part of large ecosystems and are vulnerable to change caused by human activity from surrounding lands, especially in biodiversity hotspots. Assessing threats to PAs and surrounding areas is therefore a critical step in effective conservation planning. We apply a threat framework as a means of quantitativel...