Human modifications of the environment are growing in number and geographic extent, expanding to all of the Earth's surfaces and affecting the vast majority of the Earth's natural resources. Increases in demand for resources, growing levels of poverty, and more extensive urbanization, among other changes, lead to a need to move beyond parks and classic conservation approaches to incorporate hum...

The challenges of ecological and environmental change are significant and solutions remain largely under the influence of people and the decisions of governments, interest groups, national and local communities and individuals. Evidence suggests that despite 20 years of effort, conservation initiatives have failed to achieve the targets set for protecting biodiversity in the UN Convention on Bi...

Founded in 1948, IUCN brings together States, government agencies and a diverse range of non-governmental organizations in a unique world partnership: over 1,000 members in all, spread across some 140 countries. As a Union, IUCN seeks to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resource...

A symposium entitled 'Applied Ecological Genetics: Molecular Approaches in Natural Resource Conservation' was held at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana from 5 to 8 October 2008. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together researchers from disparate fields of molecular ecology, evolutionary biology and genomics to address ways to apply research in ecological genetics to relevant ...

Paradigms of community-based conservation that emerged in the 1990s proposed to link the twin goals of conservation and sustainable development under a single rubric. This was and is a very sexy idea, linking as it does the protection of biodiversity and the alleviation of poverty for the most marginal human societies. More specifically, it links the protection of wildlife and wild landscapes w...

exploitation of wild relatives of crop plants to a large extent depends on the efficient use of germplasm resources available in natural habitat and the centre of diversity. the mulberry, sole food for silkworm is cultivated for the production and development of silkworm industry. four species of mulberry viz., m. indica l., m. alba l., m. laevigata wall., and m. serrata roxb., are reported in ...

Humans and the ecosystem services they depend on are threatened by climate change. Places with high or growing human population as well as increasing climate variability, have a reduced ability to provide ecosystem services just as the need for these services is most critical. A spiral of vulnerability and ecosystem degradation often ensues in such places. We apply different global conservation...

Biodiversity — the variety of all life, from genes and species to ecosystems — is intimately linked to Earth’s climate and, inevitably, to climate change. Biodiversity and poverty are also inextricably connected. For instance, changes to natural ecosystems influence both climate change and people’s ability to cope with some of its damaging impacts. And in their turn climate change, as well as p...

Map-based prioritization systems have become ubiquitous tools for allocating resources for biological conservation. Although the scientific basis for these systems continues to be debated, they have become a significant factor in international conservation. A recent study found that published conservation priorities are associated with over one third of conservation spending by major internatio...