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The idea of building an economy which supports sustainable development without degrading the environment has been widely debated and broadly embraced by politicians, civil servants, the media, academics and the public alike for several decades. This book explores the measures being trialled at various levels of governance in the European region to reduce the adverse impacts of human behaviour on the environment whilst simultaneously addressing society's economic and social needs as part of the intended shift towards a 'green' economy. It includes European case studies that scrutinise the efforts being undertaken at sub-national, national and regional tiers of governance to facilitate the transition to a low carbon economy. This book will be of interest to graduate students, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers working in environmental governance, European studies, environmental studies, political science, and management studies.

This chapter is written in the unfolding aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. It is still impossible to forecast all of the consequences of those terrible events. Huge amounts of money will be diverted to a wide array of anti-terrorism activities, involving military, financial and diplomatic initiatives. In addition civil liberties will be affected, hopefully in such a way as to respect honest people and well-meaning associations of benign interests. It is possible that the sums of money involved in this necessary co-ordinated effort to bring peace and security to the daily lives of many millions will exceed all that could be directed into safeguarding and expanding biodiversity. Norman Myers offers some figures in Chapter 3, and there are other estimates in Chapter 1. 500 million dollars could save the hot spots and some $3 billion annually could safeguard all biodiversity world wide. Some more figure are provided later in this chapter. These are not ‘either-or’ matters. Safeguarding peace of mind throughout the globe is a desirable sustainability objective. Building and reinforcing social capital in every corner or humanity is also a desirable sustainability objective. Any global coalition against terrorism contains the scope for a companion coalition in favour of biodiversity for sustainability. The globalisation forces about which many feel uneasy will foster a demand for social distinctiveness and identity but within a sustaining whole. There is more scope for local economies in a world where mobility could usefully be curtailed to some extent. It is far too early to tell what will be all of the consequences of the new world order. Hopefully the meeting of world leaders in Johannesburg in September 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (wwe.worlsummit2002.org) will continue the global healing process so falteringly initiated in Rio de Janeiro a year earlier. The Johannesburg 2002 event will focus on poverty, health, human rights (especially for women, children and indigenous peoples) and the safeguard of water and biodiversity. This text is aimed, in part, at this summit. It is possible that the coalitions of human security will metamorphose into partnerships for peace and mutual understanding. It is also possible that the kind of effort to recognise cultural diversity and to infuse locality into globalisation processes will evolve out of the current moves to establish a world order against terrorism. It is simplistic and naive to suggest that bringing sustainability into that world order will help to climate terrorism and anger. This is a process that will take generations to ease. All we can hope for is that world economic summits combine with world sustainability summits into the kinds of common wish for a healthy planet and healthy people that could be reached by protecting beyond the protected. If world political, religious and economic leaders combined the centrality of wealth, health, stability and security with sustainability, then there is a chance that the outcome of the unforgettable events of 11 September will generate a profoundly transformative legacy. This at least, is the spirit in which this final chapter is written.

Biodiversity is the key indicator of a healthy planet and healthy society. Losses of biodiversity have now become widespread and current rates are potentially catastrophic for species and habitat integrity. Biodiversity, Sustainability and Human Communities, first published in 2002, advocates both the preservation of the best remaining habitats and the enhancement of new biodiverse habitats to ensure that they cope with human impact, climate change and alien species invasion. The authors argue that these aims can be achieved by a mix of strict protection, inclusive involvement of people inside and adjacent to reserves, and by combining livelihoods and social well-being in all future biodiversity management. Case studies from regions around the world, including Europe, the United States, Latin America and Africa are examined and discussed, and the contributors include political scientists, economists and ecologists.

Part I. Setting the Scene: 1. Protecting beyond the protected Tim O'Riordan Part II. Policy and Management: 2. Biodiversity: threats and challenges Tom Lovejoy 3. Biodiversity and biodepletion: the need for a paradigm shift Norman Myers 4. People, livelihoods and collective action in biodiversity management Jules Pretty 5. Deliberative democracy and participatory biodiversity Tim O'Riordan Part III. Case Studies: 6. The politics of biodiversity in Europe Tim O'Riordan, Jenny Fairbrass, Martin Welp and Susanne Stoll-Kleemann 7. Community-based involvement in biodiversity protection in the United States Toddi Steelman 8. An ecoregional approach to biodiversity conservation in the Cape Floral Kingdom, South Africa Amanda Younge 9. Wildlife management in Namibia: the conservancy approach Markus Nuding 10. Brazil: selling biodiversity with local livelihoods Ione Egler 11. The mixed experience of private sector involvement in biodiversity management in Costa Rica Michael Sturm 12. The uncertain role of biodiversity management in emerging democracies Martin Welp, Dami Buchori, David Ardhain and Daniela Hamidovic Part IV. Perspective: 13. Enhancing biodiversity and humanity Susanne Stoll-Kleemann and Tim O'Riordan Epilogue Walter Reid.

The risks of coastal flooding and erosion in the UK are changing in response to the likely effects of climate change, natural isostatic readjustment and the consequences of hard coastal defence initiatives which have lead to coastal instability elsewhere. In addition to the considerable uncertainty brought about by these factors, there has been a significant, strategic shift in national coastal management policy in England away from investing in expensive ‘hard’ engineered defence, toward designing a more naturally functioning coastline. This policy change (Defra, 2005a) has come about in light of questions being asked about the physical sustainability (and increasing cost) of a reliance on engineered defences. This means that many coastal communities of varying size in England are now facing a situation of great unease and anxiety about their future; new policy preferences for retreat and realignment mean no future guarantees of protection. Coastal governance arrangements at national to local scales have not yet adequately responded to the new strategic outlook; the national shift of priority has not been matched by any compensation package or appropriate initiatives to promote the development and delivery of associated adaptation requirements in such locations. Drawing on Tyndall Centre research, this chapter presents an analysis of the governance setting for the management of England's changing coastline (O'Riordan et al., 2006, 2008; Milligan and O'Riordan, 2007; Milligan et al., 2009).