Peace Parks


Book Description

Peace Parks examines ways in which environmental cooperation in multijurisdictional conservation areas may help resolve political and territorial conflicts. Its analysis and case studies of transboundary peace parks focus on how sharing of physical space and management responsibilities can build and sustain peace among countries. It examines roles played by governments, military, civil society, scientists, and conservationists, and their effects on both ecological management and potential for peace-building in these areas. After an historical and theoretical overview that explores economic, political, and social theories that support peace parks concept, and discussion of bioregional management for science and economic development, the book presents case studies of existing parks and proposals for future parks--Publisher's description.




Tourism Collaboration and Partnerships


Book Description

This book explores the concept, techniques and implications of establishing stakeholder collaboration in sustainable tourism. The importance of involving a wide range of stakeholders in tourism planning and management is increasingly recognised. This reflects a move to less top-down, more decentralised and more inclusive forms of governance in tourism and in other policy fields. Twenty-two leading researchers and practitioners from around the world contribute their views and expertise to this pioneering volume. Case studies examining key issues are drawn from Europe, North and South America, Australia and the Arctic. Section 1 examines the processes, patterns and typologies involved. Specific concerns addressed include stakeholder interaction and negotiation, boundary issues in regional and international partnerships and stages of collaborative development. Section 2 evaluates the effects of politics and power on the practice of collaboration. Specific topics here include the changing roles of the state in tourism governance, regime theory and tourism, the public sector and partnership development and partnerships in a post socialist context. Section 3 looks at emerging thinking and approaches, sums up key issues affecting collaborative tourism planning and suggests future research directions. The book will be invaluable for final year undergraduate tourism students, for postgraduate students in tourism, environmental studies or planning and of interest to tourism planners, managers and consultants.




Nation-States and the Global Environment


Book Description

Hardly a day passes without journalists, policymakers, academics, or scientists calling attention to the worldwide scale of the environmental crisis confronting humankind. While climate change has generated the greatest alarm in recent years, other global problems-desertification, toxic pollution, species extinctions, drought, and deforestation, to name just a few-loom close behind. The scope of the most pressing environmental problems far exceeds the capacity of individual nation-states, much less smaller political entities. To compound these problems, economic globalization, the growth of non-governmental activist groups, and the accelerating flow of information have fundamentally transformed the geopolitical landscape. Despite the new urgency of these challenges, however, they are not without historical precedent. As this book shows, nation-states have long sought agreements to manage migratory wildlife, just as they have negotiated conventions governing the exploitation of rivers and other bodies of water. Similarly, nation-states have long attempted to control resources beyond their borders, to impose their standards of proper environmental exploitation on others, and to draw on expertise developed elsewhere to cope with environmental problems at home. This collection examines this little-understood history, providing case studies and context to inform ongoing debates.







Parks and Recreation System Planning


Book Description

Parks and recreation systems have evolved in remarkable ways over the past two decades. No longer just playgrounds and ballfields, parks and open spaces have become recognized as essential green infrastructure with the potential to contribute to community resiliency and sustainability. To capitalize on this potential, the parks and recreation system planning process must evolve as well. In Parks and Recreation System Planning, David Barth provides a new, step-by-step approach to creating parks systems that generate greater economic, social, and environmental benefits. Barth first advocates that parks and recreation systems should no longer be regarded as isolated facilities, but as elements of an integrated public realm. Each space should be designed to generate multiple community benefits. Next, he presents a new approach for parks and recreation planning that is integrated into community-wide issues. Chapters outline each step—evaluating existing systems, implementing a carefully crafted plan, and more—necessary for creating a successful, adaptable system. Throughout the book, he describes initiatives that are creating more resilient, sustainable, and engaging parks and recreation facilities, drawing from his experience consulting in more than 100 communities across the U.S. Parks and Recreation System Planning meets the critical need to provide an up-to-date, comprehensive approach for planning parks and recreation systems across the country. This is essential reading for every parks and recreation professional, design professional, and public official who wants their community to thrive.










Cartographies of Nature


Book Description

The ascendancy of border studies in the last two decades or so, and the burgeoning work on nature and society neither drew attention to ecological theories of borders nor capitalised on nature as a useful avenue through which border research could be advanced. This volume fills this void by engaging with the following key questions: What insights can be drawn from species’ borders to broaden understandings of bordering? What sorts of borders are engendered by various types of conservation areas? What border stories does each of these areas tell us? What do conservation-related borders teach us about multiple lines that divide societies? Answers to these questions help researchers understand a typology of nature-related borders. The primary objectives of this volume are twofold. The first objective is to expand and deepen the links between nature conservation and border studies by bringing species’ borders into conversation with border studies, while at the same time paying attention to diverse conservation areas and conservation practices. The second objective is to highlight forms of borders associated with various types of conservation areas and the protection of certain types of natural resources. The manner in which nature conservation produces borders, and the forms those borders take, has the potential to enrich the conceptualisation of borders. The point of departure in this volume is that conservation practices produce feedback loops on social reality. Authors in the volume variously show that concerns with environmental protection and management offer possibilities for exploring, and even disrupting, borders within society and those between society and nature. Conservation areas in particular are crucial for a meaningful analysis of natures’ borders and the discourses and narratives related to them, and how such discourses influence conservation practice. This volume is an invaluable resource for research and upper-level courses on border studies, political ecology, conservation and biodiversity management, and environmental change and social impact.




Into Russian Nature


Book Description

"Into Russian Nature examines the history of the Russian national park movement. Russian biologists and geographers had been intrigued with the idea of establishing national parks before the Great October Revolution, but pushed the Soviet government successfully to establish nature reserves (zapovedniki) during the USSR's first decades. However, as the state pushed scientists to make zapovedniki more "useful" during the 1930s, some of the system's staunchest defenders started supporting tourism in them. In the decades after World War II, the USSR experienced a tourism boom and faced a chronic shortage of tourism facilities. Also during these years, Soviet scientists took active part in Western-dominated international environmental protection organizations where they became more familiar with national parks. In turn, they enthusiastically promoted parks for the USSR as a means to reconcile environmental protection and economic development goals, bring international respect to Soviet nature protection efforts, and help instil a love for the country's nature and a desire to protect it in Russian/Soviet citizens. By the late 1980s, their supporters pushed transformative, in some cases quixotic, park proposals. At the same time, national park opponents presented them as an unaffordable luxury during a time of economic struggle, especially after the USSR's collapse. Despite unprecedented collaboration with international organizations, Russian national parks received little governmental support as they became mired in land-use conflicts with local populations. While the history of Russia's national parks illustrates a bold attempt at reform, the state's failure's to support them has left Russian park supporters deeply disillusioned. "--




Transfrontier Conservation in Africa


Book Description

Transfrontier conservation is a global concept, which encompasses the protection of biodiversity spanning the borders of two or more countries in ways that support local economic development, international relations and peace. Nowhere is this more relevant but highly debatable than in Africa, which is home to a third of the world's terrestrial biodiversity, while at the same time hosting its poorest nations. This is one of the first books to account for the emergence of transfrontier conservation in Africa against international experiences in bioregional planning. The roles of the state and local populations are analyzed, as well as the ecological, socio-economic and political implications.