Bibliography

Title: Forests and human health: assessing the evidence

Author: Colfer, C.J.P.; Sheil, D.; Kishi, M. 

Publisher: Bogor, Indonesia, Center for  International Forestry Research (CIFOR)  

Publication Year: 2006 

This study has two central concerns: the state of human health in forests, and the causal links between forests and human health. Within this framework, four issues related to tropical forests and human health have been considered. First, we discuss forest foods, emphasizing the forest as a food-producing habitat, human dependence on forest foods, the nutritional contributions of such foods, and nutrition-related problems that affect forest peoples. Second topic is disease and other health problems. In addition to the major problems HIV/AIDS, malaria, Ebola and mercury poisoning and some 20 other tropical diseases and health problems related to forests. The third topic is medicinal products. We review the biophysical properties of medicinal species and consider related indigenous knowledge, human uses of medicinal forest products, the serious threats to forest sustainability, and the roles of traditional healers, with a discussion of the benefits of forest medicines and conflicts over their distribution. Our fourth and final topic is the cultural interpretations of human health found among forest peoples, including holistic world views that impinge on health and indigenous knowledge. The Occasional Paper concludes with some observations about the current state of our knowledge, its utility and shortcomings, and our suggestions for future research. 

 

Title:    Environment And Statecraft: The  Strategy of Environmental  Treaty-Making

  Author(s): Scott Barrett

  Publisher: Oxford University Press

  Publication Year: Jan 5, 2006

Environmental problems like global climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion can only be remedied if states cooperate with one another. But sovereign states usually care only about their own interests. So states must somehow restructure the incentives to make cooperation pay. This is what treaties are meant to do.
A few treaties, such as the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, succeed. Most, however, fail to alter the state behavior appreciably. This book develops theory that explains both the successes and the failures. In particular, the book explains when treaties are needed, why
some work better than others, and how treaty design can be improved. The best treaties strategically manipulate the incentives states have to exploit the environment, and the theory developed in this book shows how treaties can do this. The theory integrates a number of disciplines, including economics, political science, international law, negotiation analysis, and game theory. It also offers a coherent and consistent approach. The essential assumption is that treaties be self-enforcing that is, individually rational, collectively rational and fair. The book applies the theory to a number of environmental problems. It provides information on more than three-hundred treaties, and analyses a number of case studies in detail. These include depletion of the ozone layer, whaling, pollution of the Rhine, acid rain, over-fishing, pollution of the oceans, and global climate change. The essential lesson of the book is that treaties should not just tell countries what to do. Treaties must make it in the interests of countries to behave differently. That is, they must restructure the underlying game. Most importantly, they must create incentives for states to participate in a treaty and for parties to comply.

  Title: The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, Is The Environment's Number One Enemy

Author: Jack M. Hollander

Publisher: University of California Press, Berkeley

Publication Year: 2003

Author Jack M. Hollander expresses considerable discomfort with the gloomy assessment and prognosis of resource and environmental conditions expressed by some of his professional colleagues. But much of the burden of his insightful, lucid, and passionately argued work is captured by the subtitle of the book: a plea that we recognize the overriding importance that poverty eradication can play in our legitimate concern with environmental degradation and resource adequacy. This is a concern heightened by the prospect of significantly expanded material needs among developing economies in the decades ahead. Thus, the arguably positive relationship between economic growth and environmental improvement is a critical element in Hollander's exposition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In dealing with a range of important topics--including population, agriculture, water, air quality, alternative energy, climate, and transportation--Hollander does not underestimate the challenges that need to be overcome in easing the dual pressures of resource demands and environmental threats. But he cites multiple avenues for easing the challenge: technological advances (as in hybrid vehicle development); institutional reforms (for example, overcoming unimpeded access to fisheries); and greater reliance on market forces and realities (now undermined by under-pricing and subsidization of water and other resources). For the poor countries of the world, it is, above all, improvement in people's well-being to which these other initiatives must be linked.

A compact book of 235 pages largely intended for a general readership cannot cover all ground and all complexities. On the matter of environmental improvement and gross domestic product growth, for example, it is not clear that there may not be an array of natural assets that may, in fact, be threatened by rather than ameliorated by the proceeds of higher incomes. And while Hollander has an admirably enlightening account of how much remains to be understood on climate change, I would have preferred greater recognition that, as in other areas of imperfect knowledge, uncertainty doesn't preclude some initial "precautionary" preventive measures. However, I am in agreement that in mandating some beginning steps toward greenhouse mitigation, one need not counsel huge carbon taxes, much less the draconian imperatives of the Kyoto Protocol.

Not everyone will share all of Hollander's judgments. But whether one embraces or dissents from his positions, reading this book will prove a provocative and stimulating experience.

Truth-in-labeling demands an addendum: I read this book in draft, endorsed it, and have no reluctance to express enthusiasm for the final product. 

 

Title: The Geological Record of Ecological Dynamics: Understanding the Biotic Effects of Future Environmental Change

Authors: Committee on the Geologic Record of Biosphere Dynamics, National  Research Council

Publisher: The National Academies Press

Publication Year: 2005

In order to answer important questions about ecosystems and biodiversity, scientists can look to the past geological record which includes fossils, sediment and ice cores, and tree rings. Because of recent advances in earth scientists ability to analyze biological and environmental information from geological data, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey asked a National Research Council (NRC) committee to assess the scientific opportunities provided by the geologic record and recommend how scientists can take advantage of these opportunities for the nation s benefit. The committee identified three initiatives for future research to be developed over the next decade: (1) use the geological record as a natural laboratory to explore changes in living things under a range of past conditions, (2) use the record to better predict the response of biological systems to climate change, and (3) use geologic information to evaluate the effects of human and non-human factors on ecosystems. The committee also offered suggestions for improving the field through better training, improved databases, and additional funding.

*Source: http://www.developmentgateway.org *

 

                    Editor’s Mail Box

Dear Editor,

         I am continuous reader of your quality  

  Journal Population-ENVIS. You have

  maintained  the quality of the Journal. In

  the June issue of the Journal  I liked the

  article of Dr.Rahman. It is very informative.

  I also appreciate the article of

  Dr. D.P.Singh- Migration and Slum in

  Mumbai Part II.

  

  Tara Kanitkar

   tarakanitkar@hotmail.com