Protection of Global Biodiversity: Converging Strategies (Hardcover)

The rate of extinction of biological species is greater today than at any time in the last 65 million years. Some predict that if this rate continues two-thirds of all living species will disappear during the next century. Because reaching consensus on specific courses of action involves complex issues any adequate response to this impending crisis must include coverage of many areas of inquiry and understanding. Protection of Global Biodiversity features essays by distinguished international experts who communicate with each other across disciplinary boundaries to address the challenge of formulating policies to protect biodiversity. Although the global community has recently adopted a Convention of Biological Diversity the agreement sets forth only abstract goals. Contributors to this volume advance the Convention s initial steps by providing workable solutions that can be implemented regionally nationally and locally. The contributors--including natural social and political scientists; economists; lawyers; and environmentalists; and decisionmakers in business agriculture and government--have united to create a common discourse and to evaluate and propose strategies for halting this alarming loss of biodiversity. In recognizing the diverse aspects of this task--scientific economic institutional moral and legal--this book presents a new picture of emerging action. Contributors. S. James Anaya Gregory Benford Graciela Chichilnisky S. Todd Crider Yvonne Cripps Robert T. Fraley Anil K. Gupta Lakshman D. Guruswamy G. M. Heal Brent Hendricks Robert B. Horsch Laura L. Jackson Annie Lovejoy Ariel E. Lugo Jeffrey A. McNeely Brian G. Norton Elinor Ostrom Peter H. Raven John W. Reid Walter V. Reid Mark Sagoff Roger A. Sedgo R. David Simpson Ana Sittenfeld Christopher D. Stone Gary H. Toenniessen