Product Description
Faced with intensified environmental degradation and decreased agricultural land productivity, the Chinese government has sought policy interventions to reverse both of these negative trends. Among the policy instruments is the Conversion of Cropland to Forest and Grassland Program (CCFGP) that aims to change the pattern of agricultural land use in 25 provinces and autonomous regions across China.This book provides the most comprehensive assessment of the CCFGP undertaken to date. It allows the consideration of fundamental questions pertaining to the sustainability of the land use changes brought about by the CCFGP, its cost effectiveness and the prospects for policy evolution. Contributions from a wide range of economists and scientists in the book provide policy makers in the Chinese government with relevant information with which to pursue more effectively agro-environmental goals.Providing an economic assessment of land use policy in China, this book will be of great interest to policymakers and government advisers in China, international donor agencies, and academics and students with an interest in land use policy and environmental and natural resource economics and management. ... Read more

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The growing population of Europe needs adequate and wholesomefood at reasonable prices and a sufficient supply of pure drinkingwater. Accommodating this need and the many other pressures on landwhile maintaining biodiversity, ecosystems, and cultural landscapes isa matter of continuing concern and debate in Europe. The changingnature of agriculture, concerns about agricultural subsidies andsurpluses, food and water quality issues, and discussion of the futureof the European Union (EU)'s Common Agricultural Policy have allincreased the intensity of this debate in recent years. Through itsdiscussion of how best to achieve sustainable land use, Agricultureand Sustainable Land Use in Europe tackles this wide range ofissues, examining problems faced by the EU concerning the future ofrural communities, the maintenance of an attractive and diversecountryside, and more. This work comprises papers presented at twoconferences organised by groups of European Environmental AdvisoryCouncils. These papers offer the reader access to a broad range ofexperience and points of view, making Agriculture and SustainableLand Use in Europe a contribution of particular value to the debateon these issues. ... Read more

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Once touted as the bright hope for feeding the world's growing population, desert irrigation now threatens to destroy the very prosperity it was meant to create.

Sounding the alarm, Mirage traces the development of desert farming, successfully initiated in British India and the American West, and shows the startling, calamitous results of this shortsighted enterprise. With monumental dams and complex technology we have made the desert bloom, only to see those labors eventually poison the land, ruining it for future cultivation and devastating fragile ecosystems.

Chronicling the history of desert agriculture and irrigation in India and the later application of these techniques in the western United States and elsewhere, Clemings portrays ecosystems assaulted by invasive practices and crop irrigation methods designed without heed to the consequences. From the canal colonies of the Indus River basin to the massive dams of the lower Colorado River, we see the disastrous results of bringing and lands under the agricultural yoke at any cost.

With one-third of the world's crops raised on irrigated lands, the problems of sustainability have serious consequences. One of the ... Read more

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This two-volume set collects key essays examining economic theory, methods, and issues salient to agri-environmental policy in the US and in Europe, as well as in other countries. The topics under discussion are arranged thematically and include theoretical, numerical and empirical works; all are grounded in policy and economics. The introduction to these volumes reviews the evolution of agri-environmental policies, with an important focus on the history of US policy and European agri-environmental policy. A key feature within this is the importance of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US, particularly its move towards more 'market-based incentives' from the 1980s onwards. Within the European context, the effects of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) on agri-environmental programmes and schemes within the member states, are discussed. Significantly, the essays republished here have provided the knowledge base that has influenced further applied work, creating an influential impact on policy development. ... Read more

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Land is the integrating component of all livelihoods depending on farm, forest, rangeland, or water (rivers, lakes, coastal marine) habitats. Due to varying political, social, and economic factors, the heavy use of natural resources to supply a rapidly growing global population and economy has resulted in the unintended mismanagement and degradation of land and ecosystems. Sustainable Land Management provides strategic focus to the implementation of sustainable land management (SLM) components of the World Bank's development strategies. SLM is a knowledge-based procedure that integrates land, water, biodiversity, and environmental management to meet rising food and fiber demands while sustainaing livelihoods and the environment.

This book, aimed at policy makers, project managers, and development organization, articulates priorities for investment in SLM and natural resource management and indentifies the policy, institutional, and incentive reform options that will accelerate the adoption of SLM productivity improvements and pro-poor growth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Agricultural Sustainability
The book provides excellent insite on the challenges of the concept of sustainability and the balancing effect. ... Read more

Product Description

This book reflects current developments in the economics of agrobiodiversity and focuses its attention on the role agrobiodiversity can have for economic development. As a new and rapidly expanding subfield at the interface of environmental/ecological, agricultural and development economics, the editors and contributors to this volume provide a thorough, structured and authoritative coverage of this field.

Topics covered include the economic modelling of agrobiodiversity, policy and governance solutions for the conservation of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, contracts, markets and valuation. The authors include well-known and respected academics and researchers who have a real policy perspective into the role of agrobiodiversity and economic development.  The book provides coherent and up to date coverage of the economics of in-situ agrobiodiversity conservation which is to a large extent currently absent.

Though the material in the volume is primarily written for economists, its content and style are highly relevant and accessible to ecologists and conservation biologists, and to academics from other broad disciplines that are located within the areas of economics and ecology.

Product Description
Structure and Function in Agroecosystem Design and Management presents an advanced discussion of the need to design agricultural systems that 1) increase reliance on biological interactions in agroecosystems as a means of decreasing dependence on the use of large quantities of agrochemicals and the consumption of fossil fuel energy and 2) continue to produce optimal crop yields. Written by international experts, this book discusses biological interactions, matter circulation, and disturbance operating within the agroecosystems in question. The book covers matter cycling and focuses on reducing practices that require the consumption of large quantities of agrochemicals and fossil fuels. The editors then explore the effects of environmental changes and how they will change the management of the next generation of agroecosystems.Is it possible to replace current technologies based on fossil energy with proper interactions operating between crops, livestock, and other organisms to enhance production? If the answer is yes, then modern agriculture can be transformed into an integrated system in which the use of complex biotic interactions is the key technology. Structure and Function in Agroecosystem Design and Management focuses on how can work when designed according to sound ecological practices, and provides the foundation to manage them in an ecologically efficient manner. ... Read more

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Agroecosystems in a Changing Climate considers the consequences of changes in the atmosphere and climate on the integrity, stability, and productivity of agroecosystems. The book adopts a novel approach by bringing together theoretical contributions from ecologists and the applied interpretations of agriculturalists. Drawing these two approaches together, the book provides the theoretical underpinning that guides scientists on what phenomena to look for, looking beyond first-order responses in the creation of sustainable agroecosystems. This unique approach provides an interpretation of ecological insights and general theory, and then relates them to agroecosystem performance.

Each section of the book combines general principles of response with an examination of the applied consequences. The authors cover the supply of resources necessary to sustain agriculture in the future and discuss the incidence of pests, weeds, diseases, and their control. They provide an understanding of how the population biology of organisms will change and the adaptations that might be possible. The book also explores plant breeding solutions and the capacity for adaptation that exists in plant populations. In addition to the full chapters, the book includes Special Example chapters that deal in more detail with specific issues.

Presenting a global perspective of climate change effects on agricultural production, Agroecosystems in a Changing Climate establishes connections between the immediate effects of change and the longer-term processes that will ultimately determine the consequences for agroecosystems and therefore the potential for adaptation. ... Read more

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The chapters collected here explore a number of differentissues, including the operation of the tariff-rate quotas establishedunder the Uruguay Round Agreement, the implications of sanitary andphytosanitary restrictions on trade, and the growing controversy overgenetically modified organisms. In addition, several chapters analyzethe interaction between agricultural trade and environmental concerns.

The relative prosperity in U.S. agriculture that attended the passageof the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 wasfollowed by a general decline in U.S. agricultural prices from 1998 to2000. This trend in declining prices continues through the year 2001,despite the movement toward more liberalized agricultural trade. Tradeliberalization has been the result of a variety of factors, includingthe implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreement, and theestablishment of a variety of regional trade agreements, such as theNorth America Free Trade Agreement. Needless to say, in the face offalling agricultural prices and increasingly liberalized agriculturaltrade, the agricultural policy scene is an extremely complex one, bothlocally and globally. This volume does not pretend to offer a single, systematicprescription for what the next agricultural policy should be. Rather,the arguments and analyses contained herein are intended to highlightseveral issues that must be considered in the continuing debates onagricultural policy. ... Read more

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Pollution is undesirable state of the natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities so that the environment becomes harmful or unfit for living things; especially applicable to the contamination of soil, water, or the atmosphere by the discharge of harmful substances. In addition to the harm, either present or future and known or unknown, to living beings, pollution cleanup and surveillance are enormous financial drains of the economies of the world. This volume details outstanding research covering agriculture and soil pollution. ... Read more

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Though it is not widely recognized, modern industrial agriculture plays a major role in the rampant decline in biodiversity in the United States. Habitat destruction and fragmentation, displacement of native species and the introduction of exotic species, persecution of predators, and pollution of all kinds are just a few of its damaging ecological consequences.

Fortunately, a new vision for a more environmentally beneficial and sustainable agriculture is emerging. Such a vision begins with farms that gracefully meld within landscapes, pulsing with a wide range of native species. It combines implementation of landscape-level restoration efforts, natural systems farming research, and the community spirit of farmers' markets and local watershed stakeholders.

Presenting an inspiring look at this new conservation-based agriculture, Farming with the Wild offers vivid profiles of more than thirty innovative farms, ranches, and organizations in the U.S., together with more than one hundred revealing full-color photographs. The result is an on-the-ground picture of a new agrarian movement that aims to provide healthier food to Americans while restoring healthy ecosystems across the country.

Published in association with Watershed Media ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Conservation Farming : Book Review
Fly across the Midwest or California's Central Valley in a jet, and you would not be mistaken if you thought that farming was bad for diversity. From the air, you would see millions of acres of mono-culture of soybean, corn, hay, wheat, and sugarcane. If you were to fly across the same landscapes, and many others, in a two-seater, say, you would begin to see pockets where farmers and ranchers have rejected this homogeneity. You would find a growing movement of people who not only work the land but also want to protect it. They come from diverse backgrounds and work in diverse ecosystems, but all recognize that their properties can be important sanctuaries of biodiversity.
Over a several-year period, writer Daniel Imhoff traveled across the U.S. to meet with and learn how and why these people have chosen to farm with the wild, as he terms this movement. Mixing beautiful photography with short essays, Imhoff's book is part inspirational and part how-to. He makes clear that no one way is best, that to make working land a haven for plants and animals requires an understanding of local ecology, as well as a lot of work. As Nabhan did in his book, Imhoff shows that for conservation to be successful, it will take a broad mix of people, many of whom have not been tapped for their wisdom and passion.

Farming the way it should be
Written for broad audience of "stakeholders" in the food system, from consumers to ranchers, Imhoff has done a great job of highlighting farmers and ranchers who are working to protect the environment and sustain family farmers.These farmers and ranchers are inspirational examples, and show that agriculture doens't have to destroy the planet while it feeds us.Carra's photos offer an enticing complement that gives the book a coffee-table feel. ... Read more

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Ecologists, agronomists, and others who may question the validity of current models for determining sustainable growth of agroecosystems, need a new set of analytical tools that more effectively address the complex nature of related processes. Those who challenge traditional assumptions of optimization and static factors in agricultural modeling demandnew methods beyond differential equations and traditional statistical tests.Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Agroecosystems explores alternative ways to study agricultural sustainability, presenting new approaches to organizing data and applying complex systems theory to actual cases. This innovative text recognizes the changing dynamics of the multiple processes and cross-relations within an environment, proposing a clearer analysis of agroecosystems than that which can be provided by rigid, reductionist methods.Main concepts, new vocabulary and narratives, and practical examples open the book, followed by technical chapters that provide a more detailed explanation of concepts. The final section of the book presents a tool kit based on these concepts, resulting in strong support of empirical observations that challenge traditional notions regarding the sustainability of farming systems, food systems, and agroecosystems. ... Read more

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This text presents a case study based in north-eastern India that serves as an in-depth analysis of the integration of conservation and sustainable development. By illustrating the contribution that scientists can make in assisting people in the tropics adapt to changing social and economic circumstances, the approaches and concepts set out in this volume will be of interest to those concerned with the ecological systems and cultures of the tropics. ... Read more

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‘This book is a very useful collection for those interested in the impact of agriculture on water resources, and on the allocation of water resources within the agricultural system. It pulls together most of the important theoretical papers since the early 1980s on the economics of non-point pollution control. The book also shows how interdisciplinary modelling has improved our understanding of water quality and quantity issues, and how better management of water resources generates real economic benefits. It will be of interest to all economists working in this area, whether academic or professional, as well as to water managers.’

- Nick Hanley, University of Glasgow, UK

The global expansion of irrigated lands during the 20th century and beyond continues to contribute to food production, but also degrades the environment significantly. The consequent search for policy remedies has stimulated a vital body of economic research.

The issues addressed in this comprehensive collection of previously published articles include the effects of existing government intervention on the environmental impacts of agriculture, the economic costs and benefits of environmental regulations for agriculture, and the economic and environmental merits of alternative mechanisms for water allocation and water quality protection.

In this volume the editors present a sampling of economic research on the interface of irrigated agriculture with the environment. The articles included are by leading researchers in this field and span the topics of nonpoint pollution control, salinity management, and the allocation of water. ... Read more

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The first edition of this book, popular around the world, is surpassed only by this new Second Edition. Improvements such as new and revised exercises, a broad range of practical and relevant case studies, and expanded theoretical concepts make this even better for users of statistics. The book emphasizes the practical application of statistics and provides examples in various fields of environmental and agriculture sciences. Because it uses simple, non-mathematical language to present statistical techniques, the reader requires only a familiarity with elementary algebra and mathematical notations to understand and apply the concepts described. This logically organized book covers the following topics: Part 1 introduces statistical concepts as they apply to different fields of environmental and agriculture sciences and provides descriptive measures of central tendency and variability; Part 2 covers probability and sampling concepts used in inferential statistics; Part 3 presents parametric methods in hypothesis testing, which include research designs; Part 4 discusses a number of nonparametric techniques; Part 5 explains tests of association and prediction; and lastly, analysis of change over time is detailed in Part 6. The appendices contain statistical tables for reference purposes. ... Read more