Protected areas are crucial for biodiversity conservation because they provide safe havens for species threatened by land-use change and resulting habitat loss. However, protected areas are only effective when they stop habitat loss within their boundaries, and are connected via corridors to other wild areas. The effectiveness of protected areas is threatened by development; however, the extent of this threat is unknown.

During 2008 the world witnessed a global food crisis which caused social unrest in many countries and drove 75 million more people into poverty. The crisis resulted from sharply higher oil prices, increased bio-fuel production, dwindling grain stocks, market speculation, changing food consumption patterns in emerging economies, and changes in world trade agreements, among other factors. Although the rise in food prices was sudden, the fragility of global food security had been developing for years.

The development of synergies between efforts to mitigate land degradation and biological diversity decline can enhance effectiveness, speed up implementation and avoid potential conflicts. Due to the variable nature of these processes and to the variable characteristics of the areas where they occur, there is no general rule linking land degradation and biological diversity decline. Thus, a geographically limited approach focusing on drivers of change may provide a more appropriate base upon which synergies can be built. This exercise is undertaken for the case of northern Mediterranean.

Aim To examine the effect of climate change on the occurrence and distribution of Pipistrellus nathusii (Nathusius' pipistrelle) in the United Kingdom (UK). Location We modelled habitat and climatic associations of P. nathusii in the UK and applied this model to the species' historical range in continental Europe. Methods A binomial logistic regression model was constructed relating the occurrence of P. nathusii to climate and habitat characteristics using historical species occurrence records (1940-2006) and CORINE land cover data.

Questions: What is the relative importance of landscape variables compared to habitat quality variables in determining species composition in floodplain forests across different physiographic areas? How do species composition and species traits relate to effects of particular landscape variables? Do lowland and mountain areas differ in effects of landscape variables on species composition? Location: Southern Czech Republic. Methods: A total of 240 vegetation relevés of floodplain forests with measured site conditions were recorded across six physiographic areas.

Because habitat loss due to urbanization is a primary threat to biodiversity, and land-use decisions in urbanizing areas are mainly made at the local level, land-use planning by municipal planning departments has a potentially important--but largely unrealized--role in conserving biodiversity.

The Indonesian economic quarterly reports on and synthesizes the past three months' key developments in Indonesia's economy. Its coverage ranges from the macro economy to financial markets to indicators of human welfare and development. It is intended for a wide audience, including policy makers, business leaders, and financial market participants, and the community of analysts and professionals engaged in Indonesia's evolving economy.

This report discusses the key findings and recommendations emerging from a pilot Citizen Report Card (CRC) on water, sanitation, and sewerage services in Karachi. This initiative comes, on one hand, in the wake of deteriorating services, weakened community interfaces and accountability structures, poor revenue generation and dysfunctional governance structures and, on the other, an emergent consensus to bring in far-reaching institutional reforms that should move beyond financial and technical imperatives.

El presente trabajo de investigación pretende analizar el surgimiento de los Nuevos Asentamientos Urbanos (NAU) en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, y los procesos de expulsión que el propio Estado genera hacia esta población, poniendo énfasis en el proceso de desalojo que el Gobierno de la Ciudad (GCBA) impulsó hacia el NAU Costanera Sur Rodrigo Bueno. Los Nuevos Asentamientos Urbanos constituyen una modalidad de hábitat popular que adquiere fuerza a partir de la crisis de 2001, sin embargo no son reconocidos por el GCBA para la implementación de políticas de urbanización.

This assessment report of strategies for the Montpellier case study presents three territorial levels: the Agglomeration, three communes in the context of agriculture dynamics and one commune which is involved in a flood protection plan. This study follows the general framework of the module 3 in the PLUREL project, which proposes to use criteria to assess the strategies and describe the regional level of performance in front of issues or challenges located in the urban fringe.

This assessment report of strategies for the Montpellier case study presents three territorial levels: the Agglomeration, three communes in the context of agriculture dynamics and one commune which is involved in a flood protection plan. This study follows the general framework of the module 3 in the PLUREL project, which proposes to use criteria to assess the strategies and describe the regional level of performance in front of issues or challenges located in the urban fringe.