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Strategies for river basin management (environmental integration of land and water in a river basin)
Biological Conservation 40 (I 987) 315-317
Book Reviews
Strategies for River Basin Management (Environmental Integration of Land and Water in a River Basin). Edited by J. Lundquist, U. Lohm and M. Falkenmark. D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 1985. 346pp. ISBN 90 277 2111 4. Price: £44.50, US$56.00. The book brings together, in a comprehensive manner, the papers given at a seminar held at the University of Link6ping, Sweden, 4-8 June 1984. The general theme of the seminar is that whereas there is a general tendency to treat land and water use planning separately, there is a strong need for integrated planning of both on a catchment basis. Worldwide problems are land degradation in developing countries, urban growth and decline in water quality. Case studies from all over the world, including developed and developing countries, were presented at Link6ping within the following fields: (i)
Obstacles to coordinated land and water conservation and management. (ii) Legal and administrative tools as incentives, or disincentives, in integrated planning. (iii) Problems due to growing urban systems, as seen in a river basin perspective. (iv) The river basin as an ecosystem. The papers are generally of a sound standard and the editors have produced a good synthesis with recommended criteria for future integrated planning in river catchments. Many of the problems will be familiar already 315 Biological Conservation (40)---© Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1987. Printed in Great Britain
316
Book reviews
to ecologists but the value of the book is in its global approach and it deserves a place in the office of all planners. Unfortunately the quality of the English is rather erratic and there are occasional spelling mistakes. However, the sense is easily understood. N. C. Morgan
Wildlife Conservation Evaluation. Edited by M. B. Usher. Chapman and Hall, London. 1986. 300 pp. ISBN 0 412 26750 0 (hardback), price: £30.00: ISBN 1 412 26760 8 (paperback), price: £14.95. Much time and money has been spent in the past 30 years or more in various parts of the world in attempting to assess the relative merits of areas of land for wildlife conservation. The first 'nature reserves', or 'nature refuges' were selected on the basis of their outstanding natural beauty or on the opinion of an individual or group of experienced naturalists. Increasingly, as competing demands on land grew, conservationists have been challenged about the rational basis for selecting nature reserves and, as a result, the art or science of conservation evaluation has evolved. This book presents an up-to-date 'state of the art' review. The book is divided into four parts: (i) an introduction, which examines the attributes, criteria and values used in site evaluation, and includes a worked example from the limestone pavement of Yorkshire; (ii) approaches used in different geographical regions for wildlife evaluation, using examples from Australia, America, Great Britain, the Netherlands and the tropics; (iii) evaluation of specific habitats and groups of organisms, including the particularly difficult problem of assessing invertebrates; and (iv) general principles, consisting of two contributions, one on the design of nature reserves by Simberloff and a curiously placed essay by Margules on conservation evaluation in practice. The book is well-indexed, with both a subject and an author index, and the 667 references encompass most of what has been written on this relatively new subject. The strength of this book lies in the fact that most of the 18 contributors have had first-hand experience of actually trying to assess areas of land for wildlife conservation--they know the problems and have been leaders in trying to solve them. The book should be compulsory reading for planners and should find a place on the bookshelves of students in a variety of disciplines, especially those concerned with the environment in the broadest sense. T. C. E. Wells
Book Reviews
Strategies for River Basin Management (Environmental Integration of Land and Water in a River Basin). Edited by J. Lundquist, U. Lohm and M. Falkenmark. D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 1985. 346pp. ISBN 90 277 2111 4. Price: £44.50, US$56.00. The book brings together, in a comprehensive manner, the papers given at a seminar held at the University of Link6ping, Sweden, 4-8 June 1984. The general theme of the seminar is that whereas there is a general tendency to treat land and water use planning separately, there is a strong need for integrated planning of both on a catchment basis. Worldwide problems are land degradation in developing countries, urban growth and decline in water quality. Case studies from all over the world, including developed and developing countries, were presented at Link6ping within the following fields: (i)
Obstacles to coordinated land and water conservation and management. (ii) Legal and administrative tools as incentives, or disincentives, in integrated planning. (iii) Problems due to growing urban systems, as seen in a river basin perspective. (iv) The river basin as an ecosystem. The papers are generally of a sound standard and the editors have produced a good synthesis with recommended criteria for future integrated planning in river catchments. Many of the problems will be familiar already 315 Biological Conservation (40)---© Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1987. Printed in Great Britain
316
Book reviews
to ecologists but the value of the book is in its global approach and it deserves a place in the office of all planners. Unfortunately the quality of the English is rather erratic and there are occasional spelling mistakes. However, the sense is easily understood. N. C. Morgan
Wildlife Conservation Evaluation. Edited by M. B. Usher. Chapman and Hall, London. 1986. 300 pp. ISBN 0 412 26750 0 (hardback), price: £30.00: ISBN 1 412 26760 8 (paperback), price: £14.95. Much time and money has been spent in the past 30 years or more in various parts of the world in attempting to assess the relative merits of areas of land for wildlife conservation. The first 'nature reserves', or 'nature refuges' were selected on the basis of their outstanding natural beauty or on the opinion of an individual or group of experienced naturalists. Increasingly, as competing demands on land grew, conservationists have been challenged about the rational basis for selecting nature reserves and, as a result, the art or science of conservation evaluation has evolved. This book presents an up-to-date 'state of the art' review. The book is divided into four parts: (i) an introduction, which examines the attributes, criteria and values used in site evaluation, and includes a worked example from the limestone pavement of Yorkshire; (ii) approaches used in different geographical regions for wildlife evaluation, using examples from Australia, America, Great Britain, the Netherlands and the tropics; (iii) evaluation of specific habitats and groups of organisms, including the particularly difficult problem of assessing invertebrates; and (iv) general principles, consisting of two contributions, one on the design of nature reserves by Simberloff and a curiously placed essay by Margules on conservation evaluation in practice. The book is well-indexed, with both a subject and an author index, and the 667 references encompass most of what has been written on this relatively new subject. The strength of this book lies in the fact that most of the 18 contributors have had first-hand experience of actually trying to assess areas of land for wildlife conservation--they know the problems and have been leaders in trying to solve them. The book should be compulsory reading for planners and should find a place on the bookshelves of students in a variety of disciplines, especially those concerned with the environment in the broadest sense. T. C. E. Wells