This volume records a remarkable encounter in critical and philosophical thinking: a meeting of two of the great pioneers in contemporary thought, Maurice Blanchot and Jacques Derrida, who are also bound together by friendship and a complex relation to their own pasts. More than a literary text with critical commentary, it constitutes an event of central significance for contemporary philosophical, literary, and political concerns. The book consists of The Instant of My Death, a powerful short prose piece by Blanchot, and an extended essay by Derrida that reads it in the context of...

leading to an overall decrease in the world's forest cover. The forests of Asia, in particular, have been strongly impacted. A number of initiatives have suggested forest policy reforms, and the need for the sustainable management of forests has been widely recognized and encouraged. But because implementation of reforms at the local level has been insufficient, it is imperative that local people begin to effectively participate in forest planning and management as well as in protected-area management. The Forest Conservation Project, launched in April 1998 by the Institute for Global...

This text is a comprehensive, in-depth review and summary of the UN FCCC AIJ pilot. Over 30 prominent players in the UN FCCC AIJ pilot, drawn from 12 countries, prepared the 16 peer-reviewed chapters in this book. Most chapters are extensively illustrated and the book contains a glossary of acronyms and a list of points of contact in the UN FCCC AIJ pilot. To help meet the technical and policy needs associated with the UN FCCC and complementary treaty negotiations, this book has three broad objectives: review, interpret and compile experiences of AIJ pilot participants and observers; based on...

Economic growth after World War II was made possible through dramatic increases in the use of material resources and energy. It is apparent that current development patterns followed by industrialized countries are causing serious environmental problems and that they are neither ecologically nor socially sustainable.
In recent years, many Asian developing countries, which have suffered from poverty for decades, are experiencing high rates of economic growth by introducing material-intensive production and consumption patterns. The globalization trends magnify on a global scale the...

This book is a compilation of the results of strategic policy research carried out by the Forest Conservation Project of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), between 1998 and 2002. The project's main purpose is to shed light on measures to conserve biodiversity and use forests sustainably, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Project work was conducted by academics, non-governmental organizations, and governmental officials in selected countries in the region and covered everything from the local reality at the village level, to forest policy at the national and...

Jose Maria Figueres Olsen Former President Republic of Costa Rica The heated debate about global climate change continues. Some say it is the gravest calamity our species has ever encountered. Others deny its existence altogether. As with most caseS of human decision making, the truth is most likely somewhere in the middle. The challenge of this particular set of decisions is the overwhelming sense of uncertainty. Science cannot fully attribute the climatic catastrophes occurring before our eyes to increasing levels of greenhouse gas concentrations. Neither can Science prove that extreme...