This volume focuses on solutions to complex ecological problems with the objective of developing a new science for sustainability. Improving the health of people and animals, and improving the health, integrity or sustainability of ecosystems are laudable and important objectives. Can we do both? No ecosystems are untouched by human activity, and it appears that the world's ecosystems are reaching the limits of their ability to adapt to human impacts. The book draws on fields as diverse as epidemiology and participatory action research, philosophy and environmental sciences to examine this...

This volume focuses on solutions to complex ecological problems with the objective of developing a new science for sustainability. Improving the health of people and animals, and improving the health, integrity or sustainability of ecosystems are laudable and important objectives. Can we do both? No ecosystems are untouched by human activity, and it appears that the world's ecosystems are reaching the limits of their ability to adapt to human impacts. The book draws on fields as diverse as epidemiology and participatory action research, philosophy and environmental sciences to examine this...

Exploring the implementation of participatory, multistakeholder, and transdisciplinary ecosystem health research, Integrated Assessment of Health and Sustainability of Agroecosystems combines the latest theories in complexity and management with practical tools and approaches for sustainable rural development research. Although the text focuses on smallholder farming communities in the central highlands of Kenya, the material discussed can be and has been effectively applied to agroecosystems in many other parts of the world.

After showing how the agroecosystem health framework was...

Is sustainable development a workable solution for today's environmental problems? Is it scientifically defensible? Best known for applying ecological theory to the engineering problems of everyday life, the late scholar James J. Kay was a leader in the study of social and ecological complexity and the thermodynamics of ecosystems. Drawing from his immensely important work, as well as the research of his students and colleagues, The Ecosystem Approach is a guide to the aspects of complex systems theories relevant to social-ecological management.

Advancing a methodology that is...