Desertification has re-emerged as a topic of global significance as a consequence of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. When first addressed over a generation ago, attention was drawn to the compelling, spectacular images of sand dunes engulfing farmlands and parched cattle dying around wells. Research tended to focus on these events as unusual phenomena that involved the unfortunate collision of climate and irrational' land use. Since then, the work of many researchers has shown us that desertification is a multifaceted problem that involves climatic,...

Environmental and Human Security: Then and Now 1 2 ALAN D. HECHT AND P. H. LIOTTA * 1 U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development 2 Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy Salve Regina University 1. Nontraditional Threats to Security The events of September 11, 2001 have sharpened the debate over the meaning of being secure. Before 9/11 there were warnings in all parts of the world that social and environmental changes were occurring. While there was prosperity in North America and Western Europe, there was also increasing recognition that local...

Any alteration of the natural processes occurring on a piece of land will have expected as well as unanticipated effects, and those effects have little regard for arbitrary human boundaries. Consequently, it is not enough for land managers to consider only how they might maintain the parcels for which they are responsible; they must also anticipate how changes to neighboring lands might impact their properties.

Land Use Scenarios: Environmental Consequences of Development demonstrates how the success of local decision making is largely determined by factors that are...

Desertification in the Mediterranean Region: a Security Issue 1 2 William G. Kepner & Jose Luis Rubio 1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, P.O. Box 93478, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 89193-3478 (kepner.william@epa.gov) 2. Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificacion-CIDE, (CSIC, Universitat de Valencia, Generalitat Valenciana), Cami de la Marjal, s/n Apartado Oficial, 46470 Albal, Valencia, Spain (jose.l.rubio@uv.es) Security issues related to desertification in the Mediterranean Region were the subject of a special NATO workshop held on 2-5 December...

Desertification in the Mediterranean Region: a Security Issue 1 2 William G. Kepner & Jose Luis Rubio 1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, P.O. Box 93478, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 89193-3478 (kepner.william@epa.gov) 2. Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificacion-CIDE, (CSIC, Universitat de Valencia, Generalitat Valenciana), Cami de la Marjal, s/n Apartado Oficial, 46470 Albal, Valencia, Spain (jose.l.rubio@uv.es) Security issues related to desertification in the Mediterranean Region were the subject of a special NATO workshop held on 2-5 December...