It is increasingly recognised that designing and implementing adaptive land management and development policies for the coastal zone requires an interdisciplinary and integrated approach. Yet, integrative thinking and action often remain problematic due to the competing interests and ambitions involved in coastal zone planning and management and the legacy of established development on the coast.

This article reports on a survey of ranch owners in high amenity areas in southwestern Montana that have experienced marked ownership change over the last two decades. Specifically, we focus on findings from a set of questions targeting water resource and riparian area management. After reviewing the results, we consider how new owners may be managing water resources differently than longtime owners and what the ecological implications of this shift in management might be for Montana's prized wild fisheries.

In 2006, the Midwest Invasive Plant Network's Research Committee conducted a web-based survey to help identify research needs and interactions between land managers and researchers working to manage invasive plants in the Midwest. Of 192 responses, 30% identified themselves as researchers and 70% identified themselves as managers. Researchers and managers rated working together on invasive plant issues as high or medium in importance, but neither group rated the current level of cooperation as high, with over 90% describing current cooperation as low or medium.

The article discusses the relationship between conceptions of forest values among local people in Madagascar and human capabilities. According to Amartya Sen's capability approach, capabilities include both the means of maintaining a livelihood and intangible elements that are necessary to achieve overall well-being. In a qualitative case study in Madagascar's Mananara-Nord and Sahamalaza Biosphere Reserves, we investigated local peoples’ conceptions of forest values.

Social and economic considerations are among the most important drivers of landscape change, yet few studies have addressed economic and environmental influences on landscape structure, and how land ownership may affect landscape dynamics. Watersheds in the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, and the southern Appalachian highlands of western North Carolina were studied to address two questions: (1) Does landscape pattern vary among federal, state, and private lands?

This paper describes a partnership between Lipton tea and the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). The partnership aims to encourage smallholders to produce tea more sustainably and profitably. A Farmer Field School (FFS) approach was used. This has resulted in the development of high levels of social capital, and the programme has resulted in increased annual yields and a renewed focus on improved water and land management. Farmers who have graduated from FFSs have acted as extension agents themselves.

Under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the world's governments set a goal of protecting 10% of all ecological regions by 2010. We evaluated progress toward that goal for the world's major terrestrial biomes, realms, and ecoregions. Total land area under any legal protection has increased from previous estimates to 12.9%, a notable achievement, although only 5.8% has strict protection for biodiversity. For biomes, protection ranges from 4% to 25%, with six of 14 biomes still below the 10% level.

Management of rangelands has largely operated under the paradigm of minimizing spatially discrete disturbances, often under the objective of reducing inherent heterogeneity within managed ecosystems. This has led to a simplified understanding of rangelands and in many cases simplified rangelands. We argue that this type of management focus is incapable of maintaining biodiversity.

Fossil fuel resources are decreasing daily. As a renewable energy, biodiesel has been receiving increasing attention because of the relevance it gains from the rising petroleum price and its environmental advantages. This review highlights some of the perspectives for the biodiesel industry to thrive as an alternative fuel, while discussing opportunities and challenges of biodiesel. This review is divided in three parts. First overview is given on developments of biodiesel in past and present, especially for the different feedstocks and the conversion technologies of biodiesel industry.

The impacts of changes in water temperature and flow on selected water quality parameters, as one of the consequences of climate change, were studied in river catchments in the Czech Republic with little anthropogenic influence. The impact of climate change was manifested by an increase in stream temperature by 1.15°C over 28 years. The selected water quality parameters were dependent on flow, with up to 10-fold increases in the concentrations of ammonia, phosphorus and chlorophyll- a at minimum flow levels.

The role of institutions providing rules, norms and regulations, in addressing challenges in communal resources management has been debated for several decades. This article analyses the role of informal institutions for addressing shortage of grazing land, conflicts among users of communal grazing land and resistance among users to shift from free grazing to zero grazing in Tigray, Ethiopia. We used in depth interviews and focus group discussions for data collection.