The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity

Download The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 9781317913474
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (134 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity by : Alice B. M. Vadrot

Download or read book The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity written by Alice B. M. Vadrot and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) points to the crucial role attributed to science and knowledge for the successful implementation of biodiversity politics by both scientists and policy-makers. With the increased importance of biodiversity in international politics, and in part inspired by the success the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has had in raising awareness of global warming, the call for an 'IPCC for Biodiversity' was successful. The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity gives a full overview of the process of its implementation as finalised in 2013 and proposes an innovative conceptual framework that puts this specific case into a more general perspective of international politics and relations. It provides a detailed empirical analysis of the knowledge politics associated with the establishment of IPBES and its conceptual framework and methodological approach is grounded in a theoretical perspective. This pioneering work is the first to examine IPBES in this way and is essential reading for researchers and scholars of International Relations, Environmental and Biodiversity Politics, Science-Policy Interfaces and Global Environmental Governance. It will also be of interest to political scientists and social scientists.

The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity

Download The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317913485
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (179 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity by : Alice B.M. Vadrot

Download or read book The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity written by Alice B.M. Vadrot and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-24 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) points to the crucial role attributed to science and knowledge for the successful implementation of biodiversity politics by both scientists and policy-makers. With the increased importance of biodiversity in international politics, and in part inspired by the success the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has had in raising awareness of global warming, the call for an ‘IPCC for Biodiversity’ was successful. The Politics of Knowledge and Global Biodiversity gives a full overview of the process of its implementation as finalised in 2013 and proposes an innovative conceptual framework that puts this specific case into a more general perspective of international politics and relations. It provides a detailed empirical analysis of the knowledge politics associated with the establishment of IPBES and its conceptual framework and methodological approach is grounded in a theoretical perspective. This pioneering work is the first to examine IPBES in this way and is essential reading for researchers and scholars of International Relations, Environmental and Biodiversity Politics, Science-Policy Interfaces and Global Environmental Governance. It will also be of interest to political scientists and social scientists.

Enterprising Nature

Download Enterprising Nature PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118640551
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (186 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Enterprising Nature by : Jessica Dempsey

Download or read book Enterprising Nature written by Jessica Dempsey and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-08-29 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2018 James M. Blaut Award in recognition of innovative scholarship in cultural and political ecology! Enterprising Nature explores the rise of economic rationality in global biodiversity law, policy and science. To view Jessica's animation based on the book's themes please visit http://www.bioeconomies.org/enterprising-nature/ Examines disciplinary apparatuses, ecological-economic methodologies, computer models, business alliances, and regulatory conditions creating the conditions in which nature can be produced as enterprising Relates lively, firsthand accounts of global processes at work drawn from multi-site research in Nairobi, Kenya; London, England; and Nagoya, Japan Assesses the scientific, technical, geopolitical, economic, and ethical challenges found in attempts to ‘enterprise nature’ Investigates the implications of this ‘will to enterprise’ for environmental politics and policy

Governing Biodiversity through Democratic Deliberation

Download Governing Biodiversity through Democratic Deliberation PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131790950X
Total Pages : 339 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (179 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Governing Biodiversity through Democratic Deliberation by : Mikko Rask

Download or read book Governing Biodiversity through Democratic Deliberation written by Mikko Rask and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-05-15 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses political controversies involved in global biodiversity policy, and the practical opportunities that are opened up in solving them through increased citizen participation and democratic deliberation. It examines the emerging practice of deliberative global governance and its political consequences. The collection focuses on the intersection of global biodiversity policy and the promise of deliberative democracy. In doing so, it examines how new discursive logics emerge in global citizen deliberation that might destabilize the impasses encountered in biodiversity negotiations, how a "global citizens’ voice" emerges in deliberative processes despite the dominance of national institutions in the lives of those citizens, the most effective and innovative ways to amplify the results of large-scale deliberations to policy makers and broader audiences, and how future citizen deliberations can be designed to make them fair, feasible and consequential processes, in general and for biodiversity issues in particular. This highly original contribution to the field provides theoretical discussions, empirical analyses and local experiences of biodiversity policy, making it an invaluable resource for students and scholars of environmental politics, governance and sociology, particularly those interested in deliberative democracy, citizen participation and biodiversity.

Counting Species

Download Counting Species PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 1452943834
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (529 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Counting Species by : Rafi Youatt

Download or read book Counting Species written by Rafi Youatt and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2015-02-14 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three decades of biodiversity governance has largely failed to stop the ongoing environmental crisis of global species loss. Yet that governance has resulted in undeniably important political outcomes. In Counting Species, Rafi Youatt argues that the understanding of global biodiversity has produced a distinct vision and politics of nature, one that is bound up with ideas about species, norms of efficiency, and apolitical forms of technical management. Since its inception in the 1980s, biodiversity’s political power has also hinged on its affiliation with a series of political concepts. Biodiversity was initially articulated as a moral crime against the intrinsic value of all species. In the 1990s and early 2000s, biodiversity shifted toward an association with service provision in a globalizing world economy before attaching itself more recently to the discourses of security and resilience. Even as species extinctions continue, biodiversity’s role in environmental governance has become increasingly abstract. Yet the power of global biodiversity is eventually always localized and material when it encounters nonhuman life. In these encounters, Youatt finds reasons for optimism, tracing some of the ways that nonhuman life has escaped human social means. Counting Species compellingly offers both a political account of global biodiversity and a unique approach to political agency across the human–nonhuman divide.

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Download The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317309006
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (173 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) by : Marie Hrabanski

Download or read book The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) written by Marie Hrabanski and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty years after the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) entered into force, the founding of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in 2012 was the outcome of a long process of setting biodiversity issues at the top of the global environmental agenda. With contributions from more than a dozen well-renowned researchers in political science, law and sociology, this book analyzes IPBES functioning and challenges in terms of the knowledge selection process and actors involved. The book reveals that, through its conceptual framework, IPBES promotes a pluralistic view of nature that calls for a broadening of the disciplinary frontiers. It combines natural science and social science research and also includes indigenous and local knowledge. IPBES is considered to represent the institutionalization of a permanent knowledge assessment on biodiversity and is often referred to as an IPCC success story, constituting a new stage in global environmental governance. In analyzing the knowledge selection process for IPBES decision making, the book better situates IPBES within the biodiversity and global governance domain. It ultimately argues that the establishment of IPBES provides a new opportunity to coordinate the different international conventions (CBD, RAMSAR, CITES, etc.) and initiatives (international assessment of marine biology, scientific programs, funding, etc.).

The Structural Change of Knowledge and the Future of the Social Sciences

Download The Structural Change of Knowledge and the Future of the Social Sciences PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351659332
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (516 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Structural Change of Knowledge and the Future of the Social Sciences by : Ronald Pohoryles

Download or read book The Structural Change of Knowledge and the Future of the Social Sciences written by Ronald Pohoryles and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-14 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a compendium of pragmatism in the social sciences. While addressing several distinct spheres, it carries a common message: the future of the social sciences depends on a shared understanding of society based on the knowledge of various disciplines and transcending the currently forbidding borders between scientific knowledge and the other forms of knowledge. Looking back at the social science traditions this is nothing new. To ensure a fruitful future for the social sciences a paradigm shift is unavoidable. The consequence of the increase of knowledge in the last two centuries was the specialization of the sciences. The nineteenth century saw the separation of humanities and social sciences; the twentieth century is even characterized by specialization within the disciplines and the occurrence of competing schools of thought. This book tries to overcome the barriers that are built between and within the disciplines, and to counteract the unnecessary barriers created by the emergence of "schools of thoughts" that distrust each other and the social sciences as a whole. This book was originally published as a special issue of Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research.

Protection of Global Biodiversity

Download Protection of Global Biodiversity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Protection of Global Biodiversity by : Lakshman D. Guruswamy

Download or read book Protection of Global Biodiversity written by Lakshman D. Guruswamy and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rate of extinction of biological species is greater today than at any time in the last 65 million years. Some predict that if this rate continues, two-thirds of all living species will disappear during the next century. Because reaching consensus on specific courses of action involves complex issues, any adequate response to this impending crisis must include coverage of many areas of inquiry and understanding. Protection of Global Biodiversity features essays by distinguished international experts who communicate with each other across disciplinary boundaries to address the challenge of formulating policies to protect biodiversity. Although the global community has recently adopted a Convention of Biological Diversity, the agreement sets forth only abstract goals. Contributors to this volume advance the Convention's initial steps by providing workable solutions that can be implemented regionally, nationally, and locally. The contributors--including natural, social, and political scientists; economists; lawyers; and environmentalists; and decisionmakers in business, agriculture, and government--have united to create a common discourse and to evaluate and propose strategies for halting this alarming loss of biodiversity. In recognizing the diverse aspects of this task--scientific, economic, institutional, moral, and legal--this book presents a new picture of emerging action. Contributors. S. James Anaya, Gregory Benford, Graciela Chichilnisky, S. Todd Crider, Yvonne Cripps, Robert T. Fraley, Anil K. Gupta, Lakshman D. Guruswamy, G. M. Heal, Brent Hendricks, Robert B. Horsch, Laura L. Jackson, Annie Lovejoy, Ariel E. Lugo, Jeffrey A. McNeely, Brian G. Norton, Elinor Ostrom, Peter H. Raven, John W. Reid, Walter V. Reid, Mark Sagoff, Roger A. Sedgo, R. David Simpson, Ana Sittenfeld, Christopher D. Stone, Gary H. Toenniessen

Earthly Politics

Download Earthly Politics PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262600595
Total Pages : 367 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (626 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Earthly Politics by : Sheila Jasanoff

Download or read book Earthly Politics written by Sheila Jasanoff and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2004-03-19 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Globalization today is as much a problem for international harmony as it is a necessary condition of living together on our planet. Increasing interconnectedness in ecology, economy, technology, and politics has brought nations and societies into even closer contact, creating acute demands for cooperation. Earthly Politics argues that in the coming decades global governance will have to accommodate differences even as it obliterates distance, and will have to respect many aspects of the local while developing institutions that transcend localism. This book analyzes a variety of environmental-governance approaches that balance the local and the global in order to encourage new, more flexible frameworks of global governance. On the theoretical level, it draws on insights from the field of science and technology studies to enrich our understanding of environmental-development politics. On the pragmatic level, it discusses the design of institutions and processes to address problems of environmental governance that increasingly refuse to remain within national boundaries. The cases in the book display the crucial relationship between knowledge and power—the links between the ways we understand environmental problems and the ways we manage them—and illustrate the different paths by which knowledge-power formations are arrived at, contested, defended, or set aside. By examining how local and global actors ranging from the World Bank to the Makah tribe in the Pacific Northwest respond to the contradictions of globalization, the authors identify some of the conditions for creating more effective engagement between the global and the local in environmental governance.

Concepts and Values in Biodiversity

Download Concepts and Values in Biodiversity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135106274
Total Pages : 390 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (351 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Concepts and Values in Biodiversity by : Dirk Lanzerath

Download or read book Concepts and Values in Biodiversity written by Dirk Lanzerath and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-23 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodiversity may refer to the diversity of genes, species or ecosystems in general. These varying concepts of biodiversity occasionally lead to conflicts among researchers and policy makers, as each of them require a customized type of protection strategy. This book addresses the questions surrounding the merits of conserving an existing situation, evolutionary development or the intentional substitution of one genome, species or ecosystem for another. Any practical steps towards the protection of biodiversity demand a definition of that which is to be protected and, in turn, the motivations for protecting biodiversity. Is biodiversity a necessary model which is also useful, or does it carry intrinsic value? Debates like this are particularly complex when interested parties address it from different conceptual and moral perspectives. Comprised of three parts, each complemented by a short introductory paragraph, this collection presents a variety of approaches to this challenge. The chapters cover the perspectives of environmental scientists with expertise in evolutionary, environmental biology, systematic zoology and botany, as well as those of researchers with expertise in philosophy, ethics, politics, law and economics. This combination facilitates a truly interdisciplinary debate by highlighting hitherto unacknowledged implications that inform current academic and political debates on biodiversity and its protection. The book should be of interest to students and researchers of environment studies, biodiversity, environmental philosophy, ethics and management.

Governing Global Biodiversity

Download Governing Global Biodiversity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351932535
Total Pages : 463 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (519 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Governing Global Biodiversity by : Philippe G. Le Prestre

Download or read book Governing Global Biodiversity written by Philippe G. Le Prestre and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Predictions about the success of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are pessimistic. It has now become commonplace to bemoan the scope, ambition, and deeply political nature of a convention that addresses issues ranging from ecosystems protection to the exploitation of genetic resources, from conservation to justice, and from commerce to scientific knowledge. Ten years after its adoption, how can we assess the difference that the CBD has made? Is it in danger of collapsing under its own weight or is it building the foundations of new patterns of relations between societies and nature? What achievements can we record and what challenges does it face? In this book, which is unique in its scope, diversity and the wealth of information it contains, contributors from a variety of academic disciplines tackle an issue of enduring importance to the protection of biodiversity and enhance our understanding of humanity's capacity to reconcile its various aspirations and halt the destructive path upon which it is set.

Conducting Research on Global Environmental Agreement-Making

Download Conducting Research on Global Environmental Agreement-Making PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1009179446
Total Pages : 331 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Conducting Research on Global Environmental Agreement-Making by : Hannah Hughes

Download or read book Conducting Research on Global Environmental Agreement-Making written by Hannah Hughes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-06-30 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Environmental Governance

Download Environmental Governance PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135970289
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (359 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Environmental Governance by : Gabriela Kütting

Download or read book Environmental Governance written by Gabriela Kütting and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection makes a highly significant critical contribution to the field of environmental politics. It argues that the international-level, institutionalist approach to global environmental politics has run its course, employed solely by powerful actors in order to orchestrate and manipulate local communities within a continuing hegemonic system. The outstanding international line-up of contributors to this volume explore the real advances that are being made in the areas were the local and global intersect and how power fits into the equation. They explore the relationship between governance, power and knowledge, using power as the main analytical tool. The contributors adopt a variety of approaches and perspectives – some starting from the local level and shifting upward to the global, and some using a global perspective that narrows down to the local. Some chapters explore specific case studies and others employ a more conceptual framework – but all of them bring a new dimension to the relationship between power and knowledge in environmental governance. Power here is explored in all its guises – from relational to structural power. An important and timely exploration of a topic at the forefront of global debate, Environmental Governance is essential reading for all students of global environmental politics, international political economy and international relations.

Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation

Download Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118490754
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (184 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation by : Ben Collen

Download or read book Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation written by Ben Collen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-02-14 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the impacts of anthropogenic activities increase in both magnitude and extent, biodiversity is coming under increasing pressure. Scientists and policy makers are frequently hampered by a lack of information on biological systems, particularly information relating to long-term trends. Such information is crucial to developing an understanding as to how biodiversity may respond to global environmental change. Knowledge gaps make it very difficult to develop effective policies and legislation to reduce and reverse biodiversity loss. This book explores the gap between global commitments to biodiversity conservation, and local action to track biodiversity change and implement conservation action. High profile international political commitments to improve biodiversity conservation, such as the targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity, require innovative and rapid responses from both science and policy. This multi-disciplinary perspective highlights barriers to conservation and offers novel solutions to evaluating trends in biodiversity at multiple scales.

Contested Nature

Download Contested Nature PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 0791486540
Total Pages : 339 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (914 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Contested Nature by : Steven R. Brechin

Download or read book Contested Nature written by Steven R. Brechin and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can the international conservation movement protect biological diversity, while at the same time safeguarding the rights and fulfilling the needs of people, particularly the poor? Contested Nature argues that to be successful in the long-term, social justice and biological conservation must go hand in hand. The protection of nature is a complex social enterprise, and much more a process of politics, and of human organization, than ecology. Although this political complexity is recognized by practitioners, it rarely enters into the problem analyses that inform conservation policy. Structured around conceptual chapters and supporting case studies that examine the politics of conservation in specific contexts, the book shows that pursuing social justice enhances biodiversity conservation rather than diminishing it, and that the fate of local peoples and that of conservation are completely intertwined.

Handbook of Global Environmental Politics

Download Handbook of Global Environmental Politics PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1849809410
Total Pages : 561 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (498 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Handbook of Global Environmental Politics by : Peter Dauvergne

Download or read book Handbook of Global Environmental Politics written by Peter Dauvergne and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of this Handbook contains more than 30 new and original articles as well six essential updates by leading scholars of global environmental politics. This landmark book maps the latest theoretical and empirical research in this energetic and growing field. Captured here are the pioneering and lively debates over concerns for the health of the planet and how they might best be addressed. The introduction explores the intellectual trends and evolving parameters in the field of global environmental politics. It makes a case for an expansive definition of the field, one that embraces an interdisciplinary literature on the connections between global politics and environmental change. The remaining chapters are divided into four broad themes – states and cooperation; global governance; the political economy of governance; and knowledge and ethics – with each section covering key emerging issues. In-depth explorations are given to topics such as climate change, multinational corporations, international agreements and UN organizations, regulations and business standards, trade and international finance, multilevel and transnational governance, and ecological citizenship. Handbook of Global Environmental Politics, Second Edition is a comprehensive review of the field and offers cutting-edge ideas for further research. As such, scholars, students and policymakers will find themselves looking to it for many years to come.

Political Ecology Across Spaces, Scales, and Social Groups

Download Political Ecology Across Spaces, Scales, and Social Groups PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780813534787
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (347 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Political Ecology Across Spaces, Scales, and Social Groups by : Susan Paulson

Download or read book Political Ecology Across Spaces, Scales, and Social Groups written by Susan Paulson and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental issues have become increasingly prominent in local struggles, national debates, and international policies. In response, scholars are paying more attention to conventional politics and to more broadly defined relations of power and difference in the interactions between human groups and their biophysical environments. Such issues are at the heart of the relatively new interdisciplinary field of political ecology, forged at the intersection of political economy and cultural ecology. This volume provides a toolkit of vital concepts and a set of research models and analytic frameworks for researchers at all levels. The two opening chapters trace rich traditions of thought and practice that inform current approaches to political ecology. They point to the entangled relationship between humans, politics, economies, and environments at the dawn of the twenty-first century and address challenges that scholars face in navigating the blurring boundaries among relevant fields of enquiry. The twelve case studies that follow demonstrate ways that culture and politics serve to mediate human-environmental relationships in specific ecological and geographical contexts. Taken together, they describe uses of and conflicts over resources including land, water, soil, trees, biodiversity, money, knowledge, and information; they exemplify wide-ranging ecological settings including deserts, coasts, rainforests, high mountains, and modern cities; and they explore sites located around the world, from Canada to Tonga and cyberspace.