In the Maowusu Desert—which in the south-east encompasses part of the Yulin Region, Shaanxi Province, and in the north-west the Ih Ju League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region—desertification trends in relation to the impact of droughts and land-use changes were investigated. Data derived from Earth resources technology satellites (LANDSAT I and LANDSAT II, 1974–1978), and Chinese documentary sources, were used for the analysis. It was found that desert ‘expansion’ occurred during 1953–76, but the rates of expansion varied over time and space, relatively rapid desertification being observed for 1959–63 and 1971–76. The bulk of the expansion was located in the more arid Ih Ju League. The mean annual rate of areal expansion was 6.4% during 1958–71. By comparing the desertification rates with precipitation and land-use information, it was established that droughts have only accentuated the desertification process. The primary cause of desert expansion is the excessive clearing of land for rain-fed agriculture as well, of course, as overgrazing. Another contributory factor was culling of vegetation for fuel and raw materials for handicraft industries.

Efforts have been expended on desert control since the mid-1950s, resulting in the arresting of desertification in some local areas. The individual success stories demonstrate that, with mass participation, effective desert control can be achieved by using low-level technology. However, the Chinese programme of desert control was not conceived as a comprehensive programme. Control activities relied almost exclusively on vegetational methods, and they were seldom coordinated with land-use policies as well as with the planning of energy supplies. The negligence of the fundamental conflict between expanding agricultural activities and desert control has led to a net desert expansion in the last 30 years. Recognition of this fundamental conflict and implementation of mitigative land-use policies, would be a major step towards resolving the desertification problem in the Maowusu Desert.

The World Conservation Strategy aims to foster ‘sustainable development through the conservation of living resources’. While this is an admirable goal, the definition of conservation given in the Strategy document seems too imprecise to be operational.

The framers of the Strategy hope to convince developers and others that conservation is needed if development is to be sustained, contending that in the absence of conservation, development may be short-lived and uncertain. Possibly in order to give it greater political appeal, the Strategy takes a Man-centred approach to conservation. Nevertheless little attention is given to the ultimate ends of Mankind, that is, the type of issues raised by Daly (1980).

However, even if more immediate goals of mankind are considered, there is a strong case for conservation. In order to achieve living-resource conservation, the World Conservation Strategy suggests that it is necessary: (1) to maintain essential ecological processes and life-support systems; (2) to preserve genetic diversity; and (3) to ensure the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems. Detailed recommendations are made for achieving each of these three conditions.

However one chooses to accommodate public concerns about siting of power-plants, it does seem that public participation is essential for effective environmental assessment. This is because the ultimate questions about environmental consequences of economic development are: who cares and why? Technical assessors can measure changes in biogeophysical terms, and economists can monetize these effects. The social sciences are often not capable of delivering (with adequate certainty) information that is dependant on subjective human reactions and cultural values. Serious mistakes in power-plant siting can result, if decision-makers do not communicate with affected individuals and groups.

The chances for mistakes increase if the nation concerned does not have a market economy where consumers have free choice, or a political process that regularly and effectively incorporates public values and opinions. As all nations are less effective than could be desired in these two classic means of citizen expression, it is incumbent on governments to foster public participation as an integral third channel.

The value of protein from wild animals (‘bushmeat’) in Nigeria was examined, especially with respect to the consumer market. Surveys were made of roadside sales, meat prices in markets, and bushmeat consumption by the general public. The results showed that, in the 1970s, over 50% of the population ate bushmeat regularly, and that bushmeat was popular with all income-groups. The results have wide environmental implications.

The case is made for investigating in more detail than hitherto the potential for domestication and game-cropping. In addition to economic advantages resulting from careful management of animal wildlife as a renewable resource, there appear to be others—including major environmental ones through the maintenance of large-scale reserves.

Undergraduate students in the United States who major in an interdisciplinary environmental studies curriculum are at a competitive disadvantage in securing entry-level environmental employment as compared with those majoring in disciplinary or specialized curricula. Major factors that separate these two types of curricula and hence affect the employability of their graduates include: a) Programme Diversity: Interdisciplinary programmes significantly vary in emphasis, course offerings, teacher strengths, and physical facilities, whereas the many specialized programmes tend to be more uniformly defined; b) Linkage: Interdisciplinary programme objectives are not clearly tied to employment needs in the public and private sectors, whereas the goals of the many specialized programmes are based e.g. on congressional mandates, personnel needs, or well-defined occupational categories; c) Federal Support: The US Environmental Protection Agency's funding for manpower-related programmes is negligible in comparison with total pollution-control expenditures—the few million dollars allocated for manpower development in the 1970s were mainly used to support targeted specialized programmes instead of general interdisciplinary programmes; and d) Occupational Definitions: Both long- and short-term environmental employment opportunities are almost always pigeonholed and defined in terms of a disciplinary background with an associated set of skills. This favours specialized-programme graduates over interdisciplinary majors for entry-level positions.

This situation can be changed with a concerted effort by faculty members, administrators, students, and employers, to become interested in fully tapping the potentials of interdisciplinary environmental majors. Towards this end, it is recommended that the faculty members (teachers) and administrators of environmental studies programmes form a national organization to promote their programmes' welfare, that students explore a double major, graduate education, or other specialized educational opportunities, and that employers investigate innovative short-courses, workshops, and intensive laboratory programmes, for retraining environmental studies majors.

Environmental education has shown lamentable inertia in scarcely capitalizing on the growth of interest in environmental issues since the 1960s. The present paper explores the general factors contributing to this, which include the failure of environmentalism as a movement to act as a catalyst for environmental education, and the problems of attempting to appeal to a wide audience of both specialists and non-specialists who each expect different things of environmental education. To date, education about the environment and education from the environment have been dominant, at the expense of education for the environment; and further problems arise in establishing both an educational niche and disciplinary horizons for the subject in order to increase its appeal to educational planners.

Tropical wetlands are of great ecological importance and are worthy of widespread and vigorous conservation efforts. They are, however, very susceptible to environmental changes which often result from human activities. Waigani swamp near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, comprises a number of small, shallow lakes, the largest of which, Waigani Lake, has a surface area of 120 ha. This Lake now has nutrient-rich water with very high phytoplankton populations owing to sewage effluent disposal.

Changes in the macrophyte flora and vegetation of Waigani Lake are documented in aerial photographs taken between 1942 and 1981. From 1942 to 1956 the Lake was dominated by emergent vegetation, and there was very little open water. Between 1956 and 1966 this emergent vegetation was replaced by dense stands of nymphaeids. In 1965, sewage disposal into Waigani Lake began and by 1974 only a few small stands of nymphaeids remained. By 1978 no nymphaeids could be found in Waigani Lake. The decline in the nymphaeid cover of Waigani Lake was accompanied by a regression of the surrounding reed-swamp. Two other lakes near Port Moresby are nutrient-poor and have a dominant and diverse macrophyte flora, being probably more comparable with Waigani Lake prior to its enrichment—apart from a recent takeover by a pestiferous free-floating water-fern.

Acidification processes in western North America will probably increase in scope and visibility over the foreseeable future. Localized acidification seems more probable for the next few decades than does a generalized acidified deposition over the western States. At least part of current acid deposition downwind of urban areas is associated with automobile emissions. However, increases in coal combustion for power generation might be expected to increase sulphur dioxide concentrations, along with several related acidifying agents. Interactions of air pollutants with orographic precipitation and snowmelt may bring some areas to public attention much earlier than others, depending upon site-specific matters of climate, topography, soils, water-bodies, and biota. Lakes and streams on windward slopes facing large urban or industrial sources of sulphur and nitrogen oxides may be most seriously at risk.

The United States Biosphere Reserve network was begun in 1974, and currently numbers 38 sites. An investigation into the status of scientific activities in US Biosphere Reserves was conducted in 1981 to determine how well the network was meeting the multiple objectives of the Man and the Biosphere Programme. A survey questionnaire was administered to all US Biosphere Reserves, covering the adequacy of available data-bases, the types of research conducted, the perceived anthropogenic threats, funding, support, facilities, and educational programmes. Based on predominant management emphasis, Biosphere Reserves were designated as experimental or observational (i.e. conservational) for the purpose of analysis of the data.

The results of our survey indicate that baseline scientific data, such as aerial photography, bibliographies, weather data, flora and fauna checklists and keys, and topographic maps, are generally available for most of the US Biosphere Reserves; environmental monitoring activities are more comprehensive than ecological research activities, but topic emphasis varies with the management's orientation of the Reserves. Experimentally-oriented Reserves tend to emphasize biological productivity, succession, silviculture, and forest restoration and management, while observationally-oriented Reserves tend towards descriptive studies.

In almost all scientific activities, experimental Reserves were scored higher than observational (‘conservation’) Reserves in terms of general value; they have also received significantly more funding for scientific research. In all Reserves, most natural resources are considered to be effectively protected. Observational Reserves report a greater number of anthropogenic threats, including air and water pollution, exotic species, operations problems, resource removal, and visitor impacts; but they are addressing a greater proportion of these threats than are experimental Reserves. Most Reserves communicate natural history and other scientific information to the public, but many do not discuss MAB or its goals. Almost all the 38 US Biosphere Reserves are used for professional training and have basic support-facilities for field-work.

Recommendations made for improving the effectiveness of US Biosphere Reserves include: strengthening communications among Reserves within the network; initiating more cooperative studies at all geographic levels; intensifying scientific research in observational (‘conservation’) Reserves; improving the status of ecological research on aquatic systems and soils, and at the ecosystem level in all Reserves; also designing studies which focus on Man as an integral part of the system and how Mankind might exist in improved concert with The Biosphere. The designation of a multiple-site Biosphere Reserve bearing the name of the biogeographic region in which it occurs, is now being used both to conserve a region's representative ecosystems and to foster cooperation among sites. We believe this is a workable approach and an important first step in implementing these recommendations regionally and, so far as they prove practicable, ultimately globally.

The World Wildlife Fund and others are trying to save more than 1,000 species of higher animals (including about 257 species of mammals, 348 of birds, and 186 of reptiles and amphibians), and an almost incredible 30,000 species of plants, from extinction.

The year 1980 witnessed the launching of the World Conservation Strategy, in which human survival is the vital dimension, and in 1982 there was the Declaration of the World Campaign for The Biosphere as, primarily, a much-needed educational device (see above).

The capability of choosing our destiny thus lies within us. We have totally to reject planning which includes deaths of human beings as one of the ‘costs’. The future will belong to those who are contemplative enough to give Mankind well-founded hope and a sensible human way to attain that hope.

In Amazonia, land-uses requiring large inputs of labour and other resources per hectare, such as annual and perennial crops, can be expected to decrease in relative importance as compared with uses such as cattle ranching and forest cutting for timber and charcoal. Cattle ranching has already claimed the largest share of cleared areas in the region, even in comparatively fertile areas including Rondônia in southwestern Amazonia where crops such as cacao account for most credit disbursement and official fanfare. The trend to cattle pasture includes expansion within small-farmer settlement zones—a process spurred by turnover in the colonist population. In other areas of the region, the trend to ranching stems from continued proliferation and expansion of large concerns which profit both from speculative gains and various governmental subsidies.

The development of much-needed grazing reserves and pastures in the Kainji Lake Basin area of Nigeria is being initiated by the Kainji Lake Research Institute with generous support from the States' and Federal Governments. However, there is a continuous overlap of interest which results in conflict among land-users such as the nomadic Fulanis, peasant farmers, and wildlife/forestry conservation authorities. Currently the Kainji Lake Basin is a major ‘food basket’ for agricultural crop production in Nigeria. The Basin is also an attractive big-game tourist centre and a traditional source of dry-season water and green grass for the migratory livestock.

Suggestions are made for a rational resource-management approach within the Basin, with establishment of rangeland reserves. Regular meetings between the representative of the Niger River Basin Development Authority, Kainji Lake National Park, States' Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the local Governments in the Basin area, should go a long way towards eliminating the sources of conflict.

Municipalities are injecting sewage sludge into soil—as a means of disposal, to avoid the problems of odours, pests, and runoff, and to avert public disapproval associated with application on the surface. The sludge injected is mainly liquid (94–99%), but its effect on soil-water content in the field has not been sufficiently reported on. The objective of the project here described was to determine, in a subhumid region, whether the liquid in sludge changed the water status of soil compared with that of soil with inorganic fertilizer. In addition, growth of Winter Whẽat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell.), grown on dryland and fertilized with the sludge or with inorganic fertilizer, was monitored. The experiment, carried out during the 1980–81 growing-season, was done at the Manhattan, Kansas, sewage-sludge farm, where aerobically digested sludge has been injected since 1976.

Recent ‘bleaching’ and death of hermatypic (reef-building) corals has occurred extensively in Pacific Ocean waters of Panamá (Gulf of Chiriquí), near the Panamá-Costa Rica border. All hydrocorals (Millepora spp.) and scleractinian corals (5 genera) have been affected to some degree in the non-upwelling environment of Chiriquí. No other members of the macrobenthos showed signs of stress (lowered activities, morbidity) or reduced abundance. The affected area, including the mainland, nearshore and offshore islands, and adjacent waters, is about 10,000 km2. Further surveys in the Gulf of Chiriquí may reveal even more extensive mortality.

This disturbance began in the dry season (January–April 1983), during a period of clear skies, low rainfall, and minimal river drainage. I first observed large, ‘bleached’ coral patches (up to 100 m2 in area) in mid-March, and observations by others indicate that coral ‘bleaching’ occurred in February and possibly as early as mid-January. Normal and ‘bleached’ corals observed in mid-March were ‘bleached’ and dead, respectively, by the end of April, suggesting that the disturbance is protracted. By the end of the dry season, 80 to 95% of all corals in the affected areas were severely ‘bleached’ or dead.

Quarterly sampling of animals in a restored seagrass (Thalassia) area in south Biscayne Bay, Florida, was undertaken to determine whether the recolonizing animal community would be similar in structure to a Thalassia community that had never been impacted by thermal effluents or restored. Samplings by 1 m bottom trawl (⅛ inch = 3.2 mm stretch-mesh), 3 replicates at each of 9 stations, and a 15-cm2 grab (5 replicates at 9 stations) were sorted as to species for most groups and quantified. Strong seasonal differences were found. The results were compared with data from previous work in the area which had been done during thermal emissions from a power-plant.

Significant differences were found between the abundance and species of animals in restored areas and a nearby barren area that had never recovered from impact, though differences in species and abundances between the restored Thalassia sites and an unaffected control site were not statistically different. Populations of certain groups such as the commercial Pink Shrimp (Penaeus duorarum), caridean shrimps, and juvenile fishes, were numerically far higher in the restored area than in control or naturally reestablishing successional seagrasses, and at least an order of magnitude higher than in barren areas that had never recovered from impact.