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This informative dictionary contains over 8,500 entries on all aspects of the environment and conservation. International in scope, it embraces a broad spectrum of environmental areas including sustainable development, biodiversity, conservation, environmental ethics, philosophy, and history, resource management, sociology, and policy on the environment. In addition to its wide-ranging, concise definitions, it includes longer key entries on topics such as Antarctica, Gaia hypothesis, genetic engineering, the Kyoto Protocol, and the United Nations Conference on Environmental Development.

The dictionary is uniquely comprehensive in that it addresses the social, legal, political and economic aspects of the environment and conservation as well as the scientific terms. Coverage includes international treaties, movements, trusts and organisations, as well as biographies of key figures in environmental science. It also boasts wide coverage of terms relating to rural/community development and participation, an area with an increasingly key role in managing the environment and biodiversity. This places the subject of the environment firmly in a human as well as a scientific context.

The dictionary is supplemented with an invaluable selection of 10 appendices, including international hazard assessment scales (including the Beaufort scale, the Richter scale, and the Fujita tornado scale), the geologic timescale, and an appendix of useful websites for further study.

Concise and wide-ranging, this is an essential work of reference for students and professionals, and anyone with an interest in the environment and conservation.