Michael R. Redclift

The challenge presented by climate change is by its nature, global. The populations of the Mexican Caribbean, the focus of this book, are faced by everyday decisions not unlike those in the urban North. The difference is that for the people of the Mexican Caribbean, evidence of the effects of climate change, including hurricanes, is very familiar to them. This important study documents the choices and risks of people who are powerless to change the economic development model which is itself forcing climate change. The book examines the Mexican Caribbean coast and explores the wider issues of managing climate change in vulnerable areas of the tropics. It also points to the inability to integrate development thinking into climate change adaptation. The authors suggest that failures in local governance - the transparency of state actions, and the local populations lack of effective power - represents a greater threat to adaptation than the absence of technical capacity in vulnerable areas. Using local case studies of communities, fishing villages and tourist destinations, this well-researched book will appeal to international students and academics working on climate change and professionals in development, conservation and tourism industries. Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. The Dynamics of Coastal Urbanisation; 3. Nature and Space in the 'Discovery' of the Mexican Caribbean; 4. The Development of Mass Tourism in Mexico; 5. Human Security and Governance; 6. Governance as Process: the Evolution of 'Power Spheres' and Climate Change; 7. Lived Experiences on the Coast: Holbox and Mahahual; 8. Conclusion

In today's political climate, when sustainable development is the perceived goal for farming and forest communities throughout the globe, the experiences of early Canadian settlers force a re-examination of many of the assumptions about the processes through which wilderness has been civilised. The Frontier Environment and Social Order examines the development of civil society within the forest frontier of Upper Canada, using the letters of Francis Codd, a young English doctor, who settled in the Ottawa Valley in 1846 as the textual basis. The letters provide detailed evidence about frontier development: clearing the forest, establishing farming communities, and bringing civil institutions to a developing country. This period was one of intense social and environmental transformation as immigrants began the difficult task of settling a new land. The backdrop to Francis Codd's life in Canada was dramatic, but the detailed observations he provides bring the process of settlement to life. Codd became one of the cornerstones of local society and his letters and the memoirs of his contemporaries document the privations and struggles of the time. They also present new evidence on the establishment of a relationship between nature and culture at a time when ideas of wilderness and civilisation were being forged through civil society and its myths. This fascinating book will appeal to environmental social scientists and economists, historians, geographers and migration specialists as well as the interested reader.

This book explores the making of international social science, and the parts which academics, policymakers and research managers play in creating European social environmental research. The authors present and analyse a complex picture of overlapping institutional interests within six countries of the EU - The Netherlands, UK, Spain, Greece, Finland and Austria - and develop new models with which to capture the transnational interaction of researchers and funding agencies. The contributors consider the practical and intellectual challenges facing European research managers charged with the task of building a community of social researchers willing to engage with a policy-relevant environmental agenda. The book analyses the shape and character of European social science and the values and commitments of research activity on the environment. This book will be of special interest to those involved in social environmental research, environmental policy, European studies and research management whether at the practical and policy level or in academia.