Book Reviews 343

From this perspective, this volume can be viewed as an effort meeting global biodiversity targets. Philosophical Transactions of
on the part of a multi-partner protected area governance regime to the Royal Society B 360: 443–455.
maintain and extend its influence to the every-day management of Duffy, R. (2006) Non-governmental organisations and government
PAs. Co-ordinated by the World Commission on Protected Areas states: the impact of transnational environmental management
it aims to synthesize and organize the material compiled for, and networks in Madagascar. Environmental Politics 15: 731–749.
generated at, the 2003 IUCN World Parks Congress. It is organized Holdgate, M. (1999) The Green Web: A Union for World Conservation.
into three parts: (1) setting the context (7 chapters); (2) practice and London, UK: Earthscan and IUCN.
principles (19 chapters) and (3) six appendices. The chapters are
written by a team of 19 authors (11 of whom are Australian) and PAUL JEPSON
illustrated with numerous ‘good practice’ case studies. Oxford University Centre for the Environment
Although the case studies offer a rich resource of cutting edge Oxford University Centre for the Environment
practice, the body text of the book is not so much a ‘how to guide’ South Parks Road
Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
as a reaffirmation of the key narratives and knowledge claims of
e-mail: [email protected]
this ‘governance network’. So for instance, the links between PAs,
sustainability, community and indigenous people’s rights, poverty
alleviation and livelihoods are explained in detail in the manner doi:10.1017/S0376892907004365
of ‘guiding principles’; threats to, and failings in the management
of, PAs are framed as technical, capacity and leadership issues that Forest Ecology and Conservation. A Handbook of Techniques
can be solved with more resources, political will and management BY ADRIAN C. NEWTON
capacity; and the classifications and categorizations generated by
this small group of quasi-governmental and private organizations xvi + 454 pp., 80 figs, 23.5 × 15.5 × 2 cm, ISBN 978 0 19 856745 5
are given prominence. These narratives give little mention to paperback, GB£ 27.50/US$ 55.00, Oxford, UK, Oxford
alternative perspectives on the politics, purpose and management University Press, 2007
of PAs being articulated by political ecologists, human geographers,
anthropologists and others that would help and challenge PA This book is the latest in Oxford University Press’s Techniques in
managers to think critically about their role and work. Ecology and Conservation series (TECS) that synthesizes methods
Compared with the books (proceedings) arising from earlier World and ideas in various disciplines of ecology, allowing the comparison
Parks Congresses, this volume is notable for the space given to of various techniques widely dispersed in the literature, as well as
managerial skills. It includes chapters on planning frameworks, illustrating others that may be less familiar.
information, human resource, financial and operation management, The idea that conservation (or indeed science as a whole) should
and, perhaps inevitably, evaluating management effectiveness. Most not be conducted in isolation pervades the whole book, and this
of this material is rather basic and the rationale for its inclusion is explicitly stated in the Introduction. Conservation needs to be
is unclear, not least because it adds significantly to the size of the increasingly relevant to the people it affects directly as well as
book and I suspect that most PA professionals will already use more the funding agencies and NGOs that support it, and produce
specific texts and/or organizational guidelines to inform these areas verifiable results. It is important to define attainable and measurable
of their work. Where I think professionals and students will find objectives and design conservation strategies accordingly. The book
this book particularly valuable is as a source of examples, summary then takes a sweep through forest ecology, from the grand scale
statistics, classifications, general principles and language for use in of estimating global forest cover down to examining reproduction
writing reports and proposals. in individual flowers. Chapter 2 details methods of obtaining and
For the most part, this book is still rooted in a state-managed analysing aerial photographs and satellite images in order to examine
resource-based perspective of PAs. However scattered through the the extent and change of forest types and areas. A brief overview
chapters are clear signals that this international PA governance of geographical information systems (GIS) follows. Chapter 3 then
network is opening up to the idea that there are other valid considers the inventory of forests and the design of robust sampling
views on the nature(s) that merit conservation as well as the fact methods, plots and transects. An introduction to the analysis of tree
that there are numerous non-state actors owning and managing distributions and spatial patterns, species richness and diversity,
PAs. These signals are most clear in chapters 2 (social context), floristic composition and vegetation classification completes this
5 (governance of PAs), 17 (natural heritage management) and enumeration of forest composition. Chapter 4 considers factors that
18 (cultural heritage management). In my view, embracing the affect tree population dynamics and techniques to measure these.
observation that ‘protected areas are a cultural construct in so far It then considers how to set up a successful permanent sample
as they reflect the attitudes and beliefs of local, national and/or plot and includes correct formulae for examining tree growth and
international society’ poses a far more fundamental challenge to mortality. Chapter 5 examines how forest dynamics can be modelled
international norms of PA management than adopting the set in order to test ideas that are impractical to verify in reality due
of principles on good governance (legitimacy and voice, equity, to the large areas and long timescales involved. Basic population
direction, performance and accountability) outlined in the rather models are augmented by discussions of life tables, matrix models,
tame concluding chapter. gap models, viability analyses and various individual-based models
including SORTIE and its progeny. Chapter 6 then focuses on
methods to investigate breeding systems, pollination, phenology,
and seed production and dispersal. A final section on genetic analysis
References
provides a good introduction to the forthcoming TECS book on
Chape, S., Harrison, J., Spalding, H. & Lysenko, I. (2005) Measuring molecular methods in conservation. Chapter 7 considers how forests
the extent effectiveness of protected areas as an indicator of the act as habitats for other organisms and details how to enumerate
344 Book Reviews

the physical structure of forests including edge effects. The book nuclear and renewable energy) and energy carriers (refined petroleum
concludes with a return to conservation policy, forest management products, natural gas, electricity and hydrogen) is thus clear. He then
and people. It encourages an approach to conservation that uses looks at energy and the environment. His discussion of the global
all sources of information, including science that is evidence-based trends includes a thorough validating of the climate modelling tools
but also adaptive and responsive to policy or environmental changes against long-term historic data, before presenting the range of future
and to errors of management or science. It returns to the idea that scenarios they predict.
conservation should be able to demonstrate the fruits of its efforts, Part 2 looks at the global energy demand and supply balance,
and this is only possible if objectives, hypotheses and changes in and here the focus on primary energy sources is very helpful. Wind
biodiversity can be rigorously tested and proven. The sad testament turbines have become emblems of the discussion about sustainability
of many biodiversity monitoring and conservation programmes (and (a wind turbine photograph, set against the rising sun, graces the
many scientific investigations in general) is that much money is cover of the book), but it is chastening to be reminded that, against the
wasted due to bad planning, inadequate design and lack of statistical 79.6% of world energy usage coming from coal, oil and natural gas,
power. In conservation, where money is in such short supply, it is combustible fuel (firewood) still constitutes 10.9%, nuclear 6.8%,
imperative that it is used as efficiently as possible. Scientists must hydro 2.2% and the combination of geothermal, solar and wind only
ensure that research is conducted as rigorously as possible and that supplies 0.5%.
the results are easily understandable by non-scientists. Part 3, which addresses new and sustainable energy sources, begins
The book is clearly and concisely written, and provides a thorough by looking at clean coal, as well as looking at new sources of oil and
summary of key areas of forest ecology and critiques the various gas, and at carbon sequestration, before looking at renewable energy
methods used. It details the majority of useful techniques, and sources. Here, all the usual candidate technologies are described,
provides extensive references to the literature where examples with helpful explanations of terms such as ‘capacity factor’, which
and further critiques can be found. It encourages each reader to shows that tidal, solar and wind energy are intermittent sources of
think carefully about which methods are applicable to their specific power; for example solar photovoltaic (PV) produces no electricity
situation. It is especially good at pointing out typical pitfalls in at night.
details that trip up many workers, such as the problem of differing There is some very useful debunking. Solar PV is uneconomic
intercensus intervals in plot censuses, how pot experiments are biased even when used in very promising conditions, in many cases the
due to pot size and lack of root competition and good experimental production of biofuels uses more energy than it creates and one
design and statistical analysis. It will also be useful to researchers wave energy device, when tried for real, produced 21kW instead of
and conservationists based in countries with less access to resources the design estimate of 200kW. The genuine success of wind energy
than those in Europe and North America, firstly because it is part technology and its development into a substantial world industry
of the gratis book scheme (www.nhbs.com/Conservation/gratis- becomes progressively more outstanding as an achievement to be
books.php) and secondly because it details locations of much free proud of as the chapter proceeds.
and/or open-source software that is often much better than expensive The following chapter, on nuclear power, is an absolute delight.
commercially available software (but fails to mention R, a widely- This is not an easy technology to describe and make accessible to
used free open-source statistical software program: http://www.R- the layman, but Evans succeeds in doing so, laying out the history
project.org), as well as sources of free data, such as satellite images. of the different technologies in use around the world, with the
Overall, this is an ambitious and rigorous work that should be read technical logic behind them and the logic behind the newer emerging
by more than the intended readership. developments. There is also a calm discussion of the two major
nuclear accidents that the world has experienced and the lessons that
SIMON A. QUEENBOROUGH have come from these experiences.
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences In part 4 he looks towards a sustainable energy balance and
University of Sheffield focuses on the transportation challenge that accounts for just over
Sheffield S10 2TN, UK a quarter of the global energy demand, 80% resulting from road
e-mail: [email protected]
transport and just under 50% of the total demand being used for
personal transport (i.e. by you and me). He looks at the hybrid
doi:10.1017/S0376892907004377 engine/electric vehicle route showcased by the Toyota Prius and
extends the thinking, using more battery storage and mains grid
Fueling our Future. An Introduction to Sustainable Energy
battery charging. Where a conventional vehicle generates 420g of
BY ROBERT L. EVANS CO2 per mile, the Prius generates 300g. A mains charged equivalent
with a 20-mile battery-alone capability reduces this to 230g CO2 and
xii + 180 pp., 61 figs, 23 × 15 × 1 cm, ISBN 0 521 68448 X one with 60 miles engine-free capability reduces it to 180g, assuming
paperback, GB£ 19.99/US$ 24.49, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge the mains electricity is supplied by combined cycle gas plant. If
University Press, 2007 mains electricity is supplied by wind energy, this reduces overall
vehicle CO2 emissions to about 65g mile−1 ; a very interesting point
Delightfully written in a non-technical and accessible style, this book to ponder.
will appeal to a wide range of readers, both with and without scientific
backgrounds. It is steady-paced and well grounded, providing much
JIM PLATTS
solid information in a coherent and useful way which really makes it
University of Cambridge
possible for the layman to think about the subject matter. Institute for Manufacturing
In part 1 of the book, ‘Setting the scene’, Evans adopts a systems Mill Lane
approach, looking at the complete energy conversion chain. The Cambridge CB2 1RX, UK
important distinction between primary energy sources (fossil fuels, e-mail: [email protected]