Eagle Environmental Reviews

This is the second in the series of yearbooks designed to fill in the gaps between the publication of the definitive Global Environmental Outlook compendiums, which are released approximately every 3 to 4 years.

The book has an excellent, introductory, monthly timeline for 2004 and goes on to summarise global environmental issues in overview by region. The geo-indicators (atmosphere, disasters caused by natural hazards, biodiversity, coastal and marine areas, freshwater, urban areas and global environmental issues) give a “topic sectoral” view of issues and get the reader up to date on the changing statistics and data that is emerging. The Emerging Challenges section looks at the links between infectious diseases and environmental change and the latest scientific data to emerge which contributes to the debate, as illustrated by the worrying developments surrounding the spread and transfer of SARS from Asia to North America.

The feature focus in this yearbook is that of gender, poverty and environment. This topic is one which is receiving increasing focus in South Africa and will be of great interest to those studying gender at national and international levels. The publication of this book was literally stopped at the presses to include information on the tsunami that swept through the Pacific on 26th December 2004, making the book “bang up to date”.

To keep track of updated information on the Geoyear book series, go to the website at http://www.unep.org/geo/yearbook This book will be of great interest to educationists and trainers as it presents information in an easily transmittable and communicable format – Strongly Recommended
AJH