Fragile Lives In Fragile Ecosystems

Fragile lives in fragile ecosystems: Feeding the world's poor from neglected rice ecosystems was the theme of the 1995 International Rice Research Conference. During the February meeting, participants assessed progress in rice research and identified new research approaches for reducing constraints and improving productivity and sustainability of less favored and fragile rice producing areas - these are the upland, rainfed lowland, and flood-prone ecosystems.

The Institute of Ecology (TIE) was organized to provide a mech anism for addressing ecological and environmental issues that were beyond the special interests of ecology as a profession. One method of evaluating such issues is the workshop, and this report describes the results of the third TIE workshop on a major environmental subject. The ecology of tropical regions is of interest to all the inhabitants of the biosphere. The tropics provide mankind with both the opportunity for and the challenge of essential resources, land for settlement and development, and waters for numerous uses. Moreover, they provide examples of misuse of the landscape, fragility of ecological systems, and serious environmental problems. Unfortunately, the study of the ecology of the tropics has not kept pace with the ecology of other regions. The purpose of this report, therefore, is to determine the research approaches that will lead to advances in our theoretical un derstanding of tropical systems and, more importantly, in the applica tion of that knowledge to human problems. Although the principal focus of the report is on the neotropics, it will be useful to the full spectrum of persons concerned with the tropics around the world government officials, sCientists, students of ecology, and others. TIE is especially pleased to thank the numerous scientists and ad ministrators who participated in the workshop and who contributed to this report. Arthur D.

How the science of complexity can help save the natural world from collapse.

States of Fragility 2020 sets a policy agenda for fragility at a critical turning point: the final countdown on Agenda 2030 is at hand, and the pandemic has reversed hard-fought gains. This report examines fragility as a story in two parts: the global state of fragility that existed before COVID-19, and the dramatic impact the pandemic is having on that landscape.

Three years into the 2030 Agenda it is already apparent that those living in fragile contexts are the furthest behind. Not all forms of fragility make it to the public’s eye: fragility is an intricate beast, sometimes exposed, often lurking underneath, but always holding progress back. Conflict ...