4 research outputs found
Colombia\u27s Conflicts: The Spillover Effects of a Wider War
This monograph is the first in a new Special Series of monographs that stems from the February 2001 and the March 2002 conferences--co-sponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College and The Dante B. Fascell North-South Center of the University of Miami--that dealt with the Implementation of Plan Colombia. It provides a careful examination of the so-called spillover problems generated by Colombia\u27s three simultaneous wars against illegal drug traffickers, insurgents, and self-appointed paramilitary groups. All seek, in one way or another, violently to change or depose the state. All use the uncontrolled gray areas in Colombia and its neighboring states to sustain, conduct, and replenish their nefarious operations without risk of significant interference. And, all these violent illegal entities constitute threats to stability and security that extend beyond Colombia and Latin America to Europe and the United States. Colombia is therefore a paradigm of the failing state that has enormous implications for U.S. foreign policy and military asset management for now and into the future.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1812/thumbnail.jp
Potential impact of invasive alien species on ecosystem services provided by a tropical forested ecosystem: a case study from Montserrat
Local stakeholders at the important but
vulnerable Centre Hills on Montserrat consider that
the continued presence of feral livestock (particularly
goats and pigs) may lead to widespread replacement of
the reserve’s native vegetation by invasive alien trees
(Java plum and guava), and consequent negative
impacts on native animal species. Since 2009, a
hunting programme to control the feral livestock has
been in operation. However long-term funding is not
assured. Here, we estimate the effect of feral livestock
control on ecosystem services provided by the forest to
evaluate whether the biodiversity conservation rationale
for continuation of the control programme is
supported by an economic case. A new practical tool
(Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment)
was employed to measure and compare ecosystem
service provision between two states of the
reserve (i.e. presence and absence of feral livestock
control) to estimate the net consequences of the
hunting programme on ecosystem services provided
by the forest. Based on this we estimate that cessation
of feral livestock management would substantially
reduce the net benefits provided by the site, including a
46 % reduction in nature-based tourism (from
228,000) and 36 % reduction in harvested
wild meat (from 132,000). The
overall net benefit generated from annual ecosystem
service flows associated with livestock control in thereserve, minus the management cost, was $214,000
per year. We conclude that continued feral livestock
control is important for maintaining the current level
of ecosystem services provided by the reserve