ABSTRACT
The three main themes of this section are the issues of multiple users, means of assessing environmental health, and cooperation to mitigate adverse effects on environmental health. The regions covered extend from the Americas, east through Europe and the Middle East, and then to Bhutan, in the northeast of the Indian subcontinent. The size of the regions ranges from multicountry in North America and the Middle East, to multistate within the U.S., to single countries (Mexico, Netherlands), to a single county in a state in the U.S. (in California), to a single city (Brussels), and to communal pastures in two districts of Bhutan. The features assessed or managed encompass the total environment, both physical and economic (Netherlands); the natural environment (Mexico); water quality in the whole Great Lake catchment basin of Canada and the U.S.; desertification (Middle East); the effects of urbanization on the environment (U.S.); the effects of change in transportation use on air quality (Brussels); agricultural environment and native biota (Yolo County, CA); and pasture and livestock health (Bhutan). The levels of cooperation examined include international treaties, interstate agreements in the U.S., governmental and NGO (nongovernmental organizations associated with the United Nations) coordination in Mexico, cooperation among disciplines in the Netherlands, and communal use of pastures in Bhutan.
