ABSTRACT

During the last decade, global environmental policy documents proposed a comprehensive agenda addressing social, economic, and environmental scenarios in an integrated fashion. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the different environmental conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertication and Land Degradation (UNCCD), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as well as the recommendations of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), all recognize that the consideration of human needs and opportunities is essential to achieve conservation, restoration, healthy, and sustainable use of natural resources. As suggested by the MEA, economic, social, institutional, political, and environmental issues need to be addressed in a systemic manner to meet the MDG (MEA 2005).