‘It is refreshing to find a good [environmental dictionary]...[its] choices are sound and definitions are solid and unspun. ’, - New Scientist

This informative dictionary contains over 8,500 entries on all aspects of environmental science and conservation. Social as well as scientific in focus, it provides comprehensive coverage of the social aspect of environmental science (including treaties, organisations, and agencies relating to the environment) and ecology, as well as biographies of key figures in the field. International in scope, it embraces a broad spectrum of environmental areas including sustainable development; biodiversity; conservation; environmental ethics, philosophy, and history; resource management; sociology; and policy on the environment. It also features over 30 highlighted entries on key topics, such as Air pollution, Chernobyl, El Niño, the Gaia hypothesis, and Ozone depletion, and 10 appendices covering a range of related subjects including international environmental treaties, the Beaufort scale, the Richter scale, the geologic timescale, and web links.

The dictionary’s uniquely comprehensive approach places the subject of the environment firmly in a human as well as a scientific context. Concise and wide-ranging, this is an essential work of reference for students and professionals, and anyone with an interest in the environment and conservation.