About the Institutions

World Resources Institute

World Resources Institute is a research and policy organization helping governments, the private sector, environmental and development organizations, and others address a fundamental question: How can societies meet human needs and nurture economic growth while preserving the natural resources and environmental integrity on which life and economic vitality ultimately depend?

WRI's books and reports present accurate information about global resources and environmental conditions, analyses of emerging issues, and creative yet workable policy responses. To deepen public understanding, the institute also undertakes briefings, seminars, and conferences and offers material for use in print and broadcast media.

In developing countries, WRI provides field services and technical support for governments and nongovernmental organizations working to ensure the sustainable use of natural resources. For further information contact WRI, 1709 New York Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20006. Tel: 202/638-6300, Fax: 202/638-0036.

The National Biodiversity Institute (INBio)

The National Biodiversity Institute (Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, or INBio) is a private non-profit Costa Rican institution dedicated to the conservation of the country's wildland biodiversity through facilitating its use as a resource for society's intellectual and sustainable economic development. INBio operates under the assumption that a developing tropical society will succeed in conserving a major portion of its wildland biodiversity only if this area can generate enough intellectual and economic income to pay for its upkeep and also contribute to the national economy in rough proportion to its area.

Costa Rica's history of several decades of classical conservation has provided the raw materials for biodiversity conservation through non-destructive use. The next steps, for which INBio was created in 1989, are to determine what these raw materials are - through a direct and detailed inventory - and to facilitate their non-damaging use by all sectors of society. Requests for further information should be addressed to Dr. Rodrigo Gámez, Executive Director, INBio, Apdo. 22-3100, Santo Domingo, Heredia, Costa Rica. Tel: 506/36-7690, Fax: 506/36-2816.

Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of the world's endangered tropical forests. Our unique mission is to develop and promote sound economic alternatives to tropical deforestation. These alternatives are designed in concert with local people, to develop forest products and businesses that offer long-term, stable income for people living in or near forests. An important part of this work involves educating the public, in the U.S. and the tropics, about what they can do to help save the remaining tropical forests before it's too late.

Contact Rainforest Alliance, 65 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012-2420, Tel: 212/677-1900, Fax: 212/677-2187.

African Centre for Technology Studies

The African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) is an international non partisan, not-for-profit institution established to conduct policy research, provide training, offer advice and disseminate information on the application of science and technology to sustainable development. The Centre operates through its head- quarters in Nairobi and the ACTS Biopolicy Institute at Maastricht, The Netherlands. Requests for further information should be addressed to African Centre for Technology Studies, P.O. Box 45917, Nairobi, Kenya, Tel: 254-2/744047, Fax 743995.

ALSO FROM WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE
Outstanding Biodiversity Publications
- Order now for a 10% discount -

Global Biodiversity Strategy:
Guidelines for Action to Save, Study, and Use Earth's Biotic Wealth
Sustainably and Equitably

Conserving biodiversity is not just a matter of protecting wildlife and nature reserves, and it cannot be accomplished by ad hoc and piecemeal campaigns typical of many responses to ecological crises. This report offers the most systematic and comprehensive plan ever devised to protect the world's total stock of genes, species, and ecosystems. It outlines a systematic agenda of policy reforms and conservation action at local, national, and international levels to protect biodiversity over the long term while mobilizing its benefits for food, medicines, chemicals, and other necessities.

1992
260 pages, paperback
ISBN 0-915825-74-0
List price: $19.95

Conserving the World's Biological Diversity
by Jeffrey A. McNeely, Kenton R. Miller, et al.

This comprehensive text explains what biodiversity is, why it is important, how it is threatened, and what can be done to preserve it. The authors present and discuss a broad range of practical approaches to biodiversity conservation - including policy changes, integrated land-use management, species and habitat protection, and pollution control, citing important examples from around the world.

1991
200 pages, paperback
ISBN 0-915825-42-2
List price: $14.95

World Resources Institute (WRI), USA
Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio), Costa Rica
Rainforest Alliance, USA
African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Kenya