Acknowledgments

About the Author

Danilo J. Anton, a Uruguayan-Canadian geographer, received his doctorate in 1973 from the Universite Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. His distinguished career has taken him from Saudi Arabia, to Mexico, to Uruguay, to Canada. In Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Dr Anton managed the Sand Research Program and was Coordinator of the Geology and Mineral Division of the University of Petroleum and Minerals. In Mexico, he taught marine geology and geomorphology in Acapulco and managed the Center for Geographical Research in Guerrero. In Uruguay, he was Director of the Geography Department at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Montevideo. And, in Canada, he spent several years as a consultant specializing in water issues, eventually joining IDRC. On behalf of IDRC, Dr Anton has initiated and monitored many successful projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, particularly in the fields of alternative water resources and environmental management. Dr Anton is widely published in the fields of geomorphology, hydrogeology, and environmental science. His most recent published work includes revisionist texts on South American history and the IDRC book Thirsty Cities: Urban Environments and Water Supply in Latin America (1993), which deals with the environmental problems of Southern megalopolises and whose video version has been presented on public television in Canada and many other countries around the world.

About the Institution

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a public corporation created by the Parliament of Canada in 1970 to support technical and policy research to help meet the needs of developing countries. The Centre is active in the fields of environment and natural resources, social sciences, health sciences, and information sciences and systems. Regional offices are located in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

About the Publisher

IDRC BOOKS publishes research results and scholarly studies on global and regional issues related to sustainable and equitable development. As a specialist in development literature, IDRC BOOKS contributes to the body of knowledge on these issues to further the cause of global understanding and equity. IDRC publications are sold through its head office in Ottawa, Canada, as well as by IDRC’s agents and distributors around the world.

About the book

Diversity globalization and the ways of nature

The conquest of the Americas was the first step on the path to globalization. Today, 500 years later, we are rapidly approaching the prophecied global village and, consequently, natural and cultural uniformity.

But what of diversity? Diversity is more than a tropical rain forest. It is found in the oceans, the deserts, and the myriad of human cultures around the world. Without diversity, the birth of new ideas and life itself would be impossible.

In Diversity, Globalization, and the Ways of Nature, Danilo J. Anton explores this conflict. He illustrates how the main engine of globalization, the “information revolution,” can be used to promote public participation, capture traditional knowledge, and provide new methods of defending our natural environment.

Diversity, Globalization, and the Ways of Nature is an innovative and original examination of our shared, planetary environment and will interest general readers, academics, development workers, and students and professionals in social and environmental sciences alike.

The Author

Danilo J. Anton is a Uruguayan-Canadian geographer with over 25 years’ experience in geomorphology, hydrogeology, and environmental science. He is currently the urban environment specialist at IDRC’s Montevideo office, where he has initiated and managed many successful research projects in over 30 countries around the world: including desertification in sub-Saharan Africa, environmental problems of Third World “megacities,” and the development of alternative water sources, such as snow and ice in Pakistan and coastal fogs in Chile and Peru.