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Sustaining and enhancing the ability of nature and natural ecosystems to store carbon is an idea that has gained recognition in the challenge to combat climate change. By strengthening ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, grasslands and agricultural lands, we may mitigate the climate crisis while also contributing to solving other ecological and social challenges. Building on nature’s carbon sequestration abilities to address socio-ecological challenges has been conceptualised under many names. One concept that has spread in some academic communities is Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) while other terms include ecosystem-based approaches and Nature-based Solutions (NbS). This entry considers these terms largely interchangeable, and draws upon literature that uses both the concepts of NCS and NbS, as well as similar terms such as nature restoration. It continues with the term ‘nature-based climate mitigation’ and focuses on initiatives and practices deployed in terrestrial ecosystems to address climate change.

While Mexico made great gains in consolidating democracy in 1997 and 2000, these advances risk being severely undermined by doubts surrounding the 2006 election. This article contends that the 2006 pre-electoral environment is, if for different reasons, at least as fragile as that in 2000. If proper measures are not taken to improve electoral playing field transparency and levelness and to help ensure the winner’s selection through a process accepted by all and with broad participation, post-electoral mobilization and short-term ingovernability are possible outcomes. We focus on emerging challenges posed by profligate campaign spending and the lack of disclosure which threaten to delimit the presidential election outcome months ahead of the race. We conclude that greater international attention should be paid to these elections, and suggest that Mexico’s voters and international observers should heed important experimental civil society, media, and academic initiatives to systematically monitor “playing field” levelness.

While Mexico made great gains in consolidating democracy in 1997 and 2000, these advances risk being severely undermined by doubts surrounding the 2006 election. This article contends that the 2006 pre-electoral environment is, if for different reasons, at least as fragile as that in 2000. If proper measures are not taken to improve electoral playing field transparency and levelness and to help ensure the winner’s selection through a process accepted by all and with broad participation, post-electoral mobilization and short-term ingovernability are possible outcomes. We focus on emerging challenges posed by profligate campaign spending and the lack of disclosure which threaten to delimit the presidential election outcome months ahead of the race. We conclude that greater international attention should be paid to these elections, and suggest that Mexico’s voters and international observers should heed important experimental civil society, media, and academic initiatives to systematically monitor “playing field” levelness.

"This article argues that the low levels of descriptive representation of women in local political office in Mexico and Latin America is much more than a problem of the purported patriarchal cultures of indigenous and rural communities. The authors claim, based on a comprehensive survey of 466 municipal governments in the indigenous state of Oaxaca, that the underrepresentation of women is a function of institutions limiting female candidates. They test this 'candidate supply' hypothesis, adapted from US-based studies, against the hypothesis that culture - as measured by indigenous ethnicity - has an independent effect on women's representation. They disconfirm that patriarchal, traditionalist cultures of indigenous communities cause underrepresentation in the election of women and instead find that a particular set of local institutions, which are more prevalent in indigenous municipalities, blocks the supply of potential women candidates. The authors conclude by considering the normative implications for women's representation in local politics in Mexico and Latin America." (author's abstract)

Does adopting a constitution lead to better democracy? Not necessarily, write Todd A. Eisenstadt, A Carl LeVan, and Tofigh Maboudi, who studied 138 constitutions from a 37 year-period. They find that in many countries, the constitution-making processes did not incorporate broad public consultation, meaning that the drafters were often able to grab power by codifying benefits for themselves and for their supporters.