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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a viewpoint on homelessness and health gained from a practical public health perspective. Design/methodology/approach – Views derived from local review as well as other national epidemiology and research. Findings – That housing has real impacts upon health especially for those who are homeless. Research limitations/implications – This is a viewpoint from a major city in England. Practical implications – Homelessness leads to extreme vulnerability. There are other aspects of the home environment that impact elsewhere in the public sector, especially the health service. Vulnerable individuals are more likely to become homeless which can lead to exacerbation of vulnerability. Originality/value – This is a viewpoint derived solely from local practice.

The alarming prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) across the globe demands scrutinization of the present mechanisms in place to protect children from abuse. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child acknowledges that the family is the natural environment for the development and well-being of children. However, historically, children throughout South Asia have suffered homelessness, neglect and deprivation due to factors such as broken homes, lack of financial resources, physical and sexual abuse, and the age-old tradition of migrating parents in search of a better life, leaving children in the care of others often unable or unwilling to provide long-term care and attention. With such numbers, child care during the last decade has gained its due attention. A specific set of resolutions were placed by the United Nations and various Governments for alternative care, to address protection and shelter for children whose rights were being violated. Yet, disturbing malpractices and absence of monitoring and evaluation were discovered across child care institutions in South Asian nations including India, Nepal and Afghanistan, with reports confirming CSA. To ensure protection of children from institutional abuse, there is an urgent need to review the existing laws in terms of their efficacy to protect children and feasibility in implementation. The present study suggests possible solutions, by trying to understand standardized and effective models of care systems and mechanisms. This will further help us delve into areas where law and policies in South Asia can be compared with regards to alternative care; to understand gaps, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and thereby generating policy suggestions for alternative care.

Putting Nature on the Map is the title of the ongoing project for applying the IUCN protected areas management categories to all protected areas in the UK under state, private, charitable or community control, in the light of IUCN’s adoption of revised guidance in 2008. The standard two-stage test is applied: do the designated sites/areas conform to the IUCN definition of a protected area? And, if so, to which IUCN management category and governance type should they be assigned? The paper describes the innovative methods used, including a Statement of Compliance to test whether a designated area system complies with the IUCN definition of a protected area, and an independent Assessment Panel as a quality control on data input from originating bodies before formal submission of official data through government to the UNEP-WCMC World Data Base on Protected Areas. The benefits of the approach, both in applying international standards and providing a basis for increasing the prominence of protected areas as a key mechanism for nature conservation, are set out and interim results are presented.

Approximately one-third of all terrestrial high-biodiversity sites straddle national land borders, yet few man-made boundaries are fixed, and international boundaries often alter over time or disappear altogether. This publication makes the compelling case for transboundary conservation approaches and promotes an array of innovative methods based on contemporary principles. It has been developed primarily to provide transboundary conservation managers with advice on how to work more effectively and how to address the challenges that are specific to transboundary conservation.

The dialogue between landscape protection and nature conservation is often hampered by conceptual difficulties, but recent developments in our understanding of landscape, as in the European Landscape Convention, have shown how nature, in all its forms, is a key element in landscape. Similarly, recent developments in nature conservation show how landscapes can be made more resilient. Nature conservation and landscape protection converge around the idea of working at the scale of distinctive landscape units. This convergence is explored first through the example of IUCN’s Category V “protected areas” (Protected Landscapes/seascapes), which have been shown to be effective instruments for nature conservation and for the protection of agro-biodiversity. Three complementary national programmes in the UK are then described: National Character Areas which identify 159 areas of England which are distinguished by their nature conservation, landscape and other factors; Nature Improvement Areas which are designed to create, improve, extend and connect nature areas across broad tracts of England; and the Landscape Partnerships programme by which lottery funding is made available throughout the UK to support such large-scale initiatives. In all cases nature conservation is helped by being addressed through a landscape context.

A growing number of protected areas are defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as protected landscapes and seascapes, or category V protected areas, one of six protected area categories based on management approach. Category V now makes up over half the protected area coverage in Europe, for instance. While the earliest category V areas were designated mainly for their landscape and recreational values, they are increasingly expected also to protect biodiversity. Critics have claimed that they fail to conserve enough biodiversity. The current paper addresses this question by reviewing available evidence for the effectiveness of category V in protecting wild biodiversity by drawing on published information and a set of case studies. Research to date focuses more frequently on changes in vegetation cover than on species, and results are limited and contradictory, suggesting variously that category V protected areas are better than, worse than or the same as more strictly protected categories in terms of conserving biodiversity. This may indicate that differences are not dramatic, or that effectiveness depends on many factors. The need for greater research in this area is highlighted. Research gaps include: (i) comparative studies of conservation success inside and outside category V protected areas; (ii) the contribution that small, strictly protected areas make to the conservation success of surrounding, less strictly protected areas—and vice versa; (iii) the effectiveness of different governance approaches in category V; (iv) a clearer understanding of the impacts of zoning in a protected area; and (v) better understanding of how to implement landscape approaches in and around category V protected areas.

Recent studies suggest that high plasma levels of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) and its inhibitor (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, PAI-1) are markers of an increased risk of atherothrombotic ischemic events such as stroke and myocardial infarction. In this prospective study, we measured tPA antigen, PAI-1 antigen and activity, as well as tPA/PAI-1 complex in patients with acute stroke. Stroke subtypes were classified according to the TOAST criteria. From 132 consecutively screened patients, 89 (100%) were enrolled in this study, including 42 patients (47%) with large artery atherosclerosis (LAA), 32 (36%) with small vessel occlusion (SVO), and 15 (17%) with cardioembolism (CE). Nineteen age-matched neurologic patients without manifestations of cerebrovascular disease served as control subjects (CS). Patients with acute stroke had significantly higher plasma levels of tPA antigen (p0.001), PAI-1 antigen (p0.05) and PAI activity (p0.05) than patients in the control group. t-PA antigen, PAI activity and tPA/PAI-1 complex levels were similar regardless of stroke etiology. Only PAI-1 antigen was lower in patients with cardioembolic stroke than in stroke patients with LAA (p0.05). Plasma tPA antigen, PAI-1 antigen, and PAI activity are significantly increased in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Except for PAI-1 antigen, this increase appears not to be related to the underlying stroke etiology.

This paper explores the reasons for the growing interest in cultural landscapes in nature conservation circles. It contains a brief discourse on nature and culture, emphasizing the declining power of the idea of pristine wilderness, the realization that many disturbed ecosystems are important to conservation, that agri‐biodiversity is a resource to be protected along with wild biodiversity, and the need to find models of sustainable land use. Examples are given, at the global (World Heritage Convention), European and national levels, of the way in which the growing interest in cultural landscapes manifests itself; special attention is given to the category of protected area known as ‘protected landscape/seascape’. Finally, the author identifies the major natural qualities found in cultural landscapes which will assist in understanding, identifying and protecting those features of value.

Protected areas - such as national parks and nature reserves - are a well-established tool of conservation policy. At least 24 separate types of protected areas exist in the UK, and more may be added. While protected areas must remain a central feature of international, national and local conservation effort, there are pressures for change and for reviewing the system of protected areas which we have inherited from the past. Any review should take into account some new thinking about the nature of protected area systems. There are five aspects in particular: new proposals for categorizing protected areas by the objectives of their management; the development of the concept of ‘networks’ of protected areas; the elaboration of a geographical hierarchy of protected areas; the converging policy objectives of different kinds of protected areas; and the broad objective of integrated management of human activities along substantial lines.

Fifty years of interplay between farming, environment and politics are reviewed within the context of the search for policy tools which reconcile the need for conservation and access to the countryside with the needs of those who own or manage the land. Seven main policy instruments which have been used to reconcile conflicts between the various interest groups representing farmers and landowners, conservationists and recreationists are identified and their strengths and weaknesses analysed. The significance and initial impact of the seventh of these policy tools — the incentives or market-led approach — is considered in greater detail.

This chapter reviews the place of landscape at the international level. It argues that landscape was slow to become a suitable subject for international discourse because there was no consensus on the concept until recently, but that its relevance to the sustainability debate has changed this. Significant recent developments have been the incorporation of cultural landscapes within the World Heritage Convention; IUCN’s work on Category V protected areas, or Protected Landscapes; and developments within Europe, culminating in the adoption of the European Landscape Convention. The chapter analyses the importance of these developments and reviews their relevance to the UK. It concludes by predicting that the international dimension of landscape protection, management and planning will be increasingly important in the UK.

Protected Landscapes (IUCN Protected Area Category V) are lived-in working landscapes. In the past, there has been a tendency to see them as a rather Eurocentric approach to protected areas but increasingly the category is being designated in other parts of the world, including in a number of developing countries. The Guidelines include sections on the background and on the planning of such areas, and chapters on the principles, policies, process and the means for their management. The text includes more than 20 case studies from more than 15 countries in every region of the world.

It is sometimes assumed that protected areas must be in conflict with the rights and traditions of indigenous and other traditional peoples on their domains. In reality, where indigenous peoples are interested in the conservation and traditional use of their lands, waters, territories and the natural and cultural resources that they contain, conflicts need not arise. Formal protected areas can provide a means to recognise and guarantee the efforts of many communities who have long protected certain areas, such as sacred groves and mountains. This publication provides a framework for developing partnerships between indigenous and other traditional peoples and protected area managers. It contains a number of case studies giving examples from different parts of the world on successful experiences on the application of these principles

It is sometimes assumed that protected areas must be in conflict with the rights and traditions of indigenous and other traditional peoples on their domains. In reality, where indigenous peoples are interested in the conservation and traditional use of their lands, waters, territories and the natural and cultural resources that they contain, conflicts need not arise. Formal protected areas can provide a means to recognise and guarantee the efforts of many communities who have long protected certain areas, such as sacred groves and mountains. This publication provides a framework for developing partnerships between indigenous and other traditional peoples and protected area managers. It contains a number of case studies giving examples from different parts of the world on successful experiences on the application of these principles

Creation and effective management of marine protected areas (MPAs) have lagged behind those of protected areas on land, but they are just as important. The world urgently needs a comprehensive system of MPAs to conserve biodiversity and to help rebuild the productivity of the oceans. The aim of these guidelines is to help countries establish systems of MPAs as a key component of integrated management of coastal and marine areas and as part of their sustainable development. The various actions to make an effective MPA are set out, from early planning stages to implementation. These guidelines aim to help policy-makers, planners and field managers, whether working on conservation of nature or sustainable use of marine resources

Wilderness protection was for long the driving force behind protected areas. However, the concept of wilderness can be misleading, and many humanized areas (i.e. landscapes) are also rich in natural and cultural values. Though a concern with landscapes has tended to be associated with Europe, it is of broader relevance. This is apparent in: the IUCN Protected Area Management Category V - Protected Landscape/Seascape, (there are >2,200 such sites around the world); Cultural Landscapes under the World Heritage Convention; the European Strategy for Landscape and Biological Diversity; and the proposed European landscapes convention. There is a need for research in landscape typology, landscape evaluation and landscape management; the last has to address the key question of how to manage landscape when it is the product of human use.

The recent article by Laroche et al 1 is an eloquent reminder that standardised care, hopefully based upon evidence (or at least consensus), can help to ensure that the quality of care is based less on postcode and more upon clinical need. However, the authors and the accompanying editorial2 do not emphasise the problems in comparing surgical resection rates for lung cancer with other European countries and the USA. Much international literature in this area is not directly comparable with that in the UK for at least one reason—namely, that the denominators used may be very different. One study quoted by Laroche et al from the Netherlands described a resection rate for lung cancer of over 20%,3 but used a denominator made up only of patients with a histological diagnosis seen at the related hospitals. The UK data commonly available comprise cases with and without …

The Silurian succession of Clare Island, consisting of at least 1700 m of red siltstones, sandstones and conglomerates resting unconformably on Upper Dalradian and older basement, records a cycle of marine transgression and regression within marginal marine and fluviatile sedimentary environments along the northern margin of the Silurian basin of Ireland. Clastic and pyroclastic sediments of probable Wenlock age were derived from a northern land mass formed of high grade metamorphic rocks cut by acid volcanic centres. It is argued that the source area has been removed by large scale strike-slip fault movement along a fracture zone which previously controlled the margin of the Silurian basin

The Highland Boundary Fault is considered to extend from Stonehaven in Scotland to the major Leek fault of Clare Island in western Ireland. This conspicuous fault of the island has however been erroneously correlated with the Leannan fault of Donegal, a probable branch of the Great Glen Fault. South of the Leek fault Silurian sediments rest unconformably upon a metamorphic basement. This consists of amphi-bolite facies metasediments intruded by basic and ultrabasic rocks that have also undergone amphibolite facies metamorphism. These high grade rocks of uncertain age are considered to be part of a horst which was uplifted within the Moine Dalradian basin of western Ireland during Cambrian times. The horst was probably a southern source of detritus for the Upper Dalradian turbidites now on both sides of the Leek fault. The large uplift to the south which formed this horst conforms with and expands previous ideas on the early history of the Highland Boundary Fault. The age of the Dalradian metamorphism in western Ireland is reconsidered, and it is concluded that the case for a pre- Nitidus Zone age is unsatisfactory and that a mid-Ordovician age is possible.

This article illustrates the use made of recreation research in the Countryside Commission. It explains some of the different methods employed, describes the main results and shows the impact they have on policy development. Research has been of key importance to the Commission during its recent review of recreation policies and the main directions of the emerging policies are highlighted.