Nature's diplomats : science, internationalism, and preservation, 1920-1960 / Raf de Bont.
| Author/creator |
Bont, Raf de, 1977- author. |
| Format | Book and Print |
| Publication Info | Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2021] |
| Copyright Notice | ©2021 |
| Description | x, 373 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Subject(s) |
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| Series | Intersections : histories of environment, science, and technology in the anthropocene Intersections (Pittsburgh, Pa.) ^A1398311 |
| Contents | INTRODUCTION -- 1. "Great Pioneers": Traditions of Nature Preservation, circa 1900 -- 2. Van Tienhoven's Address Book: Expert Gentlemen and Their Networks -- 3. Birds of a Feather?: International Law and Avian Mobility -- 4. Breeding Wisents: Between the Zoo and the Wilderness -- 5. The National Park as a Laboratory: Internationalism in the Heart of Africa -- 6. New Institutions, Old Networks -- 7. Man against Nature: Global Ecology and Its Ambiguities -- EPILOGUE: Reverberations |
| Abstract | Nature's Diplomats explores the development of science-based and internationally conceived nature protection in its foundational years before the 1960s, the decade when it launched from obscurity onto the global stage. Raf De Bont studies a movement while it was still in the making and its groups were still rather small, revealing the geographies of the early international preservationist groups, their social composition, self-perception, ethos, and predilections, their ideals and strategies, and the natures they sought to preserve. By examining international efforts to protect migratory birds, the threatened European bison, and the mountain gorilla in the interior of the Belgian Congo, Nature's Diplomats sheds new light on the launch of major international organizations for nature protection in the aftermath of World War II. Additionally, it covers how the rise of ecological science, the advent of the Cold War, and looming decolonization forced a rethinking of approach and rhetoric; and how old ideas and practices lingered on. It provides much-needed historical context for present-day convictions about and approaches to the preservation of species and the conservation of natural resources, the involvement of local communities in conservation projects, the fate of extinct species and vanished habitats, and the management of global nature. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Issued in other form | Electronic version: Bont, Raf de, 1977- Nature's diplomats. Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2021] 0822988062 |
| ISBN | 9780822946618 hardcover |
| ISBN | 0822946610 hardcover |
Available Items
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions | |
| Joyner | General Stacks | GE195 .B65 2021 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |