EDITOR'S NOTE

Thursday, 5 April 2007

Most two-week periods in our publication cycle seem to have one or a few themes. Many times, the theme of the fortnight is related to an upcoming Conference of the Parties, with civil society, international organizations and governments releasing their reports in an effort to make their mark on the proceedings. Other times, the theme seems to be based on well-established, critical issues, such as climate change.

Lynn Wagner, Ph.D.
Editor, Linkages Update and MEA Bulletin

A theme in many of the resources we found for this issue relates to research and recommendations for an emerging approach to sustainable development: ecosystems services and ways to incorporate market mechanisms into policy designs. This theme will extend through this month and into the summer, when the World Resources Institute is expected to release two publications on ecosystems services that will follow up on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment findings. Of course, the theme also depends on what we are looking for, and our Africa Regional Initiative has drawn our attention to the activities that have shaped sustainable development policies in Africa for the past year. This week marks the launch of our latest newsletter, Linkages Africa, which highlights recent meetings and media reports related to environment and sustainable development in Africa. We hope that this issue will give you information relevant to the themes of your interest and will help you discover new ones.