Saving endangered species presents a critical and increasingly pressing challenge for conservation and sustainability movements, and is also matter of survival and livelihoods for the world's poorest and vulnerable communities. In 1973, a global Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was adopted to stem the extinction of many species. In 2015, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 15) the United Nations called for urgent action to protect endangered species and their natural habitats. This volume focuses on the legal implementation of CITES to achieve the global SDGs. Activating interdisciplinary analysis and case studies across jurisdictions, the contributors analyse the potential for CITES to promote more sustainable development, proposing international and national regulatory innovations for implementing CITES. They consider recent innovations and key intervention points along flora and fauna value chains, advancing coherent recommendations to strengthen CITES implementation, including through the regulation of trade in endangered species globally and locally.

Chondrichthyes are a group of cartilaginous fish, where we have sharks, rays, and chimeras as members. This group plays an important role in aquatic ecology, as they act as predators throughout the food chain (e.g., sharks). However, many populations of Chondrichthyes are threatened by several factors (increased direct fishing, high mortality rate as accompanying fauna, marine pollution, habitat destruction, etc.). These declines are evident in many parts of the world and have come to the attention of scientists, conservation organizations, the media, and the general public. Fisheries legislation regulating international fisheries markets has been amended to provide greater protection for this group along with other species of fish. However, little is known about these species, which reinforces the importance of studies in order to have a better understanding of the elasmobranch stocks, as well as to identify the influences of the anthropic action of fishing. In response to knowledge on the low sustainability of cartilaginous fish fisheries on a global scale, FAO has developed an international plan of action for the management and conservation of these fish, with the aim of developing and implementing national plans of action to ensure management and conservation of these stocks, having as main recommendation the collection of information about the Chondrichthyes, especially the sharks. Even so, this group is little known in terms of biodiversity, ecology, behavior, and a host of other characteristics relevant to this taxon, which is very worrying. Chondrichthyes - Multidisciplinary Approach attempts to portray to the readers up-to-date information on Chondrichthyes to promote an overview of the current taxon, serving as an indispensable source of access to more accurate and detailed information on shark rays and chimeras.

This comprehensive volume describes the present state of wildlife on a global scale, using a taxonomic approach.

Fishes in Lagoons and Estuaries in the Mediterranean 2 extensively covers the systematic, biological, ecological, behavioral and genetic aspects of the sedentary fishes that spend their entire lifecycle in the coastal fringes, sometimes referred to as “extreme environments”. This second volume of a set of books on Mediterranean ichthyofauna presents in-depth scientific, historical and current knowledge at the family, genus and species levels. Designed to give rapid and comprehensive access to the body of knowledge on Mediterranean lagoonal and estuarine sedentary fishes (over 1200 scientific works are referenced), this volume is for anyone involved in the use, management or protection of natural environments and their populations, including ecobiologists, geographers, engineers, teachers, students and researchers.

Based on the most recent scientific data, and without neglecting historical publications, Fishes in Lagoons and Estuaries in the Mediterranean 3 comprehensively details Mediterranean lagoonal–marine migratory fish. It provides information regarding their systematics, eobiology, ethology, genetics and their exploitation. After a general categorization of the species represented, this volume, third in a set of books on Mediterranean ichthyofauna, offers a synthesis of the knowledge acquired from 1890 to the present day for each of the 21 species most frequently found in Mediterranean lagoons and estuaries. These species are detailed across the two parts of volume 3. The scientific data presented in this book concern the species’ lagoon life as much as their marine life, and are therefore of particular interest for both the management of fish stocks and for the conservation of species. Designed to give rapid and comprehensive access to the body of knowledge on Mediterranean lagoonal and estuarine migratory fishes, this volume is for anyone involved in the use, management or protection of natural environments and their populations, including ecobiologists, geographers, engineers, teachers, students and researchers.

This volume is an indispensable addition to the multidisciplinary coverage of the science of the Mediterranean Sea. The editors have gathered leading authorities from the fields of Marine Biology, Ecology, paleoclimatology, Chemical and Physical Oceanography, Zoology, Botany, Aquatic Photosynthesis, Socioeconomics, Mariculture, Mediterranean History and Science of Humanity. Beginning with the birth of the Mediterranean Sea and its myths. From coral to fish, an introduction is given to its major inhabitants of plants and animals past and present. The chapters illustrate how organisms interact as part of the structure and function of the Sea's main ecosystems. The rise of the Mediterranean as the cradle of the Western Civilization leads to a discourse on the status of human interaction with the sea. Accelerating global climate change, water warming, ocean acidification and sea level rise, and analyses of their effects on key organisms, entire ecosystems and human socioeconomics are given. Forecasting and predictions are presented taking into account different future scenarios from the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change). The volume is richly illustrated in color, with an extensive bibliography. A valuable addition to the limited literature in the field, offering up-to-date broad coverage merging science and humanities.​

A pilot case study on the implementation of the ecosystem approach to the purse-seine fisheries in Lebanon initiated in 2016, under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture of Lebanon. One of the first steps in the pilot case study was the elaboration of a Baseline Report, which is presented in this publication. The Baseline report documents the available information on the purse seine fishery with the objective to assist with the rest of the management planning process. It describes relevant information about the fishery, the species and geographical areas covered in the case study, the socioeconomic profile of the fishery and the institutional arrangements for its management.

This United Nations report examines the current state of knowledge of the world's oceans, for policymakers, and provides a reference for marine science courses.