The report, Nurturing Nature highlighted the importance of the natural environment to economic activity - that ecological processes deliver the resources needed for economic progress - but 11 of 15 of the most important UK habitats are declining.

BBC: Jobs or birds: Turning Rio rhetoric into reality

On Day 1 in Burlington, considered by many the heart of green business, John Erickson, professor of ecological economics at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, clearly touched a nerve.

FORBES: Are We All Just Homogeneous Globules of Desire?

Lastly, the third challenge is to pose strict limits on the processes of commodification of the environment which are at the root of the ecological damage that affects Latin America today.

UNESCO: Social and Human Sciences

Creating a sustainable, economic, social and ecological environment that provides everyone the opportunity to succeed is my mission in Congress.

CNN: Commentary: Technology is key to success for U.S.

The high-resolution picture is of the Rio San Pablo, an ecological transition zone that's marked as a protected area by the National Environment Authority of Panama.

ENGADGET

From 1998 to 2001, funds from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) were used to allot grants to villagers for ecological forest management and to compensate them for the loss of the right to exploit the forest.

UNESCO: From bamboo to tea: sustainable development in biosphere reserves | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization