Despite unprecedented levels of concern regarding ecological problems, most thinking about solutions still fail to come to terms with the ‘limits to growth’ argument and, therefore, produce strategies that have no possibility of achieving sustainability. This means that a sustainable society cannot have affluent living standards, extensive industrialization or a growth economy. There is no possibility of all the world’s people rising to the levels of production and consumption characteristis of the rich countries today. We must eventually move to ways of providing a high quality of life from a small fraction of present levels of production and consumption, within a zero growth economy.

The selected chapters have been divided into six categories. The topics covered include ecological and social resilience, riverbank erosion, vulnerability of dry ecosystems, valuation of ecosystem changes due to salinity and groundwater depletion, and reconciliation of both weak and strong sustainability. Some of the insights gained from social-ecological systems have been ably researched by the authors. Ecosystem services and the quality of life, governance and ecosystems, communities and various activities undertaken in the form of combative as also sustainable erasures, all vie for space and importance in this seminary volume on man and his environment. The issue of tiger conservation and rights of tribal people is debated and discussed all around. In this context, it is of extremely contemporary relevance that this topic finds concentrated focus here.

An interesting theme is the issue of ecosystem services and the quality of life. It explores the attempts to define the different indicators and criteria of human well being. The use of ecosystem-related indicators is to measure the vulnerability of systems, the quality of human or ecosystem health or the level of development. The book reiterates the fact time and again, how, starting from a condition of diversity of ideas and interests among the stakeholders, systematic dialogue and mutual learning could be generated, leading to identification of options for more sustainable resource management practices.

Ecology provides an insight into the functioning and conditions of ecosystems. A fully functional ecosystem in less perturbed conditions can yield numerous services so critical for mankind as these services sustain and enrich the human for their well being. Human well being comprises much more than the usual basket of material goods (income). Physical security, social harmony, health and freedom to make choices and take action in a participative and democratic way, are integral parts of human well being.