Growing evidence suggests many widely distributed low-density tropical species are declining, but whether protected areas and the increasingly promoted multi-use community-managed wildlife areas mitigate causal threats is poorly studied. Lack of monitoring data and poorly understood species ecology limit knowledge of patterns, causal mechanisms and degree of abundance or range declines. Working in an African savanna, where bushmeat hunting and cattle-grazing are considered the greatest threats to wildlife, this thesis combined three approaches to study the conservation ecology of widely distributed wildlife at three spatial scales (continent-wide; landscape; home range). The continent-wide conservation status of Kori Bustard Ardeotis kori was assessed by reviewing occurrence records (1863–2009) across its range (14 countries). Range contraction was quantified by examining the proportion of historical records (pre-1970) falling within the area delineated by recent records (1970–2009), finding 8% (southern) and 21% (East Africa) declines in 146 years. In contrast, qualitative evidence from historical published accounts and contemporary expert assessments suggested widespread declines in abundance; thus numbers have declined considerably but without commensurate range contraction. Examination of seasonal home range use using satellite telemetry showed that female Kori are sedentary in central Botswana,with strong site-fidelity to dry-season home ranges associated with resource-rich pan habitats; the species appears sensitive to localised habitat conditions and resource availability. However, an assessment of the differential response of Kori and 20 other large-bodied vertebrates to protected areas, wildlife management areas and unprotected areas showed most species’ abundance was driven by proximity to human settlement,interpreted as sensitivity to unregulated hunting, with no effect of differential cattle stocking densities. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that cattle can affect habitat structure, but their effects on Kalahari wildlife were not perceptible, suggesting that conservationists’ preoccupation in African savannas with cattle and their perceived impacts rather than unregulated hunting may be misplaced.

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This thesis traces the political interpretation of sustainability, and its translation into practice in English school building programmes during the period 2000-2010. Social power theory is used to analyse the complex network of decisions, and their consequences, through case studies of policy development and of building projects. The thesis describes how the control of appointments to task forces and of the issues considered allowed Government to manage the framing of the policy agenda while seeming to validate industry perspectives. The process led to a political interpretation of sustainability that translated into two main technical solutions: improved operational energy efficiency and low-carbon energy technologies. Within construction projects the potential power of professional experts to produce alternative solutions is also demonstrated, through the example of the successful introduction of cross-laminated timber to reduce embodied carbon. Outcomes are therefore shown to have been substantially influenced by the exercise of both political and professional power. The thesis also shows the unintentional power effects of procurement processes and design tools in defining and limiting possibilities, the restricting power of the professional systems within which the actors operate, and the power of numbers to provoke unreflective trust. These effects are shown to have led to some irrational solutions, with the thesis demonstrating that the energy technologies installed in three projects are likely to produce higher, not lower, carbon emissions. These multiple power effects have therefore constrained thinking and possibilities for the interpretation of sustainability for construction, have limited the subsequent translation into practical solutions, and have had a substantial and at times negative effect on the material performance of the resultant buildings. In addition the technologies and numbers have not only been used, and therefore governed, by the actors but also appear to have governed them, limiting their actions and understanding of sustainability.

The conservation value of traditional agriculture is well recognised in Europe, where retention and restoration of farming practices that support open-habitat species is a standard management technique. Elsewhere, however, this value is often overlooked while conservation attention is directed at natural habitats and forest biota. This thesis assesses the importance of traditional farming for developing-world biodiversity, using the White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni in Cambodia to investigate practices underpinning synanthropic relationships, links between farming-dependent species and local livelihoods, and potential conservation strategies. Ibis status and ecology was investigated by censuses, foraging observations, prey sampling, experimental exclusion of grazing and burning at foraging habitats, and experimental protection of nests. Livelihoods were assessed by social research methods including household income surveys. A literature review found a subset of threatened bird taxa now dependent on traditional farming following the loss of natural processes. Agricultural change, driven by external agribusiness and intrinsic livelihood modernisation, endangers these species, including the ibis. Ibis foraging ecology is closely associated with local livelihood practices, with favoured dry forest habitats created or maintained by domestic livestock grazing, anthropogenic fire and rice cultivation. Not all local practices are beneficial, however: ibis nests are exploited for food by local people, and nest guardians do not improve nest success (although this requires further testing). White-shouldered Ibis’s breeding season contrasts with that of the sympatric Giant Ibis Thaumatibis gigantea, most likely explained by the former’s dry-season-adapted foraging strategy. Household incomes and livestock capital assets demonstrated that local people share a dependence on the livelihood practices and dry forest landscape supporting the ibis. Nevertheless, local livelihood change (such as mechanisation) may uncouple this linkage, making a potential win-win conservation strategy unviable. Conservation must develop measures to maintain valuable farming practices before they, and the species dependent on them, are lost through agricultural transition.

The variability of surface ocean pCO₂ is examined on multiple spatial and temporal scales. Temporal autocorrelation analysis is used to examine pCO₂ variability over multiple years. Spatial autocorrelation analysis describes pCO₂ variability over multiple spatial scales. Spatial autocorrelation lengths range between <50 km in coastal regions and other areas of physical turbulence up to 3,000 km along major currents. Analysis of the drivers of pCO₂ shows that ocean currents are the primary driver of spatial variability. Autocorrelation lengths of air-sea CO2 fluxes are approximately half as long as for pCO₂ due to the effects of highly variable wind speeds. The influence of modes of climate variability on ocean pCO₂ and related air-sea CO₂ fluxes is examined through correlations of climate indices with interannual pCO₂ anomalies separated from the long-term trend and mean seasonal cycle. Changes in the El Niño Southern Oscillation alter pCO₂ levels by -6.6 ± 1.0 μatm per index unit (μatm iu⁻¹) in the Equatorial Pacific, leading to changes in air-sea flux of up to 0.40 ± 0.06 Pg C yr⁻¹. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation shows statistically significant correlations with pCO₂ across the Equatorial Pacific, North Pacific and North Atlantic. No statistically significant correlations are found with the North Atlantic Oscillation in the North Atlantic. An important product of the analysis performed in this thesis is a spatially and temporally complete interpolated data set of surface ocean pCO₂ data over an extended period. This data product is the first of its kind, both in terms of its coverage and the fact that it does not rely on the derivation of empirical relationships between pCO₂ and other biogeochemical variables. The technique works as well as or better than previous regional interpolations, with 90% of values likely to be within 30μatm of the actual pCO₂ value.

Through a theoretically informed examination of two cases fundamental to the growth of the aviation industry in the UK, this thesis aims to illuminate the mechanisms behind the industry’s oft-claimed position of privilege in environmental policymaking. It is claimed that historically the aviation industry has occupied such a position, manifest in tax breaks for fuel, delayed entry into the emissions trading scheme and continuing ability to secure permission for new airport development, all in the face of fierce opposition. However, the existing literature fails to adequately empiricise or explain the precise mechanisms behind its alleged position of privilege. This thesis focuses on the role of the UK state in arbitrating between rival interests in the historical development of the aviation industry in the UK. Two case studies are explored: the development of the third London airport at Stansted, and a new runway at Manchester. The former was characterised by delays and reviews, becoming a cause célèbre; the latter occurred more rapidly. Archival analysis and elite interviewing uncover fresh details of the two cases. Two contrasting theories of policy are employed to understand and explain the industry’s role: the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) (which maintains that policy change arises primarily from an open competition between policy coalitions in adjusting to external events) and the Strategic-Relational Approach (SRA) (that acknowledges the importance of structural imperatives on the state to consistently privilege some actors over others). This research finds that both the ACF and SRA offer convincing accounts of the policymaking process, however, singularly, neither is able fully to explore all the mechanisms that underpin the industry’s privileged position. By paying close attention to the beliefs of actors, the ACF uncovers the mechanisms behind how and why actors work together to achieve their policy goals and draws attention to the important role played by external events and policy learning play in creating policy change. Complementing these insights, the SRA draws attention to the strategies actors use to achieve their policy goals and explores the structural factors that continuously privilege the aviation industry. In initiating the first theoretical dialogue between these two contrasting perspectives, this research has found that there is no need for theoretical synthesis in a quest to find the ‘best’ single theory, rather, that combining their insights to in a complementary manner offers the most valuable exploration of policy and the policymaking process.

It is widely understood that the environment is critical for the preservation of historic collections and interiors, if the environment is unsuitable it can create an increased risk of damage. In historic houses collections are usually on open display, and the room environment often has little control thus it is vulnerable to changes in the outdoor environment. The future outdoor environment is projected to change so the aim of this work has been to develop a widely applicable model to investigate the potential impact of climate change on historic interiors. A simple transfer function has been used to predict indoor temperature and relative humidity. The method is widely applicable and easily transferable between unheated buildings. It has been shown that it is important to assess each location and room on an individual basis. The method has been coupled with future climate output, from both the UKCP09 weather generator and the Hadley model, where data has been downscaled. The high resolution climate output allows for projections of future indoor environment. Future temperature is projected to increase in unheated historic houses around the UK and across Europe, although less than outdoors. Annual average relative humidity is largely unchanged in the future. Damage functions are used to determine the impact of the future indoor environment on materials. Typically temperature driven damage such as chemical degradation of paper and silk and insect pest activity increase in the future, whereas damage driven by relative humidity, such as salt transitions, depends upon the location assessed. In general risk of mould growth increases, and dimensional changes to wood decrease. The significance of future changes is an important consideration, requiring some further work. Annual averages are shown to hide seasonal changes, thus it is important to assess these, which can impact upon management strategies. At Knole it is projected that the summer humidity will decrease and the winter humidity increase slightly, which raises the risk of mould growth. The application of conservation heating has been shown to be less effective in future, but is still an effective strategy, although dehumidification may become more appropriate in some locations. The future energy use of conservation heating has a negligible change. There are a number of inherent uncertainties associated with the models used here. Specifically with climate modelling, future emissions are unknown and the physical processes of the climate are not fully understood. There is a statistical error associated with the transfer function, and the damage functions also have a number of related uncertainties. It is important to consider these when assessing future indoor projections. The results allow for long term planning by collection managers, to prepare for the impact of climate change, thus preserving heritage for future generations.