During its existence the Ecosciences Panel of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was constantly concerned with (i) the communic ation gap between the generators of ecological/environmental infor mation and those who use it and (ii) the narrow interpretation of 'environmental' which too frequently was taken as being synonymous with pollution. Because of this concern, and because the panel recognised that land-use is perhaps the overriding facet of environmental policy it was decided to arrange the Seminar recorded in this volume :- Land and its Uses : Actual and Potential An Environmental Appraisal The development of this Seminar was chaired by Professor F. T. Last who was enthusiastically supported by B. G. Bell (U.K.), Drs S. Bie (Norway), 0. W. Heal (U.K.), R. Herrmann (Federal Republic of Germany), M.C.B.Hotz (formerly of NATO, Belgium, but now in Canada), L. Munn (Canada) and N. Yassoglou (Greece). Together, they decided that the participants should include (i) planners/decision makers and (ii) scientists generating ecological/environmental infor mation, in the hope that they would gain a better understanding of each others problems and attitudes and as a result identify how information can be prepared in a more usable form.

Inhalt
A. Identification of Ecological Factors Characterising the Range of Terrestrial Habitats.- i Urban.- 1 Planning and the Physical Environment.- 2 Planned Urban Unit Development: A Case Study Louvain-La-Neuve.- 3 Fragmentation of Land-Rural and Urban: A Major Problem of South European Mediterrean Countries.- Commentary: Urban Planning.- ii Rural.- a Geology.- 4 Geology and Land-Use: The Production of 'Environmentally' Orientated Maps for Decision-Makers.- Commentary: Geology.- b Soil Resources.- 5 The Formation and Properties of Soils.- 6 Classification and Maps of Soils and their Interpretation for Planners.- 7 Soil Requirements for Forestry.- 8 Tropical Forest Soils.- 9 Principal Features of the Formation of Hill Land Soils, their Management and Capability in Cool, Moist, Temperate Climates.- 10 Soils in Arid Areas: Management and Characteristics.- Commentary: Soils.- c Water Resources.- 11 Assessment and Management of Water Resources.- 12 Some examples of Land and Water Use Planning in British Columbia, Canada.- 13 Water in Arid Areas - Basic Facts and Examples of Environmental Implications, Supply and Conservation.- 14 Biological Aspects of Freshwater Resources.- Commentary: Water Resources.- d Conservation/Landscape.- 15 Rationales for Conservation.- 16 Conservation Planning in a Checkerboard World: The Problem of Size of Natural Areas.- 17 Impacts of Changing Land-use particularly in Central Europe.- 18 Nature and Landscape Planning in a Rapidly Changing Region.- 19 Towards Better Land Use - The Role of Geographers.- 20 Landscape Ecology as the Scientific Basis for Holistic Land Appraisal, Planning and Management.- Commentary: Conservation/Landscape.- B Land Classification.- 21 Monitoring, Optimizing and Predicting Impacts from Multi-source Spatial Data.- 22Land Classification in Relation to Physical Planning.- 23 Land Classification Systems in Practical Planning: A Norwegian Perspective.- 24 The Canada Land Inventory.- 25 An Ecological Classification of Land - Its Application to Planning in the Highland Region, Scotland.- 26 Orientations of Land Use Maps.- Commentary: Land Classification.- C Remote Sensing.- 27 Ecological Land Survey as Basis for Land Resource Planning and Management in Canada.- 28 Measuring the Standing Crop of Intertidal Seaweeds by Remote Sensing.- 29 Remote Sensing and Other Methods for Collecting Data.- 30 Numerical Picture Treatment of Remote Sensing Imaging Systems for the Evaluation of Oil Spills.- Commentary: Remote Sensing.- D Case Studies.- 31 The National Environmental Survey of the Netherlands: A Case Study.- 32 The Zuiderzee Polders in the Netherlands: Economic and Environmental Assessments During their Early Stages of Planning.- 33 Development of the Markerwaard Area: A Study in Conflict.- 34 Nepal: Its Land and Its Uses.- 35 Rural Land Use Information Systems: A Pilot Project in Fife, Scotland.- 36 Land Use - Actual and Potential in Central Scotland: A Tour to Pose the Problems.- Commentary: Case Studies.- Epilogue.- Contributors and Participants.