Mandy Haggith

Northern Britain, c. 300 BC. Former slave, indomitable survivor and now matriarch Rian returns with her daughters to her Celtic homeland. She navigates everything from plundered riches and feuding warlords to betrayals and menacing curses. But when a disaster befalls her older daughter mirroring the cruellest events in Rian’s own past, Rian finds herself conflicted. A beautifully written, engrossing tale, The Lyre Dancers takes place in a richly imagined world that, despite its distance from our own times, is peopled with characters whose emotions and circumstances we relate to instantly. This is a powerful narrative that challenges our modern views of family, social roles and our place in the environment. Above all, the storytelling soars as grudges, peril and passions take their turn across the pages of this early Celtic saga.

The Lyre Dancers

Moving, intelligent and quietly passionate.' - AL Kennedy. The brutal shooting of a bear cub galvanises ecologist Callis MacArthur into becoming an activist. Dreaming of bears roaming free - even in Scotland, a thousand years after their disappearance - she finds herself exploring Europe's remotest forests and meeting colourful characters who are as passionate about nature as she is. But as she begins to embrace her wild side, she faces escalating challenges: she must risk her career and endure agonising personal losses to avoid being swept up in events and emotions beyond her control. Combining lyrical prose, mythical themes, romance and a cracking plot, Bear Witness is a page-turner with a heart and mind.

Bear Witness

Paper charts the course of life, from the medical sheets in maternity wards to death certificates. It is written on, things are packaged in it, it's used as currency, and people blow their noses on it. Yet the dependence on this seemingly "green" product is damaging the planet and creating mountains of unnecessary waste. This exploration journeys to the heart of the global paper industry, traveling from the pristine forests and managed plantations of Canada, Russia, and Indonesia to the pulp mills and paper factories of China and Britain, and the end users in businesses, governments, schools, and homes throughout the world. Pursuing the paper trail from forest to landfill, it uncovers the origins, multiple uses, and disposal of this everyday product and gives a fascinating new perspective on the paper industry's dirtiest secrets, from environmental devastation to human rights abuses. The truth about the paper that is used every day is given as are the simple, practical steps to can take to minimize a person's own paper trail.

From Trees to Trash - the True Cost of Paper

Paper Trails

Bill Ritchie

Nicolette Burford de Oliveira

Cynthia McDougall

Community managed forest systems embody a considerable portion of the wisdom, knowledge, and practical skills and management necessary for the sustainability of forest resources globally. These systems, however, are under threat in many ways, including from the rapid rate of change of their political, socio-economic, and biophysical contexts. Adapting forest management sufficiently quickly and effectively to meet these changes is both urgent and very challenging. This Guide introduces criteria and indicators of sustainability for community managed forest landscapes (CMF C&I) as a potential learning and communication tool that can help meet that challenge. It draws on CIFOR’s collaborative research on CMF C&I in Brazil, Indonesia, and Cameroon to propose a flexible step-by-step approach to developing and implementing self or collaborative forest monitoring systems, and gives examples of C&I developed by communities in these countries. The approach is targeted to communities and their partners in forest management, such as NGOs, government, or development projects, who are seeking strategies to improve local well-being and forest sustainability through more effective learning, collaboration, and decision-making in local forest management.

Criteria and Indicators of Sustainability in Community Managed Forest Landscapes: An Introductory Guide

From the medical sheets in maternity wards to our death certificates, paper charts the course of our lives. Paradoxically, it spreads ideas and learning as well as thousands of tons of junk mail, yet our dependence on this material is damaging our planet and creating mountains of unnecessary waste. Mandy Haggith explores our society's obsession with paper, from its invention in China 2000 years ago to the millions of tonnes we now use every year. Following the paper trail around the world, Mandy discovers the human stories of those affected by the industry, from a Russian ecologist, a Finnish logger and Indonesian tribal leaders, to a Canadian publisher and a Vietnamese paper technologist. In the process, she uncovers the paper industry's dirtiest secrets and sets out simple, practical steps we can take to minimise our own personal use of 20 tonnes of paper over our lifetime.

From Trees to Trash - The True Cost of Paper

A haunting and compelling novel set one thousand years ago in the remote northwest Highlands of Scotland, The Last Bear recounts a tale of ecological and spiritual crisis from the viewpoint of one extraordinary woman.

The Last Bear

"Ambitious and imaginative, believable and compelling." The ScotsmanNorthern Britain, Iron Age. Pytheas of Massalia, the famed Greek explorer, roves the icy northern lands of Celtic Britain and beyond, in search of amber and other precious goods. But he also craves another encounter with Rian, the slave he fell in love with during a former voyage, who continues to haunt him. Rian, however, has other ideas. She has no desire to see Pytheas, and she won’t let go of her family, or her freedom, without a fight. As Pytheas navigates plundered riches, feuding warlords and an ancient curse, will he succeed in finding what he set out for? In the second volume of this extraordinary, imaginative trilogy, Mandy Haggith takes us back to prehistoric times for an intergenerational saga ranging from the Sub-Arctic to the Mediterranean. The Amber Seeker revisits the unforgettable cast of characters we met in The Walrus Mutterer, weaving another visceral tale of loss, longing and revenge in 320 BC.

The Amber Seeker

Titiek Setyawati

Herlina Hartanto

This report explores criteria and indicators (C&I) for monitoring and assessing the sustainability of community managed forests (CMFs), and offers some insights into methodological tools and conceptual approaches for C&I development. The research was intended to explore the potential value of C&I to forest communities, their partners and their representative organisations to legitimise and enhance management, including strengthening of control over forest resources and facilitating the equitable distribution of the costs and benefits of forest management. The C&I for CMF tests involved six forest communities and their partners in Central Province, Cameroon, the Amazonian state of Pará, Brazil, and West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Each test was of approximately one-month duration. The core teams included an ecologist, a social scientist and a forest management specialist. Local involvement was an essential element of the research process. Facilitators enabled the active participation of community members in the critical appraisal of the C&I. After each field test, academics, policy makers, representatives of local and national non-governmental organisations, and representatives of other forest communities reviewed the emergent ‘draft’ C&I. Over 750 statements of principles, criteria, indicators and verifiers were generated by the tests. There is an evaluation of C&I testing processes and C&I for CMF development methodologies, as well as an analysis of the C&I for CMF. The comprehensive coverage of issues related to the sustainability of CMFs makes this report a valuable reference for those interested in implementing C&I for CMF, and for other users and purposes. These may include: researchers or policy makers analysing intersectoral impacts on CMFs; practitioners assessing and developing collaborative CMF initiatives; development planners and project managers evaluating or planning initiatives; and professors seeking guidance on incorporating community forestry into curricula for rural development, forestry and anthropology students.

Developing criteria and indicators of community managed forests as assessment and learning tools: objectives, methodologies and results

Mandy Haggith Ed

This magnificent anthology brings together the finest poems celebrating trees. Featuring poetry giants such as Seamus Heaney, Robert Burns, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, this book includes poems related to the Tree Ogham (Gaelic) tree alphabet, which links a species to each letter. It is a must for nature lovers and poetry enthusiasts.

Mandy Haggith

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