The authors argue that environmental preservation relies on more than the determination to solve environmental issues as they arise. It involves active management and planning for the future. Responsible management is, in turn, dependent on making informed decisions, based on a sound understanding of the components, processes and dynamics of the world's biophysical environments. Understanding Environments allows students to analyse the world's major biophysical environments and the processes that govern them, and then to explore environmental management in practice through a number of case studies selected from around the world. An integral part of the Active Geography series, this book will be of great interest to secondary school students studying geography.