This book presents interdisciplinary advances in theory and practice pertaining to rural sustainability and sets forth an action research agenda and policy prescriptions to support rural sustainability with special emphasis on the Accession Countries to the EU. The book will address four themes. The first theme describes recent developments in tools and approaches to linking science, policy and management for biodiversity conservation improvement and their role in the transition to rural sustainability. The second is on challenges for biodiversity conservation in rural areas in Europe and North America as EU enlargement comes to be a reality. The third covers comparing and contrasting case study applications in biodiversity conservation from NATO and NATO partner countries. The last identifies new opportunities for re-structuring science, policy and management to improve biodiversity conservation in rural areas in the context of an enlarged European Union.