This book details various stages in the introduction, establishment and evolution of China's environmental management system. By combining a literature review, comparative analysis, and case study, it investigates the environmental management system in several key periods in order to systematically assess the necessary measures and appropriate adjustments the Chinese Government implemented to reconcile the growing conflicts between economic development and resources conservation, in the context of rapid economic growth and economic transformation. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable resource for experts, scholars, and government officials in related fields.

This book explores China's low-carbon consumption in the context of residential behaviour, corporate practices and policy Implication. It first calculates the carbon and ecological footprints of residential consumption, including both direct and indirect emissions, before discussing Chinese residential behavioural aspects and determinants of electricity saving, low-carbon transportation, low-carbon product purchasing, and e-waste recycling. The authors then investigate the relationship between industrial growth and carbon emissions, using the example of the iron and steel industry to examine the motivation for energy intensive industries to reduce carbon emissions. They also consider energy efficiency and inter-company collaboration on carbon emission reduction. Lastly, the book describes the major low-carbon policies in China and their impact, economic cost and public acceptance.

Experiences are an important part of our lives and increasingly represent a crucial topic to address for businesses and professionals. This book focuses on designing, staging and managing experiences within the context of the events, tourism and hospitality industries. It also illustrates current and future developments in these industries and wider society, with an emphasis on sustainable development. The book offers an innovative approach for successfully creating experiences for (potential) customers that is based on combining insights and methods from the world of design and the social sciences. Moreover, it shows how the experience economy and sustainable development both reinforce one another and create challenges that businesses and professionals can address through this approach. Critical thinking questions, practical examples and international case studies are integrated throughout the text. Combining a design science and a social sciences perspective in one inclusive hands-on approach to designing, staging and managing experiences, this is essential reading for all students of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, but also related fields.

We are witnessing an alarming, global biodiversity crisis with an ongoing loss of species and their habitats. In response, a number of tools and approaches - including some that are contested - are being explored and promoted. Biodiversity offsets are one such approach, and deserve critical examination since the debate surrounding them has often been oversimplified and lacking practical evidence. As such, this study presents a refined typology including seven types of biodiversity offsets and taking into account different contexts, governance arrangements and drivers. It draws on a detailed analysis of theoretical concepts to explain the voluntary implementation of biodiversity offsets using an internet-based (netnographic) research approach. Furthermore it builds on a broad global explorative base of 72 practical examples and presents in-depth case studies for each type. The results reveal a number of global tendencies that allow recommendations to be made for different locations, contexts and stakeholders. They also encourage the expansion of this research field to respond to the pressing needs of policy and practice.

The ecosystem is a central concept in modern ecology and is fundamental to sound environmental policy making. Not all ecosystems are equally susceptible to human-induced environmental change, nor do we attribute equal value to all ecosystem types. From a nature conservation point of view we are concerned about the spatial extension of ecosystems and their quality, as well as about their responsiveness and recovery potential. This requires the classification and mapping of ecosystems. This book treats the why and how of such classification and mapping as a prerequisite to environmentally sound management aimed at sustainability and the preservation of biodiversity. Existing concepts and procedures are modified for modern applications, including susceptibility assessment, environmental quality assessment and monitoring, as well as predictive modelling for environmental impact assessments. These procedures are illustrated by applying them to current environmental problems, such as acidification, eutrophication, changing land use, or groundwater lowering. Written by a number of renowned landscape ecologists from several West European countries, this book discusses a wealth of theories, concepts, and methods from plant ecology, vegetation science, physical geography, and other environmental sciences composed in such a way to constitute practically applicable tools. For scientists engaged in applied research and professionals in environmental planning. Graduate students will find it inspiring as well as a source of practical advice.

As global concerns around the environment, climate, and sustainability are moving to the forefront of consumer choices and business values, how organizations report on sustainability has become more crucial than ever before. Business sustainability issues are a major concern, with many firms seeking to contribute positively when serving their local communities and enhancing their corporate responsibility practices socially and environmentally. International Perspectives on Sustainability Reporting presents business case studies from different sectors across different regions, highlighting the changing institutional contexts and laws in each country regarding sustainability reporting: for some, reporting is mandatory and for others it is voluntary. Taking not only the historical but also the firm level, sectoral, regional, political, and economic perspective, Buallay's work is far-reaching and comprehensive, spanning from the history of environmental reporting to sustainable reporting in the tourism industry. Tackling multidisciplinary topics that include finance, economics, sociology, law, governance, and organizational management, the methods deployed here are both qualitative and quantitative. International Perspectives on Sustainability Reporting is essential reading for both scholars and practitioners in all of these sectors as sustainability increases in importance across the board.

This books presents the curricula necessary for sustainability in higher education. It shows how the learning process is transforming in order to promote sustainability. It prepares administrators, teachers and students to diffuse the development in the field, showing a curricula based on three interconnected pillars: the environment, the economic and the social aspects. It contains 8 chapters introducing research advances in the field.

A concise reference on the structural composition and function of microbial communities in coastal environments, especially in relation to natural and anthropogenic impacts. Microbial Communities in Coastal Sediments presents twenty years of coastal microbiology research, grounding it as a vital development in the field of microbial ecology. It is the first book to focus exclusively on the complex microbial ecology and its function in rest of the marine environment. The book outlines the structure, function, and assessment of microbial communities in marine sediments while exploring practical methods of assessment. It is an invaluable resource to aquatic microbiologists, marine ecologists, marine microbiologists, aquatic researchers, and graduate students in this field. Microbial Communities in Coastal Sediments begins with an examination of nutrient sources in the coastal context with a focus on organic matter inputs. The quantity and quality of organic matter in coastal sediments and their impacts on the composition and formation of microbial communities is discussed. The book explores the consequences of anthropogenic changes and human activity on microbial ecology and nutrient cycling. Sections on nutrient availability, green house gas production and biodegradation of persistent organic pollutants provide essential details. Molecular research techniques and methods for assessing microbial community structure and function in coastal sediments are also covered.

This textbook provides the first overview of plant-animal interactions for twenty years focused on the needs of students and professors. It discusses a range of topics from the basic structures of plant-animal interactions to their evolutionary implications in producing and maintaining biodiversity. It also highlights innovative aspects of plant-animal interactions that can represent highly productive research avenues, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in a future career in ecology. Written by leading experts, and employing a variety of didactic tools, the book is useful for students and teachers involved in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses addressing areas such as herbivory, trophic relationships, plant defense, pollination and biodiversity.

The shift of weather patterns has affected the incidence and prevalence of infectious diseases, including mycoses. Mycoses have remained neglected due to a lack of training and recognition within the medical community. Nonetheless, these diseases remain common worldwide while frequently being underdiagnosed. Climate change affects the distribution of fungal communities, provoking outbreaks in locations where these mycoses were absent or in low frequencies. Moreover, the reports of clinical cases related to new fungal pathogens have increased due to the description of new fungal species or due to the ability of some species to shift to new hosts. Thus, this book, The Impact of Climate Change on Fungal Diseases, is a contribution to the knowledge of a global environmental phenomenon and its relation to these diseases, and it serves as a guide for health professionals to dive deep into the repercussions of climate change and how they can implement measures for the prevention and control of fungal infections.

This book presents scheduling with a medium- and short-term focus, which makes it possible to capitalize on fleeting market opportunities while simultaneously working to reconcile economic and environmental priorities. It introduces a new mixed-integer approach to hierarchical discrete-time and continuous-time scheduling, combining aspects of production and recycling, forward and reverse logistics as well as emissions trading for multi-stage supply chain networks. Problem-specific variants of relax-and-fix heuristics and genetic algorithms are also proposed. Given its scope, the book provides a range of practical tools and new perspectives for researchers and professionals in the field of supply chain management.

This book provides a conceptually organized framework to understand the phenomenon of biological invasions at the Anthropocene global scale. Most advances toward that aim have been provided from North American and European researchers, with fewer contributions from Australia and South Africa. Here we fill the void from the Neotropics, focusing on the research experience in South American countries, with a strong emphasis on Argentina and Chile. The text is divided into two parts: The first half comprises self-contained chapters, providing a conceptual, bibliographic and empirical foundation in the field of invasion biology, from an Anthropocene perspective. The second half reviews the ecology, biogeography, and local impacts in South America of exotic species groups (European rabbit, Eurasian wild boar, Canadian beaver, North American mink, and Holarctic freshwater fishes), which are shown to be useful models for case studies of global relevance.

- spans the last fifty years of fisheries policy in Europe - the parting contribution and career spanning reflection from one of Europe’s most renowned social scientists working in this field - explains why the bold but deeply flawed Common Fisheries Policy persistently failed to deliver its basic goal of sustainable fisheries - a final section on Brexit focuses on the implications for the fisheries sector and the fateful final negotiations with the EU over the fisheries question - essential reading for students, scholars, professionals and policymakers working on fisheries, marine governance, natural resource management, environmental policy and the European Project

This open access volume presents a comprehensive account of all aspects of biological invasions in South Africa, where research has been conducted over more than three decades, and where bold initiatives have been implemented in attempts to control invasions and to reduce their ecological, economic and social effects. It covers a broad range of themes, including history, policy development and implementation, the status of invasions of animals and plants in terrestrial, marine and freshwater environments, the development of a robust ecological theory around biological invasions, the effectiveness of management interventions, and scenarios for the future. The South African situation stands out because of the remarkable diversity of the country, and the wide range of problems encountered in its varied ecosystems, which has resulted in a disproportionate investment into both research and management. The South African experience holds many lessons for other parts of the world, and this book should be of immense value to researchers, students, managers, and policy-makers who deal with biological invasions and ecosystem management and conservation in most other regions.

This book brings out the most comprehensive and up-to-date information on the taxonomy, biodiversity, and ecology of climbers in India. Climbing is one of the principal plant growth habits that have long attracted the interests of ecologists and evolutionary biologists. Climbing plants can add significantly to the species richness of many tropical forests ecosystems, yet they receive relatively lesser attention than trees in ecological studies. The difficulties in taxonomic assertions and lack of standard methodologies overlook climbers in plant inventories, resulting in the underrepresentation of climbers in regional floras. There is a growing consensus about the increasing abundance of climbers and their multifaceted role in tropical forests worldwide. Therefore, it is essential to understand the taxonomic diversity and ecology of climbers at the regional scale to substantiate our efforts towards constructing a global climber database, which serves as a reference for fundamental research in climber ecology and evolution. This book is of interest to biodiversity researchers, taxonomists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists. Field biologists, forest managers, and naturalists will also find this a useful read.

Today, it has become strikingly obvious that companies no longer operate in an environment where only risk return and volatility describe the business environment. The business has to deal with volatility plus uncertainty, plus complexity and ambiguity (VUCA): that requires new qualities, competencies, frameworks; and it demands a new mind set to deal with the VUCA environment in investment, funding and financing. This book builds on a new megatrend beyond resilience, called anti-fragility. We have had the black swan (financial crisis) and the red swan (COVID) - the Bank for International Settlement is preparing for regenerative capitalism, block chain based analysis of financial streams and is aiming to prevent the "Green Swan" - the climate crisis to lead to the next lockdown. In the light of the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals, what is required, is Theories of Change. Written by experts working in the fields of sustainable finance, impact investing, development finance, carbon divesting, innovation, scaling finance, impact entrepreneurship, social stock exchanges, alternative currencies, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), ledger technologies, civil action, co-creation, impact management, deep learning and transformation leadership, the book begins by analysing existing Theories of Change frameworks from various disciplines and creating a new integrated model - the meta-framework. In turn, it presents insights on creating and using Theories of Change to redirect investment capital to sustainable companies while implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Further, it discusses the perspective of planetary boundaries as defined by the Stockholm Resilience Institute, and investigates various aspects of systems, organizations, entrepreneurship, investment and finance that are closely tied to the mission ingrained in the Theory of Change. As it demonstrates, solutions that ensure the parity of profit, people and planet through dynamic change can effectively address the needs of entrepreneurs and business. By exploring these concepts and their application, the book helps create and shape new markets and opportunities.

We might think sustainable management is a new idea, created in the 1960s by enlightened modern scientists. We might think that it puts us on a new path, beyond what management was originally about. But this is not true. Sustainable management is as old as civilization and was a foundation stone of management science as it was formed in the first decade of the 20th century. Recovering this forgotten past provides deeper roots and greater traction to advance sustainable management in our own times. This book charts a history of sustainable management from premodern times, through the birth of management science as an offshoot of the conservation movement, to the present day. The authors argue that modern tools like Triple Bottom Line reporting and multiple Sustainable Development Goals may be less useful than a return to a more fundamental and holistic view of management.

Everyday Life Ecologies: Sustainability, Crisis, and Resistance is about those complex, sticky, but also open arrangements of bodies, objects, and plants that make up daily existence. The multiple and interlocking lines of a long capitalist crisis disrupt their normal flow: sometimes, they open opportunities for transformation, sometimes else, they foreclose horizons of change. In contrast with approaches that respond to environmental crisis by advocating “sustainable lifestyles” and “responsible behaviors,” Alice Dal Gobbo suggests that it is necessary to address the complex socio-material relationalities that constitute everyday ecologies. Beyond that, the book argues for their politicization, illuminating daily existence as embedded in capitalist relations of re/production. Combining political ecology and new materialist sensitivities, this book investigates the ways in which ecologically damaging logics are inscribed in everyday assemblages through their habitual rehearsal and libidinal hold. But it also points to how apparently banal acts of resistance embody and promote different logics, such as a logic of care and an ecological “aesth-ethics” of desire. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the Northeast of Italy, this journey through the concrete matters and beings of daily life in crisis talks beyond this emplaced reality and dialogues with emerging forms of contestation and prefiguration that put socio-ecological reproduction at their center.

Papers, discussions, and speeches from The Center for Environmental Information meeting in Rochester, New York, December 1991, explore the integration of energy, economic, and social concerns with environmental protection. Among the topics are technological options for sustainable energy, implicatio

In a perspective of sustainable management, the balance between ecological dynamics, social and economic are now at the heart of ecological modeling and environmental strategies screenwriting. Diversity and marine ecosystems function illustrates biodiversity, habitat diversity, structures and food webs in various oceans of the world and systems: pelagic and benthic ecosystems, coral reefs and seagrass beds, oasis of hydrothermal vents ridges or areas rich upwelling. Appropriate observation methods, long-term monitoring and modeling reveal the complexity of systems, trophic interactions and spatiotemporal dynamics. The ecosystem approach is a prerequisite to assess the state of these systems, their living resources and ecological services involved in local and global environmental changes.

The research papers presented in these proceedings volumes cover the latest developments and findings in the fields of mine health, safety, energy, waste management,reclamation and rehabilitation, mine closure and environmental protection. Authors from over 20 countries with backgrounds in chemistry, engineering, technology and management, and hailing from the government, industry and academia, have contributed to this book. The contents of this book will be of interest to scientists, engineers, consultants and government personnel who are responsible for the development and implementation of innovative approaches, techniques and technologies in the minerals industries. It will also benefit academic researchers, as it addresses the latest advances in fundamental research.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Ireland's response to the climate crisis. The contributions, written by leading scholars across a range of disciplines in the social sciences, humanities and beyond, shed light on diverse aspects of the climate crisis, the factors shaping Ireland's response, and prospects for the future. Long regarded as a 'climate laggard', Ireland's response to the urgent societal challenge of climate change has seen new momentum in recent times. The volume will serve as a key reference point for academics, students, policymakers, and a wide range of stakeholders. It will be of interest to readers within Ireland, as well as further afield, who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the constraints on, and opportunities for, successful climate action in Ireland.

This book identifies all valid species belonging to the superfamily Mactroidea living in American waters, distributed across fourteen biogeographical provinces. It also provides an updated classification of the widely occurring Mactroidea superfamily, which comprises eight subfamilies grouped into four families: Mactridae (Lamarck, 1809); Anatinellidae (Deshayes, J.Gray 1853); Cardiliidae (Fischer, 1887) and Mesodesmatidae (J. Gray, 1840). The species included in this superfamily are known to have existed in North America since the Early Cretaceous.