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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Applied ecology
This book, the second volume in the series, continues to raise
contextual issues and presents perspectives regarding multifaceted
challenges in management and governance of water in India. This
volume attempts to broad base and expand the dialogue started in
the first volume and would touch upon issues that need immediate
discussion but have been left unattended like politics and
management of groundwater, efficient utilization of water in
agriculture (irrigation) and improving water use efficiency and
building resilience. As in the first volume, this book presents a
set of suggestions and recommendations in each chapter that can
help frame policy guidelines in the country.
The purpose of this book is to study the association of corporate
environmental responsibility (CER) with financial performance,
capital structure, innovative activities, corporate risk, working
capital management and accounting quality. Undoubtedly, CER has
been developed into a crucial corporate issue around the world. CER
has been incorporated within various sectors, countries and
includes many types of activities and dimensions. A fundamental
issue that is addressed in this book, is how corporate finance and
accounting are affected by CER activities and how it impacts
company performance. In order to analyse this interrelation, the
authors focus on a sample of firms from 28 EU member countries. The
purpose of this book is to study the association of CER with
financial performance, capital structure, innovative activities,
corporate risk, working capital management and accounting quality.
The book also intends to provide useful policy recommendations as
well as to offer constructive impulses for future research.
This book focuses on the legal and social aspects of corporate
governance through doctrinal and empirical research papers
presented at the 9th International Conference on Governance Fraud
Ethics and Social Responsibility held at National Law University
Delhi in 2018. The papers encompass the internal and external
factors that affect the interests of a company's stakeholders,
including shareholders, customers, suppliers, government regulators
and management, and several other important players. The book
provides better clarity on the concept of corporate governance and
how it is intertwined with factors such as sustainability, social
responsibility and the role of government, taxation and audit, and
shareholder engagement.
The impacts of the digital transformation on society in general,
and particularly on people's lives, are the subject of increasing
debate among policymakers, researchers and industry. This book
explores the challenges of this new revolution, identifies
solutions, and demonstrates how knowledge management can enable the
transition process associated with the digital transformation,
guided by the principles of sustainability. Featuring contributions
by experts from diverse areas of science and business - on topics
ranging from the digital transformation of knowledge management in
the public sector, to the creation of sustainable smart cities,
regions and countries, and from using AI for business models to
food security - it provides a comprehensive discourse on the
digital transformation's impacts on employment, education,
governance, social life, sustainability, values, the economy and
democracy.
Emerging economies arguably have different socio-fiscal dynamics
compared to developed economies. On one side they have the need for
corporate interventions in national development, on the other hand,
they do not have enough research to support the agenda. In recent
times there has been a conscious effort to legislate Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) in some of these countries in order to
bring about sustainable development. Yet, it is this legislation,
which is debated among many others. This book provides its readers
with a comprehensive interpretation of the various CSR perspectives
in emerging economies through academic research and case studies
from practice. It not only points out the challenges, the debates,
but also the dynamics of implementation and the impact of such CSR
spent. This book therefore is targeted both towards academics as
well as practitioners in an attempt to bring about an active
academic-industry interface as CSR as a management function is part
of dynamic social science.
Now available in English for the first time, Norwegian philosopher
Arne Naess's meditation on the art of living is an exhortation to
preserve the environment and biodiversity. As Naess approaches his
ninetieth year, he offers a bright and bold perspective on the
power of feelings to move us away from ecological and cultural
degradation toward sound, future-focused policy and action. Naess
acknowledges the powerlessness of the intellect without the heart,
and, like Thoreau before him, he rejects the Cartesian notion of
mind-body separation. He advocates instead for the integration of
reason and emotion-a combination Naess believes will inspire us to
make changes for the better. Playful and serious, this is a
guidebook for finding our way on a planet wrecked by the harmful
effects of consumption, population growth, commodification,
technology, and globalization. It is sure to mobilize today's
philosophers, environmentalists, policy makers, and the general
public into seeking-with whole hearts rather than with superficial
motives-more effective and timelier solutions. Naess's style is
reflective and anecdotal as he shares stories and details from his
rich and long life. With characteristic goodwill, wit, and wisdom,
he denounces our unsustainable actions while simultaneously
demonstrating the unsurpassed wonder, beauty, and possibility our
world offers, and ultimately shows us that there is always reason
for hope, that everyone is a potential ally in our fight for the
future.
This book discusses corporate citizenship, corporate responsibility
and business ethics across Africa generally, and Botswana
specifically. It begins by contextualizing Botswana within the
broader context of Africa, using nine other countries - Angola,
Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
- to provide a comparative perspective, examining the common
factor: that weak legalization makes it challenging for corporate
social responsibility to be actualized.From this background, the
book then discusses Botswana as a key study. Botswana has been
described as 'Africa's economic miracle' due to its growing economy
since independence This puts it in a unique position for the
implementation and study of corporate social responsibility. The
interdisciplinary team of authors employ various research methods
to examine the complex relationship between business, society,
corporations and social justice issues.This book will be valuable
reading for any academic working on corporate social responsibility
in Africa, and will present an interesting insight to an often
neglected area of study. France Maphosa is a Professor of Sociology
at the University of Botswana. His research interests include
migration and transnationalism, the sociology of entrepreneurship,
corporate social responsibility, urban and rural livelihoods,
labour studies and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Langtone
Maunganidze is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences
at the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe. His research
interests include industrial sociology, business and society, rural
livelihoods and sustainable development, and entrepreneurship.
This book highlights cutting-edge ecodesign research, covering
product and service design, smart manufacturing, and social
perspectives in ecodesign. Featuring selected papers presented at
EcoDesign 2019: 11th International Symposium on Environmentally
Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, it also includes
diverse, interdisciplinary approaches to foster ecodesign research
and activities. In the context of Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), it addresses the need for the manufacturing industry to
design innovations for sustainable value creation, taking into
account technological developments, legislation, and consumer
lifestyles. Further, the book discusses the concept of circular
economy, which originated in Europe and aims to increase resource
efficiency by shifting away from the linear economy. Focusing on
product life cycle design and management, smart manufacturing,
circular economy, and business strategies, and providing useful
approaches and solutions to these emerging concepts, this book is
intended for both researchers and practitioners working in the
broad field of ecodesign and sustainability.
This book explains how the traditional paradigm of private and
public organizations is changing as a result of the multiple
factors that are affecting the way in which goods and services are
produced, and for whom they are produced. In view of these
disruptive trends, the theory of the firm needs to be updated and
to some extent rethought. Moreover, diverse challenges and
opportunities such as climate change, aging populations, and new
public accountability requirements are necessitating novel
frameworks to ensure the long-term survival of public and private
organizations. Against this backdrop, the authors contribute to the
debate over the firm's primary interest by proposing a new way of
viewing the nature of the firm and its relationship with
stakeholders. In addition, they carefully analyze the challenges
and opportunities mentioned above, evaluating their significance
for various important aspects of organizations through different
lenses. Global in scope, the book also takes the United Nations
Sustainability Development Goals into account. Accordingly, it will
be of interest to all readers seeking a better understanding of the
evolving nature of firms and organizations in our changing world.
It has long been claimed that addressing biodiversity loss and
other environmental problems demands a better understanding of the
social dimensions of conservation; nevertheless, the active
participation of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs)
in conservation initiatives is still a challenging and somehow
controversial issue. In this context, this book hopes to give voice
to other perspectives related to biodiversity conservation beyond
the "fortress conservation" model and emphasize one of the pillars
of democracy - popular participation. It covers a wide range of
environments and issues of special significance to the topic, such
as the expansion of culturally constructed niches, protected areas
and food security, community-based management, participatory
agroforestry, productive restoration and biocultural conservation.
The contents also explore the limitations and shortcomings of
participatory practices in protected areas, the relationship
between the global crisis of democracy and the decline of
biocultural diversity, as well as present current discussions on
policy frameworks and governance systems for effective
participatory biodiversity conservation. In sum, this book provides
a comprehensive and realistic perspective on the social dimensions
of conservation based on a series of interrelated themes in
participatory biodiversity conservation. The connections between
biocultural conservation and the current political and economic
environment are highlighted through the chapters and the book
closes with a debate on ways to reconcile human welfare,
environmental justice and biodiversity conservation.
This book provides a comprehensive monograph of the family
Humiraceae. It includes information on economic botany,
conservation, phylogenetic relationships, taxonomic history,
ecology, cytology, anatomy, and phytochemistry, among other topics.
This volume is illustrated with line drawings, black and white
photographs, and distribution maps. It was written by the
world-leading authority on this plant group and contains a total of
eight genera, 65 species, and 15 infraspecific taxa, with two new
species described. This work is volume 123 in the Flora Neotropica
book series (Lawrence M. Kelly, Editor-in-Chief). Flora Neotropica
volumes provide taxonomic treatments of plant groups or families
growing in the Americas between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic
of Capricorn.
This book examines the processes for the inclusion of women, and
the role of women employees in Nepal's forestry bureaucracy. The
book adopts a "gender lens" drawn from feminist institutionalism
and is framed around the following four objectives: evaluating the
effectiveness of current legislative and policy frameworks for the
inclusion of women in the Nepalese forest bureaucracy; examining
the dynamics of organizational culture, formal and informal
institutions, and structure and agency in and around forest
bureaucracy in Nepal; assessing power relations in forestry
institutions focusing on influential participation of women
forestry professionals in the bureaucratic structure; and gaining
insights about the alternative space of feminist institutionalism
in connection with women inclusive forest bureaucracy. Findings in
the book inform and extend feminist institutionalism perspectives
by applying it to a context which remains under explored, providing
insights on the efficacy of public sector cultural change,
especially as it relates to those areas within bureaucracies less
in a position to adopt the changes mandated by society and
principles of good governance.
This book provides a solid foundation for a comprehensive, systemic
and water-centric approach to water management. Said approach
integrates two performance principles essential for sustainable
water use systems, namely equity and efficiency. Further, it
decreases the policy space for decision-making encountered by water
managers and makes it easier to arrive at reasonable solutions
because of the bounded rationality inherent in its development. By
combining the distributive and aggregative principles, the approach
offers a transparent and autonomous structure for gathering water
data and enabling stakeholder involvement. Lastly, it employs and
promotes a unifying language for all types of water use systems,
e.g. urban, agricultural and industrial.
The decisions a corporation makes affect more than just its
stakeholders and can have wide social, environmental, and economic
consequences. This facilitates a business environment built around
the practical regulations and transparency necessary to ensure
ethical and responsible business practice. Corporate Social
Responsibility for Valorization of Organizations is a critical
scholarly resource that examines organizational management through
a new perspective that considers corporate social responsibility
within the relationship between companies and society. Featuring
coverage on a broad range of topics, such as organizational
innovation, corporate strategy, and cultural enterprises, this book
is geared towards professionals, economists, students of business
and finance, policy makers, and government agencies.
This book offers a comprehensive guide to microcosms (N-systems) in
multiple-species testing and aquatic ecosystem risk assessment. It
provides standardized methods for creating the microbial ecosystem,
and proposes a standardized microcosm system for environmental
impact risk assessments. The book will be of interest to students
and educators, researchers, government authorities, developers and
manufacturers engaged in ecosystem preservation, water quality
management personnel at sewage treatment or industrial effluent
treatment facilities, and anyone involved in education, management
and analysis evaluation for environmental standards and waste water
quality standards.
This book provides an in-depth analysis of and discussion about the
relationship between green tourism, economic growth and
globalization. It explores numerous topics relating to tourism
including transport efficiency, foreign direct investment, clean
energy, climate change dynamics and advances in sustainable tourism
management. The book begins with discussion of sustainable tourism
and economic growth, particularly focusing on management
strategies. It then presents the relationship between energy use
and tourism, looking at green energy and energy shock. It then
discusses transport efficiency, tourism efficiency and financial
growth in both developed and developing countries. This book is of
interest to researchers, policymakers, and postgraduate students in
the areas of energy, environmental and tourism economics.
Authored by world-class scientists and scholars, the Handbook of
Natural Resources, Second Edition, is an excellent reference for
understanding the consequences of changing natural resources to the
degradation of ecological integrity and the sustainability of life.
Based on the content of the bestselling and CHOICE awarded
Encyclopedia of Natural Resources, this new edition demonstrates
the major challenges that the society is facing for the
sustainability of all wellbeing on planet Earth. The experience,
evidence, methods, and models used in studying natural resources
are presented in six stand-alone volumes, arranged along the main
systems: land, water, and air. It reviews state-of-the-art
knowledge, highlights advances made in different areas, and
provides guidance for the appropriate use of remote sensing data in
the study of natural resources on a global scale. The six volumes
in this set cover: Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biodiversity;
Landscape and Land Capacity; Wetlands and Habitats; Fresh Water and
Watersheds; Coastal and Marine Environments; and finally Atmosphere
and Climate. Written in an easy-to-reference manner, the Handbook
of Natural Resources, Second Edition, as a complete set, is
essential for anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the
science and management of natural resources. Public and private
libraries, educational and research institutions, scientists,
scholars, and resource managers will benefit enormously from this
set. Individual volumes and chapters can also be used in a wide
variety of both graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental
science and natural science courses at different levels and
disciplines, such as biology, geography, Earth system science,
ecology, etc.
This book highlights cutting-edge ecodesign research, covering
product and service design, smart manufacturing, and social
perspectives in ecodesign. Featuring selected papers presented at
EcoDesign 2019: 11th International Symposium on Environmentally
Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, it also includes
diverse, interdisciplinary approaches to foster ecodesign research
and activities. In the context of Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), it addresses the need for the manufacturing industry to
design innovations for sustainable value creation, taking into
account technological developments, legislation, and consumer
lifestyles. Further, the book discusses the concept of circular
economy, which originated in Europe and aims to increase resource
efficiency by shifting away from the linear economy. Focusing on
product life cycle design and management, smart manufacturing,
circular economy, and business strategies, and providing useful
approaches and solutions to these emerging concepts, this book is
intended for both researchers and practitioners working in the
broad field of ecodesign and sustainability.
The Vanishing of a Species? is a serious treatise exploring the
past evolution, present predicament and possible future extinction
of a particular species on planet Earth. The species is Homo
sapiens. The threat to the species is Homo sapiens. The author, a
former professor of geology and geophysics, starts his exploration
by putting man in context, both in terms of space and time. We find
that in either case, man is not as pre-eminent as he may believe.
While man is the most accomplished toolmaker this planet has ever
seen, his technical progress is overpowering his social progress-an
imbalance that sets the stage for his vanishing act, absent quick,
corrective action. The author makes a compelling case that
society's unrestricted material growth is the challenge of our
times. Modern man's predicament refers broadly to man's collision
course with nature-his attitude of ruthless exploitation leading to
depletion of non-renewable resources, pollution of the environment,
overpopulation, with its accompanying increase in human aggression,
and other effects. After the agricultural and industrial-scientific
revolutions, it is now time for the Human Revolution-a more
realistic attitude on the part of man towards the universe, the
earth and other forms of terrestrial life. Vanishing covers a wide
spectrum from man's early beginnings to the modern problems of
population increase, resource depletion, pollution, crime, and many
more. The book addresses the roles that heredity (nature) and
environment (nurture) play in shaping man's nature, and in
particular, his current high level of aggression-a trait that
stands in the way of the Human Revolution. The author calls for the
humanists to communicate with the technologists through an
interdisciplinary dialogue that may pave the way to the Human
Revolution. Major works discussed in Vanishing include the Club of
Rome's much reviewed 1972 work The Limits to Growth and updates
thereto, as well as C.P. Snow's seminal 1959 lecture on The Two
Cultures. Vanishing concludes that without the Human Revolution in
short order, Homo sapiens may well turn out to be an evolutionary
flash in the pan-occupying a dominating but fleeting position in
earth history. Vanishing should appeal to all audiences. Recent
economic turmoil around the globe, and increasing evidence of the
serious strain placed on the earth by the demands of humankind,
make the observations and recommendations raised within Vanishing
deserving of the sober attention of all Homo sapiens interested in
the survival and prosperity of their species.
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