How did snakes become poisonous? Why are there black swans only in Australia? Learn a bout the powerful Rainbow Snake, red and black flying foxes, the Eagle-hawk and the Medicine-man in these incredible tales of the Dramtime. So much of traditional Aboriginal storytelling teaches us about the animal world and the spiritual bond shared between the Aboriginal people and nature.

Ensuring an adequate, long-term energy supply is a paramount concern in Europe. EU member states now intervene by encouraging investment in generation capacity, offering an additional revenue stream for conventional power plants in addition to the existing, heavily subsidised investments in renewable energy sources. These capacity remuneration mechanisms (or simply capacity mechanisms) have become a hot topic in the wider European regulatory debate. European electricity markets are increasingly interconnected, so the introduction of a capacity mechanism in one country not only distorts its national market but may have unforeseeable consequences for neighbouring electricity markets. If these mechanisms are adopted by several member states with no supra-national coordination and no consideration for their cross-border impact, they may cause serious market distortions and put the future of the European internal electricity market at risk. This book provides readers with an in-depth analysis of capacity mechanisms, written by an expert team of policy-makers, economists, and legal professionals. It will be a first point of reference for regulators and policy-makers responsible for designing optimal capacity mechanisms in Europe, and will be an invaluable resource for academics and practitioners in the fields of energy, regulation, and competition.

Harde band, meer as 400 volkleurfoto's

Ook beskikbaar in Engels - Guide to the Aloes of South Africa

Gids tot die Aalwyne van Suid-Afrika is die eerste volledige en moderne aalwyngids in Afrikaans. Dit is 'n volkleur-handleiding en die hoë gehalte foto's maak dit vir die algemene belangstellende sowel as die wetenskaplike maklik om aalwyne in die natuur en in tuine te identifiseer. Die inhoud weerspieël die nuutste wetenskaplike bevindings en bevat:
Volledige beskrywings van al 155 spesies wat tans deur aalwynkenners erken word, met inligting oor kenmerke waarvolgens die plante geïdentifiseer kan word, blomtyd, habitat en geografiese verspreiding, bewaringstatus, oorsprong van die wetenskaplike name, en volksname, asook algemene riglyne vir die kweek van die plante, en inligting oor hul tradisionele gebruike.
Meer as 400 kleurfoto's wat die habitat en groeivorm aantoon, sowel as nabyfoto's van die blomme en blare.
Verspreidingskaarte van al die spesies, as 'n verdere hulpmiddel vir identifisering.
'n Gebruikersvriendelike klassifikasiestelsel wat die aalwyne in 12 groepe verdeel, hoofsaaklik aan die hand van hul groeivorms.
Inleidende hoofstukke wat die fokus plaas op aalwynagtige plante (wat met aalwyne verwar kan word); medisinale, kosmetiese en tonikumgebruike; bewaring; kweking en vermeerdering; tuinmaak en landskapontwerp met aalwyne; hibriede en kultivars, plae en siektes; en verwantskappe en genuskonsepte.
'n Geïllustreerde woordelys van plantkundige terme, indeks tot die wetenskaplike en volksname, asook 'n literatuurlys vir verdere leeswerk.

Die outeurs: Ben-Erik van Wyk is 'n professor in Plantkunde aan die Universiteit van Johannesburg en het 'n navorsingsbelangstelling in plantsistematiek en plantbenutting. Hy is die skrywer van internasionale wetenskaplike topverkopers soos Medicinal Plants of the World en Food Plants of the World.
Gideon F. Smith is Hoofdirekteur van Biosistematiek en Versamelings by die Suid- Afrikaanse Nasionale Biodiversiteitsinstituut, professor in Plantwetenskap aan die Universiteit van Pretoria, en 'n navorsingsgenoot aan die Universiteit van Coimbra in Portugal. Hy is die skrywer of medeskrywer van meer as 40 boeke oor onder meer aalwyne, sukkulente, tuinbou, tuine, Angola, taksonomie en indringerplante.

'. . . there is a quiet here that doesn't exist on land, a fluid suspension that reminds me that humans were never meant to be so rigid, so fixed in place. In the sea, we are both vulnerable and free . . .'

Deep Blue is a love letter to the sea, exploring humans' deep connection with the ocean and the bliss of swimming, diving, dipping and simply being in salt water.

Join Veruska De Vita, a learner free diver and open-water swimmer, as she delves into why the ocean calls to us. Along the way she talks to those who find healing and wellness in swimming groups and cold-water immersion, scientists who study complex marine environments, elite athletes who swim super-human distances along our coasts and free divers who plumb the depths with one breath.

Water is primordial. It gives life. It represents hope and renewal. This book is not only for sea worshippers. It promises to inspire everyone to jump with joy into the waves - and offers reflections on our intimate relationship with the sea, which supports life on earth and requests that we respect it.

New institutions don't come into being by themselves: They have to be organized. On the basis of research from a decade-long, multi-site study of efforts to transform freshwater management in Brazil, Practical Authority asks how new institutional arrangements established by law become operational in practice. The book explores how this happens by putting both agency and structures in motion. It looks at what actors in complex policy environments actually do to get new institutions off the ground. New configurations of authority in a policy area very often have to be produced relationally, on the ground, in practice. New organizations have to acquire problem-solving capabilities and recognition from others, what the authors call "practical authority." The story told here has a multiplicity of protagonists, many of whom are normally invisible in political studies, such as the state officials and university professors who struggled to move water reform forward. The book explores the interaction between their efforts to influence the design and passage of new legislation and the hard labor of creating the new water management organizations the laws called for. It follows three decades of law making at the national and state level and examines the creation of sixteen river basin committees throughout the country. By bringing together state and society actors around territorially specific problems, these committees were expected to promote a new vision of integrated water management. But none of the ones examined here followed the trajectory their organizers expected. Some adapted creatively to challenges, circumventing roadblocks encountered along the way; others never got off the ground. Rather than explain these differences on the basis of the varying conditions actors faced, the authors propose a focus on the process, and practice, of institution building.

An annual collection of studies on individuals who have made major contributions to the development of geography and geographical thought. Each paper describes the geographer's education, life, work, their influence and spread of academic ideas. A bibliography of their works and chronology is also incorporated. The work includes a listed general index, and cumulative index of geographers in the volumes published to date.

Climate Physics is a modern subject based on a space-era understanding of the physical properties of the atmosphere and ocean, their planetary-scale history and evolution, new global measurement systems and sophisticated computer models, which collectively make quantitative studies and predictions possible. At the same time, interest in understanding the climate has received an enormous boost from the concern generated by the realization that rapid climate change, much of it forced by the relentless increase in population and industrialization, is potentially a serious threat to the quality of life on Earth. Our ability to resist and overcome any such threat depends directly on our ability to understand what physical effects are involved and to predict how trends may develop. In an introductory course like that presented here, we want to clarify the basics, topic by topic, and see how far we can get by applying relatively simple Physics to the climate problem. This provides a foundation for more advanced work, which we can identify and appreciate at this level although of course a full treatment requires more advanced books, of which there are many.

Megadrought and Collapse is the first book to treat in one volume the current paleoclimatic and archaeological evidence of megadrought events coincident with major historical examples of societal collapse. Previous works have offered multi-causal explanations for climate change, from overpopulation, overexploitation of resources, and warfare to poor leadership and failure to adapt to environmental changes. In earlier synthetic studies of major instances of collapse, the archaeological record has often not been considered. Included in this volume are nine case studies that span the globe and stretch over fourteen thousand years, from the paleolithic hunter-gatherer collapse of the 12th millennium BC to the 15th century AD fall of the Khmer capital at Angkor. Together, the studies constitute a primary sourcebook in which principal investigators in archaeology and paleoclimatology present their original research. Each case study juxtaposes the latest paleoclimatic evidence of a megadrought (so-called for its severity and its decades to centuries-long duration) with available archaeological records of synchronous societal collapse. The megadrought data are derived from all five archival paleoclimate proxy sources: lake, marine, and glacial cores, speleothems (cave stalagmites), and tree rings. The archaeological records in each case are the most recently retrieved. The editor derives two arguments from the discussions in the volume: (1) Societal collapse would not have occurred without megadrought. Attendant social disruptions may have been present in some instances. Nonetheless, megadrought rendered agriculture-based societies unsustainable in different regions, periods, and levels of social complexity, from simple foraging to vast empires. (2) A set of adaptive responses can be observed across the nine cases: adaptive collapse in the face of insurmountable megadrought, region-wide and settlement abandonment, and habitat tracking to sustainable agricultural environments. The evidence points to a paradigm shift: the insertion of another major force, natural climate variability-megadrought-into the global historical record.

Assuming no previous knowledge, this book provides comprehensive coverage for a first course in hazardous waste management for environmental engineers and managers. It is written primarily for generators of hazardous waste with a primary emphasis on source reduction, waste minimization, reuse, and recycling before waste disposal. The book provides guidance on how to determine the proper category of hazardous waste generators, with separate and distinct sets of requirements for the three different categories of generators, and gives basic supplemental guidance for transporters, storage, and disposal facilities. It covers proper completion of hazardous waste manifests and reports. The book explains record keeping, personnel training, and other requirements necessary to be in full compliance on inspections. A companion CD with regulatory forms, data is included.Selected Topics: Introductory history and overview of hazardous waste management laws, rules and regulations; a practical guide to complying with the regulations, including the identification of hazardous wastes; proper management of these wastes on-site; preparing generator annual reports, manifests, personnel safety training; hazardous waste management training for staff; proper record-keeping for future regulatory inspections.

This book describes one of our closest relatives, the orangutan, and the only extant great ape in Asia. It is increasingly clear that orangutan populations show extensive variation in behavioral ecology, morphology, life history, and genes. Indeed, on the strength of the latest genetic and morphological evidence, it has been proposed that orangutans actually constitute two species which diverged more than a million years ago - one on the island of Sumatra the other on Borneo, with the latter comprising three subspecies.
This book has two main aims. The first is to carefully compare data from every orangutan research site, examining the differences and similarities between orangutan species, subspecies and populations. The second is to develop a theoretical framework in which these differences and similarities can be explained. To achieve these goals the editors have assembled the world's leading orangutan experts to rigorously synthesize and compare the data, quantify the similarities or differences, and seek to explain them.
Orangutans is the first synthesis of orangutan biology to adopt this novel, comparative approach. It analyses and compares the latest data, developing a theoretical framework to explain morphological, life history, and behavioral variation. Intriguingly, not all behavioral differences can be attributed to ecological variation between and within the two islands; relative rates of social learning also appear to have been influential. The book also emphasizes the crucial impact of human settlement on orangutans and looks ahead to the future prospects for the survival of critically endangered natural populations.

Space: the biggest geopolitical story of the coming century – new from the multi-million-copy international bestselling author of Prisoners of Geography and The Power of Geography

Spy satellites orbiting the Moon. Space metals worth billions. Humans on Mars within our lifetimes.

This isn’t science fiction. It’s astropolitics.

We’re entering a new space race – and it could revolutionise life on Earth.

Space: the new frontier, a wild and lawless place. It is already central to communication, economics, military strategy and international relations on Earth. Now, it is the latest arena for human exploration, exploitation – and, possibly, conquest. We’re heading up and out, and we’re taking our power struggles with us. China, the USA and Russia are leading the way.

From physical territory and resources to satellites, weaponry and strategic choke points, geopolitics is as important in the skies above us as it is down below. If you’ve ever wondered if humans are going back to the Moon, who will benefit from exploration or what space wars might look like, the answers are here.

With all the insight and wit that have made Tim Marshall the UK’s most popular writer on geopolitics, this gripping book shows how we got here and where we’re going, covering great-power rivalry; technology; commerce; combat in space; and what it means for all of us down here on Earth. This is essential reading on power, politics and the future of humanity.

A journey through the great mass-extinction events that have shaped our Earth: 'Deeply informed and readable' Nature

In this vast sweep of our Earth’s history, Michael Benton brings the deep past to life as never before. Deploying the cutting-edge tools in biology, chemistry, physics and geology that are transforming our understanding of previous environmental cataclysms – including the incredible new discovery of a hitherto unknown extinction event – he uncovers not only their lethal effects but also the processes that brought about such large-scale destruction.

Beginning with the oldest extinction, Benton investigates the Late Ordovician, which set the evolution of the first animals on an entirely new course; the late Devonian, brought on by global warming; the cataclysmic End-Permian, which wiped out over 90 per cent of all life on Earth; and, book-ending the age of the dinosaurs, the newly discovered Carnian Pluvial Event and the End-Cretaceous asteroid. He examines how global warming, acid rain, ocean acidification, erupting volcanoes and meteorite impact have affected conditions on Earth, the drastic consequences for global ecology, and how life in turn survived, adapted and evolved.

This expert retelling of scientific breakthroughs allows us to link long-ago upheavals to our modern crises. As today’s climate scientists and political leaders grapple to understand these processes and our planet enters the sixth great extinction, these insights from the past may hold the key to survival.

Nature is one of the greatest gifts, gifted to man by the Creator. It provides us with all that we need to survive, from the food we eat, the water we drink and the homes we live in.

This book for kids is aimed at highlighting the importance of Agriculture and why we must always be kind to nature and the animals.

Climate change will have a bigger impact on humanity than the Internet has had. The last decade's spate of superstorms, wildfires, heat waves, and droughts has accelerated the public discourse on this topic and lent credence to climatologist Lonnie Thomson's 2010 statement that climate change "represents a clear and present danger to civilization." In June 2015, the Pope declared that action on climate change is a moral issue. This book offers the most up-to-date examination of climate change's foundational science, its implications for our future, and the core clean energy solutions. Alongside detailed but highly accessible descriptions of what is causing climate change, this entry in the What Everyone Needs to Know series answers questions about the practical implications of this growing force on our world: * How will climate change impact you and your family in the coming decades? * What are the future implications for owners of coastal property? * Should you plan on retiring in South Florida or the U.S. Southwest or Southern Europe? * What occupations and fields of study will be most in demand in a globally warmed world? * What impact will climate change have on investments and the global economy? As the world struggles to stem climate change and its effects, everyone will become a part of this story of the century. Here is what you need to know.

"[A] glorious guide to the miracle of life's sound." -The New York Times Book Review A lyrical exploration of the diverse sounds of our planet, the creative processes that produced these marvels, and the perils that sonic diversity now faces We live on a planet alive with song, music, and speech. David Haskell explores how these wonders came to be. In rain forests shimmering with insect sound and swamps pulsing with frog calls we learn about evolution's creative powers. From birds in the Rocky Mountains and on the streets of Paris, we discover how animals learn their songs and adapt to new environments. Below the waves, we hear our kinship to beings as different as snapping shrimp, toadfish, and whales. In the startlingly divergent sonic vibes of the animals of different continents, we experience the legacies of plate tectonics, the deep history of animal groups and their movements around the world, and the quirks of aesthetic evolution. Starting with the origins of animal song and traversing the whole arc of Earth history, Haskell illuminates and celebrates the emergence of the varied sounds of our world. In mammoth ivory flutes from Paleolithic caves, violins in modern concert halls, and electronic music in earbuds, we learn that human music and language belong within this story of ecology and evolution. Yet we are also destroyers, now silencing or smothering many of the sounds of the living Earth. Haskell takes us to threatened forests, noise-filled oceans, and loud city streets, and shows that sonic crises are not mere losses of sensory ornament. Sound is a generative force, and so the erasure of sonic diversity makes the world less creative, just, and beautiful. The appreciation of the beauty and brokenness of sound is therefore an important guide in today's convulsions and crises of change and inequity. Sounds Wild and Broken is an invitation to listen, wonder, belong, and act.

Along with his companions from nine nations, Heyerdahl set sail in a boat made of reeds in search of the sea routes which he was sure must have been used by the Sumerians in vessels like his own, 5000 years ago. Heyerdahl recounts the many discoveries and hazards that occurred on his journey down the Tigris, through the Gulf and on to the Indian Ocean - tales of modern shipping, bandits, reefs and the political dispute which finally led to the ceremonial burning of the boat.

When a blonde who had walked out on her Botswana-based wildlife smuggling kingpin partner arrived at the offices of the Sunday Times in the last 1980’s, the lid would be blown off a criminal network bent on killing off two of the world’s most iconic species – the elephant and the rhino.

Using trucks to transport contraband across borders to curio shops fronting as legitimate operate operations, the syndicate operated with free abandon, until their nefarious activities were revealed through investigations by journalist De Wet Potgieter. It was because of the information supplied by Brenda Voue that De Wet was inundated with so much information about the involvement of local and foreign criminal networks, senior military officials propping up the Jonas Savimbi’s war in Angola, and senior National Party officials that he authored not only several more newspaper articles on the plight of rhino and elephant, but also produced the first edition of Contraband in 1995. Since then, a plethora of information continues to come to light about the involvement of government officials, international spies, British undercover operatives, businesspeople, and criminal elements.

This is an exposure of the depths to which certain people would go to literally enjoy a piece of the pie. The commercial international rhino horn trade has been banned by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) for more than 45 years. In South Africa, the domestic trade in rhino horn has been legal since 2017 opening loopholes from criminal syndicates to “legally” purchase rhino horn, but then still smuggle it out of the country for traditional uses in the Far East. The involvement of criminal operations such as the Triads cannot be ignored, nor can the pressure pre- and post-apartheid on the South African police’s highly successful Endangered Species Protection Unit under Colonel Piet Lategan, which resulted it its eventual demise. It’s an inescapable fact that the onslaught on South Africa’s rhino, and on other wildlife within the Southern African region, will continue despite the commitment and tenacity of several individuals and nongovernment organisations.

The onus has now shifted to the custodians of rhino – national parks, game reserves, private game ranchers and private rhino owners – to protect these prehistoric beasts from extinction.

Our ancestors developed a uniquely nature-focused society, centred on esteemed poets, seers, monks, healers and wise women who were deeply connected to the land. They used this connection to the cycles of the natural world - from which we are increasingly dissociated - as an animating force in their lives. In this illuminating new book, Manchan Magan sets out on a journey, through bogs, across rivers and over mountains, to trace these ancestor's footsteps. He uncovers the ancient myths that have shaped our national identity and are embedded in the strata of land that have endured through millennia - from ice ages through to famines and floods. Here, the River Shannon is a goddess, and trees and their life-sustaining root systems are hallowed. See the world in a new light in this magical exploration into the life-sustaining wisdom of what lies beneath us. 'We could do with a lot more characters like [Manchan] dotted about this world.' Irish Independent 'Manchan creates a gorgeous tapestry that lingers in the mind's eye.' Kerri Ni Dochartaigh 'Manchan['s] ... got some theories about the roots of the Irish language that are going to blow your head off ... an incredible storyteller.' Blindboy Boatclub Manchan's passion for Ireland's ecological and poetic heritage is more urgently relevant than ever.' Darach O Seaghdha