This book addresses the intersection of extractivism, populism, and accountability. Although populist politics are often portrayed as a driver of poor environmental governance, Populist Moments and Extractivist States identifies it as an intervening variable at best - one that emerges in response to the accountability deficits of extractive states. Case studies in Venezuela - for many, the prototypical petrostate - and Ecuador - which exchanged agribusiness dependency for oil decades later - illustrate how extractive states are oriented by a colonial logic of export and service. This logic regulates state-society-nature relationships and circumscribes avenues for local stakeholders to hold public officials and extractive industries to account for environmental and human harms. Populist moments of the early 21st century across Latin America responded to these conditions, promising more equitable and sustainable futures. However, rather than reversing the technocracy, verticalism, and exclusion of the recent past, populist moments often intensified and legitimated them in the drive to maximize and distribute resource rents. The result has been cyclical, as populist moments of hope and rupture fall prey to the extractivist states they tried, and failed, to replace.

This book provides detailed information on how to set up Deep Energy Retrofits (DERs) in public buildings, and shares in-depth insights into the current status of the major technologies, strategies and best practice examples of how to cost-effectively combine them. Case studies from the U.S.A. and Europe show that that Deep Energy Retrofit can be achieved with a limited core technologies bundle readily available on the market. Characteristics of some of these core technology measures depend on the technologies available on an individual nation's market, on the minimum requirements of national standards, and on economics (as determined by a life cycle cost analysis). Also, requirements to building envelope-related technologies (e.g., insulation levels, windows, vapor and water barriers, and requirements for building airtightness) depend on specific climate conditions. This Guide provides best practice examples of how to apply these technologies in different construction situations. High levels of energy use reduction using core technology bundles along with improvements in indoor climate and thermal comfort can be only achieved when a Deep Energy Retrofit adopts a quality assurance process. In addition to design, construction, commissioning, and post-occupancy phases of the quality assurance process, the Guide emphasizes the importance of clearly and concisely formulating and documenting the Owner's goals, expectations, and requirements for the renovated building during development of the statement of work. Another important component of the quality assurance process is a procurement phase, during which bidders' qualifications, their understanding of the scope of work and its requirements, and their previous experience are analyzed. The building sector holds the potential for tremendous improvements in terms of energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions, and energy retrofits to the existing building stock represent a significant opportunity in the transition to a low-carbon future. Moreover, investing in highly efficient building materials and systems can replace long-term energy imports, contribute to cost cutting, and create a wealth of new jobs. Yet, while the technologies needed in order to improve energy efficiency are readily available, significant progress has not yet been made, and "best practices" for implementing building technologies and renewable energy sources are still relegated to small "niche" applications. Offering essential information on Deep Energy Retrofits, the book offers a valuable asset for architects, public authorities, project developers, and engineers alike.

This open access book reframes sustainable energy transitions as being a matter of resolving accountability crises. It demonstrates how the empirical study of several practices of legitimation can analytically deconstruct energy transitions, and presents a typology of these practices to help determine whether energy transitions contribute to sustainability. The real-world challenge of climate change requires sustainable energy transitions. This presents a crisis of accountability legitimated through situated practices in a wide range of cases including: solar energy transitions in Portugal, urban energy transitions in Germany, forestland conflicts in Indonesia, urban carbon emission targets in Norway, transport electrification in the Nordic region, and biodiversity conservation and energy extraction in the USA. By synthesising these cases, chapters identify various dimensions wherein practices of legitimation construct specific accountability relations. This book deftly illustrates the value of an analytical approach focused on accountable governance to enable sustainable energy transitions. It will be of great use to both academics and practitioners working in the field of energy transitions.

The proceedings shed light on selected topics including economic management, public administration, and green development. Featuring scholarly works from the 4th International Conference on Economic Management and Green Development (ICEMGD 2021), this volume of proceedings showcases the papers composed with regard to a diverse range of topics situated at the intersecting field of Economic Management, Public Administration and Green Development. Arising as the top concern of the global community, issues of green development impose challenges for the academia to bridge the interdisciplinary prowess in tackling the gap of knowledge within concerned fields. ICEMGD 2021 is an annual conference initiated by the year of 2017 under the goal of bringing together intellectuals from economics, business management, public administration, and otherwise related spheres for the share of research methods and theoretical breakthroughs. The aim of the proceeding volume is for the integration of social scientific research methods with research into alarming development issues. The ICEMGD 2021 seeks to promote joint initiatives among well-established fields like macro- and microeconomics, international economics, finance, agricultural economics, health economics, business management and marketing strategies, regional development studies, social governance, and sustainable development. Featuring interdisciplinary contributions, this book will be of interest to researchers, academics, professionals and policy makers in the field of economic management, public administration, and development studies.

This book highlights the latest advancements in the use of automated systems in the design, construction, operation and future of the built environment and its occupants. It considers how the use of automated decision-making frameworks, artificial intelligence and other technologies of automation are presently impacting the practice of architects, engineers, project managers and contractors, and articulates the near future changes to workflows, legal frameworks and the wider AEC industry. This book surveys and compiles the use of city apps, robots that operate buildings and fabricate structural elements, 3D printing, drones, sensors, algorithms, and advanced prefabricated modules. The book also contributes to the growing literature on smart cities, and explores the impacts on data privacy and data sovereignty that arise through the use of sensors, digital twins and intelligent transport systems. It provides a useful reference for further research and development in the area of automation in design and construction to architects, engineers, project managers, superintendents and construction lawyers, contractors, policy makers, and students.

This book highlights the need for effective water governance in India given the fact that the country has been facing serious water stress in recent years. The water management in the country needs a serious scientific understanding coupled with the cooperative approach rather than a competitive one. It looks at current water regulations and underlines the need for overhaul of some laws to ensure that high water usage efficiency is attained, groundwater depletion is arrested and management of available resources is carried out in a disciplined manner. It also looks at the role of stakeholder engagement and pricing as a mechanism to manage demand in the wake of rapid population growth and industrialization.

This book reviews recent research advances in sustainable agriculture, with focus on crop production, biodiversity and biofuels in Africa and Asia.

This book addresses, for the first time, the question of how development NGOs attempt to 'listen' to communities in linguistically diverse environments. NGOs are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they 'listen' to the people and communities that they are trying to serve, but this can be an immensely challenging task where there are significant language and cultural differences. However, until now, there has been no systematic study of the role of foreign languages in development work. The authors present findings based on interviews with a wide range of NGO staff and government officials, NGO archives, and observations of NGO-community interaction in country case studies. They suggest ways in which NGOs can reform their language policies to listen to the recipients of aid more effectively.

The book addresses the vital and interwoven areas of energy, environment, and the economy within the field of sustainability research. Fundamental technical details, empirical data, and case studies taking into account local and international perspectives are included. Issues such as energy security, depleting fossil fuel reserves, global warming and climate change, as well as novel energy technologies are covered. The dynamic global response will be discussed from the perspective of policy, technology, and economics. Vital details in the form of text boxes, illustrations, graphs, tables and appendices are included. The book will serve as reference book for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, academics, policy makers, NGOs and developmental sector professionals within the field.

Fostering inclusive green growth in Africa means addressing existing and emerging development challenges, while efficiently managing Africa's natural capital and building resilience to environmental, social and economic risks. Although this new paradigm for development has the potential to create tremendous business opportunities, there are also challenges. This book provides empirical evidence on the conditions for the emergence of green businesses in Africa. It includes 13 case studies, which identify the determinants of small and medium-size enterprises' engagement in inclusive and sustainable growth in rural Africa, and the factors that hinder eco-innovation in business and entrepreneurial activities. Furthermore it discusses appropriate regulations and policies to stimulate the development of green business in Africa. Offering insights into the relationship between eco-innovation, labor productivity and business competitiveness in rural Africa, this book appeals to scholars, policy makers and practitioners interested in a green economy for Africa.

Food systems involve a range of activities concerning food production, processing, distribution, marketing and trade, preparation, consumption and disposal. They encompass the path of food from the farm to the dinner table, meeting the food and nutritional needs of a nation. When such systems do so without sacrificing the needs of future generations, they are referred to as "Sustainable Food Systems." The natural and physical environment, infrastructure, institutions, society and culture, and policies and regulations within which they operate, as well as the technologies they adopt, shape these systems' outcomes. Making food systems more sustainable is a key priority for all nations, and Sri Lanka is no exception. Food systems deliver optimal performance when the policy and regulatory environment is conducive, institutions are supportive, and a combination of agricultural research investments and an efficient extension system generates the technologies and scientific evidence required for sound policymaking and agenda setting. Further, agricultural research can generate essential findings, technologies and policies for sustainable agricultural development - across disciplines, sectors and stakeholder groups. This book shares valuable insights into research conducted in the broad food and agriculture sectors in Sri Lanka. It also discusses the status quo in related disciplines, and outlines future research directions. Accordingly, it offers a valuable source of reference material for researchers, students, and stakeholders in the food and agriculture sectors, while also highlighting the types of support that policymakers and other decision-makers can provide.

The effectiveness and scope of operational analysis of sustainable development is explored in this major new book. Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development offers an integrated treatment of theory, methods and applications for economic-ecological analysis taking into consideration all the relevant interactions between economic, development and physical and biological processes.An overview of different theoretical perspectives, based on insights from economics, ecology and thermodynamics, is followed by discussion of the dimensions of sustainable development including ethics and intergenerational equity, sustainable and multiple use, and spatial sustainability. The second part of the book discusses methods for analysis, covering the choice of indicators, natural resource accounting, and integrated static, dynamic and spatial modelling, and evaluation, including multi-criteria and cost-benefit analysis. Attention is also given to decision support and the choice of policy instruments. Combinations of the various methods are applied in the final part of the book, using case studies which cover a range of ecosystems and regions, as well as a variety of issues and problems. These studies clearly show the potential of policy-oriented integrated economic-ecological analysis for sustainable development.

Business, Organized Labour and Climate Policy examines the current lack of effective action in bridging the gap between climate change goals and governmental policies. With little published about the role of employers' organizations and trade unions in the climate change policy process, this book evaluates their involvement and argues that labour market considerations should be a central element of climate change policy. The study applies ecological modernization theory as a framework to guide policy development and negotiation. Application of the framework finds that employers' organizations and trade unions are effective civil society advocates, but responding to the labour market implications of climate change is neither institutionally embedded nor prioritized. Included are case studies of climate change policy in six developed and two developing economies, as well as within organizations such as the European Union and the UNFCCC. The emergence of labour issues in formal climate agreements demonstrates the impact that climate change is having on the broader economy and employment, and the need for business and labour to take concrete action. Providing an invaluable reference for policy development, this work will appeal to academics and students, as well as employers' organizations and trade unions. This book provides a unique perspective on key stakeholding organizations in climate change policy and presents a platform for engaging with government.

This book proposes strategies for improving the resilience and conservation of temperate forests in South America, such that these forests can provide ecosystem services in a sustainable way. As such it contributes to the design of a resilient human-forest model that takes into account the multiculturalism of local communities, in many cases including aspects of ecological economics, development economics and territorial development planning that are related to indigenous peoples or first nations. Further, it provides proposals for public and territorial policies that improve the state of conservation of native forests and forest ecosystems, based on a critical analysis of the economic factors that lead to the degradation of forest ecosystems in South America today. This edition was conceived by members of the Transdisciplinary Research Center for Social and Ecological Strategies for Sustainable Forest Management in South America at the Universidad Austral de Chile. It includes contributions by distinguished researchers from around the world, combining the fields of economics, ecology, biology, anthropology, sociology and statistics. It is not, however, simply a collection of works written by authors from different disciplines, but rather each chapter is in itself transdisciplinary. This approach makes the book a unique contribution to enhancing social, managerial and political approaches to forestry management, helping to protect forest ecosystem services and make them more sustainable. This, in turn, will benefit local communities and society as a whole, by reducing the negative externalities of forestry management and enhancing future opportunities.

This book translates the latest theoretical perspectives on the emerging field of Planetary Health Studies into the practical reality of global political decision makers. It builds on the scientific data on the impacts of environmental change on human health to propose practical methods for operationalizing planetary health. The book maps opportunities for decision makers to break institutional silos and engage with bottom-up approaches that can transform planetary health from a global idea into a local reality. The analysis frames human health in the Anthropocene, an era in which humans have become the most powerful force affecting global ecosystems, and reveals new existential risks for humankind.Departing from ongoing multilateral efforts to promote sustainability, the author's analysis places the agenda of planetary health on the desk of political decision makers, still underrepresented at planetary health gatherings. Given the pressing need to implement sustainable development policies, the book presents planetary health as an overarching framework for global policy targets, notably the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the post-2020 biodiversity framework under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The book is timely in offering a concrete road map for practitioners and researchers interested in transforming the concept of planetary health into reality. With a collection of success stories, the analysis dwells on tools for community engagement, opportunities for health professionals training, gender empowerment, digital health, and innovative ways to enhance human well-being on a changing planet.

With forests now enshrined in the Paris climate agreement, REDD+ initiatives and low emission development strategies (LEDS) will need insights like the ones provided in this timely and important volume to make a difference on the ground. The book draws on the perspectives of government officials from multiple sectors and at multiple levels to present a rich analysis of the economics, conditionalities and accountabilities for the design of intergovernmental fiscal transfers aimed at forest conservation - in competition with the income and jobs generated by natural resource exploitation. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking practical ways forward on climate mitigation.' - Anne M. Larson, Center for International Forestry Research, PeruIntergovernmental fiscal transfers (IFTs) are an innovative way to create incentives for local public actors to support conservation. This book contributes to the debate about how to conserve tropical forests by implementing mechanisms for reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). With Indonesia as a case study, the authors adopt an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on political science, economics, and public policy. They consider the theoretical justification, as well as the wider political and administrative context for developing the design of IFTs for conservation. Students and scholars looking at conservation, ecological economics, decentralisation, forest policy and climate change will find this book to be of interest. It will also be of considerable use to policy-makers and practitioners working on forest policy, particularly those implementing REDD+.

This book reviews the economic potential of various natural resources found in the Egyptian deserts that could help fill the food gap in Egypt, e.g., the date palm, olives, and domestic animals. Bearing in mind that the entire country is subject to arid or hyperarid climatic conditions, only a small portion (3% of total area) is agriculturally productive in comparison, the dominant deserts. These aspects, combined with a growing population (ca. 100 million citizens) and water resources scarcity, have produced severe adverse effects on natural resource utilization. This book presents innovative methods for addressing desert soil's key problems (soil erosion, salinity, pollution, decreased fertility, minerals, and weed and pest control). Its goal is to help authorities reclaim the desert and optimally utilize the minerals and the available natural resources to support the sustainability agenda 2030. Besides, it offers researchers guidance on remaining gaps and future research directions. Lastly and importantly, it provides essential information on investment opportunities in desert cultivation, such as the fields of food, fodder, and medicinal plants.

This book provides the first comparative assessment of the energy-efficiency retrofit programs in the social housing sector of Canadian cities, focusing on program efficiency and effectiveness. The analytical framework explores key policy instruments - regulatory, fiscal and institutional - in relation to major results achieved. The approach is interdisciplinary, supported by rich empirical data from case studies, observations and interviews. The book explores important strategies for the provision of green and affordable housing, while addressing climate change imperatives and resilience issues. This is of great interest to researchers, policy makers, city leaders, professionals and students. Its value added contribution to scholarship is complemented by practical relevance for social housing organisations in countries with a small residual housing sector. It offers valuable lessons for the design, planning and implementation of energy retrofit programs in North America and beyond.

Agriculture is considered as a backbone of developing nations as it caters the needs of the people, directly or indirectly. The global agriculture currently faces enormous challenges like land degradation and reduced soil fertility, shrinking of land, low production yield, water accessibility and a dearth of labor due to evacuation of individuals from farming. Besides, the global population increases at an exponential rate and it is predicted that the global population will be 9 billion by 2050 that in turn leads to food crisis in near future. Although, green revolution revolutionizes the agriculture sector by enhancing the yield but it was not considered as a sustainable approach. Exorbitant use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to boost the crop yield is definitely not a convenient approach for agriculture sustainability in the light of the fact that these chemical fertilizers are considered as double-edged sword, which on one hand enhance the crop yield but at the same time possess deleterious effect on the soil microflora and thus declines its fertility. Besides, it cause irreversible damage to the soil texture and disrupts the equilibrium in the food chain across ecosystem, which might in turn lead to genetic mutations in future generations of consumers. Thus, the increased dependence on fabricated agricultural additives during and post green revolution has generated serious issues pertaining to sustainability, environmental impact and health hazards. Therefore, nano-biotechnology has emerged as a promising tool to tackle the above problems especially in the agriculture sector. Nano-agribusiness is an emerged field to enhance crop yield, rejuvenate soil health, provide precision farming and stimulate plant growth. Nano-biotechnology is an essential tool in modern agriculture and is considered as a primary economic driver in near future. It is evaluated that joining of cutting edge nanotechnology in agribusiness would push the worldwide monetary development to approximately US$ 3.4 trillion by 2020 which clearly indicates that how agri-nanobiotechnology plays a pivotal role in the agricultural sector, without any negative impact on the environment and other regulatory issues of biosafety. Agri-nanobiotechnology is an innovative green technology, which provides the solution to global food security, sustainability and climate change. The current book is presenting the role of nano-biotechnology in modern agriculture and how it plays a pivotal role to boost the agri-business.

Microbes are ubiquitous in nature. Among microbes, fungal communities play an important role in agriculture, the environment, and medicine. Vast fungal diversity has been found in plant systems. The fungi associated with any plant system are in the form of epiphytic, endophytic, and rhizospheric fungi. These associated fungi play important roles in plant growth, crop yield, and soil health. The rhizospheric fungi present in rhizospheric zones have a sufficient amount of nutrients released by plant root systems in the form of root exudates for growth, development, and activities of microbes. Endophytic fungi enter in host plants mainly through wounds that naturally occur as a result of plant growth, or develop through root hairs and at epidermal conjunctions. The phyllospheric fungi may survive or proliferate on leaves, depending on the extent of influences of material in leaf diffuseness or exudates. The diverse group of fungal communities is a key component of soil-plant systems, where they are engaged in an intense network of interactions in the rhizospheric, endophytic, and phyllospheric areas, and they have emerged as an important and promising tool for sustainable agriculture. These fungal communities help to promote plant growth directly or indirectly by mechanisms for plant growth-promoting (PGP) attributes. These PGP fungi can be used as biofertilizers, bioinoculants, and biocontrol agents in place of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in an environmentally and eco-friendly manner. This book covers the current knowledge of plant-associated fungi and their potential biotechnological applications in agriculture and allied sectors. This book should be useful to scientists, researchers, and students of microbiology, biotechnology, agriculture, molecular biology, environmental biology, and related subjects.

Traditional methods in synthetic chemistry produce chemical waste and byproducts, yield smaller desired products, and generate toxic chemical substances, but the past two centuries have seen consistent, greener improvements in organic synthesis and transformations. These improvements have contributed to substance handling efficiency by using green-engineered forerunners like sustainable techniques, green processes, eco-friendly catalysis, and have minimized energy consumption, reduced potential waste, improved desired product yields, and avoided toxic organic precursors or solvents in organic synthesis. Green synthesis has the potential to have a major ecological and monetary impact on modern pharmaceutical R&D and organic chemistry fields. This book presents a broad scope of green techniques for medicinal, analytical, environmental, and organic chemistry applications. It presents an accessible overview of new innovations in the field, dissecting the highlights and green chemistry attributes of approaches to green synthesis, and provides cases to exhibit applications to pharmaceutical and organic chemistry. Although daily chemical processes are a major part of the sustainable development of pharmaceuticals and industrial products, the resulting environmental pollution of these processes is of worldwide concern. This edition discusses green chemistry techniques and sustainable processes involved in synthetic organic chemistry, natural products, drug syntheses, as well various useful industrial applications.

Healthy environment is important for any kind of biota on earth. It provides the basic elements of life such as clean water, fresh air, fertile soil and supports ecosystem of the food chain. Pollution drastically alters quality of the environment by changing the physico-chemical and biological aspects of these components. Accordingly, toxic metals, combustible and putrescible substances, hazardous wastes, explosives and petroleum products are all examples of inorganic and organic compounds that cause contaminations. Specifically, pollution of toxic and heavy metal in the environment is a growing problem worldwide, currently at an alarming rate. Toxic metals threaten the aquatic ecosystems, agriculture and ultimately human health. Traditional treatment techniques offer certain advantages such as rapid processing, ease of operation and control and flexibility. But, they could not maintain the quality of the environment due to the high operational costs of chemicals used, high energy consumption and handling costs for sludge disposal and overburden of chemical substances which irreversibly affect and destroy biodiversity, which ultimately render the soil useless as a medium for plant growth. Therefore, bioremediation and biotechnology, carried out by living assets to clean up, stabilize and restore contaminated ecosystems, have emerged as promising, environmental friendly and affordable approaches. Furthermore, the use of microbes, algae, transgenic plants and weeds adapted to stressful environments could be employed to enhance accumulation efficiency. Hence, sustainable and inexpensive processes are fast emerging as a viable alternative to conventional remediation methods, and will be most suitable for developing countries. In the current volume, we discuss pollution remediation challenges and how living organisms and the latest biotechnological techniques could be helpful in remediating the pollution in ecofriendly and sustainable ways.

This book highlights the impact of COVID-19 on sustainable waste management and air emission, using various case studies. The year 2020 was a historical year mainly due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 and it influenced or affected the global economy, business models and the industrial sectors, thus impacting sustainability in various ways. Given that sustainability has many faces and facets, it is worthwhile to deal with the relation (or impact) of COVID-19 on various elements of sustainability. This book presents how COVID-19 has influenced waste management and air quality.