There are still insufficient general theories on the law of diminishing returns, despite 100 years of development. Starting with intensive variables theory, and by utilizing tools of spatiotemporal correlation and intensive functions, moving on to the integrated curve of diminishing returns and intensive theory, and even more importantly, using a combination of static and dynamic GIS, and integrating numerical calculation and spatial optimization, this book not only creates a unique theoretical framework and methodology for the evaluation of land use effect, but also addresses the long-standing lack of universal theories and methods on the law of diminishing returns. It will have far-reaching impacts on the development of this area and its practical application.
The book covers a wide range fields in geography, land science, geographic information science, management science and related areas. Novel theoretical perspectives illustrated with many detailed case studies offer an easier way for readers to expand their research, ensuring that both academic and business audiences will benefit.
Prof. Xinqi Zheng works at the China University of Geosciences (Beijing), People s Republic of China."

Feeding the world, climate change, biodiversity, antibiotics, plastics - the list of concerns seems endless. But what is most pressing, what are the knock-on effects of our actions, and what should we do first? Do we all need to become vegetarian? How can we fly in a low-carbon world? Should we frack? How can we take control of technology? Does it all come down to population? And, given the global nature of the challenges we now face, what on Earth can any of us do? Fortunately, Mike Berners-Lee has crunched the numbers and plotted a course of action that is practical and even enjoyable. There is No Planet B maps it out in an accessible and entertaining way, filled with astonishing facts and analysis. For the first time you'll find big-picture perspective on the environmental and economic challenges of the day laid out in one place, and traced through to the underlying roots - questions of how we live and think. This book will shock you, surprise you - and then make you laugh. And you'll find practical and even inspiring ideas for what you can actually do to help humanity thrive on this - our only - planet.

The book contains the contributions at the NATO Study Institute on Exposure and Risk Assessment of Chemical Pollution - Contemporary Methodology, which took place in Sofia - Borovetz, Bulgaria, July 1-10, 2008. Rapid advances in mathematics, computer science and molecular biology and chemistry have lead to the development in of a new branch of toxicology called Computational Toxicology. This emerging field is addressing the estimation and prediction of exposure risk and effects of chemicals based on experimental data, measured concentration and biological mechanisms and computational models of biological systems. Mathematical models are also being used to predict the fate and transport of substances in the environment. Because this area is still in its infancy, there has been limited application from governmental agencies to regulating controllable processes, such as registration of new chemicals, determination of estimated exposure and risk based limits and maximum acceptable concentrations in different compartments of the environment - ambient air, waters, soil and food products. However, this is soon to change as the ability to collect, analyze and interpret the required information is becoming increasingly more efficient and cost effective. Full implementation of the new processes have to involve education on both part of the experimentalists who are generating the data and the models, and the risk assessors who will use them to better protect human health and the environment.

This publication includes peer-reviewed manuscripts from the 2011 International Network of Environmental Forensics (INEF) Conference held at St John's College in Cambridge, UK. INEF is an organization founded by environmental forensic scientists for the express purpose of sharing and disseminating environmental forensic information to the international scientific community. Environmental forensic information presented at this conference included topics on contaminant age dating, the use of chemical and biological diagnostic markers for contaminant source identification, advancements in the use of petroleum hydrocarbon pattern recognition techniques, the availability of surrogate chemicals to identify the age of a contaminant release, the identification and application of chemical impurities for source identification and advancements in compound specific isotopic analysis, especially related to chlorinated solvent releases. All of these topics were presented in terms of their applications in contaminant releases throughout the world in terrestrial and marine environments. This professionally edited book is the second of a series of INEF conference publications chronicling the current state of the art in environmental forensics. The intent of this publication and subsequent INEF conference volumes is to capture the evolution of environmental forensic topics as a scientific discipline.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are essential to ensure a sustainable society and healthy ecosystem over the coming decades. However, the systems to be managed are both broad and complex, requiring an integrated understanding of both bio-physical systems, such as soils and water, and economic and social systems, such as urban development and human behaviour. This edited book joins these domains of knowledge together from an applied perspective and considers how computer science can help. It takes a strategic look at the benefits and barriers to using modelling within environmental management and planning practice. It delves further by providing an in-depth comparative review of a wide range of models from a variety of scientific disciplines of interest with examples of their use for NBS. As such, this illustrated guide is designed to help students, researchers and practitioners navigate the huge range of modelling options available and develop the common understanding to work inter-disciplinarily.

Human beings have always been affected by their surroundings. There are various health benefits linked to being able to access to nature; including increased physical activity, stress recovery, and the stimulation of child cognitive development. The Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health provides a broad and inclusive picture of the relationship between our own health and the natural environment. All aspects of this unique relationship are covered, ranging from disease prevention through physical activity in green spaces to innovative ecosystem services, such as climate change adaptation by urban trees. Potential hazardous consequences are also discussed including natural disasters, vector-borne pathogens, and allergies. This book analyses the complexity of our human interaction with nature and includes sections for example epigenetics, stress physiology, and impact assessments. These topics are all interconnected and fundamental for reaching a full understanding of the role of nature in public health and wellbeing. Much of the recent literature on environmental health has primarily described potential threats from our natural surroundings. The Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health instead focuses on how nature can positively impact our health and wellbeing, and how much we risk losing by destroying it. The all-inclusive approach provides a comprehensive and complete coverage of the role of nature in public health, making this textbook invaluable reading for health professionals, students, and researchers within public health, environmental health, and complementary medicine.

This volume offers expert contributions proposing new and recently set scientific standards for smart air quality (AQ) networks data processing, along with results obtained during field deployments of pervasive and mobile systems. The book is divided into 5 main sections; 1) future air quality networks, 2) general data processing techniques, 3) field deployments performances, 4) special applications, and 5) cooperative and regulatory efforts. The authors offer different sources of data for the production of trustworthy insights, including spatio-temporal predictive AQ maps meant to boost citizen awareness, and informed participation in remediation and prevention policies. Readers will learn about the best and most up-to-date practices for measuring and assessing air quality, while also learning about current regulatory statuses regarding air quality technology design and implementation. The book will be of interest to air quality regulatory agencies, citizen science groups, city authorities, and researchers and students working with air quality sensors and geostatistics.

This book analyses the regional complexes of climate security in the Pacific. Pacific Island States and Territories (PICTs) have long been cast as the frontline of climate change and placed within the grand architecture of global climate governance. The region provides compelling new insights into the ways climate change is constructed, governed, and shaped by (and in turn shapes), regional and global climate politics. By focusing on climate security as it is constructed in the Pacific and how this concept mobilises resources and shapes the implementation of climate finance, the book provides an up-to-date account of the way regional organizations in the Pacific have contributed to the search for solutions to the problem of climate insecurity. In the context of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris in 2015, the focus of this book on regional governance offers a concise and innovative account of climate politics in the prevailing global context and one with implications for the study of climate security in other regions, particularly in the developing world.

Provides a systematic review of modern methods and instruments for measuring environmental parameters - Profiles the most modern methods and instruments for environment control and monitoring - Gives an assessment of biotic and abiotic factors and their effect on quality of atmosphere and indoor air, soil, water - Provides a brief description of the main climatic (pressure, wind, temperature, humidity, precipitation, solar radiation), atmospheric, hydrographic, and edaphic factors - Covers a wide range environmental methods and instrumentation including those used in the fields of meteorology, air pollution, water quality, soil science and more - Supplied with practical exercises, problems, and tests that will help the reader to learn more deeply contents of the book

Environmental rights, also known as the human rights or constitutional rights that are used for the protection of the environment, have proliferated over the last forty-five years. However, the precise levels of protection that they represent has since been a major question associated with this phenomenon. Environmental Rights: The Development of Standards systematically investigates this question by analyzing the emerging standards of environmental protection that are associated with such rights and the way that those associations are becoming formalized. It covers all of the relevant human rights treaties to illustrate how environmental rights standards are emerging in this dynamic area. Bringing together an elite group of scholars, this book discusses significant new insights into the way that environmental rights are developing, the standards of protection that they confer, and the way that standards in the field of environmental rights can potentially be further developed in the future.

The 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station led to serious radioactive contamination of the environment. Due to transportation by seasonal wind and ocean currents, these radioactive materials have now been observed in many places in the Northern Hemisphere. This book provides a unique summary of the environmental impact of the unprecedented accident. It covers how radioactive materials were transported through the atmosphere, oceans and land. The techniques used to investigate the deposition and migration processes are also discussed including atmospheric observation, soil mapping, forest and ecosystem investigations, and numerical simulations. With chapters written by international experts, this is a crucial resource for researchers working on the dispersion and impact of radionuclides in the environment. It also provides essential knowledge for nuclear engineers, social scientists and policymakers to help develop suitable mitigation measures to prepare for similar large-scale natural hazards in the future.

Das Buch wendet sich an alle, die Interesse an dem immer wichtiger werdenden Gebiet der Schadstoffausbreitung in der Umwelt haben. Der didaktisch gut aufbereitete Text erleichtert den schnellen Einstieg ohne uberflussigen mathematischen Ballast und ermuntert zum Selbststudium. Die Modelle werden Schritt fur Schritt und nach einem einheitlichen Konzept erlautert. Ubungsaufgaben im Buch und die Diskette mit Modelling-Software (CemoS), Ubungsdatensatzen sowie eine Substanz- und Umweltdatenbank fur IBM-PC und Kompatible sichern und festigen das erworbene Wissen und erlauben eigene Berechnungen."

Die zunehmende Urbanisierung, begleitet von wachsendem Verkehrsaufkommen und Emission von Luftschadstoffen, verandert die Stadtatmosphare und beeinflusst unmittelbar die Lebensqualitat eines grossen Bevoelkerungsanteils. Die kommunalen und stadtplanerischen Bestrebungen sind deshalb auf eine nachhaltige Verbesserung der Luftqualitat und Optimierung des Stadtklimas gerichtet. Das Buch vermittelt dazu praxisorientiertes Wissen in einem breitgefacherten UEberblick uber verschiedene Aspekte des Stadtklimas, uber die Wechselwirkung zwischen Emission und Immission von Luftschadstoffen und uber die Modellierung stadtklimatischer Phanomene, insbesondere der Ausbreitung von Luftschadstoffen. Auf http: //extras.springer.com/ erganzt die Buchbeitrage durch zusatzliche Abbildungen, Tabellen, lauffahige DOS-Demo-Versionen (nur unter Windows) von Modellen zur Ausbreitungsrechnung, durch Programme zur Berechnung stadtklimarelevanter Parameter und Simulationsmodelle.

Die vorliegende Publikation thematisiert aktuelle Probleme integrativer Modellierung vor dem Hintergrund des Ziels der Forschung zum globalen Wandel. Dabei werden insbesondere Fragen der Modellbildung und Szenarienentwicklung wie auch die Beurteilung ihrer qualitatssichernden Kriterien erortert. Das Ziel ist eine umfassende Analyse von Chancen und Limitationen integrativer Forschungs- und Modellierungsarbeit, die im Rahmen der Global Change-Forschung geleistet wird. Durch Einbringung von Erfahrungen aus der Forschungspraxis, ihrer theoretischen Fundierung und methodischen Reflexion soll dieses Ziel erreicht werden. Die resultierenden Erkenntnisse sollen der Standortbestimmung und dem Fortschritt integrativer Forschung zum globalen Wandel dienen - auf strategischer Ebene auch der Gewinnung von Perspektiven fur die weitere Entwicklung und Schwerpunktsetzung in Deutschland."

Die menschliche Gesellschaft ist durch moderne wissenschaftliche Verfahren der Klimamodellierung in der Lage, Vorhersagen des zukunftigen Klimas zu treffen. Ebenso lassen sich anhand der aktuellen Klimaforschung moegliche menschliche Ursachen fur Klimaanderungen ausmachen. Damit wird das Klima im gesellschaftlichen Bewusstsein zur Sphare menschlicher Handlungsfolgen. Menschliches "Klimahandeln" wird somit notwendig. Dabei berucksichtigt werden muss sowohl die Risikolage durch unwunschbare Klimawirkungen als auch die Verhaltnismassigkeit vorgeschlagener Massnahmen oder zu entwickelnder Strategien in der Klimavorsorge. Diese Fragen versucht die vorliegende Studie zu klaren. Dabei wird eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme des wissenschaftlichen Kenntnisstands aus den relevanten Disziplinen, eine Beurteilung des methodischen Instrumentariums der Klimaforschung und eine UEberprufung der in Anspruch genommenen Grundsatze, Ziele und Strategien der Klimapolitik vorgenommen.

Internationale Umweltprobleme sind in zunehmendem Masse Gegenstand der offentlichen Diskussion. So ist z.B. zu befurchten, dass die anthropogen verursachte Zunahme von Treibhausgasen in der Atmosphare mit spurbaren Klimaveranderungen verbunden ist, ohne dass sich die davon betroffenen Okosysteme in adaquater Weise auf diese Entwicklung einstellen konnten. Gegenstand dieser Publikation sind Fragestellungen zu Umweltproblemen, die von sogenannten Globalschadstoffen (z.B. FCKW) verursacht werden und die im Rahmen einer internationalen umweltpolitischen Kooperation gelost werden konnen. Die Untersuchung erfolgt dabei aus umweltokonomischer Sicht und basiert auf diversen analytischen Szenarien, die unterschiedliche umweltpolitische Rahmenbedingungen abbilden."

Umweltrelevante Fernerkundung gewinnt in zunehmendem Masse Bedeutung, um die vielfaltigen Bedrohungen der Lebensraume durch regionale oder globale Degradation und Zerstorung zu dokumentieren, die dynamischen Prozesse aufzuzeigen und Massnahmen zum Schutz naturlicher Resourcen mitzuformen. Nach mehr als zehnjahriger Beschaftigung mit Problemkreisen der angewandten Fernerkundung, verbunden mit ausgepragt interdisziplinaren, grundlagen- und praxisorientierten Studien, gelingt dem Autor eine kritische Analyse von Aussagekraft und Umsetzbarkeit der Forschungen am Beispiel eines massiv bedrohten sahelischen Naturraums. Das Buch bietet eine Fallstudie fur eine praxisrelevante regionale Fernerkundung.

Seit dem Erscheinen der 1. Auflage dieses Werkes 1985 haben sich die Moeg- lichkeiten der Online-Recherche enorm verandert. Somit ist die Neuauflage be- reits uberfallig. Mit Frau Dr. Ursula Georgy hat Frau Dr. Hedda Schulz eine kompetente und anerkannte Rechercheurin als Coautorin hinzugewonnen. Das Autorenteam hat sich an eine komplexe und umfangreiche Aufgabe herangewagt. Das Ergebnis ist ein uberzeugendes Handbuch, das sowohl bei Recherche-Neulingen als auch bei Experten seinen Platz finden wird. Es ist gleichermassen Lehrbuch und Nachschlagewerk. Die Bedeutung moderner Informationsmethoden ist bereits in vielen Arti- keln, Buchern und Geleitworten hervorgehoben worden, so dass sie an dieser Stelle nicht nochmals dargelegt werden musste. Das Buch kann aber dazu bei- tragen, dass diejenigen mehr Verstandnis fiir Informationsvel,1nittlung bekom- men, die diese Disziplin bisher nicht zur Kenntnis genommen haben oder ihr skeptisch gegenuber stehen. Allen, die bisher glauben, dass man nur einen PC mit Datenanschluss braucht, um recherchieren zu koennen, wird die professionelle, praxis orientierte Aufmachung verdeutlichen, dass zur OnIine-Recherche mehr gehoert als nur ein Tastendruck am PC. Wer eine Palette und eine Staffelei besitzt, ist auch noch kein Kunstmaler. Das Studium dieses Buches wird hoffentlich helfen - neben dem Nutzen, den es Rechercheuren und Lesern bietet -, das oft propagierte, aber unsinnige Motto: The warld's knawledge an your finger tip auszurotten.

Das Buch bietet praktische Unterstutzung bei der Erstellung von Umweltbetriebsbilanzen und Produktokobilanzen im Rahmen eines Oko-Audits. Praxisbeispiele mit konkreten Ergebnissen erleichtern den Einstieg in die Thematik.

To provide useful and meaningful information, long-term ecological programs need to implement solid and efficient statistical approaches for collecting and analyzing data. This volume provides rigorous guidance on quantitative issues in monitoring, with contributions from world experts in the field. These experts have extensive experience in teaching fundamental and advanced ideas and methods to natural resource managers, scientists, and students. The chapters present a range of tools and approaches, including detailed coverage of variance component estimation and quantitative selection among alternative designs; spatially balanced sampling; sampling strategies integrating design- and model-based approaches; and advanced analytical approaches such as hierarchical and structural equation modelling. Making these tools more accessible to ecologists and other monitoring practitioners across numerous disciplines, this is a valuable resource for any professional whose work deals with ecological monitoring. Supplementary example software code is available online at www.cambridge.org/9780521191548.

With unique scholarly analysis and practical discussion, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to the relationship between environmental protection and human rights being formalized into law in many legal systems. By illuminating human rights theory and the institutions that can be employed to meet environmental goals, this book instructs on environmental techniques and procedures that assist in the protection of human rights. The text provides cogent guidance on a growing international jurisprudence on the promotion and protection of human rights in relation to the environment that has been developed by international and regional human rights bodies and tribunals. It explores a rich body of case law that continues to develop within states on the environmental dimension of the rights to life, to health, and to public participation and access to information. Five compelling contemporary case studies are included that implicate human rights and the environment, ranging from large dam projects, to the creation of a new human rights, to a clean environment.

With unique scholarly analysis and practical discussion, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to the relationship between environmental protection and human rights being formalized into law in many legal systems. By illuminating human rights theory and the institutions that can be employed to meet environmental goals, this book instructs on environmental techniques and procedures that assist in the protection of human rights. The text provides cogent guidance on a growing international jurisprudence on the promotion and protection of human rights in relation to the environment that has been developed by international and regional human rights bodies and tribunals. It explores a rich body of case law that continues to develop within states on the environmental dimension of the rights to life, to health, and to public participation and access to information. Five compelling contemporary case studies are included that implicate human rights and the environment, ranging from large dam projects, to the creation of a new human rights, to a clean environment.

Access, distribution and processing of Geographic Information (GI) are basic preconditions to support strategic environmental decision-making. The heterogeneity of information on the environment today available is driving a wide number of initiatives, on both sides of the Atlantic, all advocating both the strategic role of proper management and processing of environme- related data as well as the importance of harmonized IT infrastructures designed to better monitor and manage the environment. The extremely wide range of often multidimensional environmental information made available at the global scale poses a great challenge to technologists and scientists to find extremely sophisticated yet effective ways to provide access to relevant data patterns within such a vast and highly dynamic information flow. In the past years the domain of 3D scientific visualization has developed several solutions designed for operators requiring to access results of a simulation through the use of 3D visualization that could support the understanding of an evolving phenomenon. However 3D data visualization alone does not provide model and hypothesis-making neither it provide tools to validate results. In order overcome this shortcoming, in recent years scientists have developed a discipline that combines the benefits of data mining and information visualization, which is often referred to as Visual Analytics (VA).

Land degradation from soil erosion has been considered by many to be a problem of significant proportion, affecting some 30 50% of the earth's land surface. At the time of the first publication of this book in 1993, estimates indicated that 10 15 million hectares of land were being lost each year through erosion and salinisation from irrigation and that at such a rate of loss, topsoil reserves on most sloping lands would be depleted within two hundred years. Since humankind's dependency on the land for food is almost total, soil erosion represents a real threat to the security of our food supply. The need for the immediate conservation of the world's soil resources is therefore clear. As part of the response to this need, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Commission on Ecology convened a special working group to consider the problem of world soil erosion and to propose practical solutions for soil conservation. This important book presents the outcome of their work.

Statistical and machine learning methods have many applications in the environmental sciences, including prediction and data analysis in meteorology, hydrology and oceanography, pattern recognition for satellite images from remote sensing, management of agriculture and forests, assessment of climate change, and much more. With rapid advances in machine learning in the last decade, this book provides an urgently needed, comprehensive guide to machine learning and statistics for students and researchers interested in environmental data science. It includes intuitive explanations covering the relevant background mathematics, with examples drawn from the environmental sciences. A broad range of topics are covered, including correlation, regression, classification, clustering, neural networks, random forests, boosting, kernel methods, evolutionary algorithms, and deep learning, as well as the recent merging of machine learning and physics. End-of-chapter exercises allow readers to develop their problem-solving skills and online data sets allow readers to practise analysis of real data.