The book seeks to comprehend how indigenous knowledge systems of local communities can be effectively used in disaster management of various types. A prime example is the 2015 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, promoting indigenous environmental management knowledge and practices. Traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples includes information and insight that supplement conventional science and environmental observations, a comprehensive understanding of the environment, natural resources, culture, and human interactions with them which is not documented before. A great deal of this knowledge have been lost in translation. In this book, the authors attempt to keep a record of each and every traditional knowledge study of the indigenous communities in managing the disasters. The use of indigenous knowledge systems in disaster understanding and management is the primary focus of the chapters.   This book is organized into four major sections. The first part gives an overview and help in conceptualizing the different concepts of hazard and disaster perception and how response and adaptation are connected with it. This part also discusses the concept of the connection between hazard and sustainable development and how the understanding of risk reduction and resilience can happen with the help of indigenous knowledge, insights, and strategies. The second part of the book introduces the different approaches to disaster and risk management. It establishes how vulnerability influences the risk associated with a hazard and the responses can be both positive and negative in disaster management. The approaches of the indigenous communities in managing a disaster, their resilience, capacity building, and community-based preparedness will be the area of prime focus in this chapter. Part 3 of this book describes the concept of sustainability through indigenous knowledge and practice. The sole highlight of this chapter is the indigenous knowledge efficacies in disaster identification, risk reduction, climate risk management, and climate action. The last section of the book explores how to meet the gaps between local knowledge and policy formulation. It highlights how traditional knowledge of the indigenous communities can prove to be beneficial in developing a holistic regional-based policy framework which will be easily accepted by the target stakeholders since they will be more acquainted with the local strategies and methods. This section ends with an assessment and discussion of the gaps and future scopes in disaster risk reduction through integrating local knowledge and modern technologies.

Adventures in Volcanoland charts journeys across deserts, through jungles and up ice caps, to some of the world's most important volcanoes, from Nicaragua to Hawaii, Santorini to Ethiopia, exploring Tamsin Mather's obsession with these momentous geological formations, the cultural and religious roles they have played in the minds of those living around them at different times throughout history, and the science behind their formation and eruptions. Volcanoes help to make and shape our world, bursting forth from inside of the earth and, in many places, looming over us. They have helped provide us with a habitable planet, playing a key role in creating the atmosphere, oceans and land. Present since the earth's beginning they continue to maintain its life support systems and, their extraordinary chemistry may even have created the ingredients needed for life to kick start. In some places volcanoes are even beginning to provide us with part of the energy we need to curb our use of fossil fuels. They have fascinated humans for millennia, their eruptions charted throughout history, seeming to show us how the earth is living, breathing and changing and has been doing so for billions of years. Why exactly are these geological mammoths found where they are? What can they teach us about our environment, the Anthropocene and the ecological disaster that is climate change? Are there volcanoes on other planets, and what might they tell us about whether we could one day live there if we exhaust our own habitat? How can we predict if or when volcanoes might explode? Adventures in Volcanoland is an enthralling mix of travel, science and environmental writing for fans of Robert MacFarlane and Raynor Winn.

This book explores sustainable development from the perspective of resources and energy, based on China's practical experience and cross-disciplinary research. It focuses on major challenges, key solutions and policy recommendations, and studies and explores seven important themes of resources, energy and sustainable development, including: 1) China's low-carbon energy transition, 2) China's urbanization and low-carbon development, 3) China's low-carbon action in cities, 4) China's low-carbon power transition, 5) China's water resources management, 6) electric vehicle development and key metal resources and 7) China's low-carbon development of the iron & steel industry. This book contributes to a more integrated understanding of many themes and their relationships in the area of resources, energy and sustainable development and guides the related policy and management.

This book recognizes Mexico's effects and challenges in a natural disaster and offers empirical risk-reduction methods in critical cases. The proposals considered here include real and detailed analysis, a set of models, frameworks, strategies, and findings in the three stages of the disaster (before-during-after). This book: describes the methodology to find secure locations for the Regional Humanitarian Response Depot; offers recommendations for the sites and creation of an Export Logistics Cluster; shows how to use available technology and information to locate volunteers in the right spots describes mathematical models to help to allocate procedure of resources for restoring the affected community and proposes actions to create resilience in the country's main economic sectors, including agriculture and industry. The processes applied at recent disasters such as the 19S earthquake and their results are used as case studies, identifying possibilities for further improvement. The book also describes new trends for Mexico due to climate change and makes suggestions for mitigating future disasters. The proposals are also replicable to other highly populated societies with similar socio-economic structures. Finally, this book is the basis for generating more innovative recommendations by researchers, graduate students, academics, professionals, and practitioners to obtain better planning and better collaboration between all the humanitarian chain actors. This book intends to be of interest as a fundamental tool for decision-makers, governments, non-governmental organizations, and enterprises.

This book focuses on some technical problems encountered in shield tunneling in hard-soft uneven stratum and extremely soft stratum, based on the recent shield tunneling engineering practice, and summarizes the achievements of shield tunneling in view of the technical problems from an overall and objective perspective. There are 6 chapters in this book. Chapter 1 introduces the development trend of shield tunneling method, defines classification of various stratum where shield tunneling applies, and mainly analyses the selection of shield machines and the configuration of cutters. Chapters 2 to 5 elaborates the strata characteristics and construction difficulties under various stratum conditions, puts forward adaptive selection and design keys of shield in various stratum, and emphatically analyses and summarizes the stability control technologies of shield tunnel face and driving control technology by case studies. Chapter 6 introduces the shield chamber opening technologies under hyperbaric condition, emphatically presents the basic requirements and operational preparations for the shield chamber opening, and puts forward innovative ideas of operation procedures, control points of key procedures, and safety requirements of shield chamber opening under hyperbaric condition.

This book systematically describes the instrument setup for the measurement of nitrate radical (NO3) and dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), as well as the mixing ratio, chemical behaviors, and atmospheric impacts of NO3 and N2O5 in Beijing, China. It also discusses the instrument design and data analysis method in detail. Based on several field measurements of NO3 and N2O5 in Beijing, it shows the variation in concentration and the budget of NO3 and N2O5. The N2O5 heterogeneous uptake coefficient was determined using various methods, and the relationship between the N2O5 uptake coefficient and the particle properties was demonstrated, as well as the impact of NO3-N2O5 chemistry to the atmospheric oxidation and the formation of particulate nitrate. These results increase our understanding of nighttime chemistry and provide insights into the role of NO3-N2O5 chemistry in other polluted regions.

This book comprises select proceedings of the annual conference of the Indian Geotechnical Society. The conference brings together research and case histories on various aspects of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. The book presents papers on geotechnical applications and case histories, covering topics such as (i) Characterization of Geomaterials and Physical Modelling; (ii) Foundations and Deep Excavations; (iii) Soil Stabilization and Ground Improvement; (iv) Geoenvironmental Engineering and Waste Material Utilization; (v) Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering; (vi) Earth Retaining Structures, Dams and Embankments; (vii) Slope Stability and Landslides; (viii) Transportation Geotechnics; (ix) Geosynthetics Applications; (x) Computational, Analytical and Numerical Modelling; (xi) Rock Engineering, Tunnelling and Underground Constructions; (xii) Forensic Geotechnical Engineering and Case Studies; and (xiii) Others Topics: Behaviour of Unsaturated Soils, Offshore and Marine Geotechnics, Remote Sensing and GIS, Field Investigations, Instrumentation and Monitoring, Retrofitting of Geotechnical Structures, Reliability in Geotechnical Engineering, Geotechnical Education, Codes and Standards, and other relevant topics. The contents of this book are of interest to researchers and practicing engineers alike.