This book ranks countries with respect to their achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and their vulnerability to climate change. Human livelihoods, stable economies, health, and high quality of life all depend on a stable climate and earth system, and a diversity of species and ecosystems. Climate change significantly impacts human trafficking, modern slavery, and global hunger. This book examines these global problems using techniques from mathematics of uncertainty. Since accurate data concerning human trafficking and modern slavery is impossible to obtain, mathematics of uncertainty is an ideal discipline to study these problems. The book also considers the interconnection between climate change, world hunger, human trafficking, modern slavery, and the coronavirus. Connectivity properties of fuzzy graphs are used to examine trafficking flow between regions in the world. The book is an excellent reference source for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics and the social sciences as well as for researchers and teachers.

Biological invasions - the introduction of living organisms beyond their original range - are one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. They are a major threat to human health and a source of pests and pathogens in the world's farms, forests and fisheries. The growth of international trade and travel means that more species are being introduced to more places than ever before. This book represents the first concerted effort to understand the economic causes and consequences of biological invasions. The volume discusses the theoretical and methodological issues raised by invasion, including control strategies, modelling options, and a study of the economic, institutional and policy conditions that predispose countries to biological invasions. Also included are case studies of fisheries, agricultural systems, tropical forests and protected areas affected by invasive species in locations such as the Black Sea, Australia and Africa, and an evaluation of control programmes. The Economics of Biological Invasions provides an important first step towards codification of the advice needed to develop decision rules, tools and protocols for the effective management of invasive biological species. This volume will be a fascinating read for researchers, academics and students in ecology, economics and environmental science with an interest in the biodiversity problem. The book will also prove to be essential reading for policymakers responsible for health, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and the environment in both developed and developing countries.

The increased demand due to anthropogenic activity leads to emerging contaminants, resulting in a substantial environmental hazard. The long-term presence and exposure of contaminants lead to severe negative impacts on the environment, humans, and other life forms. Hence, emerging contaminants in the environment is a worldwide concern, and new technologies to mitigate these contaminants are being developed. This book covers the source, occurrence, toxicity, and detection techniques of a wide range of emerging contaminants. This collection also discusses the scope and applications of diverse techniques, including Bio/Phyto and Nano-remediation technologies, to mitigate the emerging contaminants; along with their sustainability issue and prospects. As a result, this book appears to provide insight into several modern and environmentally friendly waste management options, the possibility to minimize and lessen the effects of contaminants, and striving to lower toxicological endpoints to assure environmental safety. This book delivers the most recent advancements by prominent specialists in environmental sciences to academics, researchers, students, and practitioners interested in the identification and eradication of emerging pollutants from the environment.

Organocatalysis are an important tool for greener catalytic processes due to the lack of precious metals used. This book explores different organocatalysts and their use in synthesis. Topics covered include zwitterionic imidazolium salt catalysts, asymmetric catalysts in aqueous media, beaker yeast catalysis, organocatalysts for Aldol and Michael reactions, amino acid-based organocatalysts, and Broensted acidic surfactant organocatalysts.

As a basic human need, water and its treatment are of the utmost importance. However, some rural areas are disadvantaged and have difficulty in effectively treating their water supply, which can affect the health and safety of their region. To protect and defend citizens, research must supply effective and applicable methods in securing the safety and drinkability of water. Membrane Technology for Water and Wastewater Treatment in Rural Regions is an essential publication that discusses the fabrication and characterization of membranes, processes and operations, and specific applications of membranes on water and wastewater treatment. Moreover, the book discusses selected promising aspects of membrane usage in the industry with a focus on palm oil mill industry, sewage management and treatment, and water treatment in rural areas. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics including membrane processes, water production, and transport resistances, this book is ideally designed for engineers, chemists, environmentalists, public officials, researchers, academicians, students, and industry professionals.

The book presents a state-of-the-art summary of knowledge on the use of radionuclides to study processes and systems in the continental part of the Earth s environment. It is conceived as a companion to the two volumes of this series, which deal with isotopes as tracers in the marine environment (Livingston, "Marine Radioactivity") and with the radioecology of natural and man-made terrestrial systems (Shaw, "Radioactivity in Terrestrial Ecosystems"). Although the book focuses on natural and anthropogenic radionuclides (radioactive isotopes), it also refers to stable environmental isotopes, which in a variety of applications, especially in hydrology and climatology, have to be consulted to evaluate radionuclide measurements in terms of the ages of groundwater and climate archives, respectively.
The basic principles underlying the various applications of natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in environmental studies are described in the first part of the book. The book covers the two major groups of applications: the use of radionuclides as tracers for studying transport and mixing processes: and as time markers to address problems of the dynamics of such systems, manifested commonly as the so-called residence time in these systems. The applications range from atmospheric pollution studies, via water resource assessments to contributions to global climate change investigation. The third part of the book addresses new challenges in the development of new methodological approaches, including analytical methods and fields of applications.
* A state-of-the-art summary of knowledge on the use of radionuclides
* Conceived as a companion to the two volumes of this series, which deal with isotopes as tracers"

This book gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of innovative biosystems engineering for sustainable agriculture, forestry and food production. Focusing on the challenges of implementing sustainability in various contexts in the fields of biosystems engineering, it shows how the research has addressed the sustainable use of renewable and non-renewable resources. It also presents possible solutions to help achieve sustainable production. The Mid-Term Conference of the Italian Association of Agricultural Engineering (AIIA) is part of a series of conferences, seminars and meetings that the AIIA organizes, together with other public and private stakeholders, to promote the creation and dissemination of new knowledge in the sector. The contributions included in the book were selected by means of a rigorous peer-review process, and offer an extensive and multidisciplinary overview of interesting solutions in the field of innovative biosystems engineering for sustainable agriculture.

Humans rank with the powerful forces of nature transforming Earth. Since the mid-20th century, population growth, industrialization, and globalization have had such deep and wide-ranging impacts that our planet no longer functions as it did during the previous eleven millennia. So distinctive is this collective human intervention that a new geological interval has been proposed; it is called the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is intriguing scientifically, fascinating intellectually, and deeply disturbing politically, socially, economically, and ethically. We must learn how to co-exist sustainably with the rest of nature in what is emerging as a new planetary state. To do so, we must first understand what "Anthropocene" means in all its dimensions. This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach, starting with an exploration of the Anthropocene as a geological concept: ranging across the physical changes to the landscape, to the rapidly heating climate, to a biosphere undergoing transformation. And what of the "anthropos" in the Anthropocene? While geoscience does not normally address political and ethical issues of justice and equity, or economics and culture, Anthropocene studies in the humanities and social sciences investigate the complexities of the human activity driving global change. Here the book looks at human history, both in the deep past and more recently, the politics and economics of growth spurring the Anthropocene, and potential ways of mitigating its cruel effects. Our fragile, still beautiful, planet is finite. The new realities of the Anthropocene will need our best efforts, across disciplinary divides, at effective hope and action.

This book reviews the spaceborne and airborne remote sensing of clouds including cloud lidar and radar data analysis, snow and soil reflectance spectroscopy, and single light scattering by nonspherical scatterers. Providing deep insights into the latest technologies, it is a valuable resource for scientists and postgraduate students alike.

This book presents a comprehensive selection of applications employed in environmental remote sensing using optical and thermal infrared satellite-sensors aiming to map natural resources, crops, groundwater, surface water, aquatic ecosystem, land degradation, air quality, renewable energy, regional resources, and climate-related geophysical processes. The technologies presented in this book also include satellite images, space-borne radar sensors focusing on the most versatile one, data from synthetic aperture radar (SAR), scatterometers and radar altimeters in Egypt. This volume also presents a thorough explanation of the remote sensing role showing physical fundamentals of the climate change phenomenon including gas emissions, and the impact on resources concerning the sustainable development of Egypt. Besides, the book includes an analysis of oil pollution in both Mediterranean and Red Seas This book is intended for environmental policymakers working in Egypt as well as scientists working with remote sensing technologies in highly populated arid regions.

Environmental concern is becoming more and more prevalent in the energy field. Whether it is the elimination of waste from a chemical spill, water pollution or ecological destruction, the removal of pollutants is an increasingly upfront engineering priority. This extensive technical book contains all the basic environmental and green properties of hydrocarbons and chemicals that are advantageous in design, operations, research, development, manufacturing and safety for the petroleum, chemical and environmental engineer.

Chapters involve octanol-water partition coefficient, a significant instrument of control in ascertaining the environmental fate of substances; soil sorption coefficient, an important property in determining the fate and transport of chemicals in soils and sediments; and the threshold limit value and permissible exposure limit, which was established by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and is significant for meeting governmental regulations.

Providing over 4,000 hydrocarbons and chemicals, this well-balanced handbook greatly exceeds the coverage that other chemical and environmental books render.

This book presents an unbiased, comprehensive examination of the state of knowledge for life cycle assessments (LCAs) of natural gas-fired electricity, covering a suite of environmental impact categories. An exploration of the life cycle environmental impacts of gas-fired electricity is used to introduce the field of LCA, advancements in methods and data, and the limitations thereof. Natural gas, particularly as a fuel for electricity generation, serves as a dichotomy within energy and environmental systems analysis. While the cleanest burning fossil fuel, it is not without impacts, making it an excellent case study for introducing life cycle assessment. This book introduces readers to the field of LCA using natural gas-fired electricity as a case study, as well as providing a comprehensive review of the state of the art in life cycle data, research, and scientific debate related to this product system. The author also elucidates data and methodological challenges inherent to the field of LCA, exemplified using published research. The text explores how to conduct LCA, describing the analysis from the perspective of a numerator and denominator. With each chapter, the complexity of undertaking a LCA of gas-fired power is unravelled beyond a simple fraction to the expansive network of infrastructure examined in this type of research. Students, instructors, LCA practitioners, and energy professionals will benefit from not only the introduction to data and methods, but also this useful summary of the state of the art in the field. Policymakers and the interested public can learn more about the implications of LCA results for decision-support and the commentary about the economics of natural gas and its role as a bridge fuel. This book provides not only a useful reference, but also a springboard for researchers and experts interested in specializing in LCA, natural gas, or both.