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Books > Earth & environment > Geography > Physical geography > General
The frequency and intensity of climate shocks such as heatwaves and flooding, are expected to increase under a changing climate with severe implications across the food, energy, water, environment nexus. This book critically explores how to improve resilience to climate shocks by examining the range of challenges and opportunities that exist in the aftermath of shocks and discusses factors that exacerbate and mitigate these. It innovatively discusses the importance of embedding communication, collaboration and co-production within resilience-building across sectors and stakeholders. Doing so with policy, practitioner and scientific communities, Candice Howarth argues, can pave the way to overcome challenges that emerge from climate shocks and facilitate the co-design of sustainable, robust and resilient responses.
First published in 1999 , the book is based on papers given at the final workshop of a research project into the evolution of environmental regulation in Poland undertaken as part of the UKs ERSC Global Environmental Change Programme. Other invited papers focused on the development of regulatory policy in transforming economies and in the UK. Furthermore the book highlights the weakness of internal political processes in Poland and the important role played by foreign sponsored pressures whilst exsamaning the divergence between the way environmental charges are supposed to operate and the ways in which they are implemented and enforced. Topics covered include the links between privatisation and the environment, the saline water problem in Upper Silesia, enforcement of and compliance with environmental charges, air pollution in Krakow and the structure of the Polish environmental administration system.
Mountain environments, once thought hostile, now attract major
economic investments for tourism, hydro-power and communication
routes. As change and technology works its way around the world,
the fight between ecology and dollars will doubtless escalate.
This volume provides a textbook and reference work on the physical and biotic landscapes of Southern Africa. It examines the links between these environments and the ways in which they have been, are and will likely be subject to change. It covers the geomorphology, soils, vegetation and land use across a range of landscapes, including mountains, coasts, savannah, drylands and wetlands, and identifies the impacts of current and potential climate change and other factors on these environments. The geographical focus is on the region defined by Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland. Illustrated throughout in full colour, the book will serve as a reference volume for researchers and environmental professionals internationally, as well as a textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate-level students of geography, ecology and environmental studies in Southern Africa.
Ranging from the poverty and exploding population of Bangladesh to the dazzling technology and aging population of Japan, from the two most populous states of India and China to the tiny states of Singapore and the Maldives and to the emptiness of Siberia, Asia contains perhaps the greatest diversity of physical environments, cultures and levels of development of any of the continents. Clearly illustrated with basic maps of the countries discussed, "The Changing Geography of Asia" presents a systematic review of 25 years of development - a guide to the physical, economic, social and political environments of contemporary Asia. This book should be of interest to introductory students in geography and development studies.
Conventional services, such as water, energy and waste services, have been for a long time physically networked and centrally managed. Today, this delivery model appears increasingly inefficient in two respects. It often fails in guaranteeing its financial viability and equitable service access, and and it generally draws heavily on the natural resources conveyed by these services. The book aims thus at exploring how service coproduction, based on public-community collaborations, can represent a valuable alternative to the conventional service provision model. Contributions in this book look into service coproduction and its relationship with the conventional service model both in the Global North (Germany) and Global South (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, India, Tanzania). They also address a variety of different perspectives in coproducing conventional services, such as the role of service modernisation, the variety of non-networked solutions, the relationship with the commons, just to cite some of them. Eventually, this book provides a first comprehensive exploration of the service coproduction theory in relation to conventional services, such as water, energy and waste. The chapters originally published as a special issue in Urban Research & Practice.
Freshwater ecosystems have the greatest species diversity per unit area and many endangered species. This book shows that, rather than being a marginal part of terrestrial protected area management, freshwater conservation is central to sustaining biodiversity. It focuses on better practices for conserving inland aquatic ecosystems in protected areas, including rivers, wetlands, peatlands, other freshwater and brackish ecosystems, and estuaries. The authors define inland aquatic ecosystems, showing just how diverse and widespread they are. They examine the principles and processes that are essential for the conservation of freshwater ecosystems and aquatic species. Major categories of threats to freshwater ecosystems and the flow-on implications for protected area design are described. Practical case studies are used to illustrate principles and practices applied around the world. Specific management needs of the main types of freshwater ecosystems are considered, as well as the management of freshwaters in the broader landscape, showing how natural resource governance processes can be harnessed to better manage freshwater biodiversity. The book offers commentary on how to adapt freshwater conservation practices to climate change and ends with an insightful synthesis.
New! A practical, easy-to-use reference for the design and analysis of groundwater pumping and slug tests Aquifer Testing: Design and Analysis of Pumping and Slug Tests is a complete design and analysis reference emphasizing practical solutions for engineers, scientists, consultants, and students knowledgeable in basic ground water theory. The book discusses such models as steady-state, transient flow with constant discharge, slug injection or withdrawal, and step discharge. This valuable book is an expansion on our best seller Groundwater Pumping Tests: Design and Analysis (Walton 1987). Part I contains general information about pumping tests, including how to design a pumping test, select an appropriate model, correct data, and analyze results. Part II is devoted to aquifer models and features hydrogeologic conditions, flow and geometry assumptions, governing differential equations, initial and boundary conditions, and analytical solutions for different models. BASIC coding for computer programs from which type curves may be developed and drawdown predicted are included in an appendix and on diskettes included in the book.
The current scenario provides an ideal opportunity to confer higher priority to the marine resources of the Indian Ocean, particularly in terms of integrated management of the deep sea, shallow sea and coastal resources. This will maximize their potential in the sustainable development goal (SDG) pattern, leading to an appropriate environmental management. Therefore, this book aims to provide an overview of the area and to highlight the potential market opportunities represented by this vast and rapidly developing nation. In doing so the following aspects have been covered: Exclusive title focussing on mineral resources of Indian ocean. Discusses living, nonliving, ocean waves and tidal energy, ocean environment and protection aspects. Includes information on key themes, details of organizations associated with the Indian Ocean. Illustrates deep sea mining technology and environmental perspectives. Covers hydrocarbons-sub sea oil and gas, minerals from placer deposits to deep sea nodules, sea floor massive sulphides and cobalt rich encrustations.
Growing scarcity of freshwater worldwide brings to light the need for sound water resource modeling and policy analysis. While a solid foundation has been established for many specific water management problems, combining those methods and principles in a unified framework remains an ongoing challenge. This Handbook aims to expand the scope of efficient water use to include allocation of sources and quantities across uses and time, as well as integrating demand-management with supply-side substitutes. Socially efficient water use does not generally coincide with private decisions in the real world, however. Examples of mechanisms designed to incentivize efficient behavior are drawn from agricultural water use, municipal water regulation, and externalities linked to water resources. Water management is further complicated when information is costly and/or imperfect. Standard optimization frameworks are extended to allow for coordination costs, games and cooperation, and risk allocation. When operating efficiently, water markets are often viewed as a desirable means of allocation because a market price incentivizes users to move resources from low to high value activities. However, early attempts at water trading have run into many obstacles. Case studies from the United States, Australia, Europe, and Canada highlight the successes and remaining challenges of establishing efficient water markets.
Does participatory governance benefit the environment? The European Water Framework Directive (WFD), which came into force in 2000 with the aim of revolutionizing European water governance, mandates participatory river basin management planning across the European Union. The belief of European policymakers and the European Commission is that participation will deliver better policy outputs and implementation. This book examines a range of approaches to participatory river basin management planning, and considers whether and how participation impacted on the environmental standard of planning documents, quality of implementation, and social outcomes. It draws on evidence from WFD implementation in eight case studies from Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom on the basis of a matched comparative case study design. The Directive sets common timeframes and procedural requirements, which provides a perfect test-bed and unique opportunity to study the effects of participation on implementation and outcomes in comparative perspective.
A hydroinformatics system represents an electronic knowledge encapsulator that models part of the real world and can be used for the simulation and analysis of physical, chemical and biological processes in water systems, in order to achieve a better management of the aquatic environment. Thus, modelling is at the heart of hydroinformatics. The theory of nonlinear dynamics and chaos, and the extent to which recent improvements in the understanding of inherently nonlinear natural processes present challenges to the use of mathematical models in the analysis of water and environmental systems, are elaborated in this work. In particular, it demonstrates that the deterministic chaos present in many nonlinear systems can impose fundamental limitations on our ability to predict behaviour, even when well-defined mathematical models exist. On the other hand, methodologies and tools from the theory of nonlinear dynamics and chaos can provide means for a better accuracy of short-term predictions as demonstrated through the practical applications in this work.
The efficient use of natural resources is key to a sustainable economy, and yet the complexities of the physical aspects of resource efficiency are poorly understood. In this challenging book, the author proposes a major advance in our understanding of this topic by analysing resource efficiency and efficiency gains from the perspective of common pool resources, applying this idea particularly to water resources and its use in irrigated agriculture. The author proposes a novel concept of "the paracommons", through which the savings of increased resource efficiency can be viewed. In effect he asks; "who gets the gain of an efficiency gain?" By reusing, economising and avoiding losses, wastes and wastages, freed up resources are available for further use by four 'destinations'; the same user, parties directly connected to that user, the wider economy or returned to the common pool. The paracommons is thus a commons of - and competition for - resources salvaged by changes to the efficiency of natural resource systems. The idea can be applied to a range of resources such as water, energy, forests and high-seas fisheries. Five issues are explored: the complexity of resource use efficiency; the uncertainty of efficiency interventions and outcomes; destinations of freed up losses, wastes and wastages; implications for resource conservation; and the interconnectedness of users and systems brought about by efficiency changes. The book shows how these ideas put efficiency on a par with other dimensions of resource governance and sustainability such as equity, justice, resilience and access.
The TransNav 2011 Symposium held at the Gdynia Maritime University, Poland in June 2011 has brought together a wide range of participants from all over the world. The program has offered a variety of contributions, allowing to look at many aspects of the navigational safety from various different points of view. Topics presented and discussed at the Symposium were: navigation, safety at sea, sea transportation, education of navigators and simulator-based training, sea traffic engineering, ship's manoeuvrability, integrated systems, electronic charts systems, satellite, radio-navigation and anti-collision systems and many others. This book is part of a series of six volumes and provides an overview of Problems in Maritime Navigation, Transport and Shipping and is addressed to scientists and professionals involved in research and development of navigation, safety of navigation and sea transportation.
The Environmental Management Revision Guide: For the NEBOSH Certificate in Environmental Management is the perfect revision aid for students preparing to take their NEBOSH Certificate in Environmental Management. As well as being a handy companion volume to Brian Waters' NEBOSH-endorsed textbook Introduction to Environmental Management, it will also serve as a useful aide-memoire for those in environmental management roles. The book aims to: Provide practical revision guidance and strategies for students Highlight the key information for each learning outcome of the current NEBOSH syllabus Give students opportunities to test their knowledge based on NEBOSH style questions and additional exercises Provide details of guidance documents publically available that students will be able to refer to. The revision guide is fully aligned to the current NEBOSH syllabus, providing complete coverage in bite-sized chunks, helping students to learn and memorise the most important topics. Throughout the book, the guide refers back to the Introduction to Environmental Management, helping students to consolidate their learning.
Most government agencies and private companies are investing significant resources in the production and use of geographical data. The capabilities of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for data analysis are also improving, to the extent that the potential performance of GIS software and the data available for analysis outstrip the abilities of managers and analysts to use and analyze the information. This is especially true for environmental applications. Here the need to keep up-to-date is essential for providing effective and efficient services. Environmental Modeling with GIS and Remote Sensing derives from a training course run by ITC for professionals and managers in the environmental sciences, detailing the applications of remote sensing and GIS for environmental modeling and assessment. It sets out the current research results and provides operational methods for environmental mapping and monitoring.
The third edition of this classic text, presents a broad-based study of the variations in the form and functioning of the biosphere at regional and global scale.
The world's coastlines represent a myriad of dynamic and constantly changing environments. Heavily settled and intensely used areas, they are of enormous importance to humans and understanding how they are shaped and change is crucial to our future.Introduction to Coastal Processes and Geomorphologybegins by discussing coastal systems and shows how these systems link to the processes examined in detail throughout the book. These include the morphodynamic paradigm, tides, waves and sediment transport. Later chapters explore fluvial deltas, estuaries, beaches and barriers, coastal sand dunes and geologically-influenced coasts such as cliffs, coral reefs and atolls. A new chapter addresses the forward-facing aspect of coastal morphodynamics, including the ways in which coasts respond to rapid climate changes such as present day global warming. Also new to this second edition is a chapter on future coasts which considers the wider effects of coastal change on other important aspects of coastal systems, including ecology, management, socio-cultural activities, built and natural heritage, and archaeology. Case studies using examples from around the world illustrate theory in practice and bring the subject to life. Each chapter starts by outlining the 'aims' and questions at the end allow you to track your progress.
In this comprehensive book, the critical components of the European landscape - forest, parkland, and other grazed landscapes with trees are addressed. The book considers the history of grazed treed landscapes, of large grazing herbivores in Europe, and the implications of the past in shaping our environment today and in the future. Debates on the types of anciently grazed landscapes in Europe, and what they tell us about past and present ecology, have been especially topical and controversial recently. This treatment brings the current discussions and the latest research to a much wider audience. The book breaks new ground in broadening the scope of wood-pasture and woodland research to address sites and ecologies that have previously been overlooked but which hold potential keys to understanding landscape dynamics. Eminent contributors, including Oliver Rackham and Frans Vera, present a text which addresses the importance of history in understanding the past landscape, and the relevance of historical ecology and landscape studies in providing a future vision.
First published in 1985. This is the is the second edition of a study looking at ecology and biogeography with updated chapters including current research. It starts with the with the study of plants to gain an understanding of the complexities of ecological relationships.
'Extraordinary... A fascinating and intelligent book.' Sunday Times New islands are being built at an unprecedented rate whether for tourism or territorial ambition, while many islands are disappearing or fragmenting because of rising sea levels. It is a strange planetary spectacle, creating an ever-changing map which even Google Earth struggles to keep pace with. In The Age of Islands, explorer and geographer Alastair Bonnett takes the reader on a compelling and thought-provoking tour of the world's newest, most fragile and beautiful islands and reveals what, he argues, is one of the great dramas of our time. From a 'crannog', an ancient artificial island in a Scottish loch, to the militarized artificial islands China is building in the South China Sea; from the disappearing islands that remain the home of native Central Americans to the ritzy new islands of Dubai; from Hong Kong and the Isles of Scilly to islands far away and near: all have urgent stories to tell.
Big or small, islands and their inhabitant communities have long been the focus of intellectual enquiry, but in recent years a whole host of new academic institutes, journals, and conferences have devoted themselves to their study and research. And while early scholarly work mostly originated from those working in the natural sciences, and in Physical and Human Geography, Anthropology, and Archaeology, in the last twenty years or so serious research has also burgeoned under the rubric of, for example, Cultural Geography, Regional Development, Environmental Studies, Tourism, and Identity Studies. This new four-volume collection from Routledge meets the need for a comprehensive reference work to allow users to make better sense of this voluminous scholarly and practical literature. Indeed, the sheer scale-and range-of the research output makes this title especially welcome. Island Studies is fully indexed and has a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the material in its intellectual context. It is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued by scholars, advanced students, and policy-makers as a vital one-stop research resource.
Unprecedented levels of wealth, technology and institutional capacity can forge a just, peaceful and ecologically resilient future. However, the authors argue, social polarization, geo-political conflict and environmental degradation are threatening the long-term well-being of humanity and the planet. Global Sustainability explores the alternative futures that could emerge from the resolution of these antagonisms. Based on extensive international and interdisciplinary research, the book identifies the perils of market-driven scenarios and considers the possibility of the failure of conventional approaches. It also, however, presents a vision of the possibility of a 'Great Transition' in which revised human values and development goals bring a new stage of civilization. It will be essential reading for all scholars and professionals interested in the future of the environment, international affairs, and sustainable development.
This book highlights the latest research in the field of Sustainable Aviation. In recent decades, there have been considerable improvements in aircraft efficiency and noise reduction. However, with the demand for both passenger and freight transportation expected to increase significantly in future years, the aviation sector is becoming a growing source of environmental problems and a major contributor to global warming. Focusing on the need to address this mounting problem, this book discusses important new trends and outlines likely future developments in carbon emission reduction, carbon trading, and the impact of emerging technologies, as well as social, legal, and regulatory changes as they pertain to the aviation sector. The book offers an invaluable reference guide for practitioners, regulators, academics, and students alike, in fields ranging from business and engineering to the social sciences. It can be used as a textbook, and will benefit anyone interested in the future of aviation and our planet. |
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