This book unravels the profound implications of biodiversity offsetting for nature-society relationships and its links to environmental and social inequality. Drawing on people's resistance against its implementation in several urban and rural places across England, it explores how the production of equivalent natures, the core promise of offsetting, reframes socionatures both discursively and materially transforming places and livelihoods. The book draws on theories and concepts from human geography, political ecology, and Marxist political economy, and aims to shift the trajectory of the current literature on the interplay between offsetting, urbanization and the neoliberal reconstruction of conservation and planning policies in the era following the 2008 financial crash. By shedding light on offsetting's contested geographies, it offers a fundamental retheorization of offsetting capable of demonstrating how offsetting, and more broadly revanchist neoliberal policies, are increasingly used to support capitalist urban growth producing socially, environmentally and geographically uneven outcomes. Nature Swapped and Nature Lost brings forward an understanding of environmental politics as class politics and sees environmental justice as inextricably linked to social justice. It effectively challenges the dystopia of offsetting's ahistorical and asocial non-places and proposes a radically different pathway for gaining social control over the production of nature by linking struggles for the right to the city with struggles for the right to nature for all.

Since the 1970s and particularly the works of Tuxen (1978) and Gehu & Rivas-Martinez (1981), dynamico-catenal phytosociology has facilitated the integration of vegetation dynamics by more precisely describing the trajectories of vegetation series. A national habitat mapping program (CarHAB), launched by France's Ministry of Ecology, aims to map the vegetation and vegetation series of metropolitan France at a scale of 1: 25,000 by 2025. In this context, Corsica has been selected as a pilot region, due to its unique characteristics regarding Mediterranean and alticole vegetation. This book describes in detail the vegetation series and geoseries (ecology, structure, dynamic trajectories, effects of anthropogenic factors on vegetation dynamics, catenal positioning in the landscape) of two Corsican sectors: Cap Corse and Biguglia pond. These two study sites were selected using two methods: * For Cap Corse, the typology and mapping are based on an inductive approach, which seeks to understand the dynamics of vegetation by drawing on the mature, substitutional, pioneering and anthropogenic associations likely to exist within a tessellar envelope. These various dynamic stages characterize "the vegetation series" (sigmetum or synassociation), the fundamental unit of symphytosociology (Gehu 2006; Biondi 2011). The aim of symphytosociology is, therefore, to define the vegetation series; in other words, it seeks to identify the repetitive combinations of syntaxa under homogeneous ecological conditions. * For Biguglia pond, the typology and mapping are based on a deductive approach, which combines (under SIG) the ecological descriptor maps with the vegetation mapping, in order to reveal the tesselas and the natural potential vegetation that underlies them. Thanks to the improvement of GIS techniques, this approach has been frequently used to characterize plant landscapes from vegetation to vegetation geoseries since the 2000s, with applications to the conservation management of natural and semi-natural environments.

A good understanding of the status quo is necessary for the success of efforts to develop and maintain nature in built space. Accordingly, this book conducts an environmental scan of the context of these efforts in global perspective. In particular, it develops and employs a novel environmental scanning model (ESM) designed to rigorously analyze the political, economic, social, technological, ecological, cultural and historical (PESTECH) contexts of initiatives to promote biodiversity in the built environment. The focus is on four specific substantive areas of environmental policy, namely forestry, water, food, and energy. The units of analysis roughly correspond with the major United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) regions of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa, Middle-East and North Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Western Europe, North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

This book discusses land degradation in India using statistical tools such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Regression Analysis (RA), and uses statistical analyses and graphical representations of the causal relationship between land degradation and land productivity to determine linkages with deforestation, climate change and agricultural productivity. While most studies of land degradation in India focus on economic outcomes and physical processes at macro and micro levels, this study addresses land degradation at the meso-level to fill in this gap and provide up-to-date information on often overlooked factors associated with land degradation issues using the latest available data. Districts in the study were selected by land degradation intensity, forming an index of the severity of land degradation in the area, with a focus on gullied lands, soil salinity/alkalinity and open and dense scrubs as indicators. Though the study areas are in India, researchers, policy makers and students around the world will be able to learn from these inputs regarding land degradation to address various challenges associated with sustainable land management and agricultural productivity.

This book features a comprehensive analysis of the development of shale gas resources in China, with a focus on the potential environmental impacts that may result. China has the world's largest shale gas resources, which it is keen to develop to alleviate air pollution and successfully transition to a low-carbon energy future. However, one significant obstacle standing between the ambition and reality is the potentially serious environmental impacts of shale gas production. This book offers a systematic assessment of these potential impacts, including the risk of water contamination, ecological disruption due to the huge consumption of water and methane leakage. It presents valuable first-hand data collected from the authors' fieldwork in Sichuan and Chongqing and the latest information on China's current shale gas operations and also includes a set of models and methods developed to quantify the impacts. It allows readers to gain a deeper understanding of environmental regulatory management systems regarding shale gas production in China by examining whether the existing monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems and environmental regulations can effectively prevent adverse impacts from shale gas production. Providing a detailed study of shale gas development in China based on an unprecedented primary dataset, the book is a valuable resource for scholars, engineers and students who are interested in the energy development and environmental risks.

As the risks of the climate crisis continue to grow, so too do the challenges of facing a harsh climate future with honesty and courage; justice and compassion; meaning and purpose. Hope and Courage in the Climate Crisis explores diverse sources of learning and wisdom -from climate scientists and activists; philosophers and social theorists; Indigenous cultures and ways of life; faith based and spiritual traditions; artists and writers -which can help us live courageous, compassionate and creative lives in a world of rapidly accelerating climatic and ecological risk. Accelerating the transition to a just and resilient zero-carbon society will require visionary leadership and courageous collective action. Awareness that rapid action might still be insufficient to prevent severe and irreversible social and ecological damage is however a source of deep concern for many people passionately committed to decisive climate action. Drawing on broad experience as a climate activist, researcher and policy maker John Wiseman provides a wide ranging, accessible and provocative guided tour of ideas which can inspire and sustain radical hope and defiant courage in the long emergency which now lies before us.

In this book 25 authors from the Global South (19) and the Global North (6) address conflicts, security, peace, gender, environment and development. Four parts cover I) peace research epistemology; II) conflicts, families and vulnerable people; III) peacekeeping, peacebuilding and transitional justice; and IV) peace and education. Part I deals with peace ecology, transformative peace, peaceful societies, Gandhi's non-violent policy and disobedient peace. Part II discusses urban climate change, climate rituals, conflicts in Kenya, the sexual abuse of girls, farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria, wartime sexual violence facing refugees, the traditional conflict and peacemakingprocess of Kurdish tribes, Hindustani family shame, and communication with Roma. Part III analyses norms of peacekeeping, violent non-state actors in Brazil, the art of peace in Mexico, grass-roots post-conflict peacebuilding in Sulawesi, hydrodiplomacyin the Indus River Basin, the Rohingya refugee crisis, and transitional justice. Part IV assesses SDGs and peace in India, peace education in Nepal, and infrastructure-based development and peace in West Papua. * Peer-reviewed texts prepared for the 27th Conference of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) in 2018 in Ahmedabad in India.* Contributions from two pioneers of global peace research:a foreword by Johan Galtung from Norway and a preface by Betty Reardon from the United States.* Innovative case studies by peace researchers on decolonising conflicts, security, peace, gender, environment and development in the Anthropocene, the new epoch of earth and human history.* New theoretical perspectives by senior and junior scholars from Europe and Latin America on peace ecology, transformative peace, peaceful societies, and Gandhi's non-violence policy.* Case studies on climate change, SDGs and peace in India; conflicts in Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico; Roma in Hungary;the refugee crisis in Bangladesh; peace action in Indonesia and India/Pakistan; and peace education in Nepal.

This book assesses the impact of energy transitions on the future of natural gas in the EU energy mix. As we approach 2050, the requirement to sharply decrease CO2 and other GHG emissions means that the role of gas infrastructure in the EU and beyond will change drastically. But what does such change mean? To address this question the author critically analyses the EU's evolving natural gas market policy and law. Clearly structured throughout, the book explores the following questions: How can we maximise the potential of gas infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions? What are the lessons learned from decision making experience in the natural gas sector? Is the EU moving towards or away from a climate neutral gas sector? How will green and low carbon gas technologies be supported? And, are proposals to drive a growing share of hydrogen, biomethane, and synthetic methane to the system just an excuse to prolong fossil fuel operations? The book explores whether the EU will continue to subsidy natural gas projects or decarbonise the gas grid before 2050, and at what cost. Recommendations are proposed for a new regulatory and policy framework for development and operation of hydrogen pipelines, injection of biomethane into the existing gas grid and for pipelines carrying CO2. Filling an important gap in the literature, this book aims to develop an understanding of and clarify the complex range of legislation involved within a single analytical framework. Although the focus is mainly on the future of gas in the EU, the findings and recommendations are relevant for a much wider geography. This book will be an invaluable reference to policy makers and practitioners as well as researchers and students across the social sciences interested in the future of energy.

This book discusses water resources management in Romania from a hydrological perspective, presenting the latest research developments and state-of-the-art knowledge that can be applied to efficiently solve a variety of problems in integrated water resources management. It focuses on a wide range of water resources issues - from hydrology and water quantity, quality and supply to flood protection, hydrological hazards and ecosystems, and includes case studies from various watersheds in Romania. As such, the book appeals to researchers, practitioners and graduates as well as to anybody interested in water resources management.

This book presents an overview and knowledgeable on water resources management in Balkan countries - Slovenia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Greece, and Bulgaria. The book shows the state of the art and also the latest research findings of the different aspects of water resources management in Balkan countries with case studies that reveal the best practice in water resources management, development, and protection. Researchers and scientists from the Balkan countries present their experiences and expertise on a wide range of water resources topics. Therefore, the book is of particular interest to decisions planners/makers and stakeholders. Also, the book will be useful to experts, professionals, researchers, scientists, practitioners, academics working in the field of water resources management in Balkan countries and analogous regions.

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.

Environmental Sustainability in a Time of Change is the first book in a new Palgrave series on Environmental Sustainability. It takes a fresh look at the dynamic field of environmental sustainability by exploring the interconnections between climate change, water, energy, waste, land use, ecosystems, food, and transportation. It also provides an extensive summary on sustainability management, data analysis, mapping, and data sources. Brinkmann highlights how environmental sustainability challenges are distinctly different in the developed world, where sustainability is largely a choice, versus the developing world, where many struggle with basic existence due to war, migration, and water or food scarcity. He takes a broad systems and historic approach to contextualize environmental sustainability prior to the 1987 Brundtland Report and utilizes many contemporary examples throughout the text, analyzing numerous case studies from many areas of the world including China, Yemen, Malaysia, Egypt, and Florida. This book questions traditional approaches to sustainability that highlight the need for an equal balance of economic development, environmental protection, and social equality to achieve sustainability. This book focuses on a new line of thinking that places environmental sustainability as the key foundation in how to manage sustainability in a time of change. Our planet is quickly becoming environmentally unsustainable due to global consumption and unsustainable economic development and it is high time for a fresh approach. This book will be of great value to academics, practitioners, and students interested in environmental sustainability from a myriad of fields including geology, geography, biology, ecology, economics, business, sociology, anthropology, and other areas that intersect the interdisciplinary field of sustainability.

This book focuses on a representative example and one of the world's largest steppe conversions, and provides a detailed overview of the results of the BMBF-funded research project KULUNDA. As part of the Siberian virgin land policy, the Kulunda steppe was transformed into agricultural land from 1954 to 1965. In the course of the project, a multidisciplinary research team conducted a natural, social-economic and agro-scientific cause-and-effect analysis of (agro-)ecosystem destabilisation, as well as various field trials covering tillage and crop rotation options in their socio-economic context. The ecologically and economically sound findings offer strategies for combining climate smart land utilization, ecosystem restoration and sustainable regional development, and can readily be applied to other virgin land conversion efforts. In addition, the findings on the Eurasian steppes will expand the current conversion literature, which mainly consists of the 'Dust Bowl' literature of the North American plains. Given its scope, the book will appeal to scientists, professionals, and students in the environmental, geo- and climate sciences.

This book elaborates the need, in a rapidly urbanizing world, for recognition of the ecological communities we inhabit in cities and for the development of an ethics for all entities (human and non-human) in this context. Children and their entangled relations with the human and more-than-human world are located centrally to the research on cities in Bolivia and Kazakhstan, which investigates the future challenges of the Anthropocene. The author explores these relations by employing techniques of intra-action, diffraction and onto-ethnography in order to reveal the complexities of children's lives. These tools are supported by a theoretical framing that draws on posthumanist and new materialist literature. Through rich and complex stories of space-time-mattering in cities, this work connects children's voices with a host of others to address the question of what it means to be a child in the Anthropocene.

This book interrogates the impact of tourism on local lives and environments along the southern Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. Nicaragua has turned to tourism to earn needed foreign exchange and to provide jobs. The unplanned boom, however, has come with costs to local environments. Using an in-depth case study of the community of Gigante and nearby tourism developments, the chapters delve into the impact of recent unregulated booms in tourism on groundwater, household water security, local economies, culture, land ownership, and artisanal fisheries.

This open access book is a result of the Dalhousie-led research project Safe Navigation and Environment Protection, supported by a grant from the Ocean Frontier Institute's the Canada First Research Excellent Fund (CFREF). The book focuses on Arctic shipping and investigates how ocean change and anthropogenic impacts affect our understanding of risk, policy, management and regulation for safe navigation, environment protection, conflict management between ocean uses, and protection of Indigenous peoples' interests. A rapidly changing Arctic as a result of climate change and ice loss is rendering the North more accessible, providing new opportunities while producing impacts on the Arctic. The book explores ideas for enhanced governance of Arctic shipping through risk-based planning, marine spatial planning and scaling up shipping standards for safety, environment protection and public health.

This open access book presents and discusses current issues and innovative solution approaches for land management in a European context. Manifold sustainability issues are closely interconnected with land use practices. Throughout the world, we face increasing conflict over the use of land as well as competition for land. Drawing on experience in sustainable land management gained from seven years of the FONA programme (Research for Sustainable Development, conducted under the auspices of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research), the book stresses and highlights co-design processes within the "co-creation of knowledge", involving collaboration in transdisciplinary research processes between academia and other stakeholders. The book begins with an overview of the current state of land use practices and the subsequent need to manage land resources more sustainably. New system solutions and governance approaches in sustainable land management are presented from a European perspective on land use. The volume also addresses how to use new modes of knowledge transfer between science and practice. New perspectives in sustainable land management and methods of combining knowledge and action are presented to a broad readership in land system sciences and environmental sciences, social sciences and geosciences. This book received the Gerd Albers Award. The prize is awarded by the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP).

This Handbook is the first volume to comprehensively analyse and problem-solve how to manage the decline of fossil fuels as the world tackles climate change and shifts towards a low-carbon energy transition. The overall findings are straight-forward and unsurprising: although fossil fuels have powered the industrialisation of many nations and improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people, another century dominated by fossil fuels would be disastrous. Fossil fuels and associated greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced to a level that avoids rising temperatures and rising risks in support of a just and sustainable energy transition. Divided into four sections and 25 contributions from global leading experts, the chapters span a wide range of energy technologies and sources including fossil fuels, carbon mitigation options, renewables, low carbon energy, energy storage, electric vehicles and energy sectors (electricity, heat and transport). They cover varied legal jurisdictions and multiple governance approaches encompassing multi- and inter-disciplinary technological, environmental, social, economic, political, legal and policy perspectives with timely case studies from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America and the Pacific. Providing an insightful contribution to the literature and a much-needed synthesis of the field as a whole, this book will have great appeal to decision makers, practitioners, students and scholars in the field of energy transition studies seeking a comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and challenges in managing the decline of fossil fuels.

The Anthropocene is the human-dominated modern era that has accelerated social, environmental and climate change across the world in the last few decades. This open access book examines the challenges the Anthropocene presents to the sustainable management of deltas, both the many threats as well as the opportunities. In the world's deltas the Anthropocene is manifest in major land use change, the damming of rivers, the engineering of coasts and the growth of some of the world's largest megacities; deltas are home to one in twelve of all people in the world. The book explores bio-physical and social dynamics and makes clear adaptation choices and trade-offs that underpin policy and governance processes, including visionary delta management plans. It details new analysis to illustrate these challenges, based on three significant and contrasting deltas: the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, Mahanadi and Volta. This multi-disciplinary, policy-orientated volume is strongly aligned to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals as delta populations often experience extremes of poverty, gender and structural inequality, variable levels of health and well-being, while being vulnerable to extreme and systematic climate change.

This volume discusses the challenges of Latin America in global environmental geopolitics. Written by leading experts, this book brings together Latin American research on global environmental change. They cover a range of topics such as climate change, water, forest and biodiversity conservation connected with science policies, public opinion, priorities of international funds, and international politics of Latin American countries. The book describes the discrepancy between the international priorities and the regional needs or country interests. It includes several case studies and analyses the cooperation in multilateral negotiations on climate change. It also offers a synthesis of debates around global environmental changes and Latin American politics, which the authors have previously promoted in different academic events in South America, including in Santiago de Chile in Chile, and Buenos Aires and Ushuaia in Argentina. This book assesses the environmental problems from different perspectives, highlights the scientific development in the environmental changes affecting Latin America and offers a new view on geopolitics to help face those issues. Specialist readers in international relations, political sciences, environmental sciences, geography and geopolitics will appreciate this up-to-date examination of Latin America and the global environmental change.

This book explores urban futures in the making, as seen through the lens of urban infrastructure. The book describes how socio-technical arrangements of energy and water provision are being recast in continuing efforts towards realising 'sustainable' transformation of cities. It critically investigates how infrastructure comes to matter by analyzing the shifting capacities and entanglements of diverse actors with these systems, the various means they use to envision, enact and contest changes, and the wide-ranging social and political implications of emerging infrastructure transitions. Drawing on original research into urban infrastructure debates and projects in Stockholm and Paris, the author develops a novel conceptual framework for studying and acknowledging the active, vital role of infrastructure in constituting a material politics of urban transformation. Straddling the latest theoretical insights and empirical investigation of urban planning practice and socio-technical engineering of systems and flows, Redeploying Urban Infrastructure forges new, timely reflections and perspectives which will be of interest to the growing multidisciplinary community of scholars investigating infrastructure and to academics and practitioners with a concern for understanding the wider politics of urban futures.

This book provides a review of thermal ice drilling technologies, including the design, parameters, and performance of various tools and drills for making holes in ice sheets, ice caps, mountain glaciers, ice shelves, and sea ice. In recent years, interest in thermal drilling technology has increased as a result of subglacial lake explorations and extraterrestrial investigations. The book focuses on the latest ice drilling technologies, but also discusses the historical development of ice drilling tools and devices over the last 100 years to offer valuable insights into what is possible and what not to do in the future. Featuring numerous figures and pictures, many of them published for the first time, it is intended for specialists working in ice-core sciences, polar oceanography, drilling engineers and glaciologists, and is also a useful reference for researchers and graduate students working in engineering and cold-regions technology.

This book takes a critical look at solar geoengineering as an acceptable means for addressing climate change. Baskin explores the assumptions and imaginaries which animate 'engineering the climate' and discusses why this climate solution is so controversial. The book explains geoengineering's past, its revival in the mid-2000s, and its future prospects including its shadow presence in the Paris climate accord. The main focus however is on dissecting solar geoengineering today - its rationales, underpinning knowledge, relationship to power, and the stance towards nature which accompanies it. Baskin explores three competing imaginaries associated with geoengineering: an Imperial imaginary, an oppositional Un-Natural imaginary, and a conspiratorial Chemtrail imaginary. He seeks to explain why solar geoengineering has struggled to gain approval and why resistance to it persists, despite the support of several powerful actors. He provocatively suggests that reconceptualising our present as the Anthropocene might unwittingly facilitate the normalisation of geoengineering by providing a sustaining socio-technical imaginary. This book is essential reading for those interested in climate policy, political ecology, and science & technology studies.

This is the first English language book to systematically introduce basic theories, methods and applications of disaster risk science from the angle of different subjects including disaster science, emergency technology and risk management. Viewed from basic theories, disaster risk science consists of disaster system, formation mechanism and process, covering 3 chapters in this book. From the perspective of technical methods, disaster risk science includes measurement and assessment of disasters, mapping and zoning of disaster risk, covering 4 chapters in this book. From the angle of application practices, disaster risk science contains disaster management, emergency response and integrated disaster risk paradigm, covering 3 chapters in the book. The book can be a good reference for researchers, students, and practitioners in the field of disaster risk science and natural disaster risk management for more actively participating in and supporting the development of "disaster risk science".

This book presents a case study on a semi-arid region, Maharashtra State, India, and discusses problems concerning a broad range of areas: sustainable watershed development; watershed management; groundwater condition; land and resource development plans; thematic maps on e.g. land use, soil types and soil erosion; groundwater recharge site selection; remote sensing and GIS; and soil and water conservation structures. The book's focus is on creating a land and water resource development plan and environmental management for groundwater recharge development using remote sensing and GIS technology in the case study region, which is situated in the Akola and Buldhana districts of Maharashtra. Its goal is to promote awareness for sustainable watershed development and planning in semi-arid regions by highlighting the problems of, and plans for, groundwater and surface water pollution and sustainable watershed development. These aspects are of great importance to watershed and natural resources planning and management, and need to be exploited and managed sustainably. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to all scientists, research scholars and graduate students of remote sensing, hydrology, hydrogeology, water resource engineering, agricultural engineering and related areas who want to acquire detailed information on watershed planning and sustainable water resource planning in semi-arid regions, or to find new methodologies and techniques for studying the feedback mechanisms between forms and processes.