This book provides a detailed study of the Thai rubber industry and its utilisation of renewable resources, focussing on the use of open source software in building supply chain models. By describing elements that the supply chain is composed of and relating this to Thailand's rubber industry, the authors then outline the construction of a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model and use open source software to model renewable resources in this particular supply chain. Emphasis is placed on the way that modelling can aid the important decision-making required in the exploitation of natural resources. By taking a hands-on approach and offering a valuable guide for readers, this book not only appeals to academics in the fields of industrial engineering, operations, logistics and supply chain management, but also to practitioners, policy-makers and associations involved in the rubber industry.

This book describes how NGOs' efforts to promote sustainable development are affected by their funding, management strategies, and relationships with government, communities, and other NGOs. The authors explore implications for theory and offer suggestions for increasing NGO effectiveness.

The IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report (2014) has highlighted the importance of urban areas in mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases. Urban centres are also subject to the impacts of climate change. Hence governance for urban sustainability and resilience needs to be developed to deal with the challenge of climate change in the future and its impacts on urban locations. This book is a rich repository of knowledge and information on this subject of growing relevance.' - Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Professor, Yale Climate and Energy Institute, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, US'This book provides a timely overview of the range of government intervention models in the policy domain of urban sustainability. Combining the two closely related, but usually separated, policy objectives of Sustainability and Resilience has particular utility. Having good ideas about how to save the planet are necessary but if we can't use governance tools to deliver them, we have no hope.' - Peter Newman, Curtin University, Australia Cities, and the built environment more broadly, are key in the global response to climate change. This groundbreaking book seeks to understand what governance tools are best suited for achieving cities that are less harmful to the natural environment, are less dependent on finite resources, and can better withstand human-made hazards and climate risks. In mapping, describing and evaluating nearly 70 traditional and highly innovative governance tools from Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, Jeroen van der Heijden uncovers the five most eminent contemporary trends in governance for urban sustainability and resilience. He also develops a series of 12 design principles that will help to develop better governance tools for improving the sustainability and resilience of today's cities and those of the future. The book is unique in drawing lessons from the theoretical literature on environmental and hazard governance into a broad empirical study. The book will be of great interest to scholars in the field of urban governance, urban planning, sustainable development and resilience, environmental and hazard governance, and climate risk adaptation and mitigation. It will also appeal to students, policymakers and organizations involved with environmental policy and governance. Contents: 1. Where We are Today 2. Direct Regulatory Interventions 3. Collaborative Governance 4. Voluntary Programmes and Market-driven Governance 5. Trends in and Design Principles for Governance for Urban Sustainability and Resilience 6. Conclusion: In Search of an Answer to the Key-Question, Appendix - Methods Index

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology publishes authoritative reviews on the occurrence, effects, and fate of pesticide residues and other environmental contaminants. It will keep you informed of the latest significant issues by providing in-depth information in the areas of analytical chemistry, agricultural microbiology, biochemistry, human and veterinary medicine, toxicology, and food technology.

Soil degradation is real and global, even if the evidence is not so easy to glean. Degradation poses comparable risks to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and nonhuman animal extinctions. Few have noticed soil degradation as the problem it has become, except most indigenous peoples in their struggles for survival.

By way of a summary of all the data collected by the mapping teams, I will review what is entered on each of the data sheets. The map sheet was already de scribed in some detail (Fig. 2.2.1A), and includes a circle or a point for the location of each tree and the tree's tag number (the last three or four digits) written next to it. The range of tag numbers used in the quadrat should be written at the top of the sheet. The main data sheet is where most other information about each individual is recorded (Fig. 2.2.1B). As for all sheets, the quadrat number, the first date a quadrat is censused, and the mappers' names are recorded at the top. For each plant, there are blanks for the following information: subquadrat number, tag number, species name, dbh, codes, and problems. Subquadrat number and tag number are straight forward. Size in millimeters is entered in the dbh column, except for multiple stemmed plants or big trees, which get a blank dbh on the main data sheet. Species identification will be handled by separate taxonomy teams (chapter 2.3), but map pers should enter a species name if they know it."

As in most groups of insects, scientific research on the Chrysomelidae began in Europe in 1758, with the description of a few genera and species by the Scandinavian entomologists C. von Linne, I.C. Fabricius, and others. As the 19th century dawned, many systematic entomologists took up the study of chrysomelid beetles, together with other groups of beetles, and many new species and genera were described from all parts of the world. This trend has, of course, continued down to the present time. However, researches on the Chrysomelidae did not remain restricted to systematics, and many new lines of study have been followed, especially in the present century, by workers who have benefitted from the advances made in related fields of pure and applied entomology. Much has been achieved in the study of the Chrysomelidae, as elsewhere, and it is the aim of the present book to provide a summary and guide to these achievements. It is also to be expected that this book will provide a stimulus for further studies on the Chrysomelidae, so that we can anticipate continuing progress in our knowledge and understanding of this group through the endeavours of an ever-increasing number of scientists. I offer my congratulations to all concerned in the preparation of this book and my best wishes for its success.

This insightful book explores why implementation of environmental law is too often ineffective in achieving effective environmental governance. It provides careful analysis and innovative proposals to help improve the practical effectiveness of legal instruments for environmental governance. A growing number of organisations including the IUCN, UNEP and the Organisation of American States have voiced concerns that legal instruments that were developed to pursue more convincing environmental governance over the last 40 years are not creating a sufficiently potent system of environmental governance. In response to this challenge, this timely book explores how to bridge the significant implementation gap between the objectives of environmental law and the real-world outcomes of its application. Expert contributors discuss different forms of law, from international conventions down to inter-parties agreements, and non-government codes and standards. The overarching discussion highlights the diverse factors that impact upon implementing environmental law in practice, and considers the limitations and opportunities for constructive innovation in legal governance. This book is a comprehensive reference point for scholars and policy-makers, shedding light on how to achieve significant improvements in the effective application of environmental law. Contributors: R. Bartel, A.K. Butzel, J. de L. De Cendra, D. Craig, M. Doelle, J. Gooch, W. Gumley, C. Holley, T. Howard, A. Kennedy, W. Lahey, A. Lawson, E. Lees, P. Martin, M. Masterton, P. Noble, R.L. Ottinger, O.R. Owina, L. Paddock, J.L. Parker, W. Pianpian, G. Pink, A. Rieu-Clarke, N.A. Robinson, G. Rose, T.L Rucinski, S. Teles Da Silva, R.R. Valova, X. Wang, M.E. Wieder, W. Xi

It was hoped that by paying forest dependent peoples and countries for their 'service' of conserving their forests, REDD+ would lead to a reduction in deforestation greenhouse gases. The complexities have, however, left some ambiguities. It was never agreed who would pay for the programme, and it has been criticised as ignoring the root causes of forest loss. Considering the motivations of those who promoted REDD+ this book proposes remedies to its shortfalls and recommends more efficient, equitable and effective conservation policies. Describing REDD+ from an agency perspective, this book provides a first-hand account of how individuals and institutions influenced international negotiations. It offers a comparative analysis of REDD+ as a forest conservation regime and of the way it was incorporated into the 2015 Paris agreements. In doing so, this book shows how contextual inequalities and power imbalances can result in international regimes which favour the economically powerful, and proposes providing greater roles for the assumed beneficiaries of environmental agreements in negotiations. This is an excellent introduction to REDD+, its background and execution, and will be a vital resource for students of international environmental governance, as well as for academics and researchers working on REDD+, forest policy and international governance in general.

Climate Change and American Foreign Policy examines the actors, institutions, and ideas shaping US policy on climate change (global warming). The book begins by introducing the issue of climate change in the context of US foreign policy, before critically evaluating US policies and actions. It then analyzes the domestic and international politics of US climate change policy, covering such issues as science, the presidency and Congress, nongovermental organizations, diplomacy, and the international negotiations leading to the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. The book concludes by looking at the role of international norms in shaping US climate change policy.

This book argues that social and environmental policy should be synthetically treated as one and the same field, that both are but two aspects of the same coin - if sustainability is the goal. Such a paradigm shift is indicated, important, and timely to effectively move towards sustainability. This book is the first to take this approach and to give examples for it. Not to synthetically merge the two fields has been and will continue to be highly insufficient, inefficient and contradictory for policy and public administration aiming for a transformation towards a sustainable world. In general, social problems are dealt with in one "policy corner" and environmental problems in another. Rarely is social policy (at large) concerned with its impact on the environment or its connection with and relevance to environmental policy. Equally, environmental problems are generally not seen in conjunction with social policy, even though much environmental policy directly relates to health, nutrition, migration and other issues addressed by social policy. This book intends to correct the pattern to separate these very significant and large policy fields. Using examples from diverse academic and applied fields, it is shown how environmental policy can (and should) be thought of as social policy - and how social policy can (and should) simultaneously be seen as environmental policy. Tremendous benefits are to be expected.

Compiling the best practices of business excellence frameworks around the world, this new book addresses the need for innovative research on sustainable business performance. Using detailed empirical studies, the authors outline the motives and benefits of the implementation of such frameworks in different geographical regions. Comprehensive case studies showcase how the variety of excellence frameworks are manifested in their work cultures, values and beliefs. Academics studying quality management, HRM, and international business will find this book an essential read as it establishes the relevance of human capital in achieving and sustaining global business excellence.

Studies in landscape ecology focus on the effect of heterogeneity on ecosystem structure and function. Vigorous growth in the field has included the development of methods and results that can be applied to an impressive range of environmental issues. The purpose of this book is to provide the reader with a current perspective on this rapidly developing science. This book features contributions by internationally renowned experts in the field that address a broad spectrum of political, theoretical and applied aspects of the subject. Chapters describe a number of methods and models that are used at landscape and regional scales within the context of ecosystem management, to assess changes in biodiversity, and to evaluate sustainable landscape planning for cultural as well as natural settings. Also included are instructional models to assist in teaching.

The mangrove, seagrass and coral reef ecosystems are of paramount ecological importance but have already undergone great degradation, which is advancing at an alarming rate. If present trends continue, the natural resource basis of the economy and ecology of tropical coastal regions will soon be ruined. This was the unanimous conclusion of the 110 scientists from 23 countries who gathered in Mombasa, Kenya, for a Symposium on the ecology of these ecosystems. Mangrove forest systems yield large amounts of fish, crabs, prawns and oysters. They are also valuable sources of fuelwood, timber, tannin and other natural products. Their non-marketable value is of equal importance: stabilization of the coastline, an indispensable nursery ground for numerous marine species with commercial value, a natural filter maintaining the clarity of nearshore water, a home for resident and migratory birds and other wildlife. Many of the true mangrove flora and fauna are now endangered by the clearing of the mangroves. It has been shown that in many countries between 25 and 100% of the mangrove forest has been destroyed alraedy in the last twenty years. The international scientific assembly concluded that much can be done to stop the degradation of these damaged ecosystems and to rehabilitate them. But new techniques must be found to use them on a sustainable basis for long-term economic return and for the well-being of coastal human settlements and a healthy environment.

This is the first comprehensive study of an east African lake for thirty years. It represents the culmination of research expeditions which stretch back twenty years and is thus able to pick up long term changes which the individual research activities do not reveal. Lake Naivasha is a tropical lake whose natural fluctuations are now dwarfed by human impacts. Papers show how the irrigation for horticulture and power cooling has reduced the lake depth significantly; exotic arrivals have altered the plant community beyond recognition and its commercial value as a fishery and a tourist feature are reduced by over use. Despite this, the lake has considerable conservation value at present. It provides a different case study in the ever-growing library of the effects of human follies. Lake Naivasha has achieved global importance in the past ten years because its waters are used to sustain the largest horticultural industry in Africa. The book highlights its fragility under such pressure and points out the way towards sustainable use of the water and the ecosystem.

Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles to non-game contexts, and has been used to solve problems by applying characteristics of games. Though it has principally been applied in the areas of business and education, this book seeks to expand focus beyond this, looking at how gamification can be used for social change, the development of organizations and the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development goals. Including contributors from across the glove, it draws on a rich array of case studies, from inclusivity in the workplace to ecosystems in the Amazon. A timely contribution to an exciting, growing field, this book engages with the theoretical framework and lays out the foundations for a rigorous theory-based stream of research. It will be valuable reading to scholars and practitioners interested in social change, sustainability, gamification and organizational studies. Agnessa Spanellis (PhD, MEng) is an Assistant Professor at Heriot-Watt University, Scotland and a member of the Research Centre for Logistics and Sustainability at Edinburgh Business School, leading research on gamification for sustainable development and exploring how gamification can improve social and environmental sustainability, especially in more deprived and impoverished communities in low-income counties. J. Tuomas Harviainen (PhD, MBA) works as Associate Professor of information Practices at Tampere University, Finland. Harviainen's work ranges from information sharing in creative organizations to games and gamification. He firmly believes that good research can also be a form of societal activism.

When managers and ecologists need to make decisions about the environment, they use models to simulate the dynamic systems that interest them. All management decisions affect certain landscapes over time, and those landscapes are composed of intricate webs of dynamic processes that need to be considered in relation to each other. With widespread use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), there is a growing need for complex models ncorporating an increasing amount of data. The open-source Spatial Modeling Environment (SME) was developed to build upon common modeling software, such as STELLA (R), and Powersim (R), among others, to create, run, analyze, and present spatial models of ecosystems, watersheds, populations, and landscapes. In this book, the creators of the Spatial Modeling Environment discuss and illustrate the uses of SME as a modeling tool for all kinds of complex spatial systems. The authors demonstrate the entire process of spatial modeling, beginning with the conceptual design, continuing through formal implementation and analysis, and finally with the interpretation and presentation of the results. A variety of applications and case studies address particular types of ecological and management problems and help to identify potential problems for modelers. Researchers and students interested in spatial modeling will learn how to simulate the complex dynamics of landscapes. Managers and decision makers will acquire tools for predicting changes in landscapes while learning about both the possibilities and the limitations of simulation models. The enclosed CD contains SME, color illustrations and models and data from the examples in the book.

With 'Biogeography and Ecology in South America' as the general theme, a total of twenty-nine contributions by thirty authors is offered here in two volumes, being volumes 18 and 19 of the Monographiae Biologicae. Most of these discussions deal with decidedly specialist themes and the editors have been particularly concerned to ensure that the authors enjoyed the greatest possible freedom in the preparation of their work in order that different points of view and interpretations, together with some questions of controversy, may be clarified. This also applies, of course, to the several chapters in which general themes (geographical substance, climate, geology, vegetation, amongst others) are discussed. Since the amount of material available is too great to enable one to aspire to a presentation of the complete biogeographical and ecological picture, this procedure seems expedient. However, these two volumes could well be regarded as being a preparatory work for just such a complete description. Each of the separate technical contributions refers to the continent as a whole, in order to characterise it as such from the viewpoint of the specialist. For this reason it was necessary to forgo special discussions of particular regions or types of landscape, although South America of all places is remarkably rich in unique regional phenom- ena, the altiplano of Peru and Bolivia, the relict forests of Fray Jorge, the shrub formations of Tierra del Fuego, the lakes of the High Andes, for example.

Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures consists of about 25 essays dealing with the environmental knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside of the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Indian, Thai, and Andean views of nature and the environment, among others, the book includes essays on Environmentalism and Images of the Other, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Worldviews and Ecology, Rethinking the Western/non-Western Divide, and Landscape, Nature, and Culture. The essays address the connections between nature and culture and relate the environmental practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both environmental history and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.

Succession, the tendency of plant communities to change through time, presents a challenge to those who must satisfy goals established for the use and preservation of natural resources. The practical application of what is known about successional changes has not advanced quickly; subsequently plant community management is often carried out without recourse to the latest scientific data. This book maintains that any attempt to manage plant communities will be successful only if based on site-specific research and current ecological theories. It outlines a general model of successional management and then applies it to a variety of management techniques. Long-term effects of these techniques on community development are examined. It is therefore an extremely useful practical book for those involved in the management of natural resources, although it will also be of interest to the more theoretical ecologist. This book will be of interest to all those involved in the management of plant communities, e.g. natural resource managers and planners, wildlife biologists, foresters, landscape architects, as well as academic ecologists.

Unarguably, preserving the ecosystem, securing sustainability and understanding the dynamics of agro-food chains have all become vital policy objectives with several interlinked dimensions. The main objectives of this book are to draw the attention of researchers, policymakers and businesspeople to the relation between agro-food chains and the ecosystem, and to demonstrate the importance of building resilient agro-food chains that take into account climate change and environmental challenges. Agro-food chains as they function today can serve as powerful tools for promoting sustainable forms of agriculture, consumption and production that are embedded in a viable ecosystem. The book addresses a range of environmental, methodological and societal issues from a transaction perspective, while also providing extensive background information on the topic, and outlining future applications and research directions.

Low Carbon Energy Technologies for Sustainable Energy Systems examines, investigates, and integrates current research aimed at operationalizing low carbon technologies within complex transitioning energy economies. Scholarly research has traditionally focused on the technical aspects of exploitation, R&D, operation, infrastructure, and decommissioning, while approaches which can realistically inform their reception and scale-up across real societies and real markets are piecemeal and isolated in separate literatures. Addressing both the technical foundations of each technology together with the sociotechnical ways in which they are spread in markets and societies, this work integrates the technoeconomic assessment of low carbon technologies with direct discussion on legislative and regulatory policies in energy markets. Chapters address issues, such as social acceptance, consumer awareness, environmental valuation systems, and the circular economy, as low carbon technologies expand into energy systems sustainability, sensitivity, and stability. This collective research work is relevant to both researchers and practitioners working in sustainable energy systems. The combination of these features makes it a timely book that is useful and attractive to university students, researchers, academia, and public or private energy policy makers.