![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Applied ecology > General
This book explores the relationship between and the compatibility of lean management (LM) and value-based management (VBM) approaches at the systems level. It then develops a model to improve LM and VBM professional practice by fostering a shared understanding of the value creation process within a lean system, and in doing so helps to remove existing barriers. The results promote future fruitful alliances between a company's operational and financial communities, enhancing the benefits to the enterprise and its stakeholders. The book is of primary interest to LM and VBM professionals and researchers.
A New Ecology: Systems Perspective, Second Edition, gives an overview of the commonalities of all ecosystems from a variety of properties, including physical openness, ontic openness, directionality, connectivity, a complex dynamic for growth and development, and a complex dynamic response to disturbances. Each chapter details basic and characteristic properties that help the reader understand how they can be applied to explain a wide spectrum of current ecological research and environmental management applications.
This book covers game-theoretic approaches to analyzing policies for environmental regulation in the power sector. The scope includes operational and investment decisions in imperfectly competitive electricity markets as well as transmission planning and policy design. Given this context, this book synthesizes equilibrium and bi-level modeling to address challenging research questions such as: * How are power-plant operations affected by carbon policy, such as cap-and-trade (C&T) systems? * How does market power in electricity generation affect market outcomes and CO2 emissions? * How does a strategic firm with first-mover advantage manipulate both electricity and C&T permit prices? * How does a strategic firm with first-mover advantage invest in new generation capacity under a C&T system? * How does sustainable transmission planning adapt to an imperfectly competitive power sector? * How should a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) target be revised in an imperfectly competitive power sector? This book includes plenty of illustrative examples to facilitate the concepts' comprehension. It is intended to make equilibrium and bi-level models adapted for policy assessment accessible to graduate students, academic researchers, industry practitioners, and policy analysts.
Addressing the need for further theorisation and operationalisation of social entrepreneurship in India, this edited collection provides a critical and deeper understanding of the social entrepreneurial ecosystem. Covering topics such as entrepreneurial intentions, empathy, impact investment and standardised social measures, the contributors explore the potential of social entrepreneurship and sustainable business models in an Indian context. Offering empirical cases and presenting a realistic perspective of the social entrepreneurship landscape in India, this collection will undoubtedly be of value to those interested in creating a social and sustainable impact in business and society.
This 4th edition updates the latest research on earthworms. More than 3,000 species of earthworm exist in the world. They are considered to be an important ally in advancing environmental and biomedical research. Earthworms play an important role in forest or agricultural ecosystems and play an increasing role in biomedical issues. Earthworms are critical to the environment because they consume huge quantities of decomposed litter, manure, and other organic matter deposited on soil -- helping to convert it into rich topsoil Earthworms can also help reduce soil compaction, improve permeability--thus providing channels for root growth, water infiltration, and gas exchange. Earthworms are also important animals for the assessment of the toxicity of chemicals, such as herbicides and pesticides, which are deliberately released into the environment. Earthworms are superb barometers' or sentinels' providing an early warning of deterioration in soil quality.
Since the process of liberalization and opening of markets in the 1990s, the emerging markets have created a thriving culture of entrepreneurship, creativity and global collaboration. Along with these opportunities, however, there are challenges in doing business with emerging markets. This book underlines the challenges that come with managing business relationships in diverse emerging countries such as India. It also provides useful implications and conclusions for successful and profitable business ventures in emerging economies.
This book explores the need to develop business strategies, organise and fund transformation projects and manage the transformation programme in order to further a circular economy. Circular Business Models outlines sustainable business models that can be used by companies to move transformation forward on a large scale. In addition to business models the book will cover and discuss a number of other factors necessary for a successful transformation, such as business and innovation strategy, entrepreneurship and change management. Including original interviews with circular economy practitioners, this book will be applicable to industries as diverse as manufacturing, food processing, transportation and mechanical engineering. Addressing the different challenges that meet circular economy visionaries, it outlines strategies and business models needed to gain momentum in these different sectors.
This book aims to provide scholars, students and practitioners with a broad analysis - both theoretical and practical - of what it means to be a sustainable bank. It provides a comprehensive overview of sustainable banking literature and practices, discussing environmental and social pressures. The book is organized into seven chapters, of which two are dedicated to practical case studies and analysis. The book features up-to-date academic literature, a broad overview on new sustainable banking models and strategies, and case studies. Sustainable Banking is a useful reference for those seeking to understand a subject of fervent discussion in an era of financial turmoil.
This book re-conceptualizes energy justice as a unifying agenda for scholars and practitioners working on the issues faced in the trilemna of energy security, poverty and climate change. McCauley argues that justice should be central to the rebalancing of the global energy system and also provides an assessment of the key injustices in our global energy systems of production and consumption. Energy Justice develops a new innovative analytical framework underpinned by principles of justice designed for investigating unfairness and inequalities in energy availability, accessibility and sustainability. It applies this framework to fossil fuel and alternative low carbon energy systems with reference to multiple case studies throughout the world. McCauley also presents an energy justice roadmap that inspires new solutions to the energy trilemna. This includes how we redistribute the benefits and burdens of energy developments, how to engage the new energy 'prosumer' and how to recognise the unrepresented. This book will appeal to academics and students interested in issues of security and justice within global energy decision-making.
This book explores the distinct nuisances and obstacles that are brought on by the tourism and travel industry within Caribbean small island developing countries (SIDS). The author explores best practices and measures that can be used to overcome or alleviate the hardship faced by the industry by giving voice to the nations that are often overshadowed or restrained by their developed counterparts. This book reflects on and assesses the transformative power that tourism has in Caribbean small island developing states, while unearthing the threats that affect the longevity and economic viability of the industry in general. It is an important and overdue text focusing on this unique group of islands and will inform students and researchers on the struggles and opportunities they face.
Extensive previous research has investigated environmental conflict management issues in networked settings and the design of policy networks, but the emergence and evolution of self-organizing policy networks are still not fully understood. Especially misunderstood is the problem of how the multiple motivations or incentives of competing policy actors in conflictual situations affect their structures of interaction, as this issue has not been studied systematically. This book aims to address the following research questions: how do policy stakeholders cope strategically with collective action or environmental conflict resolution? How do they utilize or maintain formal and informal policy networks to resolve problems effectively? What motivates them to engage or be involved in collaborative or conflictual networks? What influences their networking or their decisions on partner selection for conflict resolution? This book consists of four studies. The goal of the first study is to examine the form of a policy network by focusing on how policy networks emerge and evolve at the micro-level to solve collective action dilemmas endemic to decentralized and democratized policy decision-making processes, particularly in the environmental conflict resolution arena. The goal of the second study is to examine the main policy actors and structural characteristics of network governance evolution in the dynamic process of environmental conflict resolution. The goal of the third study is to highlight the role of policy tie formality in the evolution of multiplex ties in the environmental conflict resolution process. The goal of the fourth study is to demonstrate the relationships between patterns of interactions among policy actors and their modified and adjusted strategic behaviours within policy networks and across advocacy coalitions.
International concern in scientific, industrial, and governmental communi ties over traces of xenobiotics in foods and in both abiotic and biotic envi ronments has justified the present triumvirate of specialized publications in this field: comprehensive reviews, rapidly published research papers and progress reports, and archival documentations. These three international publications are integrated and scheduled to provide the coherency essential for nonduplicative and current progress in a field as dynamic and complex as environmental contamination and toxicology. This series is reserved ex clusively for the diversified literature on "toxic" chemicals in our food, our feeds, our homes, recreational and working surroundings, our domestic animals, our wildlife and ourselves. Tremendous efforts worldwide have been mobilized to evaluate the nature, presence, magnitude, fate, and toxi cology of the chemicals loosed upon the earth. Among the sequelae of this broad new emphasis is an undeniable need for an articulated set of authoritative publications, where one can find the latest important world literature produced by these emerging areas of science together with docu mentation of pertinent ancillary legislation. Research directors and legislative or administrative advisers do not have the time to scan the escalating number of technical publications that may contain articles important to current responsibility. Rather, these individu als need the background provided by detailed reviews and the assurance that the latest information is made available to them, all with minimal literature searching."
The aim of this book is to review central concepts in the study of environmental politics and to open up new questions, problems, and research agendas in the field. The volume does so by drawing on a wide range of approaches from critical theory to poststructuralism, and spanning disciplines including international relations, geography, sociology, history, philosophy, anthropology, and political science. The 28 chapters cover a range of global and local studies, illustrations and cases. These range from the Cochabamba conference in Bolivia to climate camps in the UK; UN summits in Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg to climate migrants from Pacific islands; forests in Indonesia to Dutch energy governance reform; indigenous communities in Namibia to oil extraction in the Niger Delta; survivalist militias in the USA to Maasai tribesmen in Kenya. Rather than following a regional or issue-based (e.g. water, forests, pollution, etc) structure, the volume is organised in terms of key concepts in the field, including those which have been central to the social sciences for a long time (such as citizenship, commodification, consumption, feminism, justice, movements, science, security, the state, summits, and technology); those which have been at the heart of environmental politics for many years (including biodiversity, climate change, conservation, eco-centrism, limits, localism, resources, sacrifice, and sustainability); and many which have been introduced to these literatures and debates more recently (biopolitics, governance, governmentality, hybridity, posthumanism, risk, and vulnerability). Features and benefits of the book: Explains the most important concepts and theories in environmental politics. Reviews the core ideas behind crucial debates in environmental politics. Highlights the key thinkers - both classic and contemporary - for studying environmental politics. Provides original perspectives on the critical potential of the concepts for future research agendas as well as for the practice of environmental politics. Each chapter is written by leading international authors in their field. This exciting new volume will be essential textbook reading for all students of environmental politics, as well as provocatively presenting the field in a different light for more established researchers.
"The history of water development . . . offers a particularly fine
post for observing the astonishing and implausible workings of
historical change and, in response, for cultivating an appropriate
level of humility and modesty in our anticipations of our own
unknowable future."
Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future: Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment and Multi-criteria Decision Making provides a comprehensive sustainability analysis of biofuels based on life cycle thinking and develops various multi-dimensional decision-making techniques for prioritizing biofuel production technologies. Taking a transversal approach, the book combines life cycle sustainability assessment, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing analysis, social life cycle assessment, sustainability metrics, triple bottom line, operations research methods, and supply chain design for investigating the critical factors and key enablers that influence the sustainable development of biofuel industry. This book will equip researchers and policymakers in the energy sector with the scientific methodology and metrics needed to develop strategies for viable sustainability transition. It will be a key resource for students, researchers and practitioners seeking to deepen their knowledge on energy planning and current and future trends of biofuel as an alternative fuel.
This volume showcases the diversity of the politics and practices of climate change governance across Southeast Asia. Through a series of country-level case studies and regional perspectives, the authors in this volume explore the complexities and contested nature of climate governance in what can be considered as one of the most dynamic and multi-faceted regions of the world. They reflect upon the tensions between authoritarian and democratic climate change governance, the multiple roles of civil society and non-state interventions, and the conflicts between state planning and market-driven climate change governance. Shedding light on climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in Southeast Asia, this book presents the various formal and informal institutions of climate change governance, their relevant actors, procedures, and policies. Empirical findings from a diverse set of environments are merged into a cross-country comparison that allows for elaborating on similar patterns whilst at the same time highlighting the distinct features of climate change governance in Southeast Asia. Drawing on case studies from all Southeast Asian countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam, this book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners dealing with climate change and environmental governance.
An accessible and comprehensive guide to all things acoustic bat detection. This highly illustrated handbook provides an in-depth understanding of acoustic detection principles, study planning, data handling, properties of bat calls, manual identification of species, automatic species recognition, analysis of results, quality assurance and the background physics of sound. No other method of detecting bats is so popular and widespread in the context of environmental assessment and voluntary work as acoustic detection, and its increased use has driven the development of a large number of sophisticated devices and analytical methods. Acoustic detection has become a standard approach for establishing the presence of bats, carrying out species identification and monitoring levels of activity. The resolution, accuracy and scale with which these tasks can be done has risen dramatically with the availability of automated real-time recording. But anyone interested in acoustic recording will quickly recognise that there are still quite a few open questions about the limits and possibilities of acoustic detection. Clear definitions of how to handle the data are usually missing, for example, and there are no clearly described activity indices. In response to the lack of thorough information on the underlying science of acoustic detection, the authors present this handbook.
This book aims to foster a better understanding of the particular challenges faced by resource-dependent countries or jurisdictions in managing their resource revenues through natural resource funds (NRFs). It explores the varieties of natural resource management strategies as dictated primarily by domestic politics, and how the potential negative distributional consequences of resource wealth management (the resource curse) may add political dimensions and potential conflicts to decisions about NRFs in ways that other sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) do not experience. By bridging the existing academic and practical knowledge gap arising from the limited attention given to the domestic politics of NRFs and state-society relations, this edited book is a valuable resource for academics, policymakers, and civil society actors in resource-driven economies and especially those interested in learning from comparative experiences of natural resource wealth management through NRFs.
Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management has three main objectives. First, it enhances understanding of global environmental issues, especially valuation and disclosure of environmental impacts of firms' activities. Second, it makes management, investors and other stakeholders aware of the financial and economic consequences of our failure to address the environmental issues. Third, it encourages management to improve the firm's environmental performance and disclosures.
Interactive Media for Sustainability presents a conceptually rich, critical account of the design and use of interactive technologies to engage the public with sustainability. Treating interactive technologies as forms of mediation, the book argues that these technologies advance multiple understandings of sustainability. At stake are the ways sustainability encodes the complexity of interrelated social and natural systems, and how it conveys the malleability of the future. The book's argument is anchored in a diverse set of theoretical resources that include contemporary work in human-computer interaction (HCI), social theory, media studies, and the philosophy of technology, and is animated by a variety of examples, including interactive simulations, persuasive apps, digital games, art installations, and decision-support tools.
Matters related to sustainable development, albeit global in nature, are best handled at the local level. This line of thinking is particularly true to the higher education context, where the design and implementation of sustainability initiatives on campuses can demonstrate how a given university translates the principles of sustainable development into practice, at the institutional level. Yet, there is a paucity of specific events where a dialogue among sustainability academics and practitioners concerned with a) research, projects b) teaching and c) planning and infra-structure leading to campus greening takes place, so as to allow a transdisciplinary and cross-sectoral exchange of ideas and experiences on the issues, matters and problems at hand. It is against this background that this book has been prepared. It is one of the outcomes of the "First Symposium on Sustainability in University Campuses" (SSUC-2017) organised by the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), the Research and Transfer Centre "Applications of Life Sciences" of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP). This book showcases examples of campus-based research and teaching projects, regenerative campus design, low-carbon and zero carbon buildings, waste prevention, and resilient transport, among others. It also demonstrates the role of campuses as platforms for transformative social learning and research, and explores the means via which university campuses can be made more sustainable. The aims of this publication are as follows: i. to provide universities with an opportunity to obtain information on campus greening and sustainable campus development initiatives from round the world; ii. to document and promote information, ideas and experiences acquired in the execution of research, teaching and projects on campus greening and design, especially successful initiatives and good practice; iii. to introduce methodological approaches and projects which aim to integrate the topic of sustainable development in campus design and operations. This book entails contributions from researchers and practitioners in the field of campus greening and sustainable development in the widest sense, from business and economics, to arts, administration and environment.
Resilience in Complex Socioecological Systems, Volume 60, the latest release in the Advances in Ecological Research series, includes specific chapters that cover Ecological Resilience, Socio-economic Resilience in Agriculture, Socio-ecological Resilience, Adaptive Capacity in Ecosystems, Tales of Resilience from iDIV and Resilience/ Robustness in Agro-ecology, and Resilience/Robustness in Agro-ecology, amongst other important topics in ecological research.
This book argues that sustainable development, based on sustained growth, has led us to an impasse. In response, Agroecology brings back and utilises notions of eco-development and co-evolution with nature as a refreshing paradigm. It also proposes a further shift in mindset with the notion of being within, or looking at agroecology as a way to reconnect and rebuild relationships and movement within farming systems and beyond. Rather than linear technical fixes, it considers the critical nodes of tension, the inflection points, or acupoints, which can trigger a transition towards greater harmony and well-being. The book also draws from a concrete example of agroecology by examining a pilot project in Mozambique testing new approaches to investments and peasant farming that will inspire farming communities, researchers, policy makers and development organizations alike, to build greater autonomy and self-determination.
This book provides readers with cutting-edge techniques that can be applied to energy and environmental economics. Further, it highlights the effects that both globalization and economic growth have on the environment. In addition to offering a broader perspective on the relationship between environmental pollution, energy consumption and economic growth, the book studies the relationship between economic growth and environmental damage by drawing on the theoretical hypothesis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve. The book presents new econometric techniques and innovative approaches to the study of the energy economy. Accordingly, it can be used to help analyse the current state of the energy economy, the environment and globalization, and can serve as a theoretical reference manual for doctoral students and academics seeking new analytical techniques.
Disaster Relief Aid: Changes and Challenges provides a comprehensive analysis of disaster relief efforts undertaken globally during the last several decades, and examines the changes and challenges that have emerged over time. The book evaluates the current state of disaster relief and discusses how it may be improved. The author examines salient features of disaster relief operations and provides an overview of the development of global humanitarian assistance programs. The book also explores how disaster aid is channelled from non-affected areas to affected areas. Using five major natural and man-made disasters as case studies, the book analyses the nature and extent of emergency relief efforts undertaken for each. The final chapter covers the post-disaster convergence phenomenon; outlines the major challenges of international disaster relief operation and finally, posits recommendations on how to improve future disaster relief efforts. This is an essential interdisciplinary text on disaster response for both undergraduate and graduate students as well as an invaluable resource for disaster researchers, managers, and numerous international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international agencies. |
You may like...
Biotremology: Studying Vibrational…
Peggy S. M. Hill, Reinhard Lakes-Harlan, …
Hardcover
R4,106
Discovery Miles 41 060
Revealing Revelation - How God's Plans…
Amir Tsarfati, Rick Yohn
Paperback
(5)
How to Cheat at Designing a Windows…
Melissa M. Meyer, Michael Cross, …
Paperback
R1,258
Discovery Miles 12 580
PowerShell for Administration, IT Pro…
William R. Stanek, William Stanek
Hardcover
R1,418
Discovery Miles 14 180
Think, Learn, Succeed - Understanding…
Dr. Caroline Leaf, Peter Amua-Quarshie, …
Paperback
(1)
|