At the dawn of the third millennium, planet Earth entered a zone of turbulence. The 2008 crisis added economic uncertainty to the threat of global warming and extreme events such as droughts, floods and cyclones, the persisting crisis of p- erty and the spectrum of pandemics and terrorism. Against this global landscape in an era of fragility, cities, already sheltering more than half of humankind, appear as Janus-faced realities, the best and worst of places, vulnerable but still full of hope and will to overcome the crisis of societal values and progress in the path of susta- able development. This book addresses the most critical challenges for cities, humanity's collective masterpieces in danger, and analyses breakthrough responses for sustainable dev- opment, a globalisation with human face and the transition to inclusive post carbon communities. The ultimate wish is that experts, city planners, decision-makers and citizens in search of sustainable cities could find here some sources of information and inspiration to enhance the immense possibilities of cities and embrace the best possible trajectories of change.

Ronald M. North President Universities Council on Water Resources People sense intuitively that the world in which we live is not free of risk. Every decision, every action, even the refusal to either act or decide involves some element of risk. Perhaps, because we accept relatively low levels of risk in our daily activi ties, we tend to minimize the existence of risk and thereby fail to include risk assessment in those decisions and actions which could be improved through a risk assessment process. However, our casual approach to risk assessment seems to stem largely from the diffi culties inherent in measuring risk rather than from any lack of cognizance of the existence of risk. This conclusion is evidenced by the many statements in official documents relating to planning and evaluation which suggest that risk assessments should be con ducted but do not provide the mechanism for such assessments nor do they encourage their consideration in the decision making process. This conference on Risk/Benefit Analysis in Water Resources Planning and Management is notable because it attempts to identify and evaluate the mechanisms available for risk assessment which might be useful in water resources planning and management efforts. These proceedings bring together the thoughts of professional per sons who have struggled with the problems of risk assessment and who have contributed to the refinement of both theoretical and pragmatic solutions for the improvement of risk assessment processes."

This book explores an ongoing puzzle: why don't catastrophic events, such as oil shocks and nuclear meltdowns, always trigger transitions away from the energy technologies involved? Jennifer F. Sklarew examines how two key factors - shocks and stakeholder relationships - combine to influence energy system transitions, applying a case study of Japan's trajectory from the time of the 1970s oil crises through the period following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Examining the role of diverse stakeholders' resilience priorities, she focuses on how changes in stakeholder cooperation and clout respond to and are affected by these shocks, and how this combination of shocks and relationship changes shapes energy policies and policymaking. From Japan's narrative, the book derives unique and universal lessons for cooperation on innovation and energy system resilience applicable to communities and nations around the globe, including implications for transitions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The book also places energy system resilience and innovation in the broader context of the food-energy-water-climate nexus. Building Resilient Energy Systems: Lessons from Japan will appeal to all levels of readers with an interest in energy policy, energy technologies and energy transitions: experts and specialists; academics and students; practitioners and policymakers.

This handbook presents the foundations of modern rural analysis. The first part of the book presents a comprehensive description of the elements of rural analysis, providing the basis for a synthetic view of rural landscapes in the second part. Included is a comprehensive description and explanation of the rural landscapes from throughout the world, which leads to a complete management scheme for rural landscapes.

This second edition includes updated chapters from the first edition as well as five additional new chapters (Light detection and ranging (LiDAR), CORONA historical de-classified products, Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs), GNSS-reflectometry and GNSS applications to climate variability), shifting the main focus from monitoring and management to extreme hydro-climatic and food security challenges and exploiting big data. Since the publication of first edition, much has changed in terms of technology, and the demand for geospatial data has increased with the advent of the big data era. For instance, the use of laser scanning has advanced so much that it is unavoidable in most environmental monitoring tasks, whereas unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs)/drones are emerging as efficient tools that address food security issues as well as many other contemporary challenges. Furthermore, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are now responding to challenges posed by climate change by unravelling the impacts of teleconnection (e.g., ENSO) as well as advancing the use of reflected signals (GNSS-reflectometry) to monitor, e.g., soil moisture variations. Indeed all these rely on the explosive use of "big data" in many fields of human endeavour. Moreover, with the ever-increasing global population, intense pressure is being exerted on the Earth's resources, leading to significant changes in its land cover (e.g., deforestation), diminishing biodiversity and natural habitats, dwindling fresh water supplies, and changing weather and climatic patterns (e.g., global warming, changing sea level). Environmental monitoring techniques that provide information on these are under scrutiny from an increasingly environmentally conscious society that demands the efficient delivery of such information at a minimal cost. Environmental changes vary both spatially and temporally, thereby putting pressure on traditional methods of data acquisition, some of which are highly labour intensive, such as animal tracking for conservation purposes. With these challenges, conventional monitoring techniques, particularly those that record spatial changes call for more sophisticated approaches that deliver the necessary information at an affordable cost. One direction being pursued in the development of such techniques involves environmental geoinformatics, which can act as a stand-alone method or complement traditional methods.

Most of the world's freshwater resources in the liquid state (i.e. not in glaciers and polar caps) are underground. As the population grows and demand for water rises, reliance on groundwater increases. In many cases the groundwater underlies boundaries, or is part of a hydraulic system that crosses boundaries. In such cases there is always the danger that the 'prisoner's dilemma' will run its course and all parties will compete over who will pump the most water, ultimately destroying the storage potential to the detriment of future generations of all parties reliant on the groundwater. This book explores the options and means for averting this all too realistic scenario by managing these shared groundwater resources. Nowhere is the likelihood of excessive use of groundwater greater than in the water-scarce Middle East, and especially in the Israeli-Palestinian case. Here both sides are heavily reliant on a shared aquifer, the Mountain aquifer. This book is the outcome of a seven-year effort to find ways to manage the Mountain aquifer, perhaps the most important resource shared by Israelis and Palestinians. As part of this cooperative study, four workshops were held in which a selected number of Palestinian, Israeli, and foreign experts were invited. The chapters in this book were originally presented in one of these workshops. To these papers introductory and concluding chapters were added.

The book is a realistic blend of basic knowledge and understanding in soil physical properties. It will enable the reader to scientifically analyze soils to develop practical and successful means of providing sufficient drainage and to develop science-based irrigation strategies. Only basic mathematical knowledge is necessary to understand and apply the proven principles covered. With limited resources that are increasing significantly in costs, the book blends the ideal concept of providing sufficient drainage and irrigation based on using soil physical properties but with financial limitations in mind. One traditional problem with many Soil Physics, Drainage, and Irrigations-based texts is the prerequisite of understanding complicated calculus-based mathematics. Although necessary for a theory-based text, our text was developed with practitioners in mind where such complicated mathematics was avoided but referenced if the reader wishes to further explore the specific topic. Another problem with many traditional texts is the lack of practical examples or case-studies allowing readers to relate their specific scenarios to similar types of situations. We have purposely included numerous examples and practical field experiences. This is especially true when many of the theoretical ideals are covered, followed by explanations of how such ideals can be applied in the laboratory and field.

Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) is increasingly recognised as a distinguished tool of environmental management. It helps to integrate a company's environmental and business interests, whereby enhancing corporate eco-efficiency in terms of reducing environmental costs or making one's product more competitive.

This book gives a comprehensive coverage of the state of the art. It presents a number of EMA frameworks that companies can take as a basis for implementing their own specific EMA structures. Besides discussing environmental accounting issues within conventional management accounting, it gives a detailed picture of materials flow (cost) accounting as an alternative way of looking at the ecology-economy relationships at the corporate level. A fascinating case study shows how a large company (Siemens) applies materials flow accounting and what benefits it entails.

This book explores the common language of politics, ecology and risk, and crosses their conceptual divides. It seeks to shed light on the underlying structural factors, processes, players and interactions in the risk scenario, all of which influence decision-making that both increases and reduces disaster risk. The first section explores risk governance under conditions of increasing complexity, diversity and change. The discussion includes chapters on The problem of governance in the risk society; Making sense of decentralization; Understanding and conceptualizing risk in large-scale social-ecological systems; The disaster epidemic and Structure, process, and agency in the evaluation of risk governance. Part II, focused on governance in regions and domains of risk, includes nine chapters with discussion of Climate governance and climate change and society; Climate change and the politics of uncertainty; Risk complexity and governance in mountain environments; On the edge: Coastal governance and risk and Governance of megacity disaster risks, among other important topics. Part III discusses directions for further advancement in risk governance, with ten chapters on such topics as the transition From risk society to security society; Governing risk tolerability; Risk and adaptive planning for coastal cities; Profiling risk governance in natural hazards contexts; Confronting the risk of large disasters in nature and Transitions into and out of a crisis mode of socio-ecological systems. The book presents a comprehensive examination of the complexity of both risk and environmental policy-making and of their multiple-and not always visible-interactions in the context of social-ecological systems. Just as important, it also addresses unseen and neglected complementarities between regulatory policy-making and ordinary individual decision-making through the actions of nongovernmental actors. A range of distinguished scholars from a diverse set of disciplines have contributed to the book with their expertise in many areas, including disaster studies, emergency planning and management, ecology, sustainability, environmental planning and management, climate change, geography, spatial planning, development studies, economy, political sciences, public administration, communication, as well as physics and geology.

The objective of this book is to review and to analyze the economics of conservation programs in theory and in practice. Demand side management (DSM) is one of the most topical issues in regulating electric utilities, both in the United States and internationally. DSM consists of various measures at the level of demand (households, commerce, industry, others), which are at least partially financed by electric utilities and which should either conserve energy or reduce the peak load. DSM rests on two pillars: efficient regulation and environmental concern. While regulatory aspects dominated the past debate, environmental issues are now becoming more and more important. This shift is largely due to the recently substantiated evidence on the greenhouse effect. Therefore, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, in particular of carbon dioxide, which is an inevitable by-product of burning fossil fuels, seems an important environmental objective. Given the contribution of carbon dioxide emissions, energy conservation, whatever that means in detail, becomes highly important. Indeed, DSM and related conservation programs are considered as a low cost option, or as a no regret strategy, independent of whether or not DSM improves the power industry's economic efficiency. Therefore, conservation programs have to be considered among the first instruments to be implemented in any efficient carbon dioxide emission reduction plan. Just how cheap such programs will turn out to be is the subject of this study. Although DSM covers load management as well as conservation, this book, like the public debate, focuses on conservation. The emphasis of this book is on electricity demand, including the exposition, jargon, empirics, etc., but the basic idea of DSM and many of the issues addressed in this book can be extended to utilities other than energy (gas and district heat), also to water, garbage collection and others. However, the intention of the book is not to pretend to generality but to develop the basic ideas with respect to an environment with which the author is sufficiently familiar.

First published in 1992, this title offers an experienced and constructive evaluation of the ways in which water resources have been developed in Africa. Adams argues that the best hope of productive development lies in working and engaging with local people and using local knowledge of the environment effectively. Modern, large-scale developments that have largely been ineffective are examined, and emphasis is placed on the importance of using the skills and concerns of those affected, such as small farmers, to develop ingenious water projects - an approach that can be applied worldwide. This is an interesting and relevant title, which will be of particular value to those with an interest in the developments in water resource conservation over the past two decades.

The book looks into the domestic water issues and disputes in the Himalayan South Asian countries, and based on it analyzes trans-boundary water disputes. Himalayan South Asia comprises India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Afghanistan. All except Afghanistan share river waters with India. Home to some of the major river basins of the world, a part of this region falls into water scarce zone, and according to the United Nations Water Report of 2018 some of them will experience severe water scarcity by 2050. The book also studies water issues in China. Though the country is not a part of the Himalayan South Asia, most of the major rivers of this region originate in China. Over the years, China has been alleged by countries like India for diverting, choking or using the trans-boundary river waters for its purpose. Understanding water competition and issues in China will help one to understand its transboundary water behavior.

This book brings together leading experts to assess how and whether the Nazis were successful in fostering collaboration to secure the resources they required during World War II. These studies of the occupation regimes in Norway and Western Europe reveal that the Nazis developed highly sophisticated instruments of exploitation beyond oppression and looting. The authors highlight that in comparison to the heavy manufacturing industries of Western Europe, Norway could provide many raw materials that the German war machine desperately needed, such as aluminium, nickel, molybdenum and fish. These chapters demonstrate that the Nazis provided incentives to foster economic collaboration, hoping that these would make every mine, factory and smelter produce at its highest level of capacity. All readers will learn about the unique part of Norwegian economic collaboration during this period and discover the rich context of economic collaboration across Europe during World War II.

Around the world, liberalization and privatization in the electricity industry have lead to increased competition among utilities. At the same time, utilities are now exposed more than ever to risk and uncertainties, which they cannot pass on to their customers through price increases as in a regulated environment. Especially electricity-generating companies have to face volatile wholesale prices, fuel price uncertainty, limited long-term hedging possibilities and huge, to a large extent, sunk investments.

In this context, Uncertainty in the Electric Power Industry: Methods and Models for Decision Support aims at an integrative view on the decision problems that power companies have to tackle. It systematically examines the uncertainties power companies are facing and develops models to describe them - including an innovative approach combining fundamental and finance models for price modeling. The optimization of generation and trading portfolios under uncertainty is discussed with particular focus on CHP and is linked to risk management. Here the concept of integral earnings at risk is developed to provide a theoretically sound combination of value at risk and profit at risk approaches, adapted to real market structures and market liquidity. Also methods for supporting long-term investment decisions are presented: technology assessment based on experience curves and operation simulation for fuel cells and a real options approach with endogenous electricity prices.

It is more and more evident that our living system is completely disturbed by human intrusion. Such intrusion affects the functioning of entire systems in ways we do not yet fully understand. We use paradigms such as the disturbance to cover large and deep gaps in our scienti?c knowledge. Human ecology is an uncertain terrain for anthropologists, geographers, and ecologists and rarely is expanded to include the social and economic realms. The integration of different disciplines and the application of their many paradigms to problems of environmental complexity remains a distant goal despite the many efforts that have been made to achieve it. Philosophical and semantic barriers are erected when such integration is pursued by pioneering scientists. Recently, evolutionary ecology has shown great interest in the spatial processes well described by the emerging discipline of landscape ecology. But this interest takes the form of pure curiosity or at worst, of skepticism toward the real capacity of landscape ecology to contribute to the advancement of ecological science. The past two centuries have been characterized by huge changes occurring in the entire ecosphere. Global changes are the effects of human intervention at a planetary scale, with consequent degradation of the environment creating an e- logical debt for future generations. On the other side of the issue, new technologies have improved the welfare of billions of people and have given hope to many other billions that they may also see such improvement in the near future.

This book is the first edited compilation of selected, refereed papers submitted to ERTEP 2007. The selected papers either dealt with technologies or scientific work and policy findings that address specific environmental problems affecting humanity in general, but more specifically, people and ecosystems in developing countries. It was not necessary for the work to have been done in a developing country, but the findings and results must be appropriate or applicable to a developing country setting. It is acknowledged that environmental research, technology applications and policy implementation have been demonstrated to improve environmental sustainability and protection in several developed economies. The main argument of the book is that similar gains can be achieved in developing economies and economies in transition. The book is organized into six chapters along some of the key themes discussed at the conference: Environmental Health Management, Sustainable Energy and Fuel, Water Treatment, Purification and Protection, Mining and Environment, Soil Stabilization, and Environmental Monitoring. It is hoped that the contents of the book will provide an insight into some of the environmental and health mana- ment challenges confronting the developing world and the steps being taken to address them.

This book provides an account of what may happen to the energy sector in the former Soviet Union (FSU) in the medium to long-run, under alternative scenarios for macroeconomic reform. The analyses reveal the serious damage of the oil resource base caused by the reckless exploitation practices of the past. Production of oil and coal can recover only slowly from the doldrums of the early 1990s, but the potential to expand gas output is very considerable. Energy consumption practices have been extremely wasteful in the past. The total savings potential that could be accomplished as energy prices are allowed to rise, and incentives to economise on energy use are introduced, is huge. The likely evolution of FSU energy exports until 2005 is also explored, and the impact that changing export flows could have on the international prices of oil, coal and natural gas, is discussed in detail.

Around the world, many countries are increasing efforts to promote biomass production for industrial uses including biofuels and bio-products such as chemicals and bio-plastic. Against a backdrop of lively public debate on sustainability, bioenergy wields both positive and negative impacts upon a variety of environmental and socio-economic issues. These include property rights, labor conditions, social welfare, economic wealth, poverty reduction and more. This book discusses the issues and impacts of bioenergy, taking into account the local and regional framework under which bioenergy is produced, touching upon educational level, cultural aspects, the history and economies of the producing countries and an array of policies including environmental and social targets.

The book surveys and analyzes global bioenergy production from a number of perspectives. The authors illustrate the complexity of interrelated topics in the bioenergy value chain, ranging from agriculture to conversion processes, as well as from social implications to environmental effects. It goes on to offer insight on future challenges associated with the expected boom of a global bio-based economy, which contributes to the paradigm shift from a fossil-based to a biomass and renewable energy-based economy.

The expert contributors include researchers, investors, policy makers, representatives from NGOs and other stakeholders, from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Their contributions build upon the results of the Global-Bio-Pact project on Global Assessment of Biomass and Bio-product Impacts on Socio-economics and Sustainability, which was supported by the European Commission in its 7th Framework Program for Research and Technological Development, conducted from February 2010 to January 2013.

The book benefits policy makers, scientists and NGO staffers working in the fields of agriculture, forestry, biotechnology and energy."

This book examines energy security as one of nontraditional issues that are strategic for Indonesia's foreign policy. It argues that energy has not been considered as a strategic commodity in the foreign policy to support the effectiveness of Indonesia's diplomacy at the regional and international levels. International and outward looking perspectives have not been much visible both in the policy and political realities. Since foreign policy is a reflection of domestic politics under the influence of international developments, this study focuses its analysis on the domestic and international aspects of the energy security issues.

This book presents recent lessons learned in the context of research and development for various dryland ecosystems, focusing on water resources management, land and vegetation cover degradation and remediation, and socioeconomic aspects, as well as integrated approaches to ensuring water and land security in view of the current and predicted climate change. As water and land are the essential bases of food production, the management of these natural resources is becoming a cornerstone for the development of dryland populations. The book gathers the peer-reviewed, revised versions of the most outstanding papers on these topics presented at the ILDAC2015 Conference in Djerba, Tunisia.

Tensions in parts of the Danube River Basin, the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and elsewhere demonstrate the need for international agreements which will help stabilize and improve economies, governments, and environmental management within the countries in transition and across national borders. An instrument of peace, a Convention which establishes a Commission to oversee natural resource protection among all basin countries, is about to be adopted and implemented. This book covers in detail the readiness of the countries to participate and the programs funded by international agencies, and suggests ways to stimulate the slow and uneven government and investor response to conflicts. It reviews the approach and successes and failures of current programs funded by the European Commission, the Global Environment Facility, and US AID, and suggests ways to improve such assistance for maximum effect within the countries themselves. The book has equal value to two sets of audiences: specialists in many disciplines, scientists and technicians, and their colleagues in public and private sector policy-making who deal full-time with transboundary natural resource problems at a practical level in the Danube region or in regions elsewhere; those concerned about the future economic and political stability of the east European and CIS countries and their ability to meet EU environmental and other criteria, including investors in public and private projects.

Falling or stagnant agricultural growth, increasing dependence on groundwater, climate variability, swift industrialization, and unplanned and unregulated urbanization in South Asia have spawned a variety of challenges for water resources governance, management and use: groundwater overdraft; insufficient, ill-managed and poor-quality freshwater supply vis-a-vis escalating demand; and water pollution. Water policies in each of the South Asian countries thus call for a more holistic understanding for the efficient management, equitable distribution and sustainable use of this scarce resource.

Analyzing the economic, demographic and ideological context in which water policies are framed and implemented, this book argues for an integrated framework in formulating and implementing water policies in South Asia. It also highlights some common missing links in the national policies: problems of techno-centric and blueprint approach to water management, growing influence of international donor agencies and inadequate concern for issues such as equity, sustainability, gender sensitivity, accountability, regional diversity in property rights regimes and water management practices, and regional conflicts over water access. The innovative and nuanced knowledge on water resources produced from detailed case studies in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be useful for professionals, academics, policymakers and activists as well as those in development studies, environmental studies, natural resource management and public administration.