![]() |
![]() |
Your cart is empty |
||
Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Management of land & natural resources
Water Use Management, and Planning in the United States is designed
with new college classes on water resources in mind. It provides
information on hydrology, biology, geology, economics, and
geography along with historical water policies and regional
regulations. The text reflects the transdisciplinary nature of
water resources management, moving between descriptive discussions
and quantitative analysis to bridge the social and physical
sciences. Also providedare frequent case studies and examples to
illustrate real-world applications, and includes sidebars
throughout to reinforce major points. This book is a result of the
authors years of teaching, giving a prescription for an intelligent
integrated systemsapproach to water resources management.
This volume analyzes the global challenges of food security, land use changes, and climate change impacts on food production in order to recommend sustainable development policies, anticipate future food services and demands, and identify the economic benefits and trade-offs of meeting food security demands and achieving climate change mitigation objectives. The key points of analysis that form the conclusions of this book are based on measuring the quantity and quality of land and water resources, and the rate of use of sustainable management of these resources in the context of socio-economic factors, including food security, poverty, and climate change impacts. In six parts, readers will learn about these crucial dimensions of the affects of climate change on food security, and will gain a better understanding of how to assess the trade-offs when combating multiple climate change challenges and how to develop sustainable solutions to these problems. The book presents multidimensional perspectives from expert contributors, offering holistic and strategic approaches to link knowledge on climate change and food security with action in the form of policy recommendations, with a focus on sociological and socio-economic components of climate change impacts. The intended audience of the book includes students and researchers engaged in climate change and food security issues, NGOs, and policy makers.
This edited collection critically engages with an important but rarely-asked question: what is energy for? This starting point foregrounds the diverse social processes implicated in the making of energy demand and how these change over time to shape the past patterns, present dynamics and future trajectories of energy use. Through a series of innovative case studies, the book explores how energy demand is embedded in shared practices and activities within society, such as going to music festivals, cooking food, travelling for business or leisure and working in hospitals. Demanding Energy investigates the dynamics of energy demand in organisations and everyday life, and demonstrates how an understanding of spatiality and temporality is crucial for grasping the relationship between energy demand and everyday practices. This collection will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of energy, climate change, transport, sustainability and sociologies and geographies of consumption and environment. Chapters 1 and 15 of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com
This book comprises the select proceedings of the International Conference on Water, Environment, Energy and Society. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with some aspects of groundwater focusing on delineation of groundwater zones, spatio-temporal variability of groundwater, and aquifer vulnerability. The second part is on some aspects of groundwater recharge, dealing with recharge sources, management of recharge and recharge technology, change of land use / land cover on groundwater recharge. The concluding part covers groundwater quality, encompassing causes and sources of pollution, leachate migration, river bank filtration, variability of quality, assessment and management of quality. The book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of water resources, hydrology, environmental resources, agricultural engineering, watershed management, earth sciences, as well as those engaged in natural resources planning and management. Graduate students and those wishing to conduct further research in water and environment and their development and management will also find the book to be of value.
This book, which contains a collection of review articles as well as focus on evidence-based policy making, will serve as a valuable resource not just for all postgraduate students conducting research using systems analysis thinking but also for policy makers. To our knowledge, a book of this nature which also has a strong African focus is currently not available. The book examines environmental and socio-economic risks with the aim of providing an analytical foundation for the management and governance of natural resources, disasters, addressing climate change, and easing the technological and ecological transitions to sustainability. It provides scientific and strategic analysis to better understand the dynamics of future energy transitions, their main driving forces, enabling factors, barriers, as well as their consequences for the social, economic and environmental dimensions of human wellbeing. Science-based policy advice is achieved through an integrated assessment and modeling of how to simultaneously address the major energy policy challenges in the areas of environment (climate change and air pollution), energy poverty (or access to affordable and clean energy for the poor), energy security and reliability. It also aims to improve our understanding of ecosystems and their management in today's changing world-in particular, the current state of ecosystems, and their ecological thresholds and buffering capacities. It provides support for policy makers in developing rational, realistic and science-based regional, national and global strategies for the production of fuel, food and fibre that sustain ecosystem services and safeguard food security. Finally, it addresses the human development dimension of global change based on comprehensive studies on the changing size and composition of human populations around the world by analyzing both their impacts and the differential vulnerabilities by age, gender and level of education.
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.
Biomass for Renewable Energy, Fuels, and Chemicals serves as a
comprehensive introduction to the subject for the student and
educator, and is useful for researchers who are interested in the
technical details of biomass energy production. The coverage and
discussion are multidisciplinary, reflecting the many scientific
and engineering disciplines involved. The book will appeal to a
broad range of energy professionals and specialists, farmers and
foresters who are searching for methods of selecting, growing, and
converting energy crops, entrepreneurs who are commercializing
biomass energy projects, and those involved in designing solid and
liquid waste disposal-energy recovery systems.
This book examines the long-term fate of invasive species by detailing examples of invaders from different zoological and botanical taxa from various places around the world. Readers will discover what happened, after a century or so, to 'classical' invaders like rabbits in Australia, house sparrows in North America, minks in Europe and water hyacinths in Africa and Asia. Chapters presented in the book focus on eighteen species in the form of in-depth case studies including: earthworms, zebra mussels, Canadian water weed, Himalayan balsam, house sparrows, rabbits, crayfish plague, Colorado beetles, water hyacinths, starlings, Argentine ant, Dutch elm disease, American mink, cane toad, raccoons, Canadian beavers, African killer bees and warty comb jelly. Invaded areas described are in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Pacific islands, and South America. Readers will get some ideas about the likely future of current invaders from the fate of old ones. This book is intended for undergraduates studying environmental sciences, researchers and members of environmental NGO's.
Agile Energy Systems: Global Distributed On-Site and Central Grid Power, Second Edition, offers new solutions to the structure of electricity provision made possible by new energy technologies. The book begins by showing how five precipitating forces led to the deregulation debacle in California, including major technological changes and commercialization, regulatory needs mismatched to societal adjustments, inadequate and flawed economic models, a lack of vision, goals, and planning that lead to energy failures, and questionable finance and lack of economic development. The second half of the book examines the civic market paradigm for new economic models and how to plan for complexity using California as an example of how the problem of centralized power systems can be seen in the worst drought that California has ever seen.
This volume addresses renewable energy communities, and in particular renewable energy cooperatives (REScoops), in the context of the revised EU Renewables Directive. It provides a comprehensive account of the history and development of the renewable energy community movement in over six different countries of continental Europe. It addresses their visions, strategy, organisation, agency, and more particularly the challenges they encounter. This is of particular importance to gain more understanding into how renewable energy communities fare in domestic energy markets where they are confronted with regime institutions, structures and incumbents' agency that tend to favour maintaining of the status quo while blocking attempts to empower and institutionalise renewable energy communities as market entrants having a disruptive, radical green and localist agenda. This volume will be an invaluable reference for academics and practitioners with an interest in social innovation in sustainable transitions, the role of community energy in energy markets, their agency, as well as an outlook to the impact that the EU Renewables Directive may have to change national legislation and policy frameworks to create a level playing field that is essentially more fair and beneficial to renewable energy communities.
The use of public lands in the western United States has become the focus of international, national, and regional debate. Public concern for wildlife, fish, wilderness, recreation, and other values associated with these lands has increased substantially since the 1960s. And that concern has clashed with the more user/extraction orientation of traditional interests. The priorities for management of these lands have become the subject of increasing controversy and litigation, particularly with regard to U.S. federal forests and rangelands. At the heart of this debate are differing philosophical and normative views about the natural environment and human relationship to that environment. This volume provides an analysis of public values and philosophical views about the environment from an interdisciplinary perspective and will be of interest to scholars and policymakers in public policy, business-government relations, and environmentalism.
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 essential insights into methods and practices of 'Climate-smart Agriculture,' which is driven by the principles of climate resilience and smart resource use in agricultural production. Climate-smart agriculture is a key policy instrument for achieving poverty eradication and a hunger-free world, as well as mitigating the effects of climate change. This book discusses in detail climate-smart agricultural technologies and practices that can reduce the vulnerability of agricultural systems, improve the livelihoods of farmers and other stakeholders, and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from crop production and livestock husbandry. The agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector produces roughly 10-12 gigatons of CO2-equivalent per year; therefore, sustainable practices for agriculture and related land use hold immense potential to mitigate climate change. The potential impacts of climate variability and climate change on agriculture are extensively documented and articulated, especially with regard to global and national environmental agendas that call for innovation, transformation and climate-resilient advances in agriculture. As the book demonstrates, climate-smart agriculture offers an excellent tool for boosting agricultural output to feed the growing global population; for reducing greenhouse gases emissions from agriculture and other land use; and for protecting agricultural production systems from the impending dangers of climate change.
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology attempts to provide concise, critical reviews of timely advances, philosophy and significant areas of accomplished or needed endeavor in the total field of xenobiotics, in any segment of the environment, as well as toxicological implications.
This book is based on selected papers from keynote and symposium sessions given at the 16th International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) World Congress, held in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil August, 2012. The theme of the Congress was the challenges faced by food science in both the developed and developing regions of the world. The symposia featured prominent world-renowned keynote and plenary speakers, young researchers, and the technical sessions covered the whole spectrum of basic and applied food science and technology, including consumer issues and education, diets and health, ethnic foods, and R&D.
As governments around the world work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the trans-disciplinary topic of oceans management is fast being recognized as one of the most important challenges of the twenty-first century. This timely Handbook takes stock of the state of knowledge on ecosystem services derived from coastal and marine areas and offers innovative proposals for the future of this important topic. The Handbook on the Economics and Management of Sustainable Oceans brings together a carefully chosen collection of world-class contributions from ecology, economics and other development sciences. It provides policy-relevant scientific information on key topics such as ecosystem services from marine and coastal ecosystems and the nuances of economic valuation. Detailed chapters also consider relevant legal and sociological response policies for effective management of marine areas for enhanced human well-being. This comprehensive Handbook will be essential reading for advanced students and academics in economics, environment studies and resource management. The contributors also focus on the nexus of science-society and science-policy with the objective of educating decision-makers in governmental agencies, industry and civil society. Contributors include: M. Bailey, Y. Beaudoin, D. Belhabib, R. Bille, F. Bosello, J.H. Brito, V. Burgener, S. Bush, N. Carlson, S. Cataudella, L. Chabason, W. Chen, W. Cheung, G. da Fonseca, O.G. Davila, E. Delpiazzo, S.T.M. Dissanayake, P. Drankier, I. Drysdale, S. Dupont, F. Eboli, G. Fauville, N. Ferri, D. Fezzardi, M.R. Flores, Y. Fujita, B. Galil, M. Garmendia, A. Ghermandi, E. Giacomello, A. Giannouli, G. Gitti, J. Gowdy, R.A. Groeneveld, M. Hamid, S. Hansen, L. Hansson, L. Karrer, M. Kettunen, E. Kotoroni, P. Koundouri, V. Lam, H. Lindhjem, M. Loureiro, K. Magnussen, E. Mailli, A. Markandya, F. Marques, J. Marsden, F. Massa, J. Matos de Sousa, M. McField, G. Menezes, M. Metian, D. Miller, B. Milligan, K. Mintenbeck, E.Y. Mohammed, E.J. Molenaar, R. Mongruel, K. Mutafoglu, S. Navrud, P.A.L.D. Nunes, D.O. Obura, E. Ojea, N. Okubo, L. Onofri, A. Onuma, M. Omori, D. Osborn, A. Pacheco Capella, A. Padilla, C. Papagianni, M. Pascual, D. Pauly, A.G. Petersen, R. Pott, H. Ralison, A. Ressurreicao, J. Ribeiro, J. Richardson, J. Rochette, D. Russi, M. Samoilys, C. Santos, L.V. Santuario, P. Scheren, J.-P. Schweitzer, M. Seneque, C. Severin, P. Shah, I. Souliotis, A. Srour, P. Steele, D. Steinbach, R.M. Sultan, R. Sumaila, L.E. Svensson, V. Sweeney, J. Tanzer, P. ten Brink, L. The, F. Thevenon, J. van den Bergh, D. Waruinge, E. Watkins, S. Withana, P. Ziveri
This book, based on lectures on natural and environmental resource economics, offers a nontechnical exposition of the modern theory of sustainability in the presence of resource scarcity. It applies an alternative take on environmental economics, focusing on the economics of the natural environment, including development, computation, and potential empirical importance of the concept of option value, as opposed to the standard treatment of the economics of pollution control. The approach throughout is primarily conceptual and theoretical, though empirical estimation and results are sometimes noted. Mathematics, ranging from elementary calculus to more formal dynamic optimization, is used, especially in the early chapters on the optimal management of exhaustible and renewable resources, but results are always given an economic interpretation. Diagrams and numerical examples are also used extensively. The first chapter introduces the classical economists as the first resource economists, in their discussion of the implications of a limited natural resource base (agricultural land) for the evolution of the wider economy. A later chapter returns to the same concerns, along with others stimulated by the energy and environmental "crises" of the 1970s and beyond. One section considers alternative measures of resource scarcity and empirical findings on their behavior over time. Another introduces the modern concept of sustainability with an intuitive development of the analytics. A chapter on the dynamics of environmental management motivates the concept of option value, shows how to compute it, then demonstrates its importance in an illustrative empirical example. The closing chapter, on climate change, first projects future changes and potential catastrophic impacts, then discusses the policy relevance of both option value and discounting for the very long run. This book is intended for resource and environmental economists and can be read by interested graduate and advanced undergraduate students in the field as well.
Presents readers with an overview of lake management problems and the tools that can be applied to solve probelms. Lake management tools are presented in detail, including environmental technological methods, ecotechnological methods and the application of models to assess the best management strategy.
This volume is a comprehensive guide to the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for the spatial analysis of supply and demand for energy in the global and local scale. It gathers the latest research and techniques in GIS for spatial and temporal analysis of energy systems, mapping of energy from fossil fuels, optimization of renewable energy sources, optimized deployment of existing power sources, and assessment of environmental impact of all of the above. Author Lubos Matejicek covers GIS for assessment a wide variety of energy sources, including fossil fuels, hydropower, wind power, solar energy, biomass energy, and nuclear power as well as the use of batteries and accumulators. The author also utilizes case studies to illustrate advanced techniques such as multicriteria analysis, environmental modeling for prediction of energy consumption, and the use of mobile computing and multimedia tools.
This book explores the discourse of regulatory crisis in the UK and examines why, despite the increasing contestation of the principles underpinning the regulatory state, its institutions and practices continue to be firmly embedded within the governance of the British state. It considers its implications for our understanding of the contemporary nature of the British state, and to the study of regulation which is no longer confined to the domain of low politics, populated by technocrats, but is scrutinised by elected politicians, and the subject of the front pages rather than the financial pages. The author sets the British regulatory tradition in a wider context, both spatially, in terms of the challenges presented by Europeanisation, and temporally, critically analysing the process of crisis construction in the narratives of neoliberalism and participatory democracy in the contemporary era.
This book presents chapters, written by leading coastal scientists, which collectively depict the current understanding of the processes that shape barrier islands and barrier spits, with an emphasis on the response of these landforms to changing conditions. A majority of the world's population lives along the coast at the dynamic intersection between terrestrial and marine ecosystems and landscapes. As narrow, low-lying landforms, barriers are especially vulnerable to changes in sea level, storminess, the geographic distribution of grass species, and the rate of sand supply-some barriers will undergo rapid changes in state (e.g., from landward migrating to disintegrating), on human time scales. Attempts by humans to prevent change can hasten the loss of these landforms, threatening their continued existence as well as the recreational, financial and ecosystem service benefits they provide. Understanding the processes and interactions that drive landscape response to climate change and human actions is essential to adaptation. As managers and governments struggle to plan for the future along low-lying coasts worldwide, and scientists conduct research that provides useful guidance, this volume offers a much-needed compilation for these groups, as well as a window into the science of barrier dynamics for anyone who is generally interested in the impacts of a changing world on coastal environments.
This book provides a synthesis of research findings, in terms of strategic knowledge outcomes regarding emergence of recent regional climate signals, implications for impacts assessment, and mitigation and adaptation response, relevant in the Indian context. The first part discusses evidence of climate change and its underlying scientific processes across India, chiefly focusing on impacts that are already visible and attributable to anthropogenic activities. The latter part deals with the responses to climate change, highlighting the mitigation and adaptation strategies in various sectors and communities. The book presents a concise interpretation, distilling practical recommendations and policy prescriptions at national and sub-national levels. It serves as a reference point for understanding scientific advances and persisting uncertainty, future vulnerability and response capacity of interlinked human and natural systems, pertaining to India. It is an excellent resource for policy makers and industry watchers in addition to the research fraternity.
Habitat management is commonly used to maintain and enhance the
biological interest of many areas of semi-natural habitat where
natural processes no longer create suitable conditions for desired
species. Habitat restoration and creation is increasingly being
used to increase the extent of ecologically important habitats in
order to mitigate the impacts of human development. The
modification of past management techniques and the introduction of
new ones can provide additional benefits.
This volume approaches the history of water in the Iberian Peninsula in a novel way, by linking it to the ongoing international debate on water crisis and solutions to overcome the lack of water in the Mediterranean. What water devices were found? What were the models for these devices? How were they distributed in the villas and monastic enclosures? What impact did hydraulic theoretical knowledge have on these water systems, and how could these systems impact on hydraulic technology? Guided by these questions, this book covers the history of water in the most significant cities, the role of water in landscape transformation, the irrigation systems and water devices in gardens and villas, and, lastly, the theoretical and educational background on water management and hydraulics in the Iberian Peninsula between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. Historiography on water management in the territory that is today Spain has highlighted the region's role as a mediator between the Islamic masters of water and the Christian world. The history of water in Portugal is less known, and it has been taken for granted that is similar to its neighbour. This book compares two countries that have the same historical roots and, therefore, many similar stories, but at the same time, offers insights into particular aspects of each country. It is recommended for scholars and researchers interested in any field of history of the early modern period and of the nineteenth century, as well as general readers interested in studies on the Iberian Peninsula, since it was the role model for many settlements in South America, Asia and Africa.
This book encompasses the body of available scientific information on the notothenioid fish Pleuragramma antarctica commonly known as Antarctic silverfish. This plankton-feeder of the intermediate trophic level is the most abundant fish in the coastal regions of high Antarctica, and plays a pivotal ecological role as the main prey of top predators like seals, penguins, whales and Antarctic toothfish. Broad circum-polar distribution, a key role in the Antarctic shelf pelagic ecosystem, and adaptations makes understanding the species' likely response to environmental change relevant to foresee the potential responses at the local ecosystem level. Additionally, a detailed understanding of the abundance and trophic interactions of such a dominant keystone species is a vital element of informing the development of marine spatial planning and marine protected areas in the Antarctic continental shelf region. Experts in the field provide here unique insights into the evolutionary adaptation, eco-physiology, trophic ecology, reproductive and population ecology of the Antarctic silverfish and provide new clues about its vulnerability in facing the challenges of the ongoing environmental changes. |
![]() ![]() You may like...
Hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo…
Jan Glazewski, Surina Esterhuyse
Paperback
Management and Mitigation of Acid Mine…
Munyaradzi Mujuru, S Mutanga
Paperback
Invasive Plant Management Issues and…
Anne Leslie, Randy Westbrooks
Hardcover
R2,825
Discovery Miles 28 250
Handbook on Energy Justice
Stefan Bouzarovski, Sara Fuller, …
Hardcover
R5,552
Discovery Miles 55 520
The BRICS and Collective Financial…
Cynthia Roberts, Leslie Elliott Armijo, …
Hardcover
R3,398
Discovery Miles 33 980
Emerging Technologies for Sustainable…
Gnaneswar Gnaneswar Gude
Paperback
|