Based on an ethnographic account of subsistence use of Amazonian forests by Wapishana people in Guyana, Edges, Frontiers, Fringes examines the social, cultural and behavioral bases for sustainability and resilience in indigenous resource use. Developing an original framework for holistic analysis, it demonstrates that flexible interplay among multiple modes of environmental understanding and decision-making allows the Wapishana to navigate socio-ecological complexity successfully in ways that reconcile short-term material needs with long-term maintenance and enhancement of the resource base.

Environmental Change in Lesotho identifies and analyzes the drivers of land-use change and the consequences of these changes on the livelihoods of rural land-users/managers. To accomplish this, a combination of tools from the social sciences and environmental fields were developed to identify causes and consequences of land-use change at selected levels, using a 'nested' approach. These methods were then applied to a case study of two villages in the Lowland region of Lesotho. This book is directed at environmental and social science experts, researchers, decision-makers, and development/aid workers interested in understanding the intricate human-environment relationship as it relates to land-use change in a changing biophysical, socio-economic, political and institutional context, coupled by HIV/AIDS, changing demographics, local perceptions and what is termed here 'dependency syndrome'.

The supply and management of fresh water for the world's billions of inhabitants is likely to be one of the most daunting challenges of the coming century. For countries that share river basins with others, questions of how best to use and protect precious water resources always become entangled in complex political, legal, environmental, and economic considerations. This book focuses on the issues that face all international river basins by examining in detail the Nile Basin and the ten countries that lay claim to its waters.

John Waterbury applies collective action theory and international relations theory to the challenges of the ten Nile nations. Confronting issues ranging from food security and famine prevention to political stability, these countries have yet to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of how to manage the Nile's resources. Waterbury proposes a series of steps leading to the formulation of environmentally sound policies and regulations by individual states, the establishment of accords among groups of states, and the critical participation of third-party sources of funding like the World Bank. He concludes that if there is to be a solution to the dilemmas of the Nile Basin countries, it must be based upon contractual understandings, brokered by third-party funders, and based on the national interests of each basin state.

Featuring the theme, From Sources to Solution, this book is based on the research papers presented during the International Conference on Environmental Forensics 2013. It covers multi-disciplinary areas of environmental forensics featuring major themes: characterization, assessment, and monitoring; new approach, rapid assessment, and analytical techniques; pollution control technology; environmental health risk assessment; and policy, governance and management. It present information for researchers from the science and social sciences disciplines and contribute to the advancement of Environmental Forensics. It also aims at evaluating the environmental damages as the result of indiscriminating discharge of toxic environmental pollutants.

The 21st century will present unprecedented challenges. Already in its first decade we have seen the dramatic impact of two systemic risks, that of climate change and that of the financial crisis. The cause but also the solution to these crises lies in a deeper understanding of the underlying factors and int- dependencies. New ways must be found to overcome deep obstacles and find common solutions to seemingly intractable problems. The water crisis in the Middle East is a central challenge of the 21st century. The future of the people of the region depends on finding lasting solutions. Due to the exhaustion and pollution of available sources, compounded by climate change, demographic change and economic development, the pressures of water resource management will grow. New solutions must urgently be found as business as usual is not sustainable. This book provides vital new insights into possible elements of a sustainable future in one key area, that of the Jordan River and Dead Sea Basin. The future development of the Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli people depends on finding a just and sustainable system of water resource management in this Basin. Given the potential for regional and other conflicts arising out of tensions over water, the ramifications are wider and even global in significance. This volume provides fresh regional and international perspectives which greatly assist in our understanding of the issues and their possible resolution.

This book examines the energy dimension of the smart city from the perspective of urban planning, providing a complete overview that ranges from theoretical aspects to practical considerations and projects. In addition, it aims to illustrate how the concept of the smart city can enhance understanding of the urban system and foster new forms of management of the metropolis, including with respect to energy supply and use. Specifically, the book explores the different dimensions of the relationship between energy and the city, discusses methodological issues with a special focus on ontological approaches to sustainability, and describes practices, tools, and good examples of energy-related urban planning. The authors represent the main Italian research groups working in the field, Italy being an excellent example of a country exposed to energy problems due to, for example, vulnerability to climate change and lack of primary energy resources. This book will be valuable for students of urban planning, town planners, and researchers interested in understanding the changing nature of the city and the challenges posed by energy issues.

This book studies the art and science of analyzing, assessing and anticipating environmental change. Among the issues considered are the observational evidence, the changing public perception of the environment, functions of the environment and its use. Coverage also reviews a series of four prominent cases, namely climate change, the emissions of gasoline lead into the atmosphere and water bodies, fisheries policies and the management of marine oil pollution.

This book highlights state-of-the-art research and practices for adaptation to climate change in food production systems (agriculture in particular) as observed in Japan and neighboring Asian countries. The main topics covered include the current scientific understanding of observed and projected climate change impacts on crop production and quality, modeling of autonomous and planned adaptation, and development of early warning and/or support systems for climate-related decision-making. Drawing on concrete real-world examples, the book provides readers with an essential overview of adaptation, from research to system development to practices, taking agriculture in Asia as the example. As such, it offers a valuable asset for all researchers and policymakers whose work involves adaptation planning, climate negotiations, and/or agricultural developments.

Water - and its governance - is becoming a global concern partly because it is turning into a goods in short supply, with devastating effects on literally billions of people, but also because it is the "carrier" ofglobal warming; whether through irregular weather patterns or through flooding, water is how global warming will be 'felt'. The lion's share of the globally available fresh water resources is to be found in transboundary systems. In spite of its significance, the generated knowledge on how to deal with transboundary waters is weak and leaves policy makers with seemingly unavoidable, trade-off dilemmas and prioritizations, often with detrimental effects. In order to disentangle this predicament this volume works with one case: the Lower Mekong Basin and covers state-of-the-art academic and practitioners' knowledge and hence appeals to a wide audience. The topic this volume addresses is situated in the nexus ofan IR- (International Relations) approach focussing on transboundary politics and its inclination to remain within the sphere of state sovereignty and national interest on the one hand, and Development studies, with its imperatives on participation, planning, and intervention, on the other.The dilemma, we argue, of better understanding transboundary water management lies in how to understand how these two rationalities can be simultaneously nurtured.
"Audience: "This book will be relevant to scholars, as it provides cutting-edge research, and students, since it covers the primary debates in the field, interested in resource management, regional politics, and development issues in the area. It also addresses the global debate on transboundary water management and presents an in-depth case of one of the globally most sophisticated attempts at pursuing sustainable river basin management. Finally, practitioners and policymakers would benefit greatly because all contributions have explicit policy relevance, launching suggestion on improvements in water management.

Energy and environmental security are major problems facing our global economy. Fossil fuels, particularly crude oil, are confined to a few regions of the world and the continuity of supply is governed by dynamic political, economic and ecological factors. These factors conspire to force volatile, often high fuel prices while, at the same time, environmental policy is - manding a reduction in greenhouse gases and toxic emissions. Yet incr- sed growth and demand for welfare by developed and developing countries are placing higher pressure on energy resources. In particular, a large fraction of "new consumers" in developing countries already reached a purchasing power high enough as to be able to access to commodity and energy markets worldwide, thus boosting energy consumption and competition for all kinds of resources. Such a trend, although in principle may represent a progress towards diffuse welfare and wealth as well as much needed equity, is at present contributing to a rush for the appropriation of available resources which are directly and indirectly linked to energy and may contribute to planetary instability if it is not adequately understood and managed. A coherent energy strategy is required, addressing both energy supply and demand, security of access, development problems, equity, market dy- mics, by also taking into account the whole energy lifecycle including fuel production, transmission and distribution, energy conversion, and the impact on energy equipment manufacturers and the end-users of energy systems.

This book performs a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis to examine the current food crisis and how it relates to the use of crops for energy. It analyses how energy crops may help solve humankind's environmental changes and summarises the economic and practical changes of cultivating and utilising energy crops. Two of humanity's greatest challenges are the need for more food production as well as growing demands for energy. Biofuel cultivation has been identified as a solution to growing energy use, and biomass power plants offer a rare renewable energy source that requires only basic technology. In this context, a dilemma arises concerning whether energy crops should be used for energy or to help remedy the food crisis. SWOT analysis allows us to organise and weigh different pros and cons against each other in terms of economics, job creation, environmental impacts, the climate change agenda, and European Union (EU) directives that promote biofuels over fossil fuels. By pursuing this approach, the book helps researchers and decision-makers cut through the many competing arguments in connection with this complex subject.

Playing a critical role in both influencing climate change and mitigating its impacts, the world's diverse wetlands have become one of the world's most threatened ecosystems as unsustainable land-use practices coupled with irrational use of water have already resulted in large-scale wetlands loss and degradation. To develop sound management and conservation schemes to assure wetlands sustainability in the long term requires long-term understanding of wetlands ecology. Yet until now, long-term interdisciplinary research into these systems has been limited to only a few systems from tropical or temperate climates (such as the Florida Everglades, and Czech biosphere reserve). This new book adds to the existing wetlands literature, providing a unique reference in basic and applied Mediterranean wetland ecology, based on results from long-term interdisciplinary research at the RAMSAR and UNESCO Biosphere site, of Las Tablas de Daimiel, Spain. Dating back to the early 1990s the research highlights changes in the biotic and abiotic environment in response to cumulative anthropogenic stressors, and provide guidance on applying this understand to sound management and conservation. With particular relevance to researchers dealing with semi-arid wetlands in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, as well as to resource managers, the book discusses the complexity of the interacting abiotic and biotic environment across different spatial and temporal scales and across various levels of biological hierarchy is highlighted, and reveals how management based on poor knowledge causes more damage than repair. The book will be of interest to researchers interested in freshwater ecology, hydrobotany, hydrology, geology, biogeochemistry, landscape ecology and environmental management.

The subjects refer to histories of ancient and modern use of seacoasts; possible macro-projects capable of massive changes in the coastlines of the Dead Sea, Red Sea and Persian Gulf caused by canal and massively scaled hydropower dam installations; relevant macro-projects for the Black Sea and Baltic Sea; possibilities of refreshment of the Aral Sea and Iran 's Lake Uremia with seawater or river freshwater importation macro-projects; potential rehabilitation of some vital arid zone regions now dominated by moving or movable surface granular materials using unique and unusual macro-projects; seawater flooding of land regions situated below present-day global sea-level; harnessing energy and obtaining freshwater from the world 's salt-laden ocean by modern industrial means; various macro-projects designed specifically for the protection (reduction of vulnerability) of particular Earth geographical regions.

This compendium of 29 chapters from 18 countries contains both fundamental and advanced insight into the inevitable shift from cities dominated by the fossil-fuel systems of the industrial age to a renewable-energy based urban development framework. The cross-disciplinary handbook covers a range of diverse yet relevant topics, including: carbon emissions policy and practice; the role of embodied energy; urban thermal performance planning; building efficiency services; energy poverty alleviation efforts; renewable community support networks; aspects of household level bio-fuel markets; urban renewable energy legislation, programs and incentives; innovations in individual transport systems; global urban mobility trends; implications of intelligent energy networks and distributed energy supply and storage; and the case for new regional monetary systems and lifestyles. Presented are practical and principled aspects of technology, economics, design, culture and society, presenting perspectives that are both local and international in scope and relevance.

This volume brings together, in a central text, chapters written by leading scholars working at the intersection of modeling, the natural and social sciences, and public participation. This book presents the current state of knowledge regarding the theory and practice of engaging stakeholders in environmental modeling for decision-making, and includes basic theoretical considerations, an overview of methods and tools available, and case study examples of these principles and methods in practice. Although there has been a significant increase in research and development regarding participatory modeling, a unifying text that provides an overview of the different methodologies available to scholars and a systematic review of case study applications has been largely unavailable. This edited volume seeks to address a gap in the literature and provide a primer that addresses the growing demand to adopt and apply a range of modeling methods that includes the public in environmental assessment and management. The book is divided into two main sections. The first part of the book covers basic considerations for including stakeholders in the modeling process and its intersection with the theory and practice of public participation in environmental decision-making. The second part of the book is devoted to specific applications and products of the various methods available through case study examination. This second part of the book also provides insight from several international experts currently working in the field about their approaches, types of interactions with stakeholders, models produced, and the challenges they perceived based on their practical experiences.

Firmly rooted in the theory and practice of sustainable development, this book offers a comprehensive resource on sustainability, focusing on both industrialized and developing nations. Implementing Campus Greening Initiatives: Approaches, Methods and Perspectives is an attempt to promote and disseminate the work being done in this field by universities around the world. The need to integrate the principles and concepts of green campuses and sustainability into the core of students' educational experiences, from high school to college or university, has now been broadly recognized. By doing so, we can ensure that the students of today and tomorrow will acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to create a more sustainable economy and social environment.

This book describes the current environmental changes due to global warming in northern Eurasia, especially focusing on eastern Siberia. Spring flooding, ice-jam movements, and monitoring using remote sensing are included. Additionally, current reindeer herding of indigenous peoples in Siberia and related environmental changes such as waterlogging, rising temperatures, and vegetation changes are addressed. As a summary, the book also introduces readers to adaptation strategies at several governmental levels. The book primarily focuses on 1) introducing readers to global warming and human-nature dynamics in Siberia, with special emphasis on humidification of the region in the mid-2000s, and 2) describing social adaptation to the changing terrestrial ecosystem, with an emphasis on water environments. Adaptation strategies based on vulnerability assessments of environmental changes in northern Eurasia are crucial topics for intergovernmental organizations, such as the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Thus, the book offers a valuable resource not only for environmental researchers but also for several stakeholders regarding global environmental change.

Tree improvement is necessary to meet the growing demand for renewable wood resource and the time is ripe for a critical evaluation of the chances and challenges of tree transgenesis. This book provides an up-to-date review of the present state of genetic engineering of trees. Biosafety and risk assessment are treated in detail, and future experimental tasks are discussed. The book provides a sound basis for decision-making processes in politics.

This is a very exciting book. Water security is a current and very important topic, but at the same time, the term is used in many different ways. Rather than suppressing this diversity, it is embraced here and used as a strength to illuminate the various possible meanings of the term - and their implications, which are assessed in a critical way by a group of excellent authors. This book will play a central role in the debate on water governance for years to come.' - Dave Huitema, Netherlands Open University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands'Water security has risen to the top of the international agenda for policymakers and enterprise. This comprehensive and insightful volume advances our understanding of water security by drawing on leading researchers from a range of disciplines - but with a common focus: identifying pathways to adaptive governance in a context of complexity and rapid environmental change. It provides an indispensable resource for researchers and practitioners.' - Dustin Garrick, McMaster University, US Water security has received increasing attention in the scientific and public policy communities in recent years. The Handbook on Water Security is a much-needed resource that helps the reader navigate between the differing interpretations of water security. It explains the various dimensions of the topic by approaching it both conceptually and thematically, as well as in relation to experiences in different regions of the world. The international contributors explore the various perspectives on water security to show that it has multiple meanings that cannot easily be reconciled. Topics discussed include: challenges from human security to consumerism, how trade policies can help to achieve water security in a transboundary setting, the potential of risk-based governance arrangements and the ecology of water security. Scholars and postgraduate students in the social sciences working on water-related issues will find this book to be of substantial interest. It will strongly appeal to policymakers and practitioners looking at the strengths and limitations of water security. Contributors: L. Addams, J. Allouche, L.Auguste, K. Bakker, M.H.N. Bakker, M. Ballesteros, A. Bhaduri, J. Bogardi, H.G. Brauch, S.E. Bunn, I. Burgher, N. Cenacchi, K.I. Conti, C. Cook, A.C. de la Cruz, J.W. Dellapenna, L. De Stefano, P. Droogers, S. Elsawah, I. Fischhendler, A. Garrido, S. Gruber, J. Gupta, N. Hernandez-Mora, P. Huntjens, A.J. Jakeman, K. Knuppe, N. Kukuri , F.P. Lansigan, K. Lexen, J. Liu, E. Lopez-Gunn, F. Ludwig, J.H. Matthews, L. Mehta, R. Meissner, F. Meza, D. Nathan, A. Nicol, P. Obani, U. Oswald Spring, C. Pahl-Wostl, M.J. Patrick, C. Ringler, D. Rodriguez, C.A. Scott, S. Srivastava, B. Stewart-Koster, T.B. Sulser, R. Treguer, M. van den Heuvel, H. van Schaik, B.A. Willaarts, J. Xia, H. Yang, T. Zhu

Contains details on the geological units of Nigeria and the associated mineral resources. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 discusses the geology of the crystalline rocks and their regional distribution while the sedimentary basins constitute the subject of Part 2. Part 3 takes the mineral resources of Nigeria one on one, their geological environment, mode of occurrence, localities and where possible the reserves estimation. Thereafter, an account of the previous and current mining policies (including that of petroleum) of the Nigerian government is given and goes ahead to list some specific investment opportunities in the solid minerals sector.

The authors of this book, who represent a broad range of scientific disciplines, discuss the issue of centralized versus decentralized control and regulation in the context of sustainable development. The stability and resilience of complex technical, economic, societal and political systems are commonly assumed to be highly dependent on the effectiveness of sophisticated, mainly centralized regulation and control systems and governance structures, respectively. In nature, however, life is mainly self-regulated by widespread, mainly DNA-encoded control mechanisms. The fact that life has endured for more than 2.4 billion years suggests that, for man-made systems, decentralized control concepts are superior to centralized ones. The authors discuss benefits and drawbacks of both approaches to achieving sustainability, providing valuable information for students and professional decision makers alike.

This 32-chapter volume represents the core of several oral and poster presentations made at the conference. In addition to Introduction and Conclusion sections, the book is thematically divided into 7 sections, namely, 1) Land Use and Farming Systems, 2) Effects of Climate Change on Crop Yield, 3) Soil Nutrient and Water Management for Carbon Sequestration, 4) Rehabilitation of Degraded Lands through Forestry and Agroforestry, 5) Management of Animal Production for Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 6) Smallholder Adaptation to Climate Change, and 7) Economic, Social and Policy Issues. It addresses these themes in the context of sustainable intensification (SI). It implies increasing agronomic production from the existing land while improving/restoring its quality and decreasing the C or environmental footprint. Simply put, SI means producing more from less.