Access to reliable and affordable energy, water, and services is an important determinant of the prosperity of cities along with effective mission sustainment at military installations. The idea for this book was conceived at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) in June 2012 in Hella, Iceland. The workshop was attended by 50 scientists, engineers, and policymakers representing 15 different nations and multiple fields of expertise, reflecting the global and interdisciplinary nature of climate change and sustainability research. The focus of the workshop was on ways in which military installations and small cities can integrate energy, water, and infrastructure sustainability strategies into city and installation management plans that account for climate change uncertainties. The organization of the book reflects major topic sessions and discussions during the workshop.

With remarkable vision, Prof. Otto Hutzinger initiated The Handbook of Envir- mental Chemistry in 1980 and became the founding Editor-in-Chief. At that time, environmental chemistry was an emerging ?eld, aiming at a complete description of the Earth's environment, encompassing the physical, chemical, biological, and geological transformations of chemical substances occurring on a local as well as a global scale. Environmental chemistry was intended to provide an account of the impact of man's activities on the natural environment by describing observed changes. While a considerable amount of knowledge has been accumulated over the last three decades, as re?ected in the more than 70 volumes of The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, there are still many scienti?c and policy challenges ahead due to the complexity and interdisciplinary nature of the ?eld. The series will therefore continue to provide compilations of current knowledge. Contri- tions are written by leading experts with practical experience in their ?elds. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry grows with the increases in our scienti?c understanding, and provides a valuable source not only for scientists but also for environmental managers and decision-makers. Today, the series covers a broad range of environmental topics from a chemical perspective, including methodol- ical advances in environmental analytical chemistry.

This edited volume gives an insight into climate and energy protection in China and the European Union (EU). By taking a closer look at the EU and China seperately, the book presents the current situation in terms of environmental policy and energy use/ consumption in EU as well as in China. The book broaches the collaboration of the EU and China regarding climate and energy protection. The target audience primarily comprises research experts in the field of climate research as well as public decision makers.

The Mediterranean basin represents one of the most important "hot spots" of climate change in the world, with recent trends towards a hotter and drier climate being related to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns. Such changes can have significant impacts in the climate of this region but also on the natural environment and several socioeconomic activities. Among these patterns, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is one of the main forcing factors in the region with impact on extreme events such as droughts, severe precipitations or heat and cold waves, the availability of water resources, the ecological dynamics, the quality and quantity of crops, the migration and welfare of animal populations, the fisheries dynamics, the triggering of landslides and the air pollution and human health, among others. The aim of Hydrological, Socioeconomic and Ecological Impacts of the North Atlantic Oscillation in the Mediterranean Region, is to serve as an updated reference text that covers the wide range of evidences on the NAO impacts in the Mediterranean regions and from a multidisciplinary perspective. This volume constitutes a unique document to present the state of the art of the numerous studies undertaken on the hydrological, socioeconomic and ecological impact of the NAO, collecting the expertise of researchers from several complementary earth science fields (geography, hydrology, remote-sensing, climatology, agriculture, energy), but that have been lacking a common ground.

This innovative volume gathers some of the world's best scholars to analyse the world's collective international efforts to address globalised threats through global security governance. Addressing global and planetary forms of insecurity that include nuclear weapons, conventional arms, gender violence, climate change, disease, bio weapons, cyber-conflict, children in conflict, crimes against humanity, and refugees, this timely book critiques how they are addressed by global institutions and regimes, and advocates important conceptual, institutional, and policy reforms. This is an invaluable resource for students, scholars and policymakers in international health, security and development.

Phytoremediation is an emerging technology that employs higher plants for the clean-up of contaminated environments. Basic and applied research have unequivocally demonstrated that selected plant species possess the genetic potential to accumulate, degrade, metabolize and immobilize a wide range of contaminants. The main focus of this volume is on the recent advances of technologies using green plants for remediation of various metals and metalloids. Topics include biomonitoring of heavy metal pollution, amendments of higher uptake of toxic metals, transport of heavy metals in plants, and toxicity mechanisms. Further chapters discuss agro-technological methods for minimizing pollution while improving soil quality, transgenic approaches to heavy metal remediation and present protocols for metal remediation via in vitro root cultures.

Beginning with an overview of data and concepts developed in the EU-project HABIT-CHANGE, this book addresses the need for sharing knowledge and experience in the field of biodiversity conservation and climate change. There is an urgent need to build capacity in protected areas to monitor, assess, manage and report the effects of climate change and their interaction with other pressures. The contributors identify barriers to the adaptation of conservation management, such as the mismatch between planning reality and the decision context at site level. Short and vivid descriptions of case studies, drawn from investigation areas all over Central and Eastern Europe, illustrate both the local impacts of climate change and their consequences for future management. These focus on ecosystems most vulnerable to changes in climatic conditions, including alpine areas, wetlands, forests, lowland grasslands and coastal areas. The case studies demonstrate the application of adaptation strategies in protected areas like National Parks, Biosphere Reserves and Natural Parks, and reflect the potential benefits as well as existing obstacles. A general section provides the necessary background information on climate trends and their effects on abiotic and biotic components. Often, the parties to policy change and conservation management, including managers, land users and stakeholders, lack both expertise and incentives to undertake adaptation activities. The authors recognise that achieving the needed changes in behavior - habit - is as much a social learning process as a matter of science-based procedure. They describe the implementation of modeling, impact assessment and monitoring of climate conditions, and show how the results can support efforts to increase stakeholder involvement in local adaptation strategies. The book concludes by pointing out the need for more work to communicate the cross-sectoral nature of biodiversity protection, the value of well-informed planning in the long-term process of adaptation, the definition of acceptable change, and the motivational value of exchanging experience and examples of good practice.

Technological innovation combined with scientific research has always constituted a driving force of transformation in our societies. At the same time, it is no longer simply possible to transfer technologies from the North to the South; it is also essential to consider technical innovations that are adapted to the social, environmental, cultural and economic conditions of receiving countries, and which can be appropriated by their potential users and as such prove to be real technologies for fostering development.

The first International Scientific Conference on the topic organized by the UNESCO Chair Technologies for Development at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in 2010 focused on its four priority sectors: Technologies for Sustainable Development of Habitat and Cities, ICTs for the Environment, Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Technologies for the Production of Sustainable Energy.

This volume reflects the main outcomes of the conference and provides some significant orientation and success criteria for the effective implementation and use of innovative technologies, their aims, their particular applications in the context of developing countries, their accessibility for users, and their appropriation by producers and stakeholders in the field of development both in the North and South, thus ensuring their sustainability. This kind of scientific cooperation also highlights the added values for northern researchers in sharing their knowledge and know-how, leading to a real win-win partnership.

The authors gathered within this book include representatives from academic and research institutions and other organizations from diverse countries and offer a significant synergy of competences, approaches and disciplines. "

Rising sea levels and altered weather patterns are expected to significantly alter coastal and inland environments for humans, infrastructure and ecosystems. Potential land-use changes and population increases, coupled with uncertain predictions for sea level rise and storm frequency/intensity represent a significant planning challenge. While efforts to mitigate climate change continue, plans must be made to adapt to the risks that climate change poses to humans, infrastructure, and ecosystems alike. This book addresses integrated environmental assessment and management as part of the nexus of climate change adaptation. Risk analysis has emerged as a useful approach to guide assessment, communication and management of security risks. However, with respect to climate change, an integrated, multi-criteria, multi-hazard, risk-informed decision framework is desirable for evaluating adaptation strategies. The papers in Part 1 summarize societal and political needs for climate change adaptation. Part 2 includes papers summarizing the state of the art in climate change adaptation. Three further parts cover: the process of change in coastal regions, in inland regions, and, finally, the potential challenges to homeland security for national governments. Each of these parts reviews achievements, identifies gaps in current knowledge, and suggests research priorities.

This book details the plant-assisted remediation method, "phytoremediation", which involves the interaction of plant roots and associated rhizospheric microorganisms for the remediation of soil contaminated with high levels of metals, pesticides, solvents, radionuclides, explosives, crude oil, organic compounds and various other contaminants. Each chapter highlights and compares the beneficial and economical alternatives of phytoremediation to currently practiced soil removal and burial practices.

The 'Year' That Changed How We View the North This book is about a new theoretical approach that transformed the field of Arctic social studies and about a program called International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) that altered the position of social research within the broader polar science. The concept for IPY was developed in 2003-2005; its vision was for researchers from many nations to work together to gain cro- disciplinary insight into planetary processes, to explore and increase our understanding of the polar regions, the Arctic and Antarctica, and of their roles in the global system. IPY 2007-2008, the fourth program of its kind, followed in the footsteps of its predecessors, the first IPY in 1882-1883, the second IPY in 1932-1933, and the third IPY (later renamed to 'International Geophysical Year' or IGY) in 1957-1958. All earlier IPY/IGY have been primarily geophysical initiatives, with their focus on meteorology, atmospheric and geomagnetic observations, and with additional emphasis on glaciology and sea ice circulation. As such, they excluded socio-economic disciplines and polar indigenous people, often deliberately, except for limited ethnographic and natural history collection work conducted by some expeditions of the first IPY. That once dominant vision biased heavily towards geophysics, oceanography, and ice-sheets, left little if any place for people, that is, the social sciences and the humanities, in what has been commonly viewed as the 'hard-core' polar research.

This book brings together authors with expertise in a wide range of fields to provide an up to the minute overview of the most important problems relating to mercury in the environment. The book reflects growing concern over the likelihood of harmful effects to human health and sensitive ecosystems posed by mercury in the light of increasing fossil fuel combustion, mercury use in a range of manufactured goods, and the lack of emission control policies. Concern has been expressed at local, national, and international levels; in the last three years both the European Commission and UNEP have published reports on mercury in the environment. Growing concern has led to an increased effort to understand the fate of mercury in the environment, including primary production and trade in mercury, emissions from manufacturing and power generation, natural emissions and re-emission, atmospheric transport and transformation, deposition patterns, uptake by biota, and eventual health impacts on living organisms. The increasing specialisation, and amount of research in the numerous scientific fields associated with the study of the fate of mercury in the environment, make the publication of this book both necessary and timely. For experts, and non-experts, who require both the broader picture, as well as an awareness of the latest progress in the fields relevant to mercury research, this book provides the most comprehensive and up to date overview available. The book has five sections.

"Natural resource Engineering" examines the physics and engineering aspects of soil and water-qulaity preservation. Topics include a quantitative overview of the hydrologic cycle, upland erosion and water quality, stream channel design, hydraulics of common management structures, ponds and embankments, drainage and irrigation, and stream and lake quality issues.

This practical text and reference:
Covers a diverse range of topics in the forefront of natural resources engineering
Stresses fundamentals, building on traditional agricultural engineering soil and water teachings
Contains chapter learning goals to help structure student study
Provides useful Internet addresses for current information and practical tips
Helps students and practicing professionals prepare environmentally friendly solutions for clients engaging in agricultural production and related commercial activities

This book gathers contributions discussing climate change in Egypt from an agricultural perspective. Written by leading experts, it presents state-of-the-art insights and the latest research developments in light of the most recent IPCC report. Focusing on identifying the specific phenomena that affect climate change in Egypt, the book also addresses the effects of climate change in Egypt, particularly examining the quality and quantity of water resources as well as the socio-economic impacts of climate change on agricultural activities. Furthermore, it explores alternative solutions to support agriculture and food security and raises awareness of adaptation and protection as the key to adapting to the risks posed by climate change. Covering the four fundamental pillars of climate change: food security, availability, access and stability, this book is a valuable resource for stakeholders involved in achieving the 2030 sustainable development goals in Egypt and all countries with similar climatic conditions. It is also a unique source of information and updates on climate change impacts for graduates, researchers, policy planners, and decision-makers.

Since 2008, the Global Center of Excellence (COE) at Kyoto University, Japan, has been engaged in a program called "Energy Science in the Age of Global Warming-Toward a CO2 Zero-Emission Energy System." Its aim is to establish an international education and research platform to foster educators, researchers, and policy makers who can develop technologies and propose policies for establishing a CO2 zero-emission society no longer dependent on fossil fuels. It is well known that the energy problem cannot simply be labeled a technological one, as it is also deeply involved with social and economic issues. The establishment of a "low-carbon energy science" as an interdisciplinary field integrating social sciences with natural sciences is necessary. The Global COE is setting out a zero-emission technology roadmap and is promoting socioeconomic studies of energy, studies of new technologies for renewable energies, and research for advanced nuclear energy. It has also established the Global COE Unit for Energy Science Education to support young researchers as they apply their skills and knowledge and a broad international perspective to respond to issues of energy and the environment in our societies. Comprising the proceedings of the Third International Symposium of the Global COE Program, this book follows on the earlier volumes Zero-Carbon Energy Kyoto 2009 and 2010, published in March 2010 and February 2011, respectively.

The assessment of greenhouse gases emitted to and removed from the atmosphere is high on the international political and scientific agendas. Growing international concern and cooperation regarding the climate change problem have increased the need for policy-oriented solutions to the issue of uncertainty in, and related to, inventories of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The approaches to addressing uncertainty discussed here reflect attempts to improve national inventories, not only for their own sake but also from a wider, systems analytical perspective - a perspective that seeks to strengthen the usefulness of national inventories under a compliance and/or global monitoring and reporting framework. These approaches demonstrate the benefits of including inventory uncertainty in policy analyses. The authors of the contributed papers show that considering uncertainty helps avoid situations that can, for example, create a false sense of certainty or lead to invalid views of subsystems. This may eventually prevent related errors from showing up in analyses. However, considering uncertainty does not come for free. Proper treatment of uncertainty is costly and demanding because it forces us to make the step from "simple to complex" and only then to discuss potential simplifications. Finally, comprehensive treatment of uncertainty does not offer policymakers quick and easy solutions.

This book intends to be an alert to the fact that the curve measuring environmental costs against the economic benefits of capitalism has irreversibly entered into a negative phase. The prospect of an environmental collapse has been evidenced by the sciences and the humanities since the 1960s. Today, it imposes its urgency. This collapse differs from past civilizations in that it is neither local nor just civilizational. It is global and occurs at the broadest level of the biosphere, accelerated by the convergence of different socio-environmental crises, such as: Earth energy imbalance, climate change and global warming Sea-level rise Decrease and degradation of forests Collapse of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity Floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather events Degradation of soils and water resources Increase in pollution caused by fossil fuels and coal Increase in waste production and industrial intoxication The book is divided in two parts. In the first part it presents a comprehensive review of scientific data to show the already visible effects of each of the different environmental crises and its consequences to human life on Earth. In the second part, Luiz Marques critically discusses what he calls the three concentric illusions that prevent us from realizing the gravity of the current socio-environmental crises: the illusion of a sustainable capitalism, the illusion that economic growth is still capable of providing more well-being and the anthropocentric illusion. Finally, Marques argues that "fitting" back into the biosphere will only be possible if we dismantle the expansive socioeconomic gear that has shaped our societies since the 16th century by moving from a Social Contract to a Natural Contract, which takes into account the whole biosphere. According to him, the future society will be post-capitalist or it will not be a complex society, and even perhaps, we must fear, no society at all. "This book is backed up with the latest and best science and has made the complexities understandable for the average reader, all in a context of hope for the future." - William J. Ripple, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Ecology, Director of the Alliance of World Scientists, Oregon State University

Flash floods typically develop in a period a few hours or less and can arise from heavy rainfall and other causes, such as dam or flood defence breaches, and ice jam breaks. The rapid development, often associated with a high debris content, can present a considerable risk to people and property. This book describes recent developments in techniques for monitoring and forecasting the development of flash floods, and providing flood warnings. Topics which are discussed include rainfall and river monitoring, nowcasting, Numerical Weather Prediction, rainfall-runoff modelling, and approaches to the dissemination of flood warnings and provision of an emergency response.

The book is potentially useful on civil engineering, water resources, meteorology and hydrology courses (and for post graduate studies) but is primarily intended as a review of the topic for a wider audience.

This book describes the principles of integrated assessment models (IAM) for climate change economics and introduces various computable models for different development mechanisms under climate change governance. The authors present several new models they have constructed based on the RICE framework, specifically the MRICES((multi-factor RICE)) and EMRICES models, which incorporate global economic interactions into the RICE framework, and the CINCIA model, which describes technological advances and industrial structure evolution, introducing the mechanism of evolutionary economics. The models discussed in the book help governments and policy-makers tackle climate change and take positive measures on climate governance as well as promote economic and social development to narrow the gaps between countries.

Nitrous oxide gas is a long-lived relatively active greenhouse gas (GHG) with an atmospheric lifetime of approximately 120 years, and heat trapping effects about 310 times more powerful than carbon dioxide per molecule basis. It contributes about 6% of observed global warming. Nitrous oxide is not only a potent GHG, but it also plays a significant role in the depletion of stratospheric ozone. This book describes the anthropogenic sources of N2O with major emphasis on agricultural activities. It summarizes an overview of global cycling of N and the role of nitrous oxide on global warming and ozone depletion, and then focus on major source, soil borne nitrous oxide emissions. The spatial-temporal variation of soil nitrous oxide fluxes and underlying biogeochemical processes are described, as well as approaches to quantify fluxes of N2O from soils. Mitigation strategies to reduce the emissions, especially from agricultural soils, and fertilizer nitrogen sources are described in detail in the latter part of the book.

The ocean is the ultimate sink for all liquid waste and has for many years been the recipient of both treated and untreated sewage waste. This book offers a comprehensive study on the subject of ocean disposal of these effluents. The early chapters cover the philosophy of outfall design, properties of sewage from developed towns and an overview of water quality regulations in New Zealand, Great Britain and the U.S. Alternative ways of satisfying these regulations are discussed. The book also provides information required to design outfall pipelines and diffusers. The methods of calculating the initial dilution and the investigations necessary to compute the further dispersion of the effluent are discussed. A brief discussion of the problems of salt water intrusion, of outfall construction and post construction monitoring is presented at the end of the book.

This book presents a global overview examining monsoon variability in South Asia, Australian, South America and North American, as well as a focus on glaciers and monsoon systems. Monsoon systems are important components of the Earth's climate and play fundamental roles in water and energy balances. The variability and changes in the monsoons affect millions of people and the economies of many countries. This book presents the physical mechanisms involved with monsoon systems, including recent modeling advances addressing climate changes and future projections. The Monsoons and Climate Change will be of interest to both graduate students and researchers.

The first volume in this new text book series covers comprehensively relevant aspects related to the appearance and characterisation of fossil matter in the geosphere such as kerogen, oil, shales and coals. As organic geochemistry is a modern scientific subject characterized by a high transdisciplinarity and located at the edge of chemistry, environmental sciences, geology and biology, there clearly is a need for a flexible offer of appropriate academic teaching material on an undergraduat level addressed to the variety of students coming originally from different study disciplines. For such a flexible usage this textbook series' consists of different volumes with clear defined aspects and with manageable length.