and used in munitions. Rather the requirements for the agent's military effects took precedence. In addition, the interaction among the political, technical, and legal challenges connected with the known or possible risks posed by CW agents is complex and sometimes not well understood. This is usually because technical considerations, when acted on, are almost invariably informed by political ones, such as various legal requirements. The book contains nine chapters covering different aspects of the research on environmental consequences of war and its aftermath and covers in one additional chapter more general issues such as prevention of war and its environmental c- sequences, the legal, political, and technical background to selected environmental and human health effects of CW agents, and the atmospheric transport and depo- tion of persistent organic pollutants under warfare conditions to more specific ones related to two main tragic examples: the war in the Balkans and the Gulf War. Aspects of the war in the Balkans cover contamination by heavy metals in Serbian national parks, the impact of NATO strikes on the Danube river basin, and the problems associated with transuranium elements. The Gulf War in Kuwait covers other problems related to the impact of oil contamination, the impact on grou- water resources, and the soil damage of ground fortifications among other envir- mental and health problems.

In this book the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) patterns of decadal-to-multidecadal variability observed and simulated by 17 general circulation models (GCMs) are analyzed. Furthermore, their impact on precipitation in West Africa and South America and the atmospheric mechanisms involved are assessed. Through this analysis, the effect of external forcings on these impacts and the relative contribution of decadal-to-multidecadal variability patterns of SST to precipitation are presented in depth. Finally, a humid period in the West African region of the Sahel during the 19th century, previously little documented, is analyzed using an atmospheric GCM. The monsoons of West Africa and South America have shown changes in the timescales of a few decades. Previous work suggests a relationship with patterns of decadal-to-multidecadal variability of SST, such as global warming and the Atlantic and Pacific variability. However, the dynamics underlying this relationship and its simulation by current GCMs had not been addressed in a consistent manner. This is the main motivation of this book. The results of this book not only represent a great step forward in our understanding of the changes in the precipitation regimes of the studied regions, but they can also be of great help for the improvement of decadal prediction systems and the associated social consequences.

The book outlines the climate change adaptation (CCA) actions in Bangladesh drawing examples and lessons from different projects and programs in the country. The content is based on a selection of available documents, a consultative workshop with the academicians from different universities undertaking higher education on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, and the editors' own knowledge and experience in the field. The book has four parts. Part I gives the details of climate change impacts, providing the scenarios, negotiations, and specific impacts on sea-level rise and the health sectors. Part II focuses on climate change strategy and action plans. Part III covers socio-economic impacts in terms of economic and environmental costs. Part IV focuses on adaptive actions for agriculture, livelihoods, and integrated approaches in agriculture and fisheries. Part V deals with climate-change governance issues. The primary target groups for this book are students and researchers in the fields of environment, disaster risk reduction, and climate change studies. The book will provide them with a good idea of the current trend of research in the field and will furnish basic knowledge on this important topic in Bangladesh. Another target group comprises practitioners and policy makers, who will be able to apply collective knowledge to policy and decision making.

Climate change and other global environmental changes deserve attention by the the humanities - they are caused mainly by human attitudes and activities and feed back to human societies. Focussing on religion allows for analysis of various human modes of perception, action and thought in relation to global environmental change. On the one hand, religious organizations are aiming to become "greener"; on the other hand, some religious ideas and practices display fatalism towards impacts of climate change. What might be the fate of different religions in an ever-warming world? This book gathers recent research on functions of religion in climate change from theological, ethical, philosophical, anthropological, historical and earth system analytical perspectives. Charting the spread from regional case studies to global-scale syntheses, the authors demonstrate that world religions and indigenous belief systems are already responding in highly dynamic ways to ongoing and projected climate changes - in theory and practice, for better or for worse. The book establishes the research field "religion in climate change" and identifies avenues for future research across disciplines. >

This proceedings volume contains the invited and a selection of the contributed papers of the 8th International Workshop on Sulfur Metabolism in Higher Plants, which was held at Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science, University of Melbourne, Water Street, Creswick, Victoria 3363, Australia from November 22-27, 2010. Content of the volume shows that the understanding of sulfur metabolism in plants and the interaction of the environment are rapidly progressing.

This volume covers various aspects of the regulation of sulfate uptake and assimilation in plants, from a cellular to a whole plant level, and additionally emphasizes interactions with other minerals. Moreover the significance of sulfur metabolism in biotic and abiotic stress responses, in food security and quality, and in relation to interactions with global change factors is discussed in detail.

Sustainable Automotive Energy System in China aims at identifying and addressing the key issues of automotive energy in China in a systematic way, covering demography, economics, technology and policy, based on systematic and in-depth, multidisciplinary and comprehensive studies. Five scenarios of China's automotive energy development are created to analyze the possible contributions in the fields of automotive energy, vehicle fuel economy improvement, electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles and the 2nd generation biofuel development. Thanks to this book, readers can gain a better understanding of the nature of China's automotive energy development and be informed about: 1) the current status of automotive energy consumption, vehicle technology development, automotive energy technology development and policy; 2) the future of automotive energy development, fuel consumption, propulsion technology penetration and automotive energy technology development, and 3) the pathways of sustainable automotive energy transformation in China, in particular, the technological and the policy-related options. This book is intended for researchers, engineers and graduates students in the low-carbon transportation and environmental protection field. China Automotive Energy Research Center (CAERC), Tsinghua University, established in 2008, is a university-wide interdisciplinary automotive energy research institution affiliated to Laboratory of Low Carbon Energy (LCE), Tsinghua University. More than 30 researchers are working at CAERC, including six full professors. CAERC's mission is to create and disseminate sustainable automotive energy knowledge, research and development of integrated automotive energy system assessment methodologies and models, and provide technological and policy options for sustainable automotive energy system transformation in China and the world.

International experts in the field of oil spill response, including reprsentatives from 26 NATO countries, participated in a workshop in Canada to discuss their experience in the development and application of current and emerging technologies for oil spill response in the marine environment. These presentations which form the basis of chapters in this book provide a practical viewpoint of methods used to deal with oil spills under the variety of environmental conditions found in the marine environment. In particular, focus is given to the evaluation of oil spill countermeasures for use under arctic conditions in light of anticipated regional increases in marine traffic (e.g. Northwest Passage) and industrial activities (e.g. offshore oil and gas exploration) in the future.

This book provides a timely international perspective on applied research and development, technology transfer, and lessons learned from field trials and actual case studies associated with recent spill events. Topics include Preparedness/Contingency Planning, (Eco-terrorism); Oil Spill Fate and Transport (Environmental Persistence, Remote Sensing, modelling, Biodegradation), Biological Effects (Environmental Effects Monitoring and Environmental Risk Assessment); and Operational Response (Containment/Recovery Treating Agents, Shoreline Cleanup, In-situ Burning, Emerging Response Strategies). This book provides a synopsis as to the methods currently employed to deals with spills and an insight on future technologies under development. "

Changes in climate and climate variability have an effect on people's behaviour around the world, and public institutions have an important part to play in influencing our ability to respond to and plan for climate risk. We may be able to reduce climate risk by seeking to mitigate the threat on the one hand, and by adapting to a changed climate on the other. Another theme of the book is the integrated role of adaptation and mitigation in framing issues and performing analyses. Adaptation costs fall most heavily on the poor and special attention needs to be paid to adaptation by the poorest populations. An integrating framework is also presented to provide the context for an expansive typology of terms to apply to adaptation. The 12 papers collected here use methods from a variety of disciplines and focus on different time frames for decision making, from short term to the very long term. Readership: Technically trained readers familiar with the policy issues surrounding climate change and interested in learning the scientific underpinnings of issues related to societal adaptation.

Cities place enormous pressures on freshwater quality and availability because they are often located some distance from the water sources needed by their populations. This fact compels planners to build infrastructure to divert water from increasingly distant outlying rural areas, thus disrupting their social fabric and environment. In addition, increasing urbanization due to population growth, economic change, and sprawl places huge burdens upon the institutions, as well as the infrastructure, that deliver, protect, and treat urban water. This book assesses the challenges facing the world's cities in providing reliable, safe, and plentiful supplies through infrastructural, economic, legal, and political strategies. The book considers engineering, social science, and built environment issues, with close examination of experiences in California and Australia, and their global implications. It addresses urban stream syndrome and related issues' and includes historical as well as contemporary insights into water sustainability in cities. Conservation, wastewater re-use, green infrastructure innovations, and the water energy nexus from the vantage point of urban water management are discussed in depth. The authors conclude that while throughout history cities have faced the twin challenges of too much - or too little - water at inopportune times, the impact of climate extremes on cities makes low-impact developments especially relevant. This comprehensive and timely assessment of the world's urban water-sustainability challenges will be of great interest to both students and academics in the field as well as urban water professionals and decision-makers. With contributions from Stanley B. Grant, Ashmita Sengupta, Lindsey Stuvick, Neeta Bijoor, Michael Sahimi, Meenakshi Arora, Vincent Pettigrove and Kristal Burry

As it becomes clear that climate change is not easily within the boundaries of the 1990 s, society needs to be prepared and needs to anticipate future changes due to the uncertain changes in climate. So far, extensive research has been carried out on several issues including the coastal defence or shifting ecozones. However, the role spatial design and planning can play in adapting to climate change has not yet been focused on.

This book illuminates the way adaptation to climate change is tackled in water management, ecology, coastal defence, the urban environment and energy. The question posed is how each sector can anticipate climate change by creating spatial designs and plans.

The main message of this book is that spatial design and planning are a very useful tool in adapting to climate change. It offers an integral view on the issue, it is capable in dealing with uncertainties and it opens the way to creative and anticipative solutions. Dealing with adaptation to climate change requires a shift in mindset; from a technical rational way of thinking towards an integral proactive one. A new era in spatial design and planning looms on the horizon."

Pollution threatens the Laurentian Great Lakes and is a serious problem. This book examines what is known about the major classes of persistent toxic organic pollutants. Agricultural runoff, urban waste, industrial discharge, landfill leachate, and atmospheric deposition, are all to blame. Contamination of the various ecosystems is reviewed, and what is known about the effects of this pollution. This volume provides an invaluable resource for those in environmental research, measurements, and decision making concerning the Great Lakes.

This book is about the Himalayan ranges as a source of fresh water supply and a perennial store house of ice, snow and permafrost as well as a vast repository of rich biodiversity, in the light of climate change. Special attention is given to the dynamics of snow and glaciers in the northwestern Himalayas, assessment of climate change patterns, and the consequences of changes and flow regime in order to understand the behaviour of climate change in the northwestern Himalayas. The outcome of melting glaciers are pro-glacial lakes. Their increasing size and potential danger of outbursts requires systematic study, particularly where there is the risk of impact on life and property. Furthermore, the changing trend of the hydrological cycle on a regional or local scale is another area of research which calls for the attention of geoscientists. To date there is a scarcity of reliable data meaning that a concerted effort is still required by all parties.

The book is written in the backdrop of the environmental impacts of and future requirements from the natural environment for rapid economic growth that has characterized recent economic history of China and India, especially over the past few decades. The environmental impacts of such rapid economic changes have been, more frequently than otherwise, degrading in character. Environmental impacts of economic activities create degraded natural ecosystems by over utilization of nature's provisioning ecosystem services (from Himalaya to the Ocean), as well, by the use of the natural environment as sink for dumping of unmarketable products or unused inputs of economic activities. Such processes affect wide range of ecosystem processes on which the natural environment including human population depend on. Critical perspectives cast by various chapters in this book draw attention to the various ways in which space and power interact to produce diverse geographies of sustainability in a globalizing world. They also address the questions such as who decides what kind of a spatial arrangement of political power is needed for sustaining the environment. Who stands to gain (or lose) what, when, where, and why from certain geographical areas being demarcated as ecologically unique, fragile and vulnerable environments? Whose needs and values are being catered to by a given ecosystem service? What is the scope for critical inquiry into the ways in which the environment is imagined, represented and resisted in both geopolitical struggles and everyday life? The book provides insights to both academics from diverse disciplines and policy makers, civil society actors interested in mutual exchange of knowledge between China and India.

Western society moved from a period in which Christianity was the dominant spiritual force to one of nationalism and then to making the economy the object of public devotion. Today this is challenged by those seeking the health of the Earth including all its inhabitants. The World Bank is the economistic institution most open to Earthist concerns. This book evaluates the Bank's potential for leadership in broadening public goals from narrowly economic goods to inclusive ones.

In line with COP21 agreements, state-led climate change mitigation and adaptation actions are being undertaken to transition to carbon-neutral, green economies. However, the capacity of many countries for action is limited and may result in a 'boomerang effect', defined as the unintended negative consequences of such policies and programmes on local communities and their negative feedbacks on the state. To avoid this effect, there is a need to understand the policy drivers, decision-making processes, and impacts of such action, in order to determine the ways and means of minimizing negative effects and maximizing mutually beneficial policy outcomes. This book directly engages the policy debates surrounding water resources and climate actions through both theoretical and comparative case studies. It develops the 'boomerang effect' concept and sets it in relation to other conceptual tools for understanding the mixed outcomes of state-led climate change action, for example 'backdraft' effect and 'maldevelopment'. It also presents case studies illustrative of the consequences of ill-considered state-led policy in the water sector from around the world. These include Africa, China, South Asia, South America, the Middle East, Turkey and Vietnam, and examples of groundwater, hydropower development and forest hydrology, where there are often transboundary consequences of a state's policies and actions. In this way, the book adds empirical and theoretical insights to a still developing debate regarding the appropriate ways and means of combating climate change without undermining state and social development.

Most, if not all of the global biogeochemical cycles on the earth have been broken or are at dangerous tipping points. These broken cycles have expressed themselves in various forms as soil degradation and depletion, ocean acidification, global warming and climate change. The best proposal for an organic solution to fixing the myriad broken cycles is a deliberate investment in solutions that first acknowledge the historic roles played by both the subjugated peoples, and the economic beneficiaries of the environmental exploitations of the past. Ever since Europeans made contact with the West, a series of global circumstances including the genocide of the indigenous people of the Americas, the enslavement and global subjugation of Africans, and the emergence of Western concepts of trade dominance and capitalism, have led to deleterious impacts on the global biogeochemical cycles. Addressing the broken biogeochemical cycles should be done with a clear understanding that it was not only human subjects which were subjugated, but also land, water, and air. These three global stores must be replenished from the ideological position that poverty is not simply the absence of money, but is also the lack of access to non-polluting energy sources, to clean air devoid of runaway greenhouse gasses, and to local conditions devoid of climate change instabilities. With this in mind, the global powerbrokers can enter into a new deal with developing nations, shifting the paradigm toward a new ecological approach that rewards good behavior and sets new standards of worldwide relations based on ecologic inclusivity rather than the exclusive economic arrangements currently in order. Harnessing a forward thinking approach to analyzing the current global environmental crisis, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainable development, political ecology, sustainable agriculture, climate change and environmental justice.

This book contains selected contributions from the geoENV96 - First European Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications, held in Lisbon in November 1996. This is the first of a geoENV series of biennial planned books. The series is intended to show the state of the art of geostatistics in environmental applications with new cases, results and relevant discussions from leading researchers and practitioners around the world. New and important theoretical and practical developments of geostatistics in the environmental field were compiled from three main areas: Hydrology, Groundwater and Groundwater Contamination Soil Contamination and Site Remediation Air Pollution, Ecology and Other Applications The book presents a set of geostatistical tools and approaches used to successfully resolve a variety of specific problems in environment modelling, especially those resulting from the typical scarcity of spatial sampling, the time component of very dynamic systems, the modelling of various systems of contaminants, the uncertainty assessment of health cost functions, etc. Prominent topics concerning methodological tools and methods, stochastic simulation techniques, models of integrating soft information (seismic and remote sensing images), inverse modelling of groundwater flow, neural network classification, change of support and up-scaling are also included in this book. This publication will be of great interest and practical value to geostatisticians working both in universities and in industry.

Developed from a short course taught at Leeds University, this book covers methods of monitoring emissions of air pollutants from stationary sources. It surveys the techniques and points out their advantages and disadvantages.

The poles undergo climate changes exceeding those in the rest of the world in terms of their speed and extent, and have a key role in modulating the climate of the Earth. Ecosystems adapted to polar environments are likely to become vulnerable to climate changes. Their responses allow us to analyse and foresee the impact of changes at lower latitudes. We need to increase our knowledge of the polar marine fauna of continental shelves, slopes and deep sea, as identifying the responses of species and communities is crucial to establishing efficient strategies against threats to biodiversity, using international and cross-disciplinary approaches. The IPY 2007-2009 was a scientific milestone. The outstanding contribution of Marine Biology is reflected in this volume and the next one on "Adaptation and Evolution in Marine Environments - The Impacts of Global Change on Biodiversity" from the series "From Pole to Pole", making these volumes a unique and invaluable component of the scientific outcome of the IPY.

As is now generally accepted mankinda (TM)s burning of fossil fuels has resulted in the mass transfer of greenhouse gases, like CO2, to the atmosphere and a measurable change in the global climate. While the reduced use of fossil fuels must be our ultimate goal in order to reverse this trend, short to medium term solutions are needed which can make an impact today. Various CO2 abatement strategies have been proposed, with deep geological storage being one of the most promising. The present volume organises presentations given by leading international researchers at a NATO Advanced Research Workshop (held in Tomsk, Russia in November of 2004) on the state-of-the-art of geological storage of CO2. The book is divided into 5 parts. Part 1 provides background by describing how human activities are modifying the atmosphere in industrially-active areas in Siberia. Part 2 outlines the innovative idea of using deep permafrost layers as either impermeable boundaries below which CO2 can be injected or as a cooling source for the formation CO2 clathrates. Part 3 describes recent studies conducted on naturally occurring CO2 reservoirs, sites which have the potential to help us understand the possible long-term evolution of CO2 storage sites. Part 4 outlines various industrial-scale applications of CO2 geological storage and shows it to be technically practical, economically feasible and, to date, very safe. Finally Part 5 gives us a view of the future, showing how energy uses are predicted to change over the next 50 years and how the public must be involved in any future decisions regarding climate change abatement.

This book explores the relevance of Japanese ethics for the field of ethics of technology. It covers the theories of Japanese ethicists such as Nishida Kitaro, Watsuji Tetsuro, Imamichi Tomonobu, Yuasa Yasuo, as well as more contemporary ethicists, and explores their relevance for the analysis of energy technologies, ICT, robots, and geoengineering. It features contributions from Japanese scholars, and international scholars who have applied Japanese ethics to problems in the global condition. Technological development is considered to cause new ethical issues, such as genetically modified organisms fostering monocultures, nanotechnologies causing issues of privacy, as well as health and environmental issues, robotics raising issues about the meaning of humanity, and the risks of nuclear power, as witnessed in the Fukushima disaster. At the same time, technology embodies a hope for mankind, such as ICT improving relationships between human beings and nature, and smart systems assisting humans in leading a more ethical and environmentally friendly life. This book explores these ethical issues and their impact from a Japanese perspective.

The management of hazardous materials and industrial wastes is complex, requiring a high degree of knowledge over very broad technical and legal subject areas. Hazardous wastes and materials are diverse, with compositions and properties that not only vary significantly between industries, but within industries, and indeed within the complexity of single facilities. Proper management not only requires an understanding of the numerous and complex regulations governing hazardous materials and waste streams, but an understanding and knowledge of the treatment, post-treatment, and waste minimization technologies. In fact, today's environmental manager must face working within twelve environmental management arenas, all of which may be applicable regardless of the size of the operation or business.
This volume has been written as a desk reference for the Professional Hazards Manager (PHM). The PHM is a qualified environmental manager that has the responsibility of ensuring that his or her facility or division within the corporation is in compliance with environmental statutes and regulations, as well as participating in the selection of technologies and approaches to remediation, pollution control, and in implementing waste minimization practices. These decisions require knowledge and understanding of the federal, state, and local environmental regulations, a working knowledge of the best available technologies and their associated cost. This volume provides an overview of both the technology and compliance requirements that will assist environmental managers in addressing facility management of hazardous wastes, pollution control, and waste minimization. The book has been designed in part as a study guide to help prepare qualified individuals for the national certification and registration program of Professional Hazards Managers conducted by the National Association of Safety & Health Professionals and other organizations including the Hazard Materials Control Resources Institute (HMCRI) and Fairleigh Dickinson University.

This book examines the allocational and distributional impacts of international climate policy on different regions of the world by taking into account the ongoing process of globalization. It concentrates on the impacts of trade in goods and international capital mobility on climate policy outcomes. The costs of an international climate policy are assessed by incorporating the Kyoto Protocol into a multi-regional, multi-sectoral, recursive dynamic trade model based on empirical data. Climate policy leads to a change in relative competitiveness between sectors and regions, thus inducing output shifts, international capital flows, welfare changes and carbon leakage. Welfare costs can be reduced by a higher integration into the world market and a diversification of the export structure.

In the two years since the publication of the last volume of this series, the planet has witnessed some devastating environmental events some of which can be attributed to human causes. However, we have also seen the world uniting (except mainly for the United States and Australia) to reduce greenhouse gases and hopefully slowdown global warming. Recognizing that sustainable development is a way that can lead to well being of the society in the long run, most of the world has therefore agreed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
There is hope that the USA and other industrialized countries will ratify the Protocol and all countries including China and India, which are exempt from emission cuts, will make efforts to reduce pollution emissions beyond the limit set by the Protocol. Economic growth in China and India is resulting in a rapid increase in the greenhouse gas emissions in those countries. It is especially important that plants in India and China use newer pollution technologies in generating electricity to meet their energy needs. Their continued participation in the dialogue is important to control pollution emissions beyond the Kyoto Protocol.
Environmental issues are multi-faceted and they are being debated in several disciplines. These issues may be technical, legal, economical, measurement, managerial, or ethical in nature, and different disciplines focus on the issues of interest to them. Accounting is primarily concerned with measurement of pollution-related performance and cost, and reporting of this information to stakeholders. Consistent with the goals of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, it is important that accounting regains its lost credibility and provides reliablepollution-related information to the stakeholders so that they evaluate their risk properly. This volume contains papers which deal with some of the important issues related to pollution information and should of interest to investors, management, regulators and other individuals interested in environmental accounting.
Several papers contained in this volume deal with disclosure of environmental information. Some papers examine what motivates environmental disclosures, whereas other examine whether environmental reporting reflects any real commitment or it is merely a propaganda ploy. While some firms may be genuinely interested in reporting their environmental performance correctly, others may use it as a tool to look good. Another paper in this issue shows that an alignment of management commitment, strategic planning and proactive managerial actions result in better environmental performance and this leads to better return on investment. Though there is no uniform format for reporting environmental information, the last paper in this issue provides discussion on integrating the living systems theory with the accounting disclosure model. In brief, this issue contains several interesting articles dealing with different aspects of environmental disclosures.
*Addresses the Kyoto Protocol on an international level
*Discusses how an accountant measures pollution-related performance and cost
*Investigates the motive behind disclosure of environmental information

Volume 1: Concepts, Methodology and Chemical Analysis. This 3-volume reference presents the latest findings in impact assessment of recycled hazardous waste materials on surface and ground waters. Topics covered include chemodynamics, toxicology, modeling and information systems. The book serves as a practical guide for the monitoring, design, management, or conduct of environmental impact assessment. Each volume contains the table of contents of all volumes.