This book highlights the importance of the subnational level of governance in relation to sustainable development, exploring how subnational governments have taken up the challenge to design sustainable development policies and their involvement in international decision-making on sustainable development.

How will the world be able to feed close to 9 billion people in 2050 and still maintain the ecosystems? In this perspective, INRA and CIRAD launched the initiative, in 2006, to develop a foresight project for analysing issues pertaining to the world's food and agricultural systems on the 2050 timeline. This book provides a synthetic presentation of the main conclusions that this foresight project has yielded. First, it recapitulates the main statistical references for the period 1961 to 2003, before going on to describe the Agribiom simulation tool used to calculate food biomass resource use balances. Two scenarios on the 2050 timeline are then considered: Agrimonde GO is a trend-based scenario that bets on economic growth to feed the world, in a context where environmental protection is not a priority; in contrast, the idea in Agrimonde 1 is to feed the world while preserving its ecosystems.

This book presents key lessons from community-based risk-reduction practices in Japan, a country that is often hit by disasters and that also has shown strong resilience in coping with those disasters. Japan has a strong governance system for disaster risk reduction. However, the Kobe earthquake of 1995 showed the importance of community involvement in disaster response as well as recovery. With several examples from different parts of Japan, the book elaborates on the importance of community-based risk reduction and the innovations required for sustaining some of the community approaches. The book has 13 chapters and is divided into three parts: (1) Evolution of community-based risk reduction in Japan; (2) Community-based risk-reduction issues; and (3) Case studies.

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 provides them with a good idea of the current research trends in the field and furnishes basic knowledge about these vital topics. Another target group comprises practitioners and policy makers, who will be able to apply the knowledge collected here to policy and decision-making.

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This book asks how higher education should approach the task of educating for sustainability and then sets to answering it. It provides a guide for those who advocate for sustainability and for those who do not and makes a point of emphasising that all in higher education have the capacity and willingness to contribute in some way. The challenge is to find an approach that unifies the efforts of higher education teachers towards sustainability objectives, rather than dividing them. People at universities across the world were consulted and a grounded theory was devised. This encourages all university teachers to teach what they want to teach openly and honestly, about sustainability or not; but on the way to ensure that their students develop the critical skills that will enable them to fully understand what is being taught and what they are learning.

Thisbook can be seen as the third part of an unofficial trilogy on Sustainable Cities of the Future with the author's previous books 'Sustainable Development, Energy and the City' and 'Sustainable Cities for the third millennium: The Odyssey of urban excellence', both prefaced by Prof. Sir Peter Hall. All three booksfollow the evolving forefront of innovations towards Sustainable Cities. They collectively try to respond to the questions: What future cities wish to build (with their scarcities and capacities) on a finite planet? What do-they do to achieve this? How do-they contribute to redesign the world? The third book adopts, first and foremost, a strategic foresight approach including a scan of the future trends, tensions and risks in a more uncertain world, the possible and preferable futures, emerging policy issues, such as intergenerational cities or cities welcoming the immigrants and their impact on sustainable development, the Rio+20 prospects and the effects of the protracted crisis, efforts by world interconnected cities, including a case-study on Bangkok, a laboratory of urban change, and examples of frugal and resilient urban policies.

In international negotiations, the question of the design and the legal form of the negotiated instrument is as complex as it is often controversial. Intended as a read for both practitioners and academics, this book provides a comprehensive treatise of the characteristics, the potential and the limits of nonbinding instruments in international environmental law and governance. An extensive overview and typology of nonbinding instruments as well as several case studies from the areas of fisheries (FAO), hazardous substances (UNEP/FAO) and corporate social responsibility (OECD) provide the material for an in-depth analysis of the role of nonbinding instruments on all levels of governance. The book demonstrates the potential but also highlights the limits of nonbinding instruments in the interplay with customary and treaty law (e.g. UNCLOS, WTO) as bases for interinstitutional linkages and as tools to shape the behaviour of states and private actors. Legitimacy challenges arising from this form of exercise of authority are then discussed in the final chapter, alongside with remedies to address possible concerns.

The last decade has seen a growing body of research about globalization and climate change in the Caribbean. This collection is a significant addition to the literature on a topic that is of critical importance to the region. It explores research from a number of Caribbean islands dealing with a range of issues related to agriculture and food in the context of globalization and climate change. Using a broad livelihoods perspective, the impacts on rural livelihoods are explored as well as issues related to community level resilience, adaptability and adaptations. The volume is strengthened by gendered analyses of issues and discussions informed by a diverse range of research methods and methodologies. Scholars of Caribbean studies and studies pertaining to social, cultural, economic and environmental issues facing Small Island Developing States (SIDS) will greatly benefit from this book.

Knowledge and information have significant impacts on individuals' daily lives and activities, especially when referring to the new economy and the global knowledge societies. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive disruptions in the creation of the vital inclusive global information society. Due to this change, further study on the current difficulties and best practices of creating global knowledge societies is required in order to ensure communities can continue to advance and information is shared appropriately. The Handbook of Research on Building Inclusive Global Knowledge Societies for Sustainable Development aims at providing an updated view of the newest trends, novel practices, and latest tendencies concerning building inclusive global knowledge societies for sustainable development while focusing on the benefits and the opportunities derived from the new economy and the global knowledge societies. Covering topics such as smart cities, food security, and climate change, this major reference work is ideal for policymakers, government officials, business owners, managers, academicians, scholars, researchers, practitioners, instructors, and students.

The book is a collection of chapters discussing the Sustainable Development Goals in the broader context of Islamic finance along with mapping the SDGs with Maqasid Al-Shariah. It provides a framework for both Muslim and non-Muslim countries to develop a sustainable economy which encompasses not only the concept of the welfare state but also supports development-related activities, ensures financial inclusion through equal distribution of wealth and alleviation of poverty, and protects the overall environmental and ecological system. More specifically, this book explores various aspects of Islamic finance in relation to parameters of SDGs; restructuring of Islamic finance and connecting its dots in the light of SDGs; Islamic perspective on ESG and ecological quality; interest-free tools and modernization of Islamic financial institutions for sustainable development and economic stability; and the role of Islamic finance in infrastructure-related development activities. Consistent with the view that SDGs are embedded within the theme of Islamic finance, this book is specifically designed to meet the needs of key regulatory institutions, academic scholars, and industry practitioners both in the field of Islamic finance and sustainable finance.

Land Degradation and Desertification: Assessment, Mitigation, and Remediation reports research results in sustainable land management and land degradation status and mitigation in 36 countries around the world. It includes background papers with continental and international perspectives dealing with land degradation and desertification studies. The book assembles various topics of interest for a large audience. They include carbon sequestration and stocks, modern techniques to trace the trends of land degradation, traditional and modern approaches of resource-base conservation, soil fertility management, reforestation, rangeland rehabilitation, land use planning, GIS techniques in desertification risk cartography, participatory ecosystem management, policy analyses and possible plans for action. Various climatic domains in Africa, Asia, Europe and The Americas are covered. The book will be of interest to a variety of environmental scientists, agronomists, national and international policy makers and a number of organizations dealing with sustainable management of natural resources.

Assuming that liberalism, liberal democracy, and the free market are here to stay, this book asks how sustainability can be interpreted in ways that respect liberal democratic values and institutions. Among the problems addressed are the compatibility of liberal procederalism with substantive "green" ideals, the existence and potential of eco-friendly principles and ideas in clasical liberal political theory, the role of rights and duties and of democracy and deliberation, and the "greening" potential of modern environmentally-focused practices in liberal democracies.

Achieving environmental sustainability with rapid industrialization is currently a major global challenge. Industries are the key economic drivers, but are also the main polluters as untreated/partially treated effluents from industry are usually discharged into the aquatic environment or dumped. Industrial effluents often contain highly toxic and hazardous pollutants, which cause ecological damage and present and health hazards to living beings. As such, there is a pressing need to find ecofriendly solutions to deal with industrial waste, and to develop sustainable methods for treating/detoxifying waste before it's released into the environment. As a low cost and eco-friendly clean technology, bioremediation can offer a sustainable alternative to conventional remediation technologies for the treatment and management of industrial wastes. This book (Volume II) describes the role of biological agents in the degradation and detoxification of organic and inorganic pollutants in industrial wastes, and presents recent bioremediation approaches for waste treatment and management, such as constructed wetlands, electro- bioremediation and nano-bioremediation, as well as microbial fuel cells. It appeals to students, researchers, scientists, industry professionals and experts in the field of microbiology, biotechnology, environmental sciences, eco-toxicology, environmental remediation and waste management and other relevant areas who are interested in biodegradation and bioremediation of industrial wastes for environmental safety.

These proceedings capture papers presented at the third International Conferences on Sustainable Automotive Technologies (ICSAT), held at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), Greenville, South Carolina, USA, during 5-6 April 2011. ICSAT is the state-of-the-art conference in the field of new technologies for transportation. The book summarizes all important trends in sustainability of automotive development today with a special focus on materials, propulsion technologies as well as manufacturing issues. It provides a brief selection of papers and key-note speakers of the conference. Papers from the US, Australia, Europe and Asia are showing the lighthouse character of the conference, in a field which gains more and more importance as far as emissions and the lack of fossil fuels in the future are concerned. The book provides a very good overview of R&D activities at OEMs as well as in leading universities and laboratories; the special focus is on new ideas for sustainable mobility.

Sustainability applies to everybody. But everybody applies it differently, by defining and shaping it differently much as water is edged and shaped by its container. It is conceived in absolute terms but underpinned by a great diversity of relatively green and sometimes contradictory practices that can each make society only more or less sustainable. In "Practicing Sustainability," chefs, poets, music directors, evangelical pastors, skyscraper architects, artists, filmmakers, as well as scientific leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, business executives, policy makers, and the contrarians, shed light on our understanding of sustainability and the role that each of us can play. Each contributor addresses what sustainability means, what is most appealing about the concept, and what they would like to change to improve the perception and practice of sustainability. What emerges from their essays is a wide spectrum of views that confirm an important insight: Sustainability is pursued in different ways not only due to different interpretations, but also because of varying incentives, trade-offs, and altruistic motives. Practicing and achieving sustainability starts with a willingness to look critically at the concept.It also means enabling rich and vigorous discussion based on pragmatism and common sense to determine a framework for best ideas and practices. With time and the much needed critical thinking, sustainable development will become a more integral part of our culture.By sharing experiences and crisp insights from today s savants, "Practicing Sustainability "serves as a stepping stone to the future."

Alternative Energy Sources is designed to give the reader, a clear view of the role each form of alternative energy may play in supplying the energy needs of the human society in the near future (20-50 years).

The two first chapters on "energy demand and supply" and "environmental effects," set the tone as to why alternative energy is essential for the future. The third chapter gives the laws of energy conversion processes, as well as the limitations of converting one energy form to another. The section on exergy gives a quantitative background on the capability/potential of each energy source to produce power. The fourth, fifth and sixth chapters are expositions of fission and fusion nuclear energy, the power plants that may produce power from these sources and the issues that will frame the public debate on nuclear energy. The following five chapters include descriptions of the most common renewable energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, hydroelectric) some of the less common sources (e.g. tidal and wave energy). The emphasis of these chapters will be on the global potential of each source, the engineering/technical systems that are used in harnessing the potential of each source, the technological developments that will contribute to wider utilization of the sources and environmental effects associated with their wider use. The last three chapters are: "energy storage," which will become an important issue if renewable energy sources are used widely.

The fourteen chapters in the book have been chosen so that one may fit a semester University course around this book. At the end of every chapter, there are 10-20 problems and 1-3 suggestions of semester projects that may be assigned to students for further research.

Besides the erroneous assumption that tropical fisheries are open access, the cases demonstrate that pre-existing systems (1) are concerned with the community of fishers and ensuring community harmony and continuity; (2) involve flexible, multiple and overlapping rights adapted to changing needs and circumstances; (3) that fisheries are just one component of a community resource assemblage and depend on both the good management of linked upstream ecosystems and risk management to ensure balanced nutritional resources of the community; and (4) pre-existing systems are greatly affected by a constellation of interacting external pressures.

This book analyses the institutional development that the Peruvian state has undergone in recent years within a context of rapid extractive industry expansion. It addresses the most important institutional state transformations produced directly by natural resources growth. This includes the construction of a redistributive law with the mining canon; the creation of a research canon for public universities; the development of new institutions for environmental regulation; the legitimation of state involvement in the function of prevention and management of conflicts; and the institutionalization and dissemination of practices of participation and local consultation.

The allocation of resources in international universities to adopt and institutionalize solutions must be prioritized above obsolete or wasteful practices. Changing economic and social cultures necessitate new and advancing educational strategies for the promotion of graduate student success. Advancing Innovation and Sustainable Outcomes in International Graduate Education is a critical scholarly resource that examines the impact of such drivers as technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the need for a new approach to learning that directly impacts the teaching-learning process. Among the drivers that the book examines are the need for higher order and critical thinking, the need for developing cognitive and emotional intelligence with fluid intelligence enabling broad interdisciplinary thinking and wisdom, and the shifting values of millennials concerning the need for new approaches to education and attitudes to work. Underpinning the theme and chapters of this book is the need for ecosystemic thinking for sustainability framed from consciousness-based education. Featuring a wide range of topics such as data analytics, emotional intelligence, and workplace innovation, this book is ideal for educators, researchers, policymakers, curriculum designers, administrators, managers, academicians, and students.

In today's global economy, the role of public policy in managing and ensuring sustainability is an emerging area of research considering modern day issues such as climate change and the depletion of energy resources. The impact that these environmental concerns have on human life has brought to light a new era of economic theories and initiatives to promote a better lifestyle. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Public Policy and Sustainability is an essential reference source that discusses the role of public policy in managing sustainability within a wide variety of professional industries such as health, education, and business. Featuring research on topics such as sustainable finance, environmental regulation, and information economics, this book is ideally designed for environmental and policy scientists, researchers, conservationists, policymakers, government officials, lawmakers, academicians, and students seeking coverage on the practices of sustainability pertaining to economic development.

This book is an ideal complement to studies showing the potentially devastating ecological effects of climate change, studies trying to calculate the costs of climate change, and studies trying to identify the most pressing needs in preparing for the new climate.

This book reviews health hazards associated with wastewater use and water pollutants. Chapters present applications of green materials made of agricultural waste, activated carbon and magnetic materials for wastewater treatment. The removal of toxic metals using algal biomass and the removal of toxic dyes using chitosan composite materials are also discussed. The book includes reviews on the removal of phenols, pesticides, and on the use of ionic liquid-modified activated carbon for the treatment of textile wastewater.

The issue of nuclear energy excites strong emotions and there are widely differing views as to whether nuclear power can or should make a major contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With the nuclear issue back on the agenda worldwide, this highly topical collection steers a path through these controversies, presenting the views of proponents of nuclear expansion, examining the challenges that face them and exploring the arguments of those who support alternative approaches.

This book covers the latest developments in life cycle assessment LCA both in terms of methodology and its application in various research areas. It includes methodological questions as well as case studies concerning energy and mobility, materials and engineering, sustainable construction and future technologies. With numerous research articles from leading German and Austrian research institutes, the book is a valuable source for professionals working in the field of sustainability assessment, researchers interested in the current state of LCA research, and advanced university students in various scientific and technical fields. Chapter "Life Cycle Assessment of a Hydrogen and Fuel Cell RoPax Ferry Prototype" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

"Chemistry for Sustainable Development" is a collection of selected papers by the participants of the International Conference on Pure and Applied Chemistry (ICPAC 2010) on the theme of Chemistry for Sustainable Development held in Mauritius in July 2010.

In light of the significant progresses and challenges in the development and implementation of green and sustainable chemistry, this volume reviews the recent results generated by a more efficient use of resources to minimize carbon footprints, to foster the eradication or minimisation of solvent use in chemistry, and to deliver processes which lead to increased harmony between chemistry and the environment.

"Chemistry for Sustainable Development" is written for graduates, postgraduates, researchers in industry and academia who have an interest in the fields ranging from fundamental to applied chemistry."

Energy efficiency represents a cost-effective and immediate strategy of a sustainable development. Due to substantial environmental and economic implications, a strong emphasis is put on the electrical energy requirements of machine tools for metalworking processes. The improvement of energy efficiency is however confronted with diverse barriers, which sustain an energy efficiency gap of unexploited potential. The deficiencies lie in the lack of information about the actual energy requirements of machine tools, a minimum energy reference to quantify improvement potential and the possible actions to improve the energy demand. Therefore, a comprehensive concept for energy performance management of machine tools is developed which guides the transition towards energy efficient machine tools. It is structured in four innovative concept modules, which are embedded into step-by-step workflow models. The capability of the performance management concept is demonstrated in an automotive manufacturing environment. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and practitioners challenged to enhance energy efficiency in manufacturing. The book may also be beneficial for graduate students who want to specialize in this field.