While the concept of sustainability has been widely embraced, it has been only vaguely defined and is exceedingly difficult to measure. Sustainability indicators are critical to making the broad concept of sustainability operational by providing specific measures by which decision makers and the public can judge progress. "Sustainability Indicators" defines the present state of the art in indicator development. It presents a comprehensive assessment of the science behind various indicators, while placing special emphasis on their use as communications tools. The contributors draw on their experience as academics and practitioners to describe the conceptual challenges to measuring something as complex as sustainability at local, regional, national, and global scales. The book also reviews existing indicators to assess how they could be better employed, considering which indicators are overused and which have been underutilized. "Sustainability Indicators" will help planners and policy makers find indicators that are ready for application and relevant to their needs, and will help researchers identify the unresolved issues where progress is most urgently needed. All readers will find advice as to the most effective ways to use indicators to support decision making.

Reflecting the concerns over environmental sustainability, there has been an increasing focus on the protection of our water resources and on the proper management of our waste. Our economic growth can only be sustainable when it does not represent a threat to human health and to fauna, flora, and eco-system in the long-term. A long-term resilience, new business and economic opportunities, and environmental sustainability can be achieved through circular economy model that offers us a world of opportunity to rethink and redesign our economic activities and consumption patterns. With an aim to give the reader a new perspective on this issue, this book covers European Union's water and waste management legislation and the Czech Republic's transposition of this legislation, and includes a comparative analysis of the performances of the EU Member States on the implementation of new water and waste management policy strategies.

The circulation and interactions of major elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, oxygen, and hydrogen are critical for the maintenance of the earth's ecosystems. Human activities including agriculture, industry, and urbanization alter element interactions and contribute to major environmental problems ranging from climate change and depletion of the ozone layer to acidification of soils to the destruction of coral reefs. "Interactions of the Major Biogeochemical Cycles" is a new scientific assessment of element interactions in the biosphere. It provides an up-to-date review of biogeochemistry and its effects on earth's systems, with leading experts in biogeochemical cycling in atmospheric, land, freshwater, and marine environments offering chapters that summarize and synthesize information in each discipline. The book opens with chapters on cross-cutting issues that have significance in understanding global change effects and their potential management. These chapters address: * trends in element interactions in response to global change the effects of natural disturbances new approaches and methods for advancing our understanding of element interactions the potential for managing element interactions to address major environmental issues