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From Body Fuel to Universal Poison: Cultural History of Meat: 1900-The Present (Numanities - Arts and Humanities in Progress #5)
by Francesco BuscemiThis book explores our changing relationship with meat as food. Half storytelling and half historic work, it analyzes the way in which humans have dealt with the idea of eating animals in the Western world, from 1900 to the present. The story part of the book follows the rise and fall of meat, and illustrates how this type of food has become a problem in a more emotional way. The historical component informs and offers readers key data. The author draws on theories of circular societies, smart cities and smart countries to explain how and why forms of meat production that were common in the past have since all but disappeared. Both components, however, explain why meat has been important and why it has now become a problem. In tracing the fall of meat, the author identifies a host of dilemmas. These include fossil energy, pollution, illnesses caused by eating meat, factory farming, and processed foods. Lastly, the book offers a possible solution. The answer focuses on new forms of meat obtained without killing animals and in a sense resembles renewable energy. Overall, this unique cultural history offers revealing insights into how meat affects social relations, interpersonal relationships, and humanity as a whole.
Contesting Conservation: Shahtoosh Trade and Forest Management in Jammu and Kashmir, India (Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research)
by Saloni GuptaThis book explores today’s changing intellectual climate, wherein understanding politics at different levels from global to local is considered mandatory in order to appraise the outcome of nature conservation interventions. By carefully examining two such processes – the ban on shahtoosh trade and the ‘National Afforestation Programme’ in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, the book reveals how these processes are influenced by politics at different levels – from their introduction at the macro-level to their implementation at the micro-level – and in turn become coloured by the agendas and interests of the various stakeholders involved. Throughout the book, one priority is to give a voice to the poor resource-users who have been traditionally dependent on wildlife and forest resources for mere subsistence. Yet, these same people are who bear the brunt of nature conservation costs, rather than those actors who are responsible for the most serious violations in pursuit of greater profits. Contemporary Environmental Sociology is chiefly characterised by its focus on power relations in resource conservation and management. In ‘political ecology’ literature, too – especially after recognising the paradoxes and limitations of approaches such as ‘sustainable development’, ‘sustainable livelihoods’ and ‘community based natural resource management’ – there is a growing concern for critical analyses of multi-level politics in connection with nature conservation. The purpose of the book is not to challenge the gravity of environmental concerns, but to question the dominance of conservation interests over the subsistence needs of local communities, and to strike a balance between environmental and social justice. It argues that, unless and until more just accountability for the affected populations is ensured, conservation policies are unlikely to meet the goals of sustainable resource management. Given its critical engagement with human-nature conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir, the book offers a unique resource for students and scholars of Environmental Sociology, Political Ecology, Natural Resources Management, Conflict Studies and Human Rights Studies.
Advanced Materials for the Conservation of Stone
by Majid Hosseini Ioannis KarapanagiotisThis book identifies novel advanced materials that can be utilized as protective agents for the preservation of stone. The innovative solutions to stone conservation presented here result in increased sustainability, reduced environmental impact, and increased social and economic benefits. It provides an overview of recent trends and progress in advanced materials applied to stone protection. It also explores the scientific principles behind these advanced materials and discusses their applications to diff erent types of stone preservation efforts. Essential information as well as knowledge on the availability and applicability of advanced nanostructured materials is also provided, with focus placed on the practical aspects of stone protection. Th e book highlights an interdisciplinary eff ort regarding novel applications of nanostructured materials in the advancement of stone protection. It provides insight towards forthcoming developments in the fi eld. Advanced nanostructured materials are designed and developed with the aim of being chemically, physically, and mechanically compatible with stone. Advanced materials for stone conservation that are characterized by several functional properties are considered in this book. These include the physico-chemical, protective, and morphological properties, eco-toxicity, and mechanisms of degradation. The authors present a thorough overview of cutting–edge discoveries, detailed information on recent technological developments, breakthroughs in novel nanomaterials, utilization strategies for applications in cultural heritage, and the current status and future outlook of the topic to address a wide range of scientific communities.
Practical Panarchy for Adaptive Water Governance: Linking Law to Social-Ecological Resilience
by Barbara Cosens Lance GundersonThis book presents the results of an interdisciplinary project that examined how law, policy and ecological dynamics influence the governance of regional scale water based social-ecological systems in the United States and Australia. The volume explores the obstacles and opportunities for governance that is capable of management, adaptation, and transformation in these regional social-ecological systems as they respond to accelerating environmental change. With the onset of the Anthropocene, global and regional changes in biophysical inputs to these systems will challenge their capacity to respond while maintaining functions of water supply, flood control, hydropower production, water quality, and biodiversity. Governance lies at the heart of the capacity of these systems to meet these challenges. Assessment of water basins in the United States and Australia indicates that state-centric governance of these complex and dynamic social-environmental systems is evolving to a more complex, diverse, and complex array public and private arrangements. In this process, three challenges emerge for water governance to become adaptive to environmental change. First, is the need for legal reform to remove barriers to adaptive governance by authorizing government agencies to prepare for windows of opportunity through adaptive planning, and to institutionalize the results of innovative solutions that arise once a window opens. Second, is the need for legal reform to give government agencies the authority to facilitate and participate in adaptive management and governance. This must be accompanied by parallel legal reform to assure that engagement of private and economic actors and the increase in governmental flexibility does not destabilize basin economies or come at the expense of legitimacy, accountability, equity, and justice. Third, development of means to continually assess thresholds and resilience of social-ecological systems and the adaptive capacity of their current governance to structure actions at multiple scales. The massive investment in water infrastructure on the river basins studied has improved the agricultural, urban and economic sectors, largely at the cost of other social and environmental values. Today the infrastructure is aging and in need of substantial investment for those benefits to continue and adapt to ongoing environmental changes. The renewal of institutions and heavily engineered water systems also presents the opportunity to modernize these systems to address inequity and align with the values and objectives of the 21st century. Creative approaches are needed to transform and modernize water governance that increases the capacity of these water-based social-ecological systems to innovate, adapt, and learn, will provide the tools needed to navigate an uncertain future.
Biodiversity Offsets: European Perspectives on No Net Loss of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
by Wolfgang Wende Graham Tucker Fabien Quétier Matt Rayment Marianne DarbiThis book deals with the new concept of biodiversity offsets. The aim of offsetting schemes is to achieve no let loss or even net gain of biodiversity. Offsets obey a mitigation hierarchy and reflect the precautionary and polluter-pays principle in regard to project impacts. Readers gain insights into current debates on biodiversity policies, with top experts outlining theoretical principles and the latest research findings. At the same time the focus is on practical application and case studies. Today there is a lively international discussion among practitioners and scientists on the optimal legal framework, metrics and design of habitat banks to ensure the success of biodiversity offsets and to minimise the risks of failure or misuse. Contributing to the debate, this volume presents the activities and practices of biodiversity offsetting already implemented in Europe in selected EU member states, and the lessons that can be learnt from them. Readers may be surprised at how much experience already exists in these countries. A further aim of the book is to offer grounded insights on the road ahead, and foster a more intensive and fruitful discussion on how offsetting can be extended and improved upon, so that it becomes a key and effective component of Europe’s biodiversity conservation policy framework.
Threats to Mangrove Forests: Hazards, Vulnerability, and Management (Coastal Research Library #25)
by Christopher Makowski Charles W. FinklThis book focuses on the worldwide threats to mangrove forests and the management solutions currently being used to counteract those hazards. Designed for the professional or specialist in marine science, coastal zone management, biology, and related disciplines, this work will appeal to those not only working to protect mangrove forests, but also the surrounding coastal areas of all types. Examples are drawn from many different geographic areas, including North and South America, India, and Southeast Asia. Subject areas covered include both human-induced and natural impacts to mangroves, intended or otherwise, as well as the efforts being made by coastal researchers to promote restoration of these coastal fringing forests.
Towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy: Principles, Challenges and Perspectives (World Sustainability Series)
by Walter Leal Filho Diana Mihaela Pociovălișteanu Paulo Roberto Borges de Brito Ismar Borges de LimaThis book gathers contributions from scientists and industry representatives on achieving a sustainable bioeconomy. It also covers the social sciences, economics, business, education and the environmental sciences. There is an urgent need to optimise and maximise the use of biological resources, so that primary production and processing systems can generate more food, fibre and other bio-based products with less environmental impacts and lower greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, we need a “sustainable bioeconomy” – a term that encompasses the sustainable production of renewable resources from land, fisheries and aquaculture environments and their conversion into food, feed, fibre bio-based products and bio-energy, as well as related public goods. Despite the relevance of achieving a sustainable bioeconomy, there are very few publications in this field. Addressing that gap, this book illustrates how biological resources and ecosystems could be used in a more sustainable, efficient and integrated manner – in other words, how the principles of sustainable bioeconomy can be implemented in practice. Given its interdisciplinary nature, the field of sustainable bioeconomy offers a unique opportunity to address complex and interconnected challenges, while also promoting economic growth. It helps countries and societies to make a transition and to use resources more efficiently, and shows how to rely less on biological resources to satisfy industry demands and consumer needs. The papers are innovative, cross-cutting and include many practice-based lessons learned, some of which are reproducible elsewhere. In closing, the book, prepared by the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) and the World Sustainable Development Research and Transfer Centre (WSD-RTC), reiterates the need to promote a sustainable bioeconomy today.
Oceanic Internal Tides: A Global View
by Eugene G. MorozovThis book presents a detailed study of the structure and variability of internal tides and their geographical distribution in the ocean. Based on experimental analysis of oceanic measurements combined with numerical modeling, it offers a comprehensive overview of the internal wave processes around the globe. In particular, it is based on moored buoys observations in many regions in all oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern) that have been carried out by researchers from different countries for more than 40 years as part of various oceanographic programs, including WOCE and CLIVAR. However, a significant portion of the data was collected by the author, who is a field oceanographer. The data was processed and interpreted on the basis of the latest knowledge of internal wave motion. The properties of internal waves were analyzed in relation to the bottom topography and mean state of the ocean in specific regions. Internal waves play a major role in the formation of seawater stratification and are responsible for the main processes of ocean dynamics, such as energy transfer and mixing. One of the most significant ideas presented in this book is the generation of internal tides over submarine ridges. Energy fluxes from submarine ridges related to tidal internal waves greatly exceed the fluxes from continental slopes. Submarine ridges form an obstacle to the propagation of tidal currents, which can cause the creation of large amplitude internal tides. Energy fluxes from submarine ridges account for approximately one fourth of the total energy dissipation of the barotropic tides. Model simulations and moored measurements have been combined to generate a map of global distribution of internal tide amplitudes. This book is of interest to oceanographers, marine biologists, civil engineers, and scientists working in climate research, fluid mechanics, acoustics, and underwater navigation.
Riverine Ecosystem Management: Science for Governing Towards a Sustainable Future (Aquatic Ecology Series #8)
by Stefan Schmutz Jan SendzimirThis open access book surveys the frontier of scientific river research and provides examples to guide management towards a sustainable future of riverine ecosystems. Principal structures and functions of the biogeosphere of rivers are explained; key threats are identified, and effective solutions for restoration and mitigation are provided. Rivers are among the most threatened ecosystems of the world. They increasingly suffer from pollution, water abstraction, river channelisation and damming. Fundamental knowledge of ecosystem structure and function is necessary to understand how human acitivities interfere with natural processes and which interventions are feasible to rectify this. Modern water legislation strives for sustainable water resource management and protection of important habitats and species. However, decision makers would benefit from more profound understanding of ecosystem degradation processes and of innovative methodologies and tools for efficient mitigation and restoration. The book provides best-practice examples of sustainable river management from on-site studies, European-wide analyses and case studies from other parts of the world. This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of aquatic ecology, river system functioning, conservation and restoration, to postgraduate students, to institutions involved in water management, and to water related industries.
A Technology Portfolio of Nature Based Solutions: Innovations in Water Management
by Sean O'Hogain Liam McCartonThis book aims to define the concept of Nature Based Solutions (NBS) by using case studies from members of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) Water Action Group - NatureWat. NBS is defined and characterized in terms of water source, contaminants, removal mechanisms and resource recovery potential. The case studies presented illustrate the appropriateness of NBS promoting climate resilience. Readers will discover a technology portfolio based on a number of demonstration sites in the fields of climate change adaption, water and wastewater treatment, resource recovery and re-use, and restoring ecosystems to promote the use of nature based solutions. The chapters in the book present a multidisciplinary approach involving social scientists, governance representatives and engineers. The underlying philosophy of the book is the circular economy of water which prioritizes the concepts of resource recovery and resilience within water resource management. The first section of the book presents the background and objectives of the study, and how the action group aims to promote the use of nature based solutions through its diverse technology portfolio. Particular attention is given to the goals of finding cost-effective solutions for wastewater treatment, climate change mitigation, disaster risk reduction, flood protection, greening cities, degraded areas restoration and biodiversity preservation. The chapter on reclaimed water addresses water reuse and defines the term fit for purpose. Barriers and limitations related to NBS for water resource management are discussed. The book concludes with several case studies at local, regional and global levels which illustrate a new approach to water management. These case studies illustrate the application of a hybrid green and grey infrastructure system. This is a combination of traditional engineered infrastructure with nature based solutions which combines centralised and decentralised systems to optimise the reclamation of water for reuse in a fit for purpose model.
Risk Journalism between Transnational Politics and Climate Change (The\palgrave Macmillan Series In International Political Communication Ser.)
by Ingrid Volkmer Kasim SharifRisk Journalism between Transnational Politics and Climate Change
Urban Environmental Governance in India: Browsing Bengaluru (The Urban Book Series)
by K. V. Raju A. Ravindra S. Manasi K. C. Smitha Ravindra SrinivasThis book aims to identify the challenges presented by current urban environmental governance practices in fast growing Indian cities, to propose changes to the current governance implementation strategies, and to explore the best practices to achieve sustainable urban models through Indian and global perspectives. With a focus on the city of Bengaluru, the book draws on extensive reviews of literature and data to present current trends and statuses of environmental resource use in growing urban centres of India.The book analyzes the situations that impact urban environmental governance decisions and outcomes and proposes solutions to address these issues for long-term sustainability. Policy makers, researchers, academics and development practitioners in environmental politics and urban governance will find this work of great interest.The book starts by examining different urban environmental threats on global and domestic levels, and provides evidence for the effectiveness of sustainable efforts to curb the impact of crisis-like scenarios. Then the book discusses the role of institutional regimes in influencing urban environmental outcomes through policies, and analyzes the role of various actors in the evolution of urban environmental governance from a legal perspective at global and local scales. In the final chapters, the book explores the trends and status of environmental resource management in Bangalore Metropolitan Area (BMA), and examines the dynamics of local institutions and governance structures for regulating environmental governance for promoting effective sustainable environmental governance in Bengaluru.
The Plant Stem: A Microscopic Aspect
by Fritz H. Schweingruber Annett BörnerThis unique and attractive open access textbook combines the beauty of macroscopic pictures of plant stems with the corresponding colorfully stained images of anatomical micro-structures. In contrast to most botanical textbooks, it presents all the stem characteristics as photographs and shows the microscopic reality.The amount of text is reduced to a minimum, and the scientific information is highlighted with short legends and labeled photographs, allowing readers to focus on the pictures to easily understand how the anatomical structures relate to genetic, ecological, decomposition and technical influences. It includes a chapter devoted to simple anatomical preparation techniques, and further chapters showing the cell content, cell walls, meristematic tissues and stem structures of all major taxonomic units and morphological growth forms in various ecological and climatic regions from subarctic to equatorial latitudes, as well as structures of fossil, subfossil and technically altered wood. This textbook appeals to students and researchers in the fields of plant anatomy, taxonomy, ecology, dendrochronology, history, plant pathology, and evolutionary biology as well as to technologists.
Birds of Prey: Biology and conservation in the XXI century
by José Hernán Sarasola Juan Manuel Grande Juan José NegroThis book will provide the state-of-the-art on most of the topics involved in the ecology and conservation of birds of prey. With chapters authored by the most recognized and prestigious researchers on each of the fields, this book will become an authorized reference volume for raptor biologists and researchers around the world.
Marine Conservation Paleobiology (Topics in Geobiology #47)
by Carrie L. Tyler Chris L. SchneiderThis volume describes and explores the emerging discipline of conservation paleobiology, and addresses challenges faced by established and young Conservation Paleobiologist's alike. In addition, this volume includes applied research highlighting how conservation paleobiology can be used to understand ecosystem response to perturbation in near and deep time. Across 10 chapters, the book aims to (1) explore the goals of conservation paleoecology as a science, (2) highlight how conservation paleoecology can be used to understand ecosystems’ responses to crises, (3) provide case studies of applications to modern ecosystems, (4) develop novel applications of paleontological approaches to neontological data, and (5) present a range of ecosystem response and recovery through environmental crises, from high-resolution impacts on organism interactions to the broadest scale of responses of the entire marine biosphere to global change. The volume will be of interest to paleoecologists, paleobiologists, and conservation biologists.
Risks, Violence, Security and Peace in Latin America: 40 Years of the Latin American Council of Peace Research (CLAIP) (The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science #24)
by Úrsula Oswald Spring Serena Eréndira Serrano OswaldThis book analyses the war against drugs, violence in streets, schools and families, and mining conflicts in Latin America. It examines the nonviolent negotiations, human rights, peacebuilding and education, explores security in cyberspace and proposes to overcome xenophobia, white supremacy, sexism, and homophobia, where social inequality increases injustice and violence. During the past 40 years of the Latin American Council for Peace Research (CLAIP) regional conditions have worsened. Environmental justice was crucial in the recent peace process in Colombia, but also in other countries, where indigenous people are losing their livelihood and identity. Since the end of the cold war, capitalism aggravated the life conditions of poor people. The neoliberal dismantling of the State reduced their rights and wellbeing in favour of enterprises. Youth are not only the most exposed to violence, but represent also the future for a different management of human relations and nature.
Social Environmental Conflicts in Mexico: Resistance to Dispossession and Alternatives from Below (Environmental Politics and Theory)
by Darcy Tetreault Cindy McCulligh Carlos LucioWhat are the political economic conditions that have given rise to increasing numbers of social environmental conflicts in Mexico? Why do these conflicts arise in some local and regional contexts and not in others? How are social environmental movements constructed and sustained? And what are the alternatives? These are the questions that this book seeks to address. It is organized into three parts. The first provides a panoramic view of social environmental conflicts in Mexico and of alternatives that are being constructed from below in rural areas. It also provides an analysis of the recent reforms to open the country’s energy sector to private and foreign investment. The second is comprised of local-level case studies of conflict (and no conflict) in diverse geographic locations and cultural settings, particularly in relation to the construction of wind farms, hydraulic infrastructure, industrial water pollution, and groundwater overdraft. The third explores alternatives from below in the form of community-based ecotourism and traditional mezcal production. A concluding chapter engages comparative and global analysis.
Social Environmental Conflicts in Mexico: Resistance to Dispossession and Alternatives from Below (Environmental Politics and Theory)
by Darcy Tetreault Cindy McCulligh Carlos LucioWhat are the political economic conditions that have given rise to increasing numbers of social environmental conflicts in Mexico? Why do these conflicts arise in some local and regional contexts and not in others? How are social environmental movements constructed and sustained? And what are the alternatives? These are the questions that this book seeks to address. It is organized into three parts. The first provides a panoramic view of social environmental conflicts in Mexico and of alternatives that are being constructed from below in rural areas. It also provides an analysis of the recent reforms to open the country’s energy sector to private and foreign investment. The second is comprised of local-level case studies of conflict (and no conflict) in diverse geographic locations and cultural settings, particularly in relation to the construction of wind farms, hydraulic infrastructure, industrial water pollution, and groundwater overdraft. The third explores alternatives from below in the form of community-based ecotourism and traditional mezcal production. A concluding chapter engages comparative and global analysis.
Tree Pollination Under Global Climate Change (SpringerBriefs in Agriculture)
by Fernando Ramírez Jose KallarackalThis brief reviews the pollination aspects of both wild and domesticated fruit tree species in a global climate change context. It explores cross-pollination mediated by insects, vertebrates and abiotic factors, self-pollination and their global warming implications. The authors identify the link between abiotic factors such as precipitation and severe droughts in the context of tree pollination and climate change. Furthermore, pollination and conservation implications in agriculture as well as wild tree populations are explored. Emphasis has been given to fruit trees growing in tropical, subtropical and temperate environments.
Landscape Ecology for Sustainable Society
by Sun-Kee Hong Nobukazu NakagoshiThe research category of the landscape ecology, which researches the structure, functions, and the spatio-temporal changes of the ecological landscapes, has now been contributing to the human life and the shifts of the socio-economic paradigm. Global warming has been influencing the universal life patterns of the mankind which have been maintained in the past several hundreds of years. And it has been having the influences on the international social problems and economic problems. Although the diverse plans for adapting to the climate changes have been the topics of the conservations among the ecologists internationally, it is the reality that the speed of the changes of the environment has been quicker than the time it takes to complete the solutions. In order to maintain the sustainable earth and the sustainable society, the role of the landscape ecology has been coming to the fore. Especially, the theories and the methodologies of the landscape ecology have been applied to the multidisciplinary researches by going beyond the research category of ecology, including the maximization of the efficiencies of the land spaces, the management of the ecological space (habitats) in which the biological diversity can be maintained, the utilization of the resources that are absolutely needed by the human beings (Here, it is compressed to water, energy, and food), etc. and until reaching the human society. It is considered that, to that extent, the utilizations and the applications of the landscape ecology are very much needed for the diagnoses and the evaluations of the global environmental problems which have been proceeded with rapidly in the modernity.This book is not comprised of any general remarks that explain the theories and the methods of the landscape ecology. Already, based on the basic theories of the landscape ecology, the writers have conducted the investigations on the farm villages, the cities, and the coastal ecosystems. And, through the space analyses and interpretations, the structure and functions of the landscapes were analyzed. Of course, in this book, too, the diverse ecosystems and the landscape ecological methodologies regarding the land use have been presented. However, the core of this book focuses more on what role the landscape ecology must play for the materialization of a sustainable society in the future. At the farm villages, the sustainable agriculture will be presented, and, at the cities, the discussions on the green networks and the energies will be proceeded with. Also, regarding the coasts and the seas, a thesis on the safety of the life zones of the residents adjacent to the sea and on the conservation of the island ecosystems will be presented. The sustainable society is a system that is formed by having the sustainable development as a basis. It is considered to be one aspect within a kind of a sustainable process with regard to which the natural world and the human world coexist and are in a symbiotic relationship harmoniously. In order to maintain the biodiversity, the reasonable adjustments of the human activities, like the use of the resources, are absolutely needed. Without the biological resources, the cultural diversity of the human beings, too, cannot exist. Consequentially, recently and internationally, there are a lot of the case examples that express the biocultural diversity by linking the biological diversity with the cultural diversity. In this book, the role of the landscape ecology as an academic link which can connect the two possible, if possible, is highly expected. It is, indeed, the biocultural landscape. It can be said that this concept, also, is the interconnection of the multidisciplinary spaces that must be dealt with in the modern landscape ecology. Through this book, it is intended to present a new directionality which can contribute to the sustainable society at the same time as the organization of the theories and the methods of the landscape ecology.
Limiting Global Warming to Well Below 2 °C: Energy System Modelling and Policy Development (Lecture Notes in Energy #64)
by George Giannakidis Kenneth Karlsson Maryse Labriet B. Ó GallachóirThis book presents the energy system roadmaps necessary to limit global temperature increase to below 2°C, in order to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change. It provides a unique perspective on and critical understanding of the feasibility of a well-below-2°C world by exploring energy system pathways, technology innovations, behaviour change and the macro-economic impacts of achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century. The transformative changes in the energy transition are explored using energy systems models and scenario analyses that are applied to various cities, countries and at a global scale to offer scientific evidence to underpin complex policy decisions relating to climate change mitigation and interrelated issues like energy security and the energy–water nexus. It includes several chapters directly related to the Nationally Determined Contributions proposed in the context of the recent Paris Agreement on Climate Change. In summary, the book collates a range of concrete analyses at different scales from around the globe, revisiting the roles of countries, cities and local communities in pathways to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make a well-below-2°C world a reality. A valuable source of information for energy modellers in both the industry and public sectors, it provides a critical understanding of both the feasibility of roadmaps to achieve a well-below-2°C world, and the diversity and wide applications of energy systems models. Encompassing behaviour changes; technology innovations; macro-economic impacts; and other environmental challenges, such as water, it is also of interest to energy economists and engineers, as well as economic modellers working in the field of climate change mitigation.
Urban Ecology, Water Quality and Climate Change (Water Science and Technology Library #84)
by Arup K. Sarma Vijay P. Singh Rajib K. Bhattacharjya Suresh A. KarthaThis unique book brings together high-quality research contributions on ecological aspects of urbanization, water quality concerns in an urban environment, and climate change issues with a strong Indian focus under one umbrella. It includes several case studies that discuss urban water management, particularly highlighting the quality aspects. Urbanization is an ecological disturbance that the modern world accepts as essential in the absence of a better alternative that could provide an equal level of comfort. The prohibitive costs of eco-friendly production technologies are forcing the developing world to generate industrial waste that is detrimental to the environment. At the same time, the availability of adequate fresh water is another challenge for our climate-change impacted world. The scientific community is, therefore, searching for ways towards ecologically sustainable urban development. Discussing all these issues, this book offers a useful guide for academicians, researchers, practicing engineers, and managers dealing with diverse water-related problems in urban areas.
Ecosystem Services from Forest Landscapes: Broadscale Considerations
by Ajith H. Perera Urmas Peterson Guillermo Martínez Pastur Louis R. IversonOver the last two decades, the topic of forest ecosystem services has attracted the attention of researchers, land managers, and policy makers around the globe. The services rendered by forest ecosystems range from intrinsic to anthropocentric benefits that are typically grouped as provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural. The research efforts, assessments, and attempts to manage forest ecosystems for their sustained services are now widely published in scientific literature. This volume focuses on broad-scale aspects of forest ecosystem services, beyond individual stands to large landscapes. In doing so, it illustrates the conceptual and practical opportunities as well as challenges involved with planning for forest ecosystem services across landscapes, regions, and nations. The goal here is to broaden the scope of land use planning through the adoption of a landscape-scale approach. Even though this approach is complex and involves multiple ecological, social, cultural, economic, and political dimensions, the landscape perspective appears to offer the best opportunity for a sustained provision of forest ecosystem services.
Land Allocation for Biomass Crops: Challenges and Opportunities with Changing Land Use
by Ruopu Li Andrea MontiThis edited volume establishes a forum for international experts to explore cutting-edge questions associated with the land use and biomass production. Topics include ‘do we have enough land, either primary or marginal, to accommodate future production of biomass?’, ‘how are farming decisions made in response to biomass incentives?’, ‘is the current bio-mass production socially, economically and environmentally sustainable?’, and ‘what are the main constraints currently limiting biofuel deployment?’ The expansion of biomass production is often at the cost of reduced land availability for food production and losses of areas with ecological functions such as forests and wetlands. This process often involves complex interplay of physical dynamics and human systems that are driven by numerous geographic and socio-economic factors at different scales. Thus, the state-of-the-art research on the land use issues surrounding the biomass production and its environmental impacts is important for informed land management decision making. This book will be of great use to researchers in land use management and biomass-based renewable energy, as well as practitioners.
Communicating Climate Change Information for Decision-Making (Springer Climate)
by Silvia Serrao-Neumann Anne Coudrain Liese CoulterThis book provides important insight on a range of issues focused on three themes; what new climate change information is being developed, how that knowledge is communicated and how it can be usefully applied across international, regional and local scales. There is increasing international investment and interest to develop and communicate updated climate change information to promote effective action. As change accelerates and planetary boundaries are crossed this information becomes particularly relevant to guide decisions and support both proactive adaptation and mitigation strategies. Developing new information addresses innovations in producing interdisciplinary climate change knowledge and overcoming issues of data quality, access and availability. This book examines effective information systems to guide decision-making for immediate and future action. Cases studies in developed and developing countries illustrate how climate change information promotes immediate and future actions across a range of sectors.