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The Living Environmental Education: Sound Science Toward a Cleaner, Safer, and Healthier Future (Sustainable Development Goals Series)

This open access book is designed and written to bridge the gap on the critical issues identified in environmental education programs in Asian countries. The world and its environments are changing rapidly, and the public may have difficulty keeping up and understanding how these changes will affect our way of life. The authors discuss various topics and case studies from an Asian perspective, but the content, messaging, and lessons learned need not be limited to Asian cultures. Each chapter provides a summary of the intensive research that has been performed on pro-environmental behaviors, the experience of people working in industry and at home, and their philosophies that guide them in their daily lives. We highlight humanity’s potential to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by understanding better the environmental psychology, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability and stewardship protection elements that contribute to responsible environmental citizenship. The content of the chapters in this book includes a discussion of the crucial issues, plans, and evaluations for sustainability theories, practices, and actions with a proposed management structure for maximizing the cultural, social, and ecological diversity of Asian experiences compared to other theories and cultures internationally. We intend that the data in this book will provide a comprehensive guide for students, professors, practitioners, and entrepreneurs of environmental education and its related disciplines using case studies that demonstrate the relationship between the social and behavioral sciences and environmental leadership and sustainability.

A Resilience Approach to Acceleration of Sustainable Development Goals

This is the first book to articulate how to address interlinkages among sustainable development goals (SDGs), which are keys to implementing those goals by 2030. At the heart of the book is a resilience approach to the enabling relevant systems, practices, and education and research. While SDGs are well known at different levels from local to global spheres, a major gap can be seen between goals and approaches, as approaches are lacking for addressing interlinkages among SDGs. The United Nations General Assembly in 2015 acknowledged interlinkages as being of crucial importance in ensuring the purpose of the goals. However, few actual approaches have been specified to address the interlinkages or interconnections at both the policy and practical levels. Thus, it is urgent to face the question of how to address the interlinkages by stakeholders—not only policy communities and researchers but also practitioners and students, especially innovators who can go beyond existing boundaries. By highlighting that challenge, this book lays out a path for addressing interlinkages among SDGs by applying a resilience approach to the issues of a sustainable society. The resilience approach has been developed from combinations of different modes of thinking and practices, including the systems approach, systems and design thinking, and resilience thinking and practices. Based on this overarching approach, innovators seek out the relevance of that approach to their SDGs-related practices at the system, local, and educational levels. The book therefore serves as a guide to how the resilience approach can contribute to accelerating implementation of SDGs by 2030.

Political Power and Environmental Sustainability in Gulf Monarchies (Contemporary Gulf Studies)

This book offers a new perspective about the Gulf Arab states entering a post-oil era by looking at the political factors behind the green transformation. It discusses the recent ‘environmental enthusiasm’ in the oil- and gas-rich Gulf monarchies by asking how political power can be constituted through advocating environmental sustainability. While hydrocarbon-wealthy Gulf monarchies have been viewed as the globe’s ‘hydrocarbon powerhouse’ with an immense ecological footprint, efforts towards sustainability and environmental protection measures are increasingly monitored. Climate Change, environmental, degradation and the global pressure towards a low-carbon development are threatening the very basis of economic and political power of the oil- and gas-exporting Gulf monarchies. So far, discussions about this fundamental transformation have barely elaborated how it affects and reorganizes political power games in the region. This book attempts to overcome the dominant focus of techno economic drivers of change and uncovers how environmental sustainability impacts state-society and state-elite relationships as well as shaping regional and even global geopolitics.

Deconstructing ‘Energy Security’ in Oman: A Journey of Securitisation from 1920 to 2020 (Gulf Studies #6)

This book makes a substantial and timely contribution to discussions on energy security in Oman, providing a systematic analysis of energy security in Oman from 1920 to 2020. It is particularly relevant in light of the recent global geopolitics of the Gulf particularly, and the Middle Eastern region broadly, as well as connecting to current climate change research and debates. Combining a political sociological account with postcolonial concepts within a theoretical and empirical exploration of energy politics, the book weaves a study of energy security into the historical and contemporary development of political, economic, security, and social structures in Oman. Including interviews with Omani and Oman-based practitioners, as well as grounded in historical documents which include Arabic-language sources, this book evaluates the energy question beyond the typical economic perspective, considering socio-political opportunities and challenges. It also makes economic-related recommendations in tandem with rentier state theory. Unlike the dominant accounts of energy security in Oman, this book sets itself apart by moving away from utilising liberal and realist approaches for its analysis and engages systematically with critical security studies to introduce a non-Eurocentric perspective to the arena. Of interest to scholars in Middle Eastern history, energy security, and security studies, this book assumes an important place in the critical literature on the Gulf, particularly within environmental studies and energy policy literature.

Urban Forestry and Arboriculture in Malaysia: An Interdisciplinary Research Perspective

This book represents the latest research on urban forestry in a Malaysian context. It demonstrates that urban forestry is concerned not only with environmental enhancement, but also other aspects, such as recreation, health and well-being, and government policies. This edited collection provides a comprehensive overview of urban forestry studies from various researchers in Malaysia, and includes rich historical perspectives of urban forestry in the country. It also tackles related issues in policy. The greening of urban Malaysia in the 1970s focused primarily on beautification and was primarily the province of horticulturists, landscapers, nursery workers, town planners, and architects, with negligible inputs from foresters, particularly urban foresters. Perhaps for that reason, the term “landscaping” has been used more widely than “urban forestry” by government and private institutions, politicians, stakeholders, academicians, and the public. Nevertheless, the authors show that the concept of urban forestry is not new for developing countries such as Malaysia, where urbanization is increasing at a rapid rate. The book unpacks this demographic shift from a predominantly rural to a principally urban society. As the only unified body of work on urban forestry and arboricultural studies in Malaysia, this volume presents an important interdisciplinary reference for students, researchers, and scholars in physical geography, forestry and urban forestry, arboriculture and landscape architecture, both in Malaysia, and in other developing urbanizing countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. It is also an important resource for those working in environmental policy and practice, excavating the vital connection between the environment and well-being.

Proceedings of the 4th Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction: Increasing the Effectiveness and Relevance of Our Institutes (Disaster and Risk Research: GADRI Book Series)

This book presents selected papers by the keynote speakers and other presenters from various disciplines and includes their opinions and evaluations. The Fourth Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction (4th GSRIDRR, 2019): Increasing the Effectiveness and Relevance of our Institutes, sponsored by the Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI) and Kyoto University, was hosted by and held at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Uji Campus, Kyoto, Japan, 13–15 March 2019..The Global Summit series provided a platform for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and other stakeholders in both government and non-governmental institutes involved in disaster risk reduction and resilience to come together to discuss, share, and exchange ideas. It focuses specifically on contributing input to the contextualization and revision of the goals of the 2016 Science and Technology Roadmap to implementation of the Priority Areas of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction Agenda 2015–2030, with input for GADRI to move forward in its contributions to the worldwide science community. The conference comprised an impressive array of global stakeholders whose expertise and experience encompassed the management of knowledge and its application for governments and industries, with shared outcomes to bridge science and decision making. It enhanced a process to confront new scientific challenges in disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management.The conference accomplished the following major goals, among others: (1) engagement in dialogue on issues related to disaster prevention and contributions to the Science and Technology Roadmap adopted to support the implementation of the Sendai Framework Agenda 2015–2030; (2) evaluation of current efforts on global and national involvement in the field of disaster prevention research in relation to the implementation of the Priority Areas of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030; (3) assessment of the status of current research knowledge and efforts, and research results at the institutional level in each country.

Glance at the Silk Road Disaster Risk

This book vividly shows the fostering environment, activity characteristics, distribution pattern, economic losses, casualties, disaster risks and management of earthquakes, mass movement, drought, floods, and marine disasters in the Silk Road region. It develops a multi-scale and multi-disaster risk assessment method to better assess and understand the Silk Road disaster risk. A multi-level collaborative risk management model has been proposed for transboundary disasters, and it also shares case studies on major disaster risk management. The book makes a major step forward to increase the understanding of the disaster risk of the Silk Road region. It presents a holistic understanding of the natural hazards and their induced disaster risks and is a valuable read for scholars, stakeholders and practitioners in the DRR community.

Meso-Neoproterozoic Geology and Petroleum Resources in China (Springer Geology)

This book focuses on Meso- to Neoproterozoic geology and Petroleum resources in China. It offers the oldest sediments knowledge for petroleum generation, accumulation, alteration and preservation in the world. It provides a valuable contribution to the understanding of a potential Precambrian oil and gas exploration realm through well-developed Meso- to Neoproterozoic sedimentary strata with petroleum resources. This work will appeal to a wide readership, from geologists, geochemists, petroleum prospector, university faculty members to advanced students working for Precambrian and petroleum geological and geochemical research.

Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Bioresources (Sustainable Development and Biodiversity #30)

This book brings together chapters related to sustainable utilization of biological resources, including in situ and ex situ conservation of rare, endangered, and threatened plants. The title also gives a special emphasis on marine sponges and mangrove ecosystems, which are two important untapped potential resources of the marine ecosystem and play a key role in maintaining the marine ecosystem. There is an urgent need for the conservation, exploration and utilization of bioresources for the growth and survival of human beings. Due to the significant reduction in biological resources, many countries are developing strategic action plans for the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources. That is where this book fills the gap by discussing the significant development of new products and methodologies for sustainable utilization of these resources. This book also unveils a world of novel bioactive molecules from medicinal plants and the marine ecosystem and explains how drug design pipelines can advance modern drug development. The target audiences for this book include biodiversity researchers who are working on technology and bioresource management issues and faculty and students in the environment research areas and Biodiversity conservation.

Geological Background of Sandstone-Type Uranium Deposits in Ordos Basin, Northwest China (Springer Geology)

This book introduces the geological background of sandstone-type uranium deposits in the Ordos Basin, Northwest China. Through comparative study of a large number of practical data such as uranium, coal and oil boreholes, the research system takes sedimentary basin as a unit and fully utilizes geologicalprinciples and test analysis to study the basic geological, geophysical, geochemical and remote sensing image characteristics of the basin, and to restores the favorable uranium-forming geological background brought by the change of the cognitive sedimentary environment conditions. It can be used as a reference for researchers, practitioners and as well as teachers and graduate students working in uranium deposit geology, sedimentary geology and related areas

Monitoring of Desert Locust in Africa and Asia

This book deals with the topic on remote sensing monitoring of desert locust in Africa and Asia. Remote sensing monitoring of the occurrence and damage of desert locust is conducted by integrating cutting-edge technologies and methods in cross-disciplinary fields in remote sensing science, geographic information science, agronomy, plant protection, agricultural meteorology, mathematics, and computer science. The main contents include spatio-temporal data analysis and processing, desert locust breeding areas monitoring, pest migration path analysis and damage monitoring. Moreover, a desert locust remote sensing monitoring system is constructed and applied in the region of Africa and Asia countries. This book not only provides technical reference for remote sensing monitoring and application of desert locust but also serves as a research reference for scholars and graduate students engaged in agricultural remote sensing, agricultural information technology, plant protection and other related field. It will help to improve remote sensing monitoring and application of desert locust.

Resource Conflict and Environmental Relations in Africa

The book discusses the failure of many African governments in providing the social needs of the masses, thereby placing the citizenry on the desperate quest for economic resources. Unfortunately, in many African States, mineral resources are owned, explored and marketed by the machinery of the state. The problem arises when the masses begin to challenge state access and ownership of resources that are domiciled within their ancestral land, communities, and constituencies. Often the challenge and resistance to state ownership of resources is generated by communal or group sense of exploitation, negligence and widespread poverty in the face of high resource endowment and waste by the government officials. Paradoxically, in Niger Delta of Nigeria, as discussed in the book, the state has unleashed unlimited might upon all social groups and agitators, thereby leading to the increased act of taking arms by such groups. When the informal resource agitators succeed in arming themselves, they begin to demand social and environmental justice, thereby leading to mass armed conflict between them and the government security agencies. Sometimes, the confrontation could be between them and other rival local resource actors in the informal sector of their country’s economy bearing in mind that the resources within their jurisdiction have become the central determinant of national commonwealth. It is at that state of desperado to control access, extraction and sale of natural resources in a State, by different armed groups that the process of natural resources extraction qualifies as the most visible cause of conflicts and crises around the African continent that is the centrepiece of the book. This is quite understandable given that mineral resource is a gift of nature; and nature is that phenomenon that every human, group and nation claim to represent, or, believe to represent them.

China’s City Cluster Development in the Race to Carbon Neutrality (Urban Sustainability)

The scope of this book is to map China’s city clusters and their individual directions for the national-level strategies in line with the 2060 carbon neutrality plan. Since China announced the carbon neutrality plan in autumn 2020, no study has looked at the role of city clusters in achieving this long-term plan. Hence, this study is believed to be the first attempt to explore this important topic from the city cluster perspective. It explores the challenges, opportunities, and directions of all 19 city clusters, allowing readers to have a clear picture of China’s historical and ongoing progress, as well as the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. In a short time, China’s city clusters have helped boost regional economic development, infrastructure development, trade and business, and better urban–rural integration. With enhanced coordination of connection and transport networks in and between the city clusters, we see a growing number of initiatives beyond just the initial economic strategies. The dual approach of top-down policies and infrastructure systems and bottom-up governance and investments has helped China consider urban–rural development strategies and regional sustainable development. These factors are essential to be explored from the city cluster perspective and in line with China’s sustainable development and carbon neutrality directions. Hence, the book covers these points holistically, ensuring that regional planning and development are favored in the face of uneven urbanization trends.We anticipate this book to be a valuable resource for local governments and authorities, urban planners and practitioners, developers, and urban researchers. While the focus is on China’s city clusters, we believe there are similar examples elsewhere. Hence, lessons learnt from this book could apply to other countries, regions, and subregions. Lastly, the book aims to put regional sustainable development at the heart of longer-term strategies and plans, such as the case of China’s carbon neutrality plan.

Advances in Civil Engineering Materials: Selected Articles from the 6th International Conference on Architecture and Civil Engineering (ICACE 2022), August 2022, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering #310)

This book presents selected articles from the 6th International Conference on Architecture and Civil Engineering 2022 (ICACE 2022), held in Malaysia. Written by leading researchers and industry professionals, the papers highlight recent advances and addresses current issues in the fields of civil engineering and architecture.

International Handbook of Disaster Research

Footprint and Entrepreneurship: Global Green Initiatives (Environmental Footprints And Eco-design Of Products And Processes Ser.)

Global Trends Compendium: An Essential Guide to Socio-Economic and Environmental Change

This Compendium was conceived as a “pocket compass”, a practical guide that may help readers to orientate themselves while they explore global affairs and attempt to make sense of the highly interconnected, multidimensional challenges of contemporary human development. The book is intended to be an accessible, concise, yet comprehensive reference for anyone who hopes to better understand today’s world and its dramatic complexity. The aim is to highlight a relevant selection of the demographic, socio-economic, geo-political, and environmental macro-dynamics that define our time, and to explore in a practical way the indicators that can be used to monitor their evolution over time. In general, this project stems from the need to apply “systemic thinking” to the study of the world and to develop a holistic perspective that can bridge the gap that for too long has existed across academic disciplines and their respective focuses. The macro-trends featured in the book shed light, in particular, on the change that has been occurring over time in the vast Global South – a portion of the globe that accounts for over 80% of the world’s total population. The book’s ultimate – although not exclusive – target audience is undoubtedly composed of undergraduate students of subjects such as political science, international affairs, international development, human geography and the like. In addition, the Compendium may benefit professionals in both public and private organisations as well as members of the general public seeking to acquire "global development literacy" in manners that are academically sound, but also accessible and concise.

Green Recovery with Resilience and High Quality Development: CCICED Annual Policy Report 2021

This open access book is based on the research outputs of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) in 2021. It covers major topics of Chinese and international attention regarding green development, such as climate, biodiversity, ocean, BRI, urbanization, sustainable production and consumption, technology, finance, value chain, and related topics. It also reviews the progress of China‘s environmental and development policies and the impacts from CCICED. This is a highly informative and carefully presented book, providing insight for policy makers in environmental issues.

Axes of Sustainable Development and Growth in India: Essays in Honour of Professor Jyoti K. Parikh (Sustainable Development Goals Series)

This book is written by prominent academics and practitioners, exploring problems and opportunities of growth in different aspects of sustainable development. The overarching themes running throughout the book are energy access, policy, climate change, human development and resource allocation in the context of India. The book will benefit policymakers and researchers with its inclusion of new evidence and solutions to meet developmental challenges.

Building an Inclusive, Green and Low-Carbon Economy: CCICED Annual Policy Report 2022

This open access book introduces the major environmental green development issues from six major themes carbon neutrality, nature-based solution, watershed management and climate adaptation, BRI green development, sustainable food supply chain, ecosystem-based integrated ocean management focusing on the progress of China’s environment and development policies from 2021 accomplishments. It is based on the research outputs of CCICED in the year of 2021, which marks China’s start point of implementation of its 14th Five-Year Plan when world economy also strived to recover from the pandemic.

Trophy Hunting

This book gets to the heart of trophy hunting, unpacking and explaining its multiple facets and controversies, and exploring why it divides environmentalists, the hunting community, and the public. Bichel and Hart provide the first interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach to the study of trophy hunting, investigating the history of trophy hunting, and delving into the background, identity and motivation of trophy hunters. They also explore the role of social media and anthropomorphism in shaping trophy hunting discourse, as well as the viability of trophy hunting as a wildlife management tool, the ideals of fair chase and sportsmanship, and what hunting trophies are, both literally and in terms of their symbolic value to hunters and non-hunters. The analyses and discussions are underpinned by a consideration of the complex moral and practical conflicts between animal rights and conservation paradigms. This book appeals to scholars in environmental philosophy, conservation and environmental studies, as well as hunters, hunting opponents, wildlife management practitioners, and policymakers, and anyone with a broad interest in human–wildlife relations.

Tropical Natural Fibre Composites: Properties, Manufacture and Applications (Engineering Materials)

This book covers the different aspects of tropical natural fibre composites in areas such as properties, design and analysis, manufacturing techniques, material selection of kenaf, oil palm, sugar palm, pineapple leaf, coconut, sugarcane and banana based fibre composites. Important properties such as mechanical and thermal of natural fibres as well their composites are presented. A study on the composite fibre-matrix interface is highlighted together with the design process and analysis of products from natural fibre composites. An overview on the manufacturing techniques (conventionally used to produce fibre glass fibre composites) such as pultrusion and filament winding is described to produce natural fibre composites. The importance of material selection system to obtain the most optimum materials for application in engineering components from natural fibre composites is covered with a strong focus on the concurrent engineering for natural fibre composites.

Roadmap to Sustainable Textiles and Clothing: Regulatory Aspects and Sustainability Standards of Textiles and the Clothing Supply Chain (Textile Science and Clothing Technology)

This book covers the elements involved in achieving sustainability in textiles and clothing sector. The chapters covered in three volumes of this series title cover all the distinctive areas earmarked for achieving sustainable development in textiles and clothing industry. This third volume highlights the areas pertaining to the regulatory aspects and sustainability standards applicable to textiles and clothing supply chain. There are various standards earmarked for measuring the environmental impacts and sustainability of textile products. There are also plenty of certification schemes available along with the index systems applicable to textile sector. Brands and manufactures are also venturing into new developments to achieve sustainable development in textile sector. This third volume addresses all these important aspects.

Impact of Climate Change on Small Scale Hydro-turbine Selections (SpringerBriefs in Energy)

Hydropower is found to be one of the most reliable and inexpensive options for renewable energy which was now widely been adopted by many countries to substitute fossil fuel sources. This Brief highlights the impact of climate change on hydropower plants, especially on the turbine design, as turbines are responsible for optimal conversion and regular energy production. The vulnerability of turbines is analyzed with the help of Artificial Neural Networks, followed by Multi Criteria Decision Making methods for development of intelligent indices to represent the level of vulnerability of turbines due to the change in climate.

E-Governance for Smart Cities (Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements)

This book highlights the electronic governance in a smart city through case studies of cities located in many countries. “E-Government” refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits are less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions. The book is divided into three parts.• E-Governance State of the Art Studies of many cities• E-Governance Domains Studies• E-Governance Tools and Issues