Earth and Environmental Science

This book promotes better understanding and awareness of South Africa' significant water problems by describing the country's and especially the Upper Vaal River’s water resources. It is a “go-to” book for students, professionals and regular citizens when information is required regarding the country's and more specifically the Upper Vaal River’s freshwater resources. It highlights the major problems and risks which need to be addressed and give a realistic and true representation of the current water affairs.

This book presents the latest advances in karstology by researchers at the ZRC SAZU Karst Research Institute, Slovenia – home of Classical Karst. It features interdisciplinary investigations carried out on the karst surface, subsurface, caves, and associated waters.

It covers various topics, such as analysis of karst processes, including the mineralogical and lithological characteristics of sediments and carbonate rocks; structural geological mapping; detecting the old traces of paleokarst; the formation of karst surfaces in a variety of types of rock and conditions; and the evolution of karst, which can aid in dating sediments, and in tracing aquifers using artificial and natural tracers.

 In addition, the book provides detailed information on the use and development of various research methods, ranging from comprehensive field research, long-term measurements, and laboratory analyses to computer and laboratory modeling. Integrating karst geology, geomorphology, hydrology, ecology, speleobiology, and microbiology research, these methods provide readers with a far deeper understanding of karst terrains.

This volume advances the state-of-the-art in the study of the interplay among financial crises, poverty dynamics and environmental sustainability. It offers timely and unique contributions to the immediate global challenge of sustainable development. Developing a new evidence-base, the volume offers concrete recommendations for policy action needed in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to environment and poverty during the current conditions of financial distress. The approach taken is inductive and evidence-driven. Most analysis is based on in-depth case studies that aim to offer a detailed and dynamic picture on how poverty and environmental sustainability interact in specific social contexts and financial crises. In this way the volume aims to generate a wealth of new and concrete evidence that offer a solid foundation to understand the multiple channels through which social and environmental factors interact, and the ways in which this interaction canand should be managed in order to achieve the needed global transition to sustainability.

Broader dynamics that are covered and analysed include the historical legacies of structural adjustment and colonialism; the current debt wave experienced in developing countries; the role of inequality; the significant impact that climate change has on livelihoods and on meeting the SDGs; the new challenge presented by the Covid-19 pandemic for the SDGs; the challenge of sustainable funding for SDGs; and the need for a new eco-social contract. Case-studies examined include Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Zambia, and subregions such as the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa and Lower Mekong Countries.

The volume is part of a joint initiative by the ‘Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP)’ of the University of Sussex, the ‘UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals’ and the ‘United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)’.The overall aim is to advance a new research programme and foster a better understanding of the multiple, complex and often opposing ways through which the punctuated economic slowdown of financial crises, poverty dynamics and environmental sustainability interact. It also makes novel recommendations into how poverty reduction and environment can work in synergy rather than being antagonistic, especially during financial distress, leading into recommendations directly geared towards achieving the SDGs and beyond.

This volume presents select proceedings of the International Conference on Innovative Technologies for Clean and Sustainable Development (ICITCSD – 2021), held at the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training & Research and Chitkara University, Himachal Pradesh, India. It covers several important aspects of sustainable civil engineering practices, dealing with effective waste and material management, natural resources, industrial products, energy, food, transportation and shelter, environmental impact mitigation, waste minimization and management, sustainable infrastructure, and geospatial technology for sustainable and clean environment. Emphasis is placed on conserving and protecting the environment and the natural resource base essential for future development. The book includes case studies and ongoing research work from various fields related to civil engineering presented by academicians, scientists, and researchers. The book also discusses engineering solutions to sustainable development and green design issues. Special emphasis is given on qualitative guidelines for the generation, treatment, handling, transport, disposal, and recycling of wastes. The book is intended as a practice-oriented reference guide for researchers and practitioners. It will be useful for anyone working in sustainable civil engineering and related fields.

This book provides essential information and recent findings on hydro-environmental issues in the Lower Danube River, particularly its hydrological and hydromorphological processes; physico-chemical features; climate and water-related hazards; and not only the biodiversity and quality but also the sustainable management and governance of its hydro-environment. Accordingly, it presents a broad range of scientific information on the lower sector of the second-longest river in Europe, which holds major economic importance and has been severely impacted by human pressures, especially since the second part of the last century. The engineering works (e.g. dams, reservoirs, levees, channelization, etc.) on the Danube and its tributaries, despite their benefits to society, have altered its flow and significantly reduced its sediment load, with consequences for hydromorphological processes and aquatic ecosystems. These ecosystems have also been affected by pollutionfrom various sources. To promote sustainable management of the Danube River and its watershed, several strategies and measures have been developed by a number of institutions, from the European level to the national and regional levels (commissions, national authorities, non-governmental organizations, etc.).

Compared to the upper and middle sectors of the Danube, the lower sector has received less attention in the international scientific literature in terms of hydro-environmental issues. The book fills this gap and provides current and original insights and findings from recent studies conducted by scientists from three countries drained by the Lower Danube River and its tributaries: Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.

This contributed volume offers a state-of-the-art, holistic overview of the employment of a Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus approach to implement the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a geographical focus on applications in different African regions. The book is divided into three sections, each composed of several chapters contributed by experts in their respective fields. 

Section I introduces the WEF Nexus and its role in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. It highlights the attempt to connect different spheres of sustainability thanks to the Nexus, taking advantage of the existing interlinkages and interconnections among the Goals. Section II proposes a multi-scale and multi-stakeholder approach to various aspects of the Nexus and reviews existing quantitative tools. This section focuses on the issue of resource control and development aims and spotlights how Nexus dynamics influence the achievement of the SDGs as awhole. Section III applies the WEF Nexus to different African regions, which are balancing a rising population and an economic boom with severe vulnerability in the face of climate change.

Chapter “Review of the Economic Impact of Water Availability on Food Security and the Related Ecosystems” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book will serve as a ready reckoner of contemporary information regarding municipal solid waste landfill biomining, treatment of landfill leachate and heavy metals in a single platform. The academicians, researchers, and students at master’s and doctoral levels will be able to understand the current trends in municipal solid waste landfill operations, which will help in augmenting their research. Construction of new landfills requires huge monetary investments, which can be avoided if old landfills were bio-mined for resources and the space can be re-used as new landfills. Landfill leachate is a hazardous waste which needs proper treatment that could generate value-added products such as clean energy and biofertilizers. In this book, each chapter would provide the background, methodology, and relevant calculations for sustaining landfill operations. Also, the case studies based on best practices in municipal solid waste landfilling are discussed in this book.

This book explores the topic of proximity and its relations in the design of contemporary urban fabrics and public spaces. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and reflections on the future of cities have lately shed light on the concept of proximity, which is intended as the relationship between communities and urban functions and as relations among people, built spaces, and open spaces. The proximity is a historic and fertile field of interest for American and Northern European urban studies; it is a spatial and social program seemingly surpassed by the styles and rhythms of contemporary city life, but today it is back in vogue with different purposes. Meanwhile, the action research developed by the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at the Politecnico di Milano for the Municipality of Milan reached its conclusion (2018–2020). The research work focused on contextualizing the new M4 Metro line stations under construction, and jointed mobility flows and places, long-rangenetworks and local ones, boosting the idea of metro stations as regenerative urban thresholds and urban platforms for enabling environmental, sustainable settlement, and active mobility systems. In other words, the action research for Milan shows how to achieve the concept of proximity in the urban design practice in a dense, stratified, and complex urban context.

Our dependency on groundwater resources and overuse thereof has led to a decline in water table so that in the last couple of decades the focus has shifted back to the traditional practices of rainwater harvesting, and ways and means have been sought to promote Rainwater harvesting in Urban areas to recharge the stressed groundwater systems. This book discusses in brief the classifications of Rainwater harvesting, and the various rainwater harvesting systems that are currently applied. The most important aspect for achieving any groundwater recharge is the availability of source water, this can be evaluated by analyzing the monsoon rainfall pattern, its frequency, number of rainy days, and maximum rainfall in a day and its variation in space and time.

The Deccan basalts are one of the most enigmatic rocks in India and pose a very difficult task when it comes to ground water exploration and groundwater recharge, especially in the urban areas where due to constraint of space one needs to resort to borewells for recharge purpose. It is important for any such undertaking to understand the applicability and sustainability aspects of Rainwater harvesting as it is being practiced.

This book tries to differentiate the Basaltic Aquifers from the other hard-rock Aquifers, and highlights the difficulties in trying to implement rainwater harvesting by groundwater recharge with the basaltic terrain. It also deals with the issue of long term sustainability of roof top Rainwater to meet the growing demands of fresh water. It also highlights some of the shortcomings in the methodologies used and the requirements for being considered in the various categories of green building rating agencies.

It furthermore clarifies the possibility and limitations of dependence of roof top harvesting in addressing the question of water shortages, which is of common occurrence within most urban centres of India. It also helps in clarifying major misconceptionsthat are currently prevailing regarding Roof top Rainwater harvesting especially within the low capacity aquifers within the hard rock terrain of the Deccan basalts.

This volume collects the results from the Politecnico di Milan’s award-winning “Boa_Ma_Nhã, Maputo!” research-by-design project, which studied various transdisciplinary approaches to development in the context of the Global South. The challenges of urbanization are well known, but that only goes so far in aiding implementation. From local considerations like water access and housing rights to global issues like climate change, territorial development demands solutions that address the needs of the specific population while keeping such goals as sustainability and inclusion in mind. By focusing on a number of towns within the Maputo Province of Mozambique, and thus addressing many of the issues endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa, the research, structurally presented so as to aid those who may require introduction to the issue, makes a clear case in favor of always keeping the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus in mind when formulating development strategies for improving people’s lives, as well as the wisdom of marrying academic findings with the insights accrued by local NGOs and institutions, thereby expanding the potential idea bank beyond the Eurocentric status quo that has tended to dominate the field.

This book focuses on the emergence of COVID-19 and climate change as twin mega risks to cities of both developed and developing countries. The work analyses how the pandemic has transformed city functions, promoted remote working, and affected socializing, education and learning patterns, recreation, as well as shopping and entertainment. It discusses the lessons learned from these two Mega Risks, the evolution of urban patterns and functions in their wake, and provides visionary thinking for the improvement of cities from the experiences gained. The COVID-19 Pandemic and climate change are both posing serious threats to cities’ future. Together, they demand changes in the ways cities’ function and operate. The work presents a case for a better understanding of the twin mega risks, the magnitude of their impacts, the responses of cities in combating these issues, and planning strategies for preparing, mitigating and adapting to these and future risks. The book is designed to provide reliable resource materials for a wide audience such as planners, professional practitioners, scientists, students, teachers and researchers working in various fields including geography, environmental sciences, social sciences, policy and planning.

This book provides an original cross-thematic and wide scope review of crime prevention processes in urban areas that are explicitly based on the cooperation between different scientific and professional fields. Focusing primarily on environmental and community-based crime prevention, this book compiles a peer-reviewed collection of papers and prospective essays that explore how, and to what extent, multi-disciplinarity can be used as a cornerstone for achieving safer cities.

Relying on the input from specialists, researchers, decision-makers, and practitioners from around the world, it covers the various stages from theory to implementation, by discussing theoretical stances, interpreting policy and planning guidelines, uncovering unique educational experiences, and narrating insights and lessons learned from innovative research and practice. Hence, it provides vivid discussions and invaluable insights into processes of partnership building, planning, and management, oriented towards establishing successful mechanism for preventing crime and reducing feelings of insecurity in urban areas.

This book presents an assessment of endeavors towards Financial Inclusion and its role in Sustainable development. An attractive feature is that it deals with almost all the contemporary issues essential for reaching UN Sustainable Development Goals. This book would be an exclusive and authentic source to the students of undergraduates, postgraduates and professional courses in Commerce and Management. This manuscript is divided into nine chapters.

This book presents a significant amount of structural, paleomagnetic and magnetic fabric data in the Central High Atlas (Morocco). The authors thoroughly described and analyzed the present-day structure of this intraplate chain through 22 of cross-sections, potential field data analysis and 3D reconstruction. In addition, the authors propose a palinspastic reconstruction of the structure of the basin at 100 Ma (i.e., post-extension and pre-compression) to finally evaluate its Mesozoic and Cenozoic geodynamic evolution. This books presents (1) a unique three-dimensional model at the chain scale, (2) an analysis of the ca. 100 Ma remagnetization, to perform palinspastic restorations of most representative structures, (3) as well as the interpretation of the magnetic fabrics in order to unravel the tectonic or deformation setting that the rocks underwent in different parts of the basin.

This book is of interest to structural geologists in Northern Africa, the Mediterranean and Iberia, as well as to those interested in inverted intraplate basins and paleomagnetists from around the planet. Also, this book is intended to help students to understand better the geological evolution of the Atlas and therefore Morocco and surrounding areas.

The aim of this book is to provide a synthesis of the newest research in Geography concerning the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Although the world is strongly interconnected, the majority of the chapters in this volume focus on Europe or the work of European researchers. Each chapter of this book focusses on one of the 17 SDG’s providing in-depth knowledge from a geographical perspective, fostering comprehensive research on these global targets to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change.

The Sustainable Development Goals are part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To achieve them, it will be necessary for all stakeholders, including citizens (civil society, doctors, teachers), governments, private sector to collaborate.

This open access book represents a journey documenting the development of tools and methodologies over 3 decades and asks where the future lies. It further develops seminal work carried out under the auspices of the Capacity building in Sustainability and Environmental Management (CapSEM) project co-funded by the EU Erasmus programme from 2016-2019 as well as research projects such as IGLO-MP2020, SUSPRO, and SISVI. It gathers existing paradigms of environmental management within the relevant frameworks which have driven the way in which this discipline has developed. It seeks to both challenge and support the way in which business sectors have approached this previously, with a more holistic and overarching model being provided, moving through four very distinct levels.  It therefore provides not only a different approach, but a different way of thinking. Systems thinking is characterized by four levels: Process, Product Value Chain, Organisational and Systemic which combinesMaterial Flow Analysis (MFA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Industrial Ecology (IE) principles. In its practical application, Corporate Social Responsibility, for example, thus becomes an integral part of a much wider business strategy and impacts on all business activity, not added value for its own sake, but a valuable component in a wider toolbox as a fundamental part of any business strategy and plan, changing, flexing and developing over the years.

The book is divided into 4 parts: moving from context and background, to the theoretical model or toolbox, onto its practical application in case studies and culminates in looking at the future and potential developments. It represents the multi-disciplined collaboration at NTNU and beyond, exemplifying its use in a wealth of business sectors and a range of stakeholders from construction to textiles to wind power as outlined in the European Circular Action Plan.

This book publishes some papers presented at The International Conference on Water Energy Food and Sustainability (ICoWEFS  2023), a major forum to foster innovation and exchange knowledge in the water-energy-food nexus. The topics covered embrace the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of  the United Nations, including Future trends in Water Security, Smart Technologies in Sustainable Energy Production Systems, Circular systems for rural and urban food and Integrated Ecosystems Management.

This book, besides discussing challenges and opportunities, will reveal the microbe-metal interactions and strategies for e-waste remediation in different ecosystems.  It will unveil the recent biotechnological advancement and microbiological approach to sustainable biorecycling of e-waste such as bioleaching for heavy metal extraction, valorization of precious metal, biodegradation of e-plastic, the role of the diverse microbial community in e-waste remediation, genetically engineered microbes for e-waste management, the importance of microbial exopolysaccharides in metal biosorption, next-generation technologies, omics-based technologies etc. It also holds the promise to discuss the conservation, utilization and cataloging indigenous microbes in e-waste-polluted niches and promising hybrid technology for sustainable e-waste management.

Nevertheless, the continuous demand for new-generation gadgets and electronics set this high-tech evolution to a new frontier in the last few years. With this continuing trend of technological development, e-waste is expanding exponentially worldwide. In the year of 2019, the worldwide generation of e-waste was approximately 53.6 Mt, of which only about 17.4% of e-waste was collected and recycled, and the other 82.6% was not even documented. E-waste containsvarious heterogeneous waste complexes such as metals (60%), blends of many polymers (30%) and halogenated compounds, radioactive elements and other pollutants (10%), respectively. The sustainable, efficient, and economic management of e-waste is thus, a challenging task today and in the coming decades. Conventional techniques such as the use of chemicals, incineration and informal ways of e-waste dismantling trigger serious health risks and contamination to the human population and environment, respectively due to the liberation of toxic and hazardous substances from the waste. In this context, bio-candidates especially microorganisms could be sharp-edged biological recycling tools to manage e-waste sustainably. As microbes are omnipresent and diverse in their physiology and functional aspects, they offer a wide range of bioremediation.

This book contains a set of papers which explore the links among climate change, health, and hazards and demonstrate how they interact. It emphasizes the urgency of immediate and more ambitious action to address climate risks. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human-induced climate change is known to be causing dangerous and widespread disruptions in nature and is affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks. Climate change is also negatively influencing health and is mounting threat to our wellbeing and a healthy planet. 

The world is also facing significant climate hazards over the next two decades, with global warming expected to soon reach 1.5°C. Even temporarily exceeding this warming level will result in additional severe impacts, some of which may be irreversible. There is therefore a perceived need for publications which may foster a greater understanding of how climate changeconnects to human health and the role played by hazards in this context. It is against this background that this book is being prepared.

This volume contains the proceedings of the 2022 iteration of the ISPGAYA meeting, titled “Multidimensional Sustainability: Transitions and Convergences” and held on September 29 and 30th, 2022 in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.  The conference and resulting book intend to explore the involvement of Portugal, a country on the semi-periphery of the world system, in developments regarding the understanding of and progress toward sustainability. The conference was organized by ISPGAYA, an institution belonging to the private polytechnic higher education system in Portugal, and brought together participants from around the world. This volume intends to establish a milestone in the multidimensional approach to the theme of sustainability, affirming the concept's multi- and interdisciplinary nature and bringing together scholars across disciplines.

This book presents the first report and interpretation of the deformation, structural style, and geo-tectonic evolution of a 600km2 area of the Ladakh batholith, NW India, centred on the city of Leh, Ladakh. The Ladakh (and westerly Kohistan ) batholith comprises a large component of the Jurassic-Oligocene Kohistan-Ladakh Arc-Terrane (KLA), with magmatism spanning island arc, continental margin, and post-Himalayan collision tectonic environments. The KLA is bounded to the north by the Shyok-Northern Suture and to the south by the Indus Suture. The batholith illustrates basement thick-skin tectonic deformation and is divided/partitioned into a series of crustal blocks separated by lateral accommodation structures which allow independent movement in horizontal and vertical space. Thin skinned deformation within the adjacent sedimentary molasse Indus Suture Rocks produced large thrust stacks that predominantly moved towards the N-NE.  Whilst deformation within cover sequences influences the basement structures, and helps break up the basement into crustal blocks, there is a clear distinction in deformation between the basement and cover sequences. Basement batholith deformation is more complex and heterogeneous, reflecting the variable transmission of tectonic stress within crystalline crust and the presence of a wide range of precursory inherited weaknesses and anisotropies.  Models of time-space deformation are presented using data derived from field and extensive photograph / photo-mosaic image interpretation. The batholith was deformed during at least Palaeocene-Pliocene times at crustal depths that correspond to the ductile-brittle transition zone and shallower.

This book offers ideas and practices on contemporary design concepts and illustrates them with plans and photographs of outstanding examples. Current planning and design modes of dwellings and neighborhoods are facing challenges of philosophy and form. Past approaches no longer sustain new demands and require innovative thinking. The need for a new outlook is propelled by fundamental changes that touch upon environmental, economic and social aspects.

The text would be of interest to scholars working in: architecture, urban planning, and construction.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are a class of chemicals that are persistent, bio accumulative and toxic (PBT), which are restricted for use under the Stockholm Convention. They adversely impact the environment, human and animal health. Most of the POPs are semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and known to have a long-range transport potential and are often deposited in colder climate and found in places away from the regions they are produced. POPs are usually hydrophobic (i.e., “water-hating”) and lipophilic (i.e., “fat-loving”) chemicals, due to which they bind to solids, particularly organic matter, and fatty tissues in both marine and terrestrial environments. As a result, POPs may move up the food chain. 

Environmental impacts created by the textiles and fashion sector are well known and acknowledged by various stakeholders involved in the entire supply chain. The lifecycle of textile products creates various impacts to the environment and any attempts to alleviate them are highly welcomed. The whole sector is keen to investigate novel sustainable alternatives in terms of raw materials, processes, approaches to make the entire textiles and fashion sector more sustainable. This broad category of novel sustainable alternatives can be split into three subtopics: novel raw material alternatives, novel process alternative and novel alternative approaches. This volume provides cases describing novel sustainable process alternatives for the textiles and fashion industry.

This book aims to cover most subject areas of green infrastructure such as components, multi-functionality, and integration to build environment, contribution to urban sustainability, sustainable and smart city development, urban climate change nexus, green buildings and rating systems, economic assessment, and quantification of green infrastructure. The impending climate crisis, as well as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has highlighted the importance of green infrastructure in and around cities, prompting a call for more functional and sustainable urban planning and design. A number of recent studies have shown that green infrastructure provides a wide range of ecosystem functions and services critical to human well-being and urban sustainability, which is especially important during climatic and health crises. In this book, the authors emphasize the importance of existing green infrastructure in coping with climate change-induced stresses, such as increasing climate variability and extreme temperature and precipitation events, as well as contributing to urban dwellers' physical and mental health. Green infrastructure, in both cases, plays a significant role in providing urban areas with resilience capacity, which is critical to urban sustainability. The authors also emphasize the importance of expanding and improving green infrastructure, particularly in vulnerable areas, through integrative and participatory processes.

Appropriate integration of green-gray infrastructure and development of climate resilient cities is the core theme of this publication. Further, it emphasizes sustainable development which has become an imperative requirement to the world to move fore and climate change-built environment nexus, the most critical global crisis. Though several books were published globally on the green infrastructure and urban resilience individually, books are rarely published combining both disciplines. This book identifies and addresses the gap through comprehensively discussing on both interlinked areas which is essential for the sustainable urban development. Further, it explores on urban climate resilience, urban sprawl, urbanization, resilience drivers, essentials of city resilience, policy implications, challenges, and future perspectives. This book is a useful fundamental guide in practical applications of green infrastructure in built environment in sustainability context. Further, it enlightens on the significance of transforming the conventional building construction trend to sustainable urban planning designs and building development, exploring on the strategic pathway on building urban climate resilience while signifying the importance of healthy built environment through discussing on the nexus between climate change and built environment.

This open access book contributes not only to the scientific literature on sustainable agricultural development and in particular rice agriculture but also is highly valuable to assist practitioners, projects, and policymakers due to its sections on reducing carbon footprint, agricultural innovations, and lessons learned from a multi-country/multi-stages development project.

The scope of the book is conceived as a detailed documentation of the implementation, dissemination, and impact of the CORIGAP project in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, with spill-over to Cambodia and the Philippines. It pulls together actionable research findings with the experience of bringing these findings into use. The aim of the book is to provide a wide array of pathways to impact for sustainable rice production in lowland irrigated rice-based agricultural systems. The book is written by local actors of the rice value chain, researchers, and engineers working on a range of best management practices, climate-smart rice production innovations, knowledge translation, and dissemination, as well as decision-making and policy aspects. It is envisioned that the contents of the book can be translated into messages that can help farmers, extension workers, policymakers, and funders of agricultural development, decide on implementing best management practices and climate-smart technologies in their agroecological systems by presenting the technological/practical options along the rice value chain and the partnerships and business models required for their implementation. The book is aimed at practitioners, extension specialists, researchers, and engineers interested in information on current best management practices, sustainable, and climate-smart rice production and constraints that need further investigation. Furthermore, the book is also aimed at policymakers and agricultural development funders required by public opinion and legallybinding agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve biodiversity and increase agroecological practices, who are looking for research-based evidence to guide policymaking and implementation.

This book is devoted to a systemic study of socio-economic development risks arising in the Decade of Action, as well as the prospects for risk management in support of sustainable development. It aims to overcome fragmentary consideration of risks in the existing literature through their comprehensive coverage and the establishment of their interconnections from the perspective of sustainable development.

The novelty of this book is that it provides a comprehensive accounting of socio-economic development risks in the Decade of Action, as well as a rethinking of these risks from a sustainable development perspective. The book also opens up the possibility of the most comprehensive and effective risk management in support of sustainable development. The practical relevance of the book stems from the fact that it describes and discusses practical experience in detail and accompanies the theoretical material with numerous case studies, including cases and frameworks with extensive coverage of international best practices.

The book is intended for scholars, for whom the book forms a systemic scientific view of the risks of socio-economic development arising in the Decade of Action, as well as the prospects for risk management in support of sustainable development. The book is also of interest to practitioners, for whom it offers practical advice on risk management at all levels of the economy for sustainable development. Many examples from different countries make the book attractive to a wide international audience. The book is of particular interest to readers from Russia.

This book provides accurate and integrated information about land resources especially with the accelerated progress of information technology to help Egypt and similar countries to achieve the country sustainable development goals in the field of agriculture and natural resources. The Egyptian National sustainable development plans mainly aim to conserve the arable lands in the Nile Delta and the Nile Valley, in addition to the oases and desert fringes. Moreover, increasing land productivity is a vital national goal for filling the food gap.  Consequently, providing accurate and integrated information about land natural resources using the recent technologies such as satellite data/images and geoinformatics techniques. Such information would be a base for planning, decision making and research needs all over the world due to the importance of Egypt as the biggest and leading country in the MENA regions.

The book provides land natural resources database as a platform, upon which additional thematic information can be added in the future to serve multi approached sustainable development. The book highlights the usage of digital information in monitoring urban planning and encroachment, in addition to soil and land capability classification. Moreover, networks of irrigation/drainages, railways, and utilities are added for a wide management range. Various available information systems were employed to initiate the targeted land resources database (e.g., ArcGIS, ERDAS IMAGINE and ENVI). Data of previous soil survey projects were the basis for the created digital database including High Dam Soil Survey, Soil map of Egypt and Land Master Plane.

The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was elaborated using SRTM space images, in addition to spot heights and contour lines derived from the topographic maps (scale 1:50,000) produced by the Egyptian Survey Authority (ESA). The resulted thematic layers were incorporated in the created GIS land resources database. 

The book is a unique and a great source of information and knowledge for all researchers around the globe particularly for MENA regions. Researchers, graduate students, the policy planners and decision making will find this book very useful for them. are most people who could benefit from the book. We believe the book will be an added value to the existing information and knowledge.

This contributed volume discusses how consumer awareness of textile sustainability can lead to a more sustainable textile supply chain. From the initial purchase of a textile to its care and longevity, consumer behaviors are at the core of consumption associated with the textile industry. Making consumers aware of the environmental impacts of the clothing products they buy help them to choose the best alternative which has the lowers footprints and also enable them to help the entire textile sector to become sustainable. In addition, making them aware of environmental footprints of textile products from cradle to grave, make them aware of how best they can take care of their products during use and disposal phases and how they can help to preserve the planet with their earnest efforts to reduce the environmental impacts in their boundary, i.e. the use and disposal phases.

This book contains a comprehensive guide to the latest developments in building and bridge construction. The book covers a wide range of topics, including the use of advanced materials such as fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites and the incorporation of smart technologies into design and construction of buildings and bridges.

The book discusses advantages of using FRP composites in building and bridge construction. It then goes on to explore the use of smart technologies, such as sensors and structural health monitoring systems, to improve performance and safety of structures. It also covers the use of advanced concrete and masonry materials and methods, including high-performance concrete, self-consolidating concrete, and advanced masonry systems.

The book is written for engineers, architects, and construction professionals and provides a detailed overview of the latest research and developments in the field. It includes case studies and practical examples to illustrate key concepts and techniques, making it an invaluable resource for those involved in building and bridge construction.

With its comprehensive coverage of the latest advances in building and bridge construction, "Advances in Concrete, Masonry and FRP Composite Smart Buildings and Bridges" is an essential guide for anyone looking to stay current with the latest trends and technologies in the industry.

Environmental impacts created by the entire textile and fashion supply chain have been an important topic of discussion in recent decades. Different life cycle phases of a textile product from raw material extraction through manufacturing to consumer use and disposal are all responsible for various magnitudes of environmental impact. Mitigating the environmental impacts created by the textile manufacturing sector is of paramount import as manufacturing is a critical point to alleviate the impacts arising from the entire textiles and clothing supply chain. This contributed volume is meant to illustrate and draw useful conclusions from initiatives taken by the textile manufacturing sector and to identify key practices invented and being practiced by textiles and clothing manufacturers toward making the industry more sustainable.

The book focuses on environmental monitoring, pollution discharge control and management, environmental pollution governance, ecological remediation technology, and environmental sustainability. With the rapid growth of global population and the development of industry and cities, environmental pollution problems are becoming increasingly serious, affecting people's lives and social development. In order to protect the environment and achieve sustainable ecological development, we need to maintain research on environmental pollution governance and ecological remediation. This book aims to promote scientific information interchange between scholars from the top universities, research centers, and high-tech enterprises working all around the world and is a valuable resource for those in both academia and industry.

This book dedicates to publish exceptionally important and high-quality, agenda-setting research so as to tackle the key global and societal challenges of ensuring the provision of energy and protecting our environment for the future. The book appeals to chemical scientists, chemical and process engineers, energy researchers, bio-scientists and environmental scientists from across academia, industry and government. The scope is intentionally broad, and the book recognizes the complexity of issues and challenges relating to energy conversion and storage, alternative fuel technologies and environmental science. The main topics of this book include but not limit to (1) alternative energy and the environment, (2) assessments of the condition of ecosystems and environmental quality, (3) behavior of and impacts of pollutants in atmosphere, soil and water, (4) management of ecosystems, environment and water resources, (5) modeling and regional environmental assessments (includes global change), (6) treatment/restoration of ecosystems, environment and water resources, (7) sustainable/renewable energy and(8) energy and built environment.

All scales of studies and analysis, from impactful fundamental advances, to interdisciplinary research across the (bio)chemical, (bio/geo)physical sciences and chemical engineering disciplines are welcomed. So, this book is linked to the energy-environment nexus and is of significant general interest to our community-spanning readership.

This Springer Brief presents a study that aims to identify the demand for cooking fuel at household level under different socio-economic conditions in rural India, with the goal of offering recommendations to reformulate and redesign energy policy. Households’ fuel choice and level of fuel consumption contribute to efforts toward sustainable development in emerging economy like India. In this context, it is important to identify the determining factors of fuel choice and consumption decision for cooking purpose at household level. Earlier studies mainly focused on fuel price and household income determining domestic fuel consumption, and insufficient attention has been given to other socioeconomic factors and decision processes for fuel choice. In this Brief, the double hurdle model is used to estimate the hurdles in fuel demand and its determinants at the household level in rural India.

In the face of unprecedented challenges in managing water resources, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a revolutionary force, reshaping the landscape of water conservation, treatment, irrigation, policy formulation, watershed management, and the monitoring of groundwater and surface water. This book explores the transformative role of AI in the water domain, exploring cutting-edge applications and innovative solutions that promise to address pressing issues in sustainable water management. As we navigate the complexities of a changing climate, population growth, and urbanization, the chapters within this book offer insights into how AI technologies can enhance efficiency, optimize resource utilization, and provide data-driven strategies for ensuring the resilience and sustainability of our vital water ecosystems. From intelligent water treatment systems to precision agriculture and policy decision support, each chapter unfolds a narrative of AI-driven advancements, providing a comprehensive guide for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers navigating the intersection of artificial intelligence and water management.

This book describes and offers cases in the assessment of Ecological Footprint (EF) in different industrial spaces and processes. Ecological Footprint is a useful metric that measures the level of resources from the environment that are required to support a specific way of life or business. This book enumerates the concept of EF and how this concept can be applied to a variety of industrial spaces and processes including textile manufacture, electric vehicle charging, construction materials, and agriculture.

This book states that the new environmental challenge will also have to be faced ethically, science can provide the tools, but people will have to be sensitized so that they make their own environmental ethics.
The challenge of the new era is: the environment and therefore the climate, as it does not start outside of us, but as a constituent element of our life and therefore lived ethically.
The new vision proposed in this book is to push technology together with the human being, in assuming environmentally ethical behaviors: this is the greatest collective action of humanity.
Sustainable development has allowed an integrated key to the social, economic, and environmental dimensions.
Through ethics, sustainability can be combined not only by referring to the problem of pollution and the exploitation of natural resources, but it creates a new global era that includes all dimensions of people's lives and of society.
The shared and structured environmental ethics allow an approach that is no longer short-term but provide the collective tools to look far in time.
With this book, we want to lay the instrumental, technical, social, and legislative foundations, to provide a new methodology for the care of the environment, as up to now, there has been much discussion, but little achieved in a truly ethical way.

This book delves into the invaluable contributions made by the Italian UNESCO Chairs toward addressing the intricate and pressing global challenges of our era. Established within the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs program initiated by UNESCO in 1992, these Chairs serve as vital links between the realms of academic research and civil society. They offer a conduit for disseminating knowledge, thereby advancing the objectives of global development. By facilitating the transfer and adoption of scientific methodologies through intellectual collaboration, they strive to enhance the sustainability and resilience of both individual communities and society at large.

Through a series of dialogues, the Italian UNESCO Chairs critically examine the challenges inherent in this mission, the objectives they aim to achieve, the strategies employed in scientific research, and the development of novel areas of study. They approach these endeavors with a conscientious and responsible mindset, recognizing them as essential responses to the multifaceted issues arising in our rapidly evolving world.

The contributions put forth by the Italian UNESCO Chairs serve as practical tools for the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, making them relevant to various stakeholders. These include not only citizens, scholars, public and private institutions, research centers, and administrators but also anyone with an interest in tackling the challenges of sustainable development in our everyday lives.

This book provides the latest research on zero carbon industry and its practical implications for eco-innovation and environmental sustainability for businesses in current scenario. In a zero-carbon industry, there would be profound, sometimes disruptive, changes in our economy compared to our current one. As the world approaches zero carbon industry by 2050, economic output will shift progressively (and permanently) toward those goods and services that do not emit greenhouse gases. Changes in these dynamics would ripple along entire value chains, transforming industries. Creating a zero-carbon industry will require fundamental changes in both our economies and societies. Taking eco-innovation and environmental sustainability seriously will be crucial to businesses, and companies are increasingly keen to signal this commitment. This book aims to illustrate a detailed exploration of the complex and interconnected domains of zero carbon industry, eco-innovation, and environmental sustainability. In addition to combining the academic expertise of emerging and established scholars from different academic fields, this book provides an integrated understanding of the topic on zero carbon emissions, eco-innovation, and environmental sustainability from a broader perspective by combining the work of established and emerging scholars. There is a need to fundamentally transform the zero carbon industry, eco-innovation ecosystem in order to achieve sustainability through the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of things, blockchain, and cloud technologies.

The book sheds light on various advancements in zero carbon industry, eco-innovation, and emerging technologies for the purpose of sustainability, and it aims to address the urgency of responding to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) as part of the global mandate.

The book is based on Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund data from the Outcome Monitoring Surveys 1,2,3 (OMS123) which comprised of three rounds of panel data set with the same households being interviewed three consecutive times in 18 districts. The OMS1, OMS2 and OMS3 were undertaken in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. The findings in this book demonstrate and provide a better understanding of what works and what does not work to strengthen communities’ resilience in Zimbabwe. The information contributed in each chapter will be useful to inform adaptive programming and design of future resilience interventions and policy, with a focus on Climate Resilient Development (CRD). The chapters also address the challenge of formulating concrete policy in an environment with severe data constraints.

This book offers a comprehensive detail about the role that corporate social responsibility can play in promoting sustainable development thereby ensuring a resilient and greener future for all. The book emphasises how business strategies and environmental harmony are becoming more integrated, thereby supporting the agenda towards a sustainable development.

The synergistic and symbiotic relationship between social responsibility and sustainability has evolved over the years with enterprises becoming more aware of their commitment towards ethical, equitable, inclusive, and environmentally conscious practices. Adopting a socially responsible attitude by the new age entrepreneurs represents the paradigm shift in how corporations understand and undertake their regular activities. The traditional objective of wealth maximisation that the enterprises followed led to severe misutilisation of resources in terms of its environmental and societal impact and led to severe corporate disasters. It gave rise to adopting alternative objectives that are not only holistic but also combine concern for profits, humanity, society, and, above all, the environment. The result is that almost every major corporation has adopted a code of conduct and established the necessary management structures and procedures to ensure compliance with the newly framed objective of socially responsible profits. Consequently, the concept of corporate social responsibility has acquired momentum in recent times. This has come after the realisation that social responsibility is a significant environmental and organisational sustainability dimension that only some enterprises can sustain for a while. Over the years, this harmonisation has ushered in significant progress, reshaping the perspective of businesses towards their societal and environmental impact.

This book explores aspects of creating cities and structures with a focus on sustainability. It provides an analysis of contemporary methodologies, technologies, and principles essential for designing urban environments and buildings that significantly reduce environmental impact. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of energy efficiency, resource conservation, and the integration of green spaces to enhance the quality of life for urban dwellers. Covering a broad spectrum of topics, from sustainable urban mobility to green architecture and smart city initiatives, this book serves as an invaluable resource for professionals, researchers, and students. Furthermore, it aims to inspire and guide those dedicated to developing a sustainable future through innovative and responsible urban planning and architectural design practices.

This book covers a critical topic, including green building design, sustainable urban mobility, renewable energy integration, and the use of advanced technologies to minimize environmental impact. Through comprehensive analysis and practical case studies, it highlights how thoughtful design and planning can transform urban areas into resilient, eco-friendly spaces. Also, it explores the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing sustainable practices in urban planning and architectural design. It highlights successful projects from around the world, demonstrating innovative solutions that address issues. Aimed at professionals, researchers, and students, this book provides valuable insights and actionable strategies for fostering sustainable growth. It serves as an essential guide for anyone committed to creating cities and buildings that not only meet the needs of the present but also safeguard the well-being of future generations. Through its comprehensive coverage and forward-thinking approach, it inspires a new era of urban transformation focused on sustainability and resilience.

Despite its potential to unlock socio-economic benefits in rural and protected areas in a manner that addresses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), rural and protected areas tourism is yet to be thoroughly examined by academics, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. This lack of exploration has undermined the potential benefits associated with tourism development in rural and protected areas. Given the complexity of rural tourism, this contributed volume explores current and future debates on the subject using cases in Southern Africa. The book is useful for various audiences, including tourism academics, planners, cultural and heritage practitioners, and rural development planners. The topics covered include gender, transformation, service delivery, visitor experience, wildlife tourism, and host-community tourism interaction.

This book provides an extensive critical review of seismic inversion methods and applications. Hydrocarbon reservoir extensions and properties cannot be accurately defined from information provided by geological data, geophysical data, and well log data. Seismic data has adequate spatial coverage but lacks vertical resolution, while well data has excellent vertical resolution but spatially sparse. Seismic reflection amplitudes are related to pore fill and lithology changes. Seismic AVO analysis and inversion exploit variation of amplitudes with angle of incidence to derive useful attributes and elastic rock properties such as velocity, impedance, and density. Seismic inversion attempts to fill the gap between and away from the already drilled wells with rock properties that are available from the measured and/or interpreted well log data. In this endeavour, seismic data, well log data, and all available geological model data are integrated to predict rock and ultimately reservoir properties such as porosity, water saturation, shale content, brittleness, and pore pressure. This book is aimed at graduate and postgraduate students, academics, and geoscientist exploiting earth resources. It is especially directed to oil and gas industry professionals in supporting their efforts in quantitative reservoir description from seismic data. While brief theoretical derivations are provided to understand power and limitations of inversion methods used, emphasis has been on the practical applications. A comprehensive critical review of the seismic inversion and AVO theory and applications published and presented at technical meetings is provided with ample references and further references for probing geoscientists.

The book presents the main results of the collaboration of the V.I.Il'ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences with marine research organizations of Vietnam since 1981 to the present in the field of oceanography, marine geophysics, geology, and ecosystem in the Vietnam waters of the South China Sea. In chronological order, a historical outline of the establishment and development of this cooperation as well as the main results of joint and unilateral studies in different areas of the studied region is given. The structure and dynamics of water, as well as their hydrochemical, hydrophysical, and gas-geochemical characteristics, are described. Data on lithology and mineralogy of bottom sediments, the results of studying the geophysical fields and structure of the Earth's crust, as well as extreme synoptic processes and satellite observations of the South China Sea are presented.

The book is addressed to a wide range of experts in the field of Earth sciences.

This edited volume reviews 20 years’ worth of research under the European Landscape Convention. The authors from the research network UNISCAPE offer readers insights into their combined efforts to carry out and support the goals of a sustainable European landscape. 20 years after defining these original goals, the editors make landscape ecology and management, a cornerstone for the debate on a 21^st century Europe.

The numerous contributions cover the three major areas of Landscape Policy and Governance, Landscape Design and Time and Observing Landscape. The pan-European approach highlights the strength of international collaboration and interdisciplinary thinking.

This book offers the collected knowledge as a working tool for researchers, scholars and professionals in landscape ecology.

This book provides an in-depth insight into the ecological perspective on a number of ongoing issues pertaining to security, the economy, the state, global environmental governance, development, and the environment. The chapters critically compare and analyze the role of global eco-politics in understanding and sorting out issues linked with climate change. Furthermore, it presents a contemporary and accessible description of why we need to embrace eco-politics in order to address the various ecological challenges that we face in the current changing climate scenario.