This book discusses resilient urban water resources management in the context of climate change and ongoing urbanization. Twelve cities worldwide representing different climates and growth stages serve as case studies. Using these case cities, this book first identifies the main water issues, including water demand, floods, and droughts, in relation to the historical development of each city, investigates current strategies for dealing with climate-related water hazards, and explores poten...

“A vivid, important, and inspiring book.”— Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Sixth Extinction and Under a White Sky“Eloquently mulls the ecological dynamics of forests as well as the social, economic, cultural, and political forces that determine their fate.”—LA REVIEW OF BOOKSA powerful book about th...

based largely on information provided in fourteen country reports submitted to FAO as part of the reporting process for the report on The State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture.Biodiversity for food and agriculture is the diversity of plants, animals and micro-organisms at genetic, species and ecosystem levels, present in and around crop, livestock, forest and aquatic production systems. It is essential to the structure, functions and processes of these systems,...

Global climate change disproportionately affects rural people and indigenous groups, but their rights, knowledge, and interests concerning it are generally unacknowledged. Shifts in precipitation, cloud cover, temperature, and other climatic patterns alter their livelihood pursuits and cultural landscapes, accentuating their existing social and economic marginalization. Planners and researchers of climate change mitigation and adaptation must take into account the knowledge and capacity of...

This open access book. provides a synthesis of six projects, across ten countries, each of which have been sustained for two or more decades, and which illustrate how success can be achieved regardless of systems of governance, of a nation’s wealth, or of culture. Detailed narratives are presented on the key personalities that have conceived, conducted and concluded long-term projects: personal stories of vision, failure, frustration and persistence ultimately leading to success.Th...

This is an open access book. It is a compilation of case studies that provide useful knowledge and lessons that derive from on-the-ground activities and contribute to policy recommendations, focusing on the interlinkages between biodiversity and multiple dimensions of health (e.g., physical, mental, and spiritual) in managing socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS). This book provides insights on how SEPLS approaches can contribute to more sustainable management of nat...

Some European lands have been progressively alleviated of human pressures, particularly traditional agriculture in remote areas. This book proposes that this land abandonment can be seen as an opportunity to restore natural ecosystems via rewilding. We define rewilding as the passive management of ecological successions having in mind the long-term goal of restoring natural ecosystem processes. The book aims at introducing the concept of rewilding to scientists, students and practitioners....

Whilst the world's poor are clearly hit hardest by climate change impacts, so too do they hold many of the solutions for how best to cope with its impacts, and at times reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero.In this wide-ranging book, Hannah Reid offers a rich compendium of real life scenarios and brings home the realities of how poor people are suffering from and coping with climate change impacts today.Drawing on case studies gathered by the UP in Smoke group - a powerfu...

Most protected areas (e.g.national parks and nature reserves) have been created to protect wildlife and land- and seascape values. They currently cover over 13% of the world's land surface, around 12% of marine coastal areas and 4% of the marine shelf. Retaining and expanding these areas in the future will depend on showing their wider benefits for society.This book provides a concise and persuasive overview of the values of protected areas. Contributing authors from over fifty cou...

The book Better City, Better Life brings together papers from different disciplines of researchers who have in common the theme Sustainability. This book is intended to reflect on current planning strategies and growth of cities, from the perspective of sustainable development. These reflections approach the spatial, economic, political, social, cultural and environmental model. This book is divided into the following themes: "sustainable cities", "environmental sustainability" and "social...

The most serious environmental problems of the twenty-first century have the potential to alter the course of life on this planet. Global warming, toxic waste, water and air pollution, acid rain, and shrinking energy supplies are frightening challenges that may threaten our future if we do not face up to them. Global Environmental Challenges provides important information and gives us hope about the environment. This book first helps us to grasp these difficulties, then shows us the choice...

Explores the broader economic, political and environmental context in which management of tropical forests needs to operateParticular focus on management structures and techniques to achieve sustainable forest management (SFM) on the groundIncludes case studies of practical experience of managing tropical forests in South America, West Africa and Southeast Asia