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This book provides a comprehensive overview of advanced digital disruptive technologies that can be used or currently used in Construction, and Smart Infrastructures. It provides a holistic collection of such disruptive technologies to address issues or otherwise uplift the technological aspects of various aspects of human lives and projects, impacting the overall culture and society sustainability. These pertinent technologies explored in this book are Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Clouds, and Big Data. It is expected that the book will unify the fields of construction and project management through the integration AI frameworks provided in various chapters.

Phenology refers to recurring plant and animal life cycle stages, such as leafing and flowering, maturation of agricultural plants, emergence of insects, and migration of birds. It is also the study of these recurring events, especially their timing and relationships with weather and climate. Phenological phenomena all give a ready measure of the environment as viewed by the associated organism and are thus ideal indicators of the impact of local and global changes in weather and climate on the earth's biosphere. Assessing our changing world is a complex task that requires close cooperation from experts in biology, climatology, ecology, geography, oceanography, remote sensing, and other areas. Like its two predecessors, this third edition of Phenology is a synthesis of current phenological knowledge, designed as a primer on the field for global change and general scientists, students, and interested members of the public. With updated and new contributions from over sixty phenological experts, covering data collection, current research, methods, and applications, it demonstrates the accomplishments, progress over the last decade, and future potential of phenology as an integrative environmental science.

This book provides comprehensive and in-depth explanations of all topics related to quantitative remote sensing and its applications in terrestrial, biospheric, hydrospheric, and atmospheric studies. It elucidates how to retrieve quantitative information on a wide range of environmental parameters from various remote sensing data at the highest accuracy possible and expounds how different aspects of the target of remote sensing can be quantified using diverse analytical methods and level of accuracy. Written in an easy-to-follow language, logically organized, and with step-by-step examples, the book assists readers to deepen their understanding of the theory and cutting-edge research on quantitative remote sensing. Features Explains how to retrieve quantitative information on a wide range of environmental parameters from various tailored remote sensing data at the highest accuracy possible. Manifests the author's decades of teaching and research in quantitative remote sensing and approaches the subject from both theoretical and pragmatic perspectives, informed by the latest research outcomes. Includes practical and real-life examples to illustrate how the quantitative information on a target can be retrieved from a given type of remote sensing data. Focuses on the latest developments in the field of quantitative remote sensing. Introduces sufficient mathematical concepts to reveal how remotely sensed data are converted to quantitative information while providing quality assurance of the retrieved results. This is a suitable textbook for upper-level undergraduate or postgraduate students and serves as a handy and valuable reference for professionals working in monitoring the environment. By reading this book, readers gain a sound understanding of how to retrieve quantitative information on the environment from diverse remote sensing data using the most appropriate cutting-edge methods and software.

Digital Terrain Analysis, Third Edition synthesizes knowledge on methods and applications of digital terrain analysis and geomorphometry in the context of multi-scale problems in soil science, geology, and polar research. Divided into four parts, the book examines the main concepts, principles, and methods of digital terrain modeling, methods for analysis, modeling, and mapping of spatial distribution of soil properties, techniques for recognition, analysis, and interpretation of topographically manifested geological features, and finally, polar research. This new release provides a theoretical and methodological basis for understanding and applying geographical modeling techniques. - Presents an integrated and unified view of digital terrain analysis in both soil science and geology - Includes a rigorous description of the mathematical principles of digital terrain analysis - Provides both a theoretical and methodological basis for understanding and applying geographical modeling - Contain a new section on Digital Terrain Modeling in polar research, as well as updated information, methods, and figures from previous editions

This book focuses on advances in environmental research. Chapter 1 delves into the multifaceted realm of environmental remediation, examining the evolution of remediation practices, the challenges posed by environmental contamination, and the emergence of innovative solutions poised to reshape the landscape of environmental management. Chapter 2 attempts to explore the causes and consequences of climate change by focusing on greenhouse gases and their role in global warming. Chapter 3 focuses on the revitalization of agroforestry for social forestry in Indonesia to achieve more sustainable forests and greater prosperity for forest people. In Chapter 4 the impact of climate change on the growth and storage parameters of cereals in Tunisia, the effects of climate variations on cereal crops, with a particular focus on wheat, are closely examined. Chapter 5 aims to explain and investigate the effect of over-tourism on the environment of the top ten visited countries. Finally, Chapter 6 examines temporal trends in invasive species populations in Australia and their interactions with threatened species, as well as their response to global warming.

The Global Casino is an introduction to environmental issues which deals both with the workings of the physical environment and the political, economic and social frameworks in which the issues occur. Using examples from all over the world, the book highlights the underlying causes behind environmental problems, the human actions which have made them issues and the hopes for solutions. It is a book about the human impact on the environment and the ways in which the natural environment impacts human society.The seventh edition has been fully revised and updated throughout, with new case studies, figures and online resources comprising a complete lecture course for tutors and multiple-choice questions for students. New concepts and topics covered for the first time in this edition include the blue economy, marine heatwaves, Africa's Great Green Wall, rewilding, net-zero commitments, nature-based solutions, emerging contaminants in global rivers, green infrastructure in sustainable cities, initiatives promoting zero-emission vehicles, and zoonotic diseases (including the COVID-19 pandemic). New case studies include gender impact assessment of big dams in Laos and Vietnam, reducing food loss and waste, liming sugar maple trees in North America to counteract soil acidification and soil erosion and poverty in Rwanda. Eighteen chapters on key issues follow three initial chapters which outline the background contexts of the physical and human environments and the concept of sustainable development. Each chapter provides historical context for key issues, outlines why they have arisen and highlights areas of controversy and uncertainty to appraise how issues can be resolved both technically and in political and economic frameworks. Each chapter also contains an updated critical guide to further reading—most of them open access—and websites, talks and podcasts, as well as discussion points and essay questions. The text can be read in its entirety or individual chapters adopted as standalone reading.This book is an essential resource for students of the environment, geography, development studies and earth sciences. It provides comprehensive and inspirational coverage of all the major global environmental issues of the day in a style that is clear, concise and critical.

What are the causes of our current environmental and ecological crises? Is the enforcement of international'net zero'carbon strategy the best solution to the problems we face, or are there deeper issues that need to be addressed? Rejecting the view of the earth as an isolated or'closed'system – as in conventional computer modelling – Luigi Morelli argues that our planet is an'open'system – a living entity that maintains a dynamic equilibrium within its own kingdoms and the wider solar system. Humans, however, still have a pivotal role to play. Building on the pioneering work of Goethe, Rudolf Steiner, Viktor Schauberger and others, Morelli expands our view of the climate, from the oceans and atmosphere to the sun, and from the last 150 years to the history of our climate over millennia. In doing so, he exposes the weakness of the prevailing fixed narratives around our undoubtedly changing environment – in particular, the conventional hypothesis concerning carbon emissions. Such'consensus science'is often at the mercy of established economic interests, who have largely co-opted academia and scientific institutions. In a thoroughly researched and accessible study, The Living Climate explores the intricacy and wisdom of an untold variety of cycles in nature and the critical and overlooked role of water within the'greenhouse gas'model. Challenging mechanistic representations of the global ecosystem, Morelli's holistic, scientific review offers potential solutions to seemingly intractable problems.'Morelli takes the reader on a hero's journey through the entrenched theories of climate change into the deeper, holistic causes of – and potential solutions to – this confounding, highly politicized reality.'– Robert Karp, social entrepreneur'The author should be commended for compiling this timely and well-researched book. It will be of great value to all who are looking for a better understanding of troubling weather phenomena and a beacon of hope for those who have been disappointed with the inability of conventional climate science to explain them'. – Branko Furst, MD, author of The Heart and Circulation'A very important contribution to the ecological crisis we humans currently face. Through the lens of Schauberger's work, the reader is called to take a very wide, encompassing view of nature. Morelli convincingly demonstrates that in the current climate change narrative we desperately need such an outlook and the kind of approach that Schauberger developed.'– Elisabeth Chomko, filmmaker

This book presents peer-reviewed papers of the 2022 10th International Conference on Environment Pollution and Prevention (ICEPP 2022), which was held in Sydney, Australia, during December 16–18, 2022. With the worldwide increase in industrialization and movement of people toward larger cities, there has been a progressive increase in environmental pollution. The issues surrounding air, water, soil, and land pollution are now considered of global concern. Minimization of pollution involves the repeated reuse of products, reduction in waste generation, and processing and recycling of resources into new products. Pollution prevention practices not only reduce waste, but also improve safety and decrease disposal costs. The book is useful for students, academics, entrepreneurs, and professionals who are working in the important field of environmental pollution and its prevention.

CONTINUOUS COVER FORESTRY Gain expertise in the development of healthier, more sustainable forests with this indispensable guide Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) is an approach to forest management with over a century of history, one which applies ecological principles to the project of developing biologically diverse, structurally complex forests. Long used as the standard forest management method in Central Europe, CCF is generating renewed interest globally for its potential to develop and sustain forests that can withstand climate change impacts, maintain forest biodiversity in the face of major ecological challenges and offer better recreation experience. There is an increasingly urgent need for forest scientists and policymakers to be familiar with the toolkit provided by CCF. Continuous Cover Forestry: Theories, Concepts, and Implementation provides a thorough, up-to-date introduction to the theory and practice of CCF. Beginning with an overview of the method's history and its foundational principles, the book provides detailed guidance for applying CCF methods to a range of ecological scenarios and forest types. The result is a clear, comprehensive portrait of this increasingly effective set of forestry tools. Continuous Cover Forestry readers will also find: Case studies throughout showing CCF at work in real-world forests Detailed discussion of topics such as forest structure, transformation, silvicultural systems, training, carbon forestry, conservation and more R code ready to take and apply Simple, adaptable models for deriving quantitative guidelines for CCF woodlands Continuous Cover Forestry is ideal for students, scholars and practitioners of forest science, forest ecology, conservation, and environmental management, as well as policymakers dealing with forestry or climate policy.

The intricate interplay between food, energy, water, societal dynamics, and the environment constitutes the bedrock of contemporary global challenges. In recent decades, this convergence has emerged as a focal point for scientific inquiry, policy formulation, and societal discourse. This book seeks to meticulously unravel the complexities inherent in this nexus, shedding profound light on the interconnected risks, vulnerabilities, and transformative opportunities that define our quest for sustainability in the twenty-first century. The materials of this book were prepared mainly by authors working on the joint project between the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine “Integrated robust modeling and management of food-energy-water-land use nexus for sustainable development”, and on the project “Comprehensive analysis of robust preventive and adaptive measures of food, energy, water, and social management in the context of systemic risks and consequences of COVID-19” (0122U000552) of the NAS of Ukraine. Members of the System Analysis Committee of the NAS of Ukraine were also involved in the preparation of book chapters. The authors dedicate this book to the memory of the Academician of NAS of Ukraine, Professor Yuri Ermoliev, who died in October 2022 and made a fundamental contribution to stochastic optimization as a basic tool for quantitative risk management. This book largely follows his ideas about risk management and its applications.

During the last few years, Greece has become a subject of increasing attention worldwide. Once praised for its ability to innovate and reform during the EU integration process, applauded for its remarkable job in managing the 2004 Olympics, the country fell into a financial crisis of unprecedented magnitude in 2008. Much has been said on this matter, and amid the morass of information a staggering number of untruths have been disseminated.In fact, the challenges of vulnerability and the paradigms of adaptation go way beyond finance and economy in Greece. Mega-fires, earthquakes, landslides and floods, migrations, sociopolitical upheavals, and armed conflicts generate emergency situations repeatedly. Because of its bridging role between natural and social sciences, geography can provide insights into the entire breadth of hazardous and chaotic events driving adaptation and change. Against all these threats, Greece has developed an enhanced resilience capacity. The purpose of this book is to help unravel the complexities of a fascinating country beyond clichés.This book is intended for students, researchers, scholars, and engineers interested in geography, land planning, urban studies, and environmental management. The crises issue intended as a guideline allows widening the audience to include the media, governmental and non-governmental agencies, and the public at large.

The second edition of Ecological Forest Management Handbook continues to provide forestry professionals and students with basic principles of ecological forest management and their applications at regional and site-specific levels. Thoroughly updated and revised, the handbook addresses numerous topics and explains that ecological forest management is a complex process that requires broad ecological knowledge. It discusses how to develop adaptive management scenarios to harvest resources in a sustainable way and provide ecosystem services and social functions. It includes new studies on ecological indicators, the carbon cycle, and ecosystem simulation models for various forest types: boreal, temperate, and tropical forests.NEW IN THE SECOND EDITION Provides a comprehensive collection of sustainable forest management principles and their applications Covers new ecological indicators that can be applied to address forest environmental issues Includes all types of models: empirical, gap, and process-based models Explains several basic ecological and management concepts in a clear, easy-to- understand manner This handbook is intended for researchers, academics, professionals, and undergraduate and graduate students studying and/or involved in the management of forest ecosystems.Chapters 16 and 18 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.taylorfrancis.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book contributes significantly to the international literature by bringing forth a novel and comprehensive exploration of urban resilience in the face of climate change and environmental pollution. Its focus on integrating physiological, biochemical, and molecular dimensions distinguishes it from existing literature. The book offers several key contributions, including an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complex interactions within urban ecosystems. It includes cutting-edge insights that have not been extensively explored in existing literature, practical applications, and evidence-based strategies to enhance urban sustainability and resilience. The book has a global relevance to a diverse international readership and provides strategic guidance to policymakers and urban planners when making decisions to develop evidence-based strategies that cater to the specific challenges of cities. Urban forests play a critical role in enhancing the resilience of cities by providing numerous benefits, including improved air quality, reduced urban heat island effect, and enhanced biodiversity, ultimately improving urban health. Besides, urban forests are a crucial natural-based solution (NbS) to mitigate air pollution and climate change impacts in cities. However, in the face of climate change and environmental pressures, urban forests face significant challenges to their survival and functionality. This book explores the complex morpho-physio-biochemical and molecular changes that enable urban forests to flourish amidst climate change and environmental pollution. It examines how urban trees modulate their morphological structures, including root systems and physiological and biochemical functioning, and molecular alterations to withstand changing urban climatic and environmental conditions.

This book studies human settlements in China in terms of Human Settlements Trialism in 4 typical human settlement types: valley, plain, hilly, and arid regions. Focusing on three elements of Trialism — (1) natural and constructed environments, resources, and visual landscapes in human settlements background; (2) survival strategies, customs, culture, and values in human settlements activity; and (3) the layout of time and space as well as the planning and design of the urban, the country, and the wilderness in human settlements construction — the book analyzes the evolution of human settlements and predicts future trends. Presenting academic researchers and graduate students in various fields with insights from landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, geography, forestry, art, and psychology, the book discusses the principles of interactive physiological thinking and systematically theoretical philosophy related to professional physiology, planning and design principles, and traditional and modern methods and technologies in urban and rural construction. The innovative multi-discipline book promotes the planning and design of five types of human settlement, which is helpful to the judgment of value, activity rule, and living style of human settlements, and also discusses the development of human settlements in the new millennium.

This updated second edition textbook explains the different technologies of agronomy to achieve a more sustainable agriculture, for undergraduate and graduate students of agronomy. The first section gives an overview of the crop energy balance, which covers partitioning of net radiation, and their effect on the thermal environment of the canopy. Water balance, as one of the biggest concerns under a changing climate, will also be thoroughly discussed. For the second section, the authors prepare all relevant information on crop production in relation to crop phenology, radiation interception and resource availability. With that in mind, the different agricultural techniques are analyzed in the third section, with special emphasis on quantifying the inputs required for a given target yield under specific environmental conditions. For each technique, the chapters provide guidance on improving the ratio between productivity and resource use, while ensuring sustainability.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Forests and trees are crucial for human wellbeing, sustainable development, and ultimately, life on Earth. The critical ecosystem services that forests provide are widely acknowledged, yet their provision is seriously threatened by continuing deforestation and forest degradation. Restoring Forests and Trees for Sustainable Development utilizes a multidisciplinary perspective to analyze and discuss the various opportunities and challenges of restoring tree and forest cover. It examines forest restoration commitments, policies and programs, their implementation at different scales and contexts, and how forest restoration helps to mitigate environmental, societal, and cultural challenges. This book explores how restoration affects forest ecosystem services, contributes to biodiversity conservation, and generates benefits and synergies, while recognizing the considerable costs, tradeoffs, and variable feasibility of its implementation. The chapters review forest restoration governance, practices, and technological advances, and reflect on the possibility of sustainable and just approaches to meet the challenges that lie ahead to achieve ambitious international forest restoration targets and commitments.

This book provides insights from a geoscientist's perspective into the benefits and the potential of remote sensing methods to address problems with a high social impact: identifying the drivers of geohazards and developing new methods for monitoring natural resources. The fields covered include volcanic hazards, seismic hazards, landslide hazards, land subsidence hazards and monitoring of natural resources through the use and combination of various remote sensing techniques and modelling approaches. This book should spark collaborations and encourage readers to think beyond disciplines or techniques, as well as enable readers to build their own workflow depending on their study of interest. It provides a much-needed comprehensive review of recent advances that remote sensing methods have brought to geohazards and resources research. It is unique in the way that it unifies geohazards and natural resources research to highlight cross-field advancements and potential areas for multiple fields of science to collaborate. The book intends to provide both a basic understanding of the remote sensing methods used in geohazards and natural resources sciences, with appropriate referencing for readers wishing to further their technique-specific learning, and a detailed application of these methods to a variety of sustainability problems. It aims at providing the reader with workflows for combining multiple techniques with demonstrated results in a variety of disciplines. This approach makes the book useful for both students learning about geohazards and resources, learning about remote sensing methods, and for researchers intending to expand their skill set using methods that have been applied to other fields. This book provides an introduction to each remote sensing method with references for in-depth technical learning which will benefit students in Remote Sensing courses.

Decarbonization Strategies and Drivers to Achieve Carbon Neutrality for Sustainability emphasizes the significance of various decarbonization strategies. It is expected to solve some of the problems centered around decarbonization and available technologies and to diversify renewable energy supply in different sectors contributing to energy security. The book covers contribution of bioenergy to decarbonization, non-fossil energy targets, role of wind energy, hydrogen energy, potential of geothermal energy, nuclear energy, wind to energy, role of electrification and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies are covered in this work. Decarbonization Strategies and Drivers to Achieve Carbon Neutrality for Sustainability aims to explain how reducing petroleum consumption and supplementing alternate sources of renewable fuels is vital and would strengthen decarbonization. - Provides strategies for the implementation of decarbonization - Explores the possibilities for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases - Suggests actions and possible solutions to counteract climate change and its consequences

Rubber Agroforestry Systems (RAS) have been developed by local farmers in Southeast Asia initially through the development of jungle rubber. Jungle rubber is a very practical and easy way to develop at very low cost non clonal rubber plantations with forest regrowth, being then the main smallholding rubber cropping system until the 1950s. Later on, for political reasons, clonal plantations with better productivity were developed though national planting programs in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Today, most of the jungle rubber has disappeared or is not anymore tapped, replaced by monoclonal plantation. However, in some countries, some local farmers continue to adopt or develop agroforestry practices, basically associating rubber with various number and types of plants and trees in both immature and mature period, in order to increase global productivity at plot level and diversify sources of incomes to increase farms'resilience. In this book, we explain what has been the historical and societal conditions for RAS to develop in countries like Thailand and Indonesia and why there is a future for RAS in the current world with global economic uncertainty. The objective is to provide evidence of RAS interest and constraints in order to develop such systems in other countries. The book integrates various sources from the editor and associated researchers and students, written since 1994 and updated in 2024.

Rubber Agroforestry Systems (RAS) have been developed by local farmers in Southeast Asia initially through the development of jungle rubber. Jungle rubber is a very practical and easy way to develop at very low cost non clonal rubber plantations with forest regrowth, being then the main smallholding rubber cropping system until the 1950s. Later on, for political reasons, clonal plantations with better productivity were developed though national planting programs in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Today, most of the jungle rubber has disappeared or is not anymore tapped, replaced by monoclonal plantation. However, in some countries, some local farmers continue to adopt or develop agroforestry practices, basically associating rubber with various number and types of plants and trees in both immature and mature period, in order to increase global productivity at plot level and diversify sources of incomes to increase farms'resilience. In this book, we explain what has been the historical and societal conditions for RAS to develop in countries like Thailand and Indonesia and why there is a future for RAS in the current world with global economic uncertainty. The objective is to provide evidence of RAS interest and constraints in order to develop such systems in other countries. The book integrates various sources from the editor and associated researchers and students, written since 1994 and updated in 2024.

This book explores urban environments and their impact on resilience, livability, climate adaptation, health, and societal well-being. It provides interdisciplinary insights for fostering resilient, livable, and sustainable cities prioritizing well-being and quality of life for all residents. The book covers various topics and discusses innovative approaches for incorporating nature into urban planning. It also examines the relationships between diet diversity, food environments, and transportation systems. Spatial analysis of noise contour maps based on traffic speed is conducted, along with an assessment of the impact of office environments on productivity. The book explores the influence of streetscapes on anxiety, envisions future cities from a youth perspective, and identifies critical factors affecting the design and use of elevated urban spaces. Daylighting performance in school expansions is evaluated, and the concept ofa livable city is examined. Community adaptive capacity for climate-resilient development is assessed through a case study analysis. The livability of street vendors in different urban contexts is compared, and alternative perspectives on restorative environments are presented. The book investigates the impact of urban refugees on cities and reevaluates scientific theories for human well-being-oriented built environments. It evaluates tourist satisfaction with urban railway systems and explores sport as a tool for healthy and sustainable cities.

This updated book presents research on how Internet of Things plays a part in shaping the future of our communities. The author shows how the research and education ecosystem promoting impactful solutions-oriented science can help citizenry, government, industry, and other stakeholders to work collaboratively in order to make informed, socially-responsible, science-based decisions. The author also provides updated data on how communities can address complex, interconnected socio-environmental challenges. This book addresses the key inter-related challenges in areas such as the environment, climate change, mining, energy, agro-economic, water, and forestry that are limiting the development of a sustainable and resilient society -- each of these challenges are tied back to IoT based solutions.

This book is a comprehensive overview of the forest bioenergy, from feedstock production to end products. The book presents the state of the art of forest biomass production, assessment, characterization, and conversion into heat and power. It starts with forest sources of biomass and potential availability. Continues with the characterization of the forest stands and the availability of biomass for energy per stand structure, including stands managed for timber, non-wood products, and energy plantations. It follows with biomass evaluation and monitoring considering data sources, modeling methods, and existing models. are also addressed. After the initial focus on forest biomass production and estimation, this resource is assessed as a feedstock for energy conversion. Not only current, but also emerging biofuels obtained from forest biomass are considered. Established and emerging conversion technologies for the production of bio-heat and bio-power are examined and the impacts of the conversion systems presented.

Bioremediation and Bioeconomy: A Circular Economy Approach provides a common platform for scientists from various backgrounds to find sustainable solutions to environmental issues, including remediation of emerging pollutants, usage of contaminated land and wastewater for bioproducts such as natural fibers, biocomposites, and fuels, to boost the economy. The need for transitioning to a sustainable use of natural resources is now more evident than ever as industrialization and pollution are global phenomena. Biodiversity is being used as raw material for environmental decontamination, and this field has grown phenomenally in recent years, having emerged less than 3 decades ago. On the other hand, the volume of contaminated substrates (water, soil, and air) is increasing due to anthropogenic and technogenic sources of organic and inorganic contaminants. Bioremediation and Bioeconomy: A Circular Economy Approach will address the bottlenecks and solutions to the existing limitations in field scale and the relevant techniques. - Provides a compilation of new information on bioremediation not found in other books in the present market - Presents the link between bioremediation, bioeconomy, and the circular economy - Includes strategies for using contaminated substrates for producing bioresources and co-generation of value chain and value addition products

This book offers an overview of the most important research and developments in silvopastoral systems of the northern part of South America and Central America, including the most common silvopastoral arrangements in each country and their characteristics in terms of productivity, and environmental and socioeconomic aspects. Featuring a compilation of original research articles, country overviews and reviews of the contribution of silvopastoral systems to different topics, it summarizes the state-of-the-art knowledge regarding various aspects of silvopastoral systems in this region.

This book covers a wide range of issues related to the Thar Desert Region of Rajasthan from an integrated and sustainable development perspective. The chapters in this book cover regional and local issues which are discussed with reference to the past scenario, the present practices, and the future strategies. Some of the issues addressed in this book like arid agroforestry, livelihood, and multidimensional development give it a cutting edge over other related publications currently available in the market. The chapters are supported with relevant pictures which will help the reader to connect with the issues being discussed. This book is useful to students, civil services aspirants, researchers, environmentalists, geographers, and non-professionals who are interested in deserts and desert development.

This book presents a systematic study of urban green space remote sensing from multi-dimensional and multi-scale technologies. On the basis of introducing the connotation, science and application value of urban green space, this book focuses on the two-dimensional and three-dimensional information extraction technology of urban vegetation, two-dimensional and three-dimensional measurement technology of urban green space and multi-scale perception technology and discusses the remote sensing evaluation method of urban green space. By exploring the technical advantages of ‘satellite remote sensing + aerial remote sensing + near-ground remote sensing', urban green space remote sensing promotes the development of urban vegetation research from two-dimensional to three-dimensional observation, so that the quantity, quality and human perception of urban vegetation can be measured. In each chapter, an individual technology/method is introduced, and several cases are cited to demonstrate itspractical application. This book offers a valuable reference guide for practitioners in urban planning, landscape greening, environmental protection and urban management, as well as teachers and graduate students engaged in urban remote sensing research.

This book evaluates the past, present, and future habitat suitability of giant pandas based on spatial observation technology involving optical remote sensing, microwave remote sensing, and LiDAR to discover the mysterious ecological environment of giant panda habitat. Considering the problems faced by the world natural heritage site protection, it takes the world natural heritage site “Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries – Wolong, Mt Siguniang and Jiajin Mountains” as the research area, exemplifies systematically the various techniques and methodologies of spatial information technology for monitoring, evaluation, and prediction of rare and endangered species habitats, and provides scientific suggestions for sustainable development of giant panda habitat based on a series of comprehensive case analysis at Wolong national nature reserve and Ya'an prefecture, Sichuan province, China. The book serves both as a textbook in the field of natural heritage protection, remote sensing, and GIS application, as well as a reference for managing natural heritage sites.

Ecology is a well-established biocentric interdisciplinary field that investigates the complex connections between all different kinds of organisms, ranging from bacteria to humans, as well as how these relationships evolve over time and in a variety of spatial and temporal dimensions. This field focuses on the study of ecology, evolution, and biodiversity. The majority of theresearch on ecology focuses on the intricate interactions that occur between different species, as well as how these relationships evolve over the course of time. It is only in recent times that ecology has been considered to comprise the'heart and spine'of environmental research. This viewpoint is entirely anthropocentric. The expansion of human populations has a deleterious effect on the natural environment, which has led to the deterioration of the biological and physical components of ecosystems. This is a problem that will only become worse as human populations continue to expand. Environmental management is required because natural resources are being depleted, biodiversity is being lost, and the environment (land, air, and water) are being polluted. It is essential to take corrective action in order to repair or rehabilitate the natural environment in the future. This should be seen as a preventative strategy. Regardless of the amount of work that has been put into maintaining the ecosystem's current state, the destruction of the environment continues unabated. This book provides a comprehensive look at a number of the most significant issues affecting the environment, as well as an investigation of the reasons why ecology has been unable to address these issues. In the conclusion of the book, it is underlined how important it is for human goals to be accomplished in a manner that is both sustainable and takes into account the social, economic, and political aspects of environmental concerns. This is very necessary for us to do in order to accomplish our goals as a species in a manner that is sustainable.

This book presents the significant values of sandy soil and its properties, which include biotic and abiotic components, soil protection, soil amelioration, ecological indicators, and, differing from other books, Forest Therapy concept implementation in the sandy soil forest areas. This book may benefit people from different fields, including ecologists, landscape architects, researchers, and students to understand in-depth the properties of sandy soil, its characteristics, and functional values.

The fundamental purpose of this handbook is to raise awareness about environmental impacts of fire and fire suppression, primarily within the fire engineering and firefighting communities, but also within the environmental engineering and planning disciplines. The Handbook provides readers with a fundamental understanding of the problem and its magnitude and includes a set of tools and methods for assessing environmental, social and financial impacts, and a set of tools for identifying and selecting appropriate mitigation options.

This book demonstrates how the inclusion of nature in engineering decisions results in innovative solutions that are economically feasible, ecologically viable, and socially desirable. It advances progress toward nature-positive decisions by protection and restoration of ecosystems and respect for ecological boundaries. The topic of this book is an active area of academic research, and leading companies are including goals associated with ecosystem services in their sustainability plans. This book is the first collection of methods and applications that explicitly include the role of nature in supporting engineering activities and describes the role that ecosystems play in supporting technology and industry. It describes approaches, models, applications, and challenges for innovation and sustainability that will be useful to students and practitioners.

This open access book explores a new conceptual framework for the sustainable management of the boreal forest in the face of climate change. The boreal forest is the second-largest terrestrial biome on Earth and covers a 14 million km2 belt, representing about 25% of the Earth's forest area. Two-thirds of this forest biome is managed and supplies 37% of global wood production. These forests also provide a range of natural resources and ecosystem services essential to humanity. However, climate change is altering species distributions, natural disturbance regimes, and forest ecosystem structure and functioning. Although sustainable management is the main goal across the boreal biome, a novel framework is required to adapt forest strategies and practices to climate change. This collaborative effort draws upon 148 authors in summarizing the sustainable management of these forests and detailing the most recent experimental and observational results collected from across the boreal biome. It presents the state of sustainable management in boreal forests and highlights the critical importance of this biome in a context of global change because of these forests'key role in a range of natural processes, including carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and the maintaining of biodiversity. This book is an essential read for academics, students, and practitioners involved in boreal forest management. It outlines the challenges facing sustainable boreal forest management within the context of climate change and serves as a basis for establishing new research avenues, identifying future research trends, and developing climate-adapted forest management plans.

Unmanned Aerial Systems for Monitoring Soil, Vegetation, and Riverine Environments provides an overview of how unmanned aerial systems have revolutionized our capability to monitor river systems, soil characteristics, and related processes at unparalleled spatio-temporal resolutions. This capability has enabled enhancements in our capacity to describe water cycle and hydrological processes. The book includes guidelines, technical advice, and practical experience to support practitioners and scientists in increasing the efficiency of monitoring with the help of UAS. The book contains field survey datasets to use as practical exercises, allowing proposed techniques and methods to be applied to real world case studies. - Includes a summary of technical UAS issues allowing readers to focus on how the exact technology fits their scientific question - Provides specific applications enabling readers to understand the benefits and threats within the field - Includes a comprehensive literature review in each chapter, allowing readers to know the key players and research in the field

This open access book examines places on the margins and the dynamics through which a marginal position of a place is created. Specifically, it explores how places, mostly in sparsely populated areas, often perceived as immobile and frozen in time, come into being and develop through interference of everyday mobilities and creative practices that cut across the spheres of culture and nature as usually defined. Through fieldwork and case studies from areas in Iceland, Finland, Greenland, and Scotland, the book's twelve chapters draw out the multiple relations through which places emerge, where people compose their lives as best they can with their surroundings. A special concern is to explore the links between travelling, landscape, and material culture and how places and margins are enacted through mobilities and creative practices of humans and other beings. The emphasis on mobility disturbs the perception of a place as a bounded entity and offers a useful and necessary understanding of places as mobile and fluid. Mobilities on the Margins is a novel and timely contribution to the exploration of human and more-than-human interactions in a world of increasingly fluid mobilities and insistent crises.

The promotion of the conservation and sustainable use of forests is a crucial aspect of environmental protection. However, effective and legally binding international regulations specific to forests are still absent. The scope of this research is to analyse the existent international legal regime for forests and to elaborate approaches to the enhancement of its efficiency. The rigorous analysis of international documents leads, finally, to conclude that pure market-based mechanisms are not sufficient for the conservation of forests and stronger legally-binding provisions are needed. Based on these conclusions, the research proceeds with the analysis of possible ways of the development of international legal regime for forests, as well as the promotion of compliance with international treaties.

This book explores the impacts of climate change on Nigeria. How climate change impacts the productivity and future development of different sectors in Nigeria was covered in this book. Various themes of the Nigerian economy, environment, and climate change were considered. Worthy of note are the impacts of climate change on the Nigerian air quality, surface and groundwater resources, watershed and natural resources'development and planning, soil- quality, fertility, salinization, nutrients and cropping patterns. Also, the impact of climate change on land use/land cover, urbanization and strategic planning, crops and sustainable crop yield; land degradation, soil erosion, landslides and landscapes, rainfall trend patterns, drought vulnerability; ecology, vegetation/forest, carbon and biomass management of Nigeria were investigated. Finally, the problems of climate change in semi-arid and arid regions (with special emphasis on Nigeria) and possible solutions for sustainable developmentunder the changing climate were discussed in this book. Advanced technologies, such as remote sensing, GIS, multivariate analytical tools, and machine learning techniques, were utilized in the exploration and analysis of the themes of this book. Thus, this book is a very important product for point of view researchers, scientists, NGOs, and university communities on the Nigerian climate change. This book is a useful interdisciplinary tool, cutting across various disciplines such as earth sciences, hydrology, environmental sciences, soil science, engineering, remote sensing, natural resources management, and public health management, etc.

This book presents recently-developed crop, soil, and management practices that can be used to improve phosphorous use efficiency in agriculture. Food security highly depends on the availability of plant nutrients such as phosphorus, yet rock phosphate reserves are expected to be exhausted in the next 50–100 years. Moreover, about 80% of the phosphorous fertilizers applied to soils become unavailable to plants due to phosphorous fixation in iron and aluminum oxides in acidic soils and with carbonates in alkaline soils. As a consequence, only 10-15% of applied phosphorous is up taken by crops. Therefore, there is a need for advanced practices for improving phosphorus use efficiency.

Geographic Information System Skills for Foresters and Natural Resource Managers provides a resource for developing knowledge and skills concerning GIS as it applies to forestry and natural resource management. This book helps readers understand how GIS can effectively be used by professional foresters and land managers to conduct spatial analyses or address management decisions. Through topics presented, readers will improve their ability to understand GIS data sources, identify GIS data types and quality, perform common spatial analysis processes, create GIS data, produce maps, and ultimately develop the skills necessary to use GIS analysis to answer real-world questions. This book will be of great benefit to GIS users looking to directly apply techniques to real-world data or foresters and natural resource scientists who use GIS in their research. - Presents unique reflections, diversions, inspections and translations within the text to encourage readers'critical thinking skills - Includes a companion website to enhance the reflections, diversions, inspections and translations with additional resources - Designed with examples, discussions and case studies from seasoned natural resource professionals with decades of combined professional experience

Wetlands for Water Pollution Control is the third edition of the reputable reference guide by Miklas Scholz- formerly known as Wetland Systems to Control Urban Runoff. The book covers broad water and environmental engineering aspects relevant for the drainage and treatment of storm water and wastewater, providing a descriptive overview of complex'black box'treatment systems and general design issues involved. The fundamental science and engineering principles will be explained to address the student and professional market. Standard and novel design recommendations for predominantly constructed wetlands and related sustainable drainage systems will also be provided to account for the interests of the professional engineers and environmental scientists. Latest research findings in wastewater treatment and runoff control will be discussed to attract academics and senior consultants who should recommend the proposed textbook to final year and postgraduate students, and graduate engineers, respectively. - Includes twelve new chapters with a broad overview of water and environmental engineering aspects relevant for the drainage and treatment of stormwater and wastewater - Contains case study topics covering wetlands, including natural wetlands and constructed treatment wetlands, sustainable water management, including sustainable drainage systems, and specific applications such as wetlands treating hydrocarbon, greywater, and piggery dye wastewater - Captures the latest findings in wastewater treatment, with chapters focusing on practical applications and field studies

Negative Emissions Technologies for Climate Change Mitigation provides a comprehensive introduction to the full range of technologies that are being researched, developed and deployed in order to transition from our current energy system, dominated by fossil fuels, to a negative-carbon emissions system. After an introduction to the challenge of climate change, the technical fundamentals of natural and engineered carbon dioxide removal and storage processes and technologies are described. Each NET is then discussed in detail, including the key elements of the technology, enablers and constraints, governance issues, and global potential and cost estimates.This book offers a complete overview of the field, thus enabling the community to gain a full appreciation of NETs without the need to seek out and refer to a multitude of sources. - Covers the full spectrum of technologies to underpin the transition to a negative emissions energy system, from technical fundamentals to the current state of deployment and R&D - Critically evaluates each technology, highlighting advantages, limitations, and the potential for large scale environmental applications - Combines natural science and environmental science perspectives with the practical use of state-of-the-art technologies for sustainability

Many things happen in nature reserves that are contradictory at first glance. For example, flower meadows are mown down during maintenance work, even though all the plants growing there are protected. Elsewhere, protected reed beds are burnt down in a fen or the top layer of soil is removed with bulldozers in a dune conservation area. Still other areas are to remain completely untouched by human intervention. The author Klaus-Dieter Hupke shows the different strategies of nature conservation. He also shows that nature conservation is mostly not exactly what the term says in essence:'protection of nature'. On the contrary, in Central Europe nature conservation areas are predominantly the relics of old agricultural and thus cultural landscapes. Often, aesthetic aspects of a landscape section are also in the foreground when designating it as a natural monument or nature reserve. Moreover, nature conservation runs the risk of becoming a substitute action and an alibi for a stillgrowing destruction of traditional and near-natural landscape systems in Central Europe as well as globally.The updated second edition now explicitly includes the consequences of climate change for nature conservation and has also incorporated a stronger reference to Austria as well as to the central Alpine region in some places for the relevant readers.

This book highlights several opportunities that exist in satellite remote sensing of large-scale terrestrial hydrology. It lays bare the novel concept of remote sensing hydrology and demonstrates key applications of advance satellite technology and new methods in advancing our fundamental understanding of environmental systems. This includes, using state-of-the-art satellite hydrology missions like the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment and other multi-mission satellite systems as important tools that underpin water resources planning and accounting. This book discusses and demonstrates how the efficacy, simplicity, and sophistication in novel computing platforms for big earth observation data can help facilitate environmental monitoring and improve contemporary understanding of climate change impacts on freshwater resources. It also provides opportunities for practitioners and relevant government agencies to leverage satellite-based information in a transdisciplinary context to address several environmental issues affecting society. This book provides a general framework and highlights methods to help improve our understanding of hydrological processes and impact analysis from extreme events (e.g., droughts, floods) and climate change.

This volume is the first (I) of four under the main themes of Digitizing Agriculture and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The four volumes cover rapidly developing processes including Sensors (I), Data (II), Decision (III), and Actions (IV). Volumes are related to ‘digital transformation” within agricultural production and provision systems, and in the context of Smart Farming Technology and Knowledge-based Agriculture. Content spans broadly from data mining and visualization to big data analytics and decision making, alongside with the sustainability aspects stemming from the digital transformation of farming. The four volumes comprise the outcome of the 12th EFITA Congress, also incorporating chapters that originated from select presentations of the Congress. The focus in this volume is on different aspects of sensors implementation in agricultural production (e.g., types of sensors, parameters monitoring, network types, connectivity, accuracy, reliability, durability, and needs to be covered) and provides variety of information and knowledge in the subject of sensors design, development, and deployment for monitoring agricultural production parameters. The book consists of four (4) Sections. The first section presents an overview on the state-off-the art in sensing technologies applied in agricultural production while the rest of the sections are dedicated to remote sensing, proximal sensing, and wireless sensor networks applications.Topics include: Emerging sensing technologies Soil reflectance spectroscopy LoRa technologies applications in agricultureWireless sensor networks deployment and applications Combined remote and proximal sensing solutions Crop phenology monitoring Sensors for geophysical properties Combined sensing technologies with geoinformation systems

To manage our environment sustainably, professionals must understand the quality and quantity of our natural resources. Statistical analysis provides information that supports management decisions and is universally used across scientific disciplines. Statistics in Natural Resources: Applications with R focuses on the application of statistical analyses in the environmental, agricultural, and natural resources disciplines. This is a book well suited for current or aspiring natural resource professionals who are required to analyze data and perform statistical analyses in their daily work. More seasoned professionals who have previously had a course or two in statistics will also find the content familiar. This text can also serve as a bridge between professionals who understand statistics and want to learn how to perform analyses on natural resources data in R.The primary goal of this book is to learn and apply common statistical methods used in natural resources by using the R programming language. If you dedicate considerable time to this book, you will: Develop analytical and visualization skills for investigating the behavior of agricultural and natural resources data. Become competent in importing, analyzing, and visualizing complex data sets in the R environment. Recode, combine, and restructure data sets for statistical analysis and visualization. Appreciate probability concepts as they apply to environmental problems. Understand common distributions used in statistical applications and inference. Summarize data effectively and efficiently for reporting purposes. Learn the tasks required to perform a variety of statistical hypothesis tests and interpret their results. Understand which modeling frameworks are appropriate for your data and how to interpret predictions. Includes over 130 exercises in R, with solutions available on the book's website.

This Monograph explains the statistical theory behind the National Forest Inventory (NFI) data collection and compares different methods for modelling and inventory design. The author also explains how natural uncertainty in measurement and modelling can affects the results. Forests, as dynamic systems, are influenced by many unpredictable factors over time. Therefore, readers can use this book to develop the right framework of expectations, when using NFI data. The chapters give an outlook on traditional methods like sample plots, but also consider newer approaches like remote sensing. By merging these different techniqes, NFI datasets can become more reliable and facetted. One of the most contemporary developments in the field, is the use of continuous plots that offer live data at all times. Whether this data should be open to the public, is another discussion point that the author addresses. Offering a perspective from Estonia, readers will find practical examples for all discussed methods. This bridge from theory to practice, makes the volume a useful resource for scientists and decision makers in the forestry sector.

Wildland fires are among the most complicated environmental phenomena to model. Fire behavior models are commonly used to predict the direction and rate of spread of wildland fires based on fire history, fuel, and environmental conditions; however, more sophisticated computational fluid dynamic models are now being developed. This quantitative analysis of fire as a fluid dynamic phenomenon embedded in a highly turbulent flow is beginning to reveal the combined interactions of the vegetative structure, combustion-driven convective effects, and atmospheric boundary layer processes. This book provides an overview of the developments in modeling wildland fire dynamics and the key dynamical processes involved. Mathematical and dynamical principles are presented, and the complex phenomena that arise in wildland fire are discussed. Providing a state-of-the-art survey, it is a useful reference for scientists, researchers, and graduate students interested in wildland fire behavior from a broad range of fields.

This volume is the third (III) of four under the main themes of Digitizing Agriculture and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The four volumes cover rapidly developing processes including Sensors (I), Data (II), Decision (III), and Actions (IV). Volumes are related to ‘digital transformation” within agricultural production and provision systems, and in the context of Smart Farming Technology and Knowledge-based Agriculture. Content spans broadly from data mining and visualization to big data analytics and decision making, alongside with the sustainability aspects stemming from the digital transformation of farming. The four volumes comprise the outcome of the 12th EFITA Congress, also incorporating chapters that originated from select presentations of the Congress. The focus of this book (III) is on the transformation of collected information into valuable decisions and aims to shed light on how best to use digital technologies to reduce cost, inputs,and time, toward becoming more efficient and transparent. Fourteen chapters are grouped into 3 Sections. The first section of is dedicated to decisions in the value chain of agricultural products. The next section, titled Primary Production, elaborates on decision making for the improvement of processes taking place with the farm under the implementation of ICT. The last section is devoted to the development of innovative decision applications that also consider the protection of the environment, recognizing its importance in the preservation and considerate use of resources, as well as the mitigation of adverse impacts that are related to agricultural production.Planning and modeling the assessment of agricultural practices can provide farmers with valuable information prior to the execution of any task. This book provides a valuable reference for them as well as for those directly involved with decision making in planning and assessment of agricultural production.Specific advances covered in the volume: Modelling and Simulation of ICT-based agricultural systemsFarm Management Information Systems (FMIS) Planning for unmanned aerial systems Agri-robotics awareness and planning Smart livestock farming Sustainable strategic planning in agri-production Food business information systems

This book, the third in the series Behavior of Radionuclides in the Environment, is dedicated to Fukushima. Major findings from research since 2011 are reviewed concerning the behavior of radionuclides released into the environment due to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, including atmospheric transport and fallout of radionuclides, their fate, and transport in the soil-water environment, behavior in freshwater, coastal and marine environment, transfer in the terrestrial and agricultural environment. Volume III discusses not only radionuclides dynamics in the environment in the short- and mid-term, but also modeling and prediction of long-term time changes.Along with reviews, the book contains original data and results not published previously. It was spearheaded by the authors from the Institute of Environmental Radioactivity at Fukushima University, established two years after the Fukushima accident, with their collaborators fromJapan, Russia, and Ukraine. The knowledge emerging from the studies of the environmental behavior of Fukushima-derived radionuclides enables us to move forward in understanding mechanisms of environmental contamination and leads to better modeling and prediction of long-term pollution effects in general.

The contemporary era has witnessed a rapid decrease in the ability of future generations to produce food and maintain productivity due to the depletion of natural resources as a result of intensive agricultural practices that rely heavily on external inputs. It is widely accepted that the demise of ancient civilizations in regions such as Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, the pre-Columbian southwest of the United States, and Central America was significantly influenced by the degradation of natural resources caused by unsustainable farming and forestry practices. In response to this, sustainable agriculture seeks to utilize the existing natural resource base and minimize external inputs in order to regenerate productivity while minimizing the harmful impacts on ecosystems.