Riverine Ecosystem Management

Riverine Ecosystem Management
Author: Stefan Schmutz
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 562
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319732501

This open access book surveys the frontier of scientific river research and provides examples to guide management towards a sustainable future of riverine ecosystems. Principal structures and functions of the biogeosphere of rivers are explained; key threats are identified, and effective solutions for restoration and mitigation are provided. Rivers are among the most threatened ecosystems of the world. They increasingly suffer from pollution, water abstraction, river channelisation and damming. Fundamental knowledge of ecosystem structure and function is necessary to understand how human acitivities interfere with natural processes and which interventions are feasible to rectify this. Modern water legislation strives for sustainable water resource management and protection of important habitats and species. However, decision makers would benefit from more profound understanding of ecosystem degradation processes and of innovative methodologies and tools for efficient mitigation and restoration. The book provides best-practice examples of sustainable river management from on-site studies, European-wide analyses and case studies from other parts of the world. This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of aquatic ecology, river system functioning, conservation and restoration, to postgraduate students, to institutions involved in water management, and to water related industries.

West African Studies Regional Atlas on West Africa

West African Studies Regional Atlas on West Africa
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2009-07-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9264056769

This atlas describes the West African region, its population, settlement, territories, its economy and its vulnerabilities. It analyses the developments and the ways in which West Africa is conforming to a constantly changing global environment.

Frontiers – Law, Theory and Cases

Frontiers – Law, Theory and Cases
Author: Dimitri Endrizzi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2023-03-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3031136071

This book focuses on current frontier-related issues such as humanitarian crises, economic crises, discrimination of migrants in certain countries, different typologies of borders such as land, maritime, air, space, and even cyberspace borders, and environmental protection of water resources at borders. It addresses legal and theoretical considerations and presents empirical cases showing the manifestations of the concept in the real world and its dynamics. Without claiming to exhaust the debate on frontiers, especially given the breadth of the subject and the large number of viewpoints from which the phenomenon can be examined, this book intends to be a helpful source of insights for academics, university students, and others who wish to explore the complex and multifaceted worlds that emerge, particularly in a globalized society, from the interaction between the various actors and scenarios that shape the reality of frontiers.

Rethinking Corporatization and Public Services in the Global South

Rethinking Corporatization and Public Services in the Global South
Author: David A. McDonald
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2014-04-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1783600209

After three decades of privatization and anti-state rhetoric, government ownership and public management are back in vogue. This book explores this rapidly growing trend towards ‘corporatization’ - public enterprises owned and operated by the state, with varying degrees of autonomy. If sometimes driven by neoliberal agendas, there exist examples of corporatization that could herald a brighter future for equity-oriented public services. Drawing on original case studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America, this book critically examines the histories, structures, ideologies and social impacts of corporatization in the water and electricity sectors, interrogating the extent to which it can move beyond commercial goals to deliver progressive public services. The first collection of its kind, Rethinking Corporatization and Public Services in the Global South offers rich empirical insight and theoretical depth into what has become one of the most important public policy shifts for essential services in the global South.

Human Rights and the Environment in Africa

Human Rights and the Environment in Africa
Author: Jean-Claude N. Ashukem
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2023-11-10
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1000997677

The relationship between human rights and the environment, as evidenced by the recent UN Resolution on the human right to a healthy environment, is a topical, fascinating, uneasy, and increasingly urgent one. This timely collection explores the inextricable relationship between human rights and the environment as a critical lens for understanding and addressing key human rights and environmental issues confronting Africa. The work explores theoretical, philosophical, doctrinal, and empirical research to interrogate and provide clarity on how and whether the human rights-based approach to environmental protection and policy implications has been effective in enhancing environmental protection and sustainability in Africa. It brings together an elite group of African and international experts to investigate the increasing connectivity and problems with African human rights, environmental governance, and the quest for sustainability. The book is divided into thematic clusters, including: the right of vulnerable communities to sustainability; climate change, the right to development and natural resource governance; corporate environmental responsibility and sustainability; the philosophy of environmental ethics and theories of human rights approaches to environmental governance; procedural environmental rights; the role of the judiciary in environmental protection; and desertification. These themes provide a structure to investigate and clarify specific fundamental questions on Africa’s environmental governance paradigm. This innovative contribution provides an interdisciplinary approach to the philosophical interrelationship and use of human rights approaches to ensure and enhance environmental protection and sustainability. As such, the book will be of interest to African scholars, researchers and students in Human Rights Law, Environmental Studies, Political Science, Ecology and Conservation and Development Studies. It will also be a valuable resource for policymakers, governments, NGOs, practitioners, and all those interested in African environmental governance.

Facing Global Environmental Change

Facing Global Environmental Change
Author: Hans Günter Brauch
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 1546
Release: 2009-06-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3540684883

The year 2007 could perhaps accurately be described as the year when climate change finally received the attention that this challenge deserves globally. Much of the information and knowledge that was created in this field during the year was the result of the findings of the Fourth - sessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which were disseminated on a large scale and reported extensively by the media. This was the result not only of a heightened interest on the part of the public on various aspects of climate change, but also because the IPCC itself proactively attempted to spread the findings of its AR4 to the public at large. The interest generated on the scientific realities of climate change was further enhanced by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC and former Vice President of the US, Al Gore. By taking this decision in favour of a leader who has done a great deal to create awareness on c- mate change, and a body that assesses all scientific aspects of climate change and disseminates the result of its findings, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has clearly drawn the link between climate change and peace in the world.

Water Ecosystem Services

Water Ecosystem Services
Author: Julia Martin-Ortega
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2015-03-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107100372

This book uses ecosystem services-based approaches to address major global and regional water challenges, for researchers, students, and policy makers.

The Jordan River and Dead Sea Basin

The Jordan River and Dead Sea Basin
Author: Clive Lipchin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2009-10-09
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9048129885

The 21st century will present unprecedented challenges. Already in its first decade we have seen the dramatic impact of two systemic risks, that of climate change and that of the financial crisis. The cause but also the solution to these crises lies in a deeper understanding of the underlying factors and int- dependencies. New ways must be found to overcome deep obstacles and find common solutions to seemingly intractable problems. The water crisis in the Middle East is a central challenge of the 21st century. The future of the people of the region depends on finding lasting solutions. Due to the exhaustion and pollution of available sources, compounded by climate change, demographic change and economic development, the pressures of water resource management will grow. New solutions must urgently be found as business as usual is not sustainable. This book provides vital new insights into possible elements of a sustainable future in one key area, that of the Jordan River and Dead Sea Basin. The future development of the Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli people depends on finding a just and sustainable system of water resource management in this Basin. Given the potential for regional and other conflicts arising out of tensions over water, the ramifications are wider and even global in significance. This volume provides fresh regional and international perspectives which greatly assist in our understanding of the issues and their possible resolution.

Water, Life, and Profit

Water, Life, and Profit
Author: Sara Beth Keough
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2019-09-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1805399217

Water, Life, and Profit offers a holistic analysis of the people, economies, cultural symbolism, and material culture involved in the management, production, distribution, and consumption of drinking water in the urban context of Niamey, Niger. Paying particular attention to two key groups of people who provide water to most of Niamey’s residents - door-to-door water vendors, and those who sell water in one-half-liter plastic bags (sachets) on the street or in small shops – the authors offer new insights into how Niamey’s water economies affect gender, ethnicity, class, and spatial structure today.

A Legal Personality for the St. Lawrence River and other Rivers of the World

A Legal Personality for the St. Lawrence River and other Rivers of the World
Author: Yenny Vega Cárdenas
Publisher: Editions JFD
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2023-03-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 2897995092

In the wake of the recognition of the Whanganui River in New Zealand, the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers in India, the Yarra River in Australia and the Atrato River in Colombia as «subjects of rights», the International Observatory on Nature’s Rights has initiated a reflection on the possibility of recognizing the St. Lawrence River, the «path that walks» as it is called by the First Nations, as a «legal person». The texts in this collective work deal with the implications of attributing a legal personhood and rights to the St. Lawrence River, delve into the epistemological foundations of the paradigm of the recognition of the rights of Nature and present concrete cases of recognition of rivers as subjects of law. Written by experts from several countries where the recognition of the legal personhood of rivers has occurred to date, they take an in-depth look at the challenges and contributions of this paradigm shift in river protection. This book answers questions about the implications of such recognition and contributes to the process of building a new law that has just begun in Quebec and Canada with the adoption in February 2021 of resolutions conferring the status of «legal person» on the MagPie/ Muteshekau Shipu River located on the North Shore of Quebec and on the Nitassinan (ancestral territory) of two Innu communities, Ekuanitshit and Uashat mak Mani-utemam. Contributions : Inès Bennada, David Cordero Heredia, Teresa Vicente Giménez, Stratégies Saint-Laurent, Isabelle Delainey, Uapukun Mestokosho, Sylvain Gaudreault, Andrew Galliano, Nathalia Parra, Bianca De Marchi Moyano, Hugo Muñoz, Danaé Espinoza, Erin O’Donnell, Brettel Dawson, Shrishtee Bajpai, Rébecca Pétrin, Sokhna Sene, Victor David, Daniel Turp and Yenny Vega Cárdenas.