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Books on the topic 'Anthropogenic pressures and impacts'
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1
European Geosciences Union. General Assembly. Assessment of anthropogenic impacts on water quality. Edited by Fohrer N. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier, 2005.
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2
Garcia, Gonzalo Carlos Malvarez. Coastal morphodynamics and anthropogenic impacts on sediment supply and dispensal in the Costa de Sol, Spain: An analysis using numerical modelling and G.I.S.. [S.l: The Author], 1997.
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3
Kesoretskikh, Ivan, and Sergey Zotov. Landscape vulnerability: concept and assessment. ru: INFRA-M Academic Publishing LLC., 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.12737/1045820.
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The monograph presents a methodology for assessing the vulnerability of landscapes to external influences. A comparative analysis of the concepts of "stability", "sensitivity", "vulnerability" in relation to natural complexes. An overview of existing methods for assessing the vulnerability of natural complexes is presented. The author's method of assessing the vulnerability of landscapes to anthropogenic impacts is described. The methodology is based on: selection and justification of criteria for assessing the vulnerability of landscapes; preparation of a parametric matrix and gradation of assessment criteria in accordance with the developed vulnerability classes; calculation of weighting factors of vulnerability assessment parameters; selection of optimal territorial operational unit for landscape vulnerability assessment. The method is implemented in the GIS environment "Assessment of vulnerability of landscapes of the Kaliningrad region to anthropogenic impacts", created by the authors using modern geoinformation products. The specificity of spatial differentiation of different landscapes in terms of vulnerability to anthropogenic impacts at the regional and local levels is revealed. It is stated that the use of the methodology for assessing the vulnerability of landscapes to anthropogenic impacts and its integration into the system of nature management will ensure a balanced account of geoecological features and environmental priorities in territorial planning.
It is of interest to specialists in the field of rational nature management, environmental protection, spatial planning.
4
Serebryakov, Oleg. Ecological and geological problems of development of oil and gas fields in the Caspian region. ru: INFRA-M Academic Publishing LLC., 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.12737/24289.
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The paper summarizes and examined extensive evidence on the environmental, geological and technological challenges of exploration and production of oil and gas, encountered during the development of the gigantic fields. Investigated environmental problems of underground disposal of wastes, the formation of zones of technogenic pollution, ecology megalonyx pressures and many others. Describes the environmental effects of oil and gas companies on the environment. The proposal for reducing the negative anthropogenic influence on the geoecological conditions of the environment. Justified the monitoring of the exploration and exploitation of deposits of natural raw materials.
Is designed to masters, post-graduate students and students studying on the specialty "Environmental Geology", "Geology and Geochemistry of combustible minerals", "Geology of marine oil and gas fields", "Hydrogeology and engineering Geology", a wide range of scientific and industrial workers of the oil and gas industry, high school teachers and graduate students geoenvironmental, environmental, oil and gas fields.
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United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. S. 1008, the Climate Change Strategy and Technology Innovation Act of 2001: Hearing before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session on S. 1008, to amend the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to develop the United States climate change response strategy with the goal of stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, while minimizing adverse short-term and long-term economic and social impacts, aligning the strategy with United States energy policy, and promoting a sound national environmental policy, to establish a research and development program that focuses on bold technological breakthroughs that make significant progress toward the goal of stabilization of greenhouses gas concentrations, to establish the National Office of Climate Change Response within the Executive Office of the President, and for other purposes, July 18, 2001. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2002.
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6
Karmaoui, Ahmed, Abdelkrim Ben Salem, and Ashfaq Ahmed Shah. Climate Change and Anthropogenic Impacts on Neglected Tropical Diseases. IGI Global, 2020.
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7
Karmaoui, Ahmed, Abdelkrim Ben Salem, and Ashfaq Ahmed Shah. Climate Change and Anthropogenic Impacts on Neglected Tropical Diseases. IGI Global, 2020.
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8
Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities on Watersheds in a Changing Climate. MDPI, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-0365-0267-0.
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James, Harrison. Saving the Oceans Through Law. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198707325.001.0001.
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The oceans provide many vital ecosystem services for humankind, but the health of the world’s seas is in serious decline. The protection of the marine environment has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges for the international community. An effective solution depends upon the cooperation of all states towards achieving agreed objectives. International law plays a vital role in this process. This book provides a critical assessment of the international legal instruments that have been negotiated for the protection of the marine environment and identifies key trends in global ocean governance. Starting with a detailed analysis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the book explains and evaluates the main global and regional treaties and related instruments that seek to prevent, reduce, and control damage to the marine environment caused by navigation, seabed exploitation, fishing, dumping, geo-engineering, and land-based activities, as well as emerging pressures such as ocean noise, ocean acidification, and climate change. The book demonstrates how international institutions have expanded their mandates to address a broader range of marine environmental issues and to promote an ecosystems approach to regulation. It also discusses the development of diverse regulatory tools to address anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment and the extent to which States have adopted a precautionary approach in different maritime sectors. Whilst many advances have been made, the book highlights the need for greater coordination between international institutions, as well as the desirability of developing stronger enforcement mechanisms for international environmental rules.
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Labbate, Maurizio, Justin R. Seymour, Federico Lauro, and Mark V. Brown, eds. Anthropogenic Impacts on the Microbial Ecology and Function of Aquatic Environments. Frontiers Media SA, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88919-939-6.
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Sebela, Stanka. Natural and Anthropogenic Impacts on Cave Climates: Postojna and Predjama Show Caves. Elsevier, 2021.
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12
Karmaoui, Ahmed, Abdelkrim Ben Salem, and Ashfaq Ahmad Shah. Climate Change and Anthropogenic Impacts on Health in Tropical and Subtropical Regions. IGI Global, 2020.
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13
Karmaoui, Ahmed, Abdelkrim Ben Salem, and Ashfaq Ahmad Shah. Climate Change and Anthropogenic Impacts on Health in Tropical and Subtropical Regions. IGI Global, 2020.
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14
Multiscale Impacts of Anthropogenic and Climate Changes on Tropical and Mediterranean Hydrology. MDPI, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-0365-1237-2.
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Almusaed, Amjad, ed. Landscape Ecology - The Influences of Land Use and Anthropogenic Impacts of Landscape Creation. InTech, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/61905.
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Huang, P. M., J. Berthelin, Jean-Marc Bollag, and William B. McGill. Environmental Impacts of Soil Component Interactions: Land Quality, Natural and Anthropogenic Organics, Volume I. CRC, 1995.
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17
W, Davison L., Horie Y, and Sekine Toshimori, eds. High-pressure shock compression of solids V: Shock chemistry with applications to meteorite impacts. New York: Springer, 2003.
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18
Programme, International Geosphere-Biosphere, ed. Natural and anthropogenic changes, impacts on global geochemical cycles: Asian change in the context of global change : book of abstracts. Stockholm: IGBP, 1995.
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19
Dianne, Stephan, Bigford Thomas E, and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission., eds. Atlantic coastal submerged aquatic vegetation: A review of its ecological role, anthropogenic impacts, state regulation, and value to Atlantic coastal fish stocks. [Washington, D.C.]: Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, 1997.
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20
Räisänen, Jouni. Future Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Region and Environmental Impacts. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.634.
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The warming of the global climate is expected to continue in the 21st century, although the magnitude of change depends on future anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and the sensitivity of climate to them. The regional characteristics and impacts of future climate change in the Baltic Sea countries have been explored since at least the 1990s. Later research has supported many findings from the early studies, but advances in understanding and improved modeling tools have made the picture gradually more comprehensive and more detailed. Nevertheless, many uncertainties still remain.In the Baltic Sea region, warming is likely to exceed its global average, particularly in winter and in the northern parts of the area. The warming will be accompanied by a general increase in winter precipitation, but in summer, precipitation may either increase or decrease, with a larger chance of drying in the southern than in the northern parts of the region. Despite the increase in winter precipitation, the amount of snow is generally expected to decrease, as a smaller fraction of the precipitation falls as snow and midwinter snowmelt episodes become more common. Changes in windiness are very uncertain, although most projections suggest a slight increase in average wind speed over the Baltic Sea. Climatic extremes are also projected to change, but some of the changes will differ from the corresponding change in mean climate. For example, the lowest winter temperatures are expected to warm even more than the winter mean temperature, and short-term summer precipitation extremes are likely to become more severe, even in the areas where the mean summer precipitation does not increase.The projected atmospheric changes will be accompanied by an increase in Baltic Sea water temperature, reduced ice cover, and, according to most studies, reduced salinity due to increased precipitation and river runoff. The seasonal cycle of runoff will be modified by changes in precipitation and earlier snowmelt. Global-scale sea level rise also will affect the Baltic Sea, but will be counteracted by glacial isostatic adjustment. According to most projections, in the northern parts of the Baltic Sea, the latter will still dominate, leading to a continued, although decelerated, decrease in relative sea level. The changes in the physical environment and climate will have a number of environmental impacts on, for example, atmospheric chemistry, freshwater and marine biogeochemistry, ecosystems, and coastal erosion. However, future environmental change in the region will be affected by several interrelated factors. Climate change is only one of them, and in many cases its effects may be exceeded by other anthropogenic changes.
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Schollmeyer, Karen Gust, and Katherine A. Spielmann. Animals. Edited by Barbara Mills and Severin Fowles. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199978427.013.43.
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Studies of animals in Southwest archaeology have been particularly successful in addressing the social-environmental context of human use of fauna. Two aspects of this topic form the focus of this chapter: understanding anthropogenic effects on landscapes, and human ritual engagement with animals. Studies of fauna and anthropogenic landscape change have centered on topics including garden hunting, anthropogenic vegetation changes, and human impacts on artiodactyls. Investigations of human ritual engagement with animals have primarily included analyses of room and site function (particularly examining ceremonial centers), studies of the emergence of new ritual regimes, and analyses focused on birds in religion. Emerging directions for Southwest zooarchaeology include synthetic analyses, archaeological chemistry, and variation in religious belief over time and space.
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1948-, Munro Jean, and American Fisheries Society Meeting, eds. Anadromous sturgeons: Habitats, threats, and management : proceedings of the symposium "Anadromous Sturgeons--Status and Trends, Anthropogenic Impacts, and Essential Habitats" held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, August 11-13, 2003. Bethesda, Md: American Fisheries Society, 2007.
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23
Zori, Davide Marco. The Norse in Iceland. Oxford University Press, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935413.013.7.
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The Norse discovery and settlement of Iceland in the late ninth century AD offers a test case for the study of human impacts on previously unoccupied landscapes and the formation of new societies under challenging conditions. The Norse Viking Age settlement of the island serves as a cautionary tale about the anthropogenic destruction of fragile environments, while simultaneously providing lessons about the strategic management of marginal ecosystems and nuanced examples of societal evolution and secondary state formation. Archaeological investigation of these processes is complemented by oral traditions preserved in the Icelandic sagas. Although researchers debate the proper use of the sagas, the strength of recent research is its interdisciplinary nature, combining a suite of available tools of inquiry.
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Palmer, Clare. Living Individuals. Edited by Stephen M. Gardiner and Allen Thompson. Oxford University Press, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199941339.013.10.
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This chapter outlines key ideas associated with ethical biocentrism. It distinguishes between forms of ethical biocentrism in terms of whether they adopt an egalitarian or inegalitarian approach to value; whether they are value monistic or pluralistic; and whether they adopt virtue, consequentialist, or deontological approaches to ethical theory. Drawing in particular on the work of Robin Attfield and Paul Taylor, the chapter then explores how different forms of ethical biocentrism interpret and respond to anthropogenic climate change. Biocentric ethicists have moved beyond many people’s intuitive sense that “life matters” to construct complex, diverse ethical systems that focus on the value of living individuals. These ethical systems must develop still further to respond coherently to growing human environmental impacts.
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David, Freestone. Part II Individual Issues and Cross-Cutting Themes: Climate Change and Global Ocean Governance, 7 The Role of the International Climate Change Regime in Global Ocean Governance. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198824152.003.0007.
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This chapter examines the role of the international climate change regime in global ocean governance, with emphasis on the cross-cutting set of global ocean governance issues arising from human-induced climate change. It first provides an overview of the international legal regime governing climate change before discussing the two major anthropogenic impacts on the oceans, namely: warming/acidification and sea level rise. It then considers other governance issues such as greenhouse gas emissions from shipping, geoengineering, and blue carbon, suggesting that addressing these issues are beyond the competence of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The chapter stresses the need for greater, deeper and ultimately better co-ordinated leadership on the most significant global environmental challenge facing the world today.
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Dickinson, William R. Coastal Landforms on Islands of Pacific Oceania. Edited by Ethan E. Cochrane and Terry L. Hunt. Oxford University Press, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199925070.013.023.
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The evolution of coastal landforms on tropical Pacific islands has been influenced jointly by changes in relative sea level and by shoreline sediment dynamics. During human occupation of Pacific Oceania, changes in sea level have reflected a monotonic hydro-isostatic drawdown in regional sea level following a mid-Holocene highstand in eustatic sea level, and varied patterns of tectonic uplift or subsidence affecting individual islands or island groups. Wave erosion has altered some bold coastlines, but the dominant trend of paleoshoreline evolution along lowland coasts has been the expansion of coastal plains by the accretion of successive beach ridges to island cores as regional sea level gradually fell. Anthropogenic impacts on island landscapes have influenced strandline sedimentation by enhancing sediment delivery to island coasts in response to inland deforestation.
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James, Harrison. 1 Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198707325.003.0001.
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Chapter 1 provides an introduction to both the anthropogenic threats facing the marine environment at the beginning of the twenty-first century and the role that international law plays in regulating humankind’s impacts on the oceans. It argues that the protection of the marine environment is a common concern of humankind, requiring the cooperation of all States in adopting appropriate international rules and standards to address the main threats to the marine environment and collective efforts to ensure the enforcement of those norms. The chapter then explains the key sources of international law that are relevant to the regulation of marine activities, highlighting the central role played by treaties, related non-binding instruments, judicial decisions, and general principles of international law. This introduction to the sources of international law provides a basic background to the more detailed analysis of specific treaties and related instruments in the remainder of the book.
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Sheppard, Charles R. C., Simon K. Davy, Graham M. Pilling, and Nicholas A. J. Graham. Reef fisheries and reef aquaculture. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198787341.003.0007.
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Fisheries are of key importance in provision of protein, livelihood opportunities and income to islanders and coastal populations with few alternative food sources, including some of the world’s poorest people. The variety of reef fisheries for reef-associated invertebrates and vertebrates around the world is examined. Fishing methods used and particular issues with these fisheries are discussed. Exploitation of reef resources also occurs to supply luxury food markets and hobbies related to aquaria, and the international live reef fish trade is highlighted. The development of reef-based aquaculture is examined, and issues that need to be addressed to deliver sustainable expansion of this approach are discussed. In the face of increasing pressures on reef resources from a number of sources, resultant impacts on reef renewable resources and the reef ecosystem are detailed, and potential ways in which fisheries management may control these pressures are described.
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Brook, Barry W., Erle C. Ellis, and Jessie C. Buettel. What is the evidence for planetary tipping points? Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198808978.003.0008.
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This chapter critically evaluates the likelihood that planet Earth will cross one or more global environmental tipping points, resulting in a degraded state that would be difficult to reverse. Ecological tipping points occur when components of a system change rapidly due an initial forcing that is amplified by positive feedbacks, resulting in a regime shift. The chapter examines the evidence in support of biological and geophysical boundaries that clearly delimit a “safe operating space” for people and biodiversity. For individual ecosystems, abrupt state transitions have been documented. However, apart from the climate system, there is scant evidence (or theoretical justification) to support the view that global aggregates like biodiversity, chemical cycles, or resource extraction have planetary thresholds that define the boundaries of a global safe operating space. Acknowledging the absence of clear evidence for thresholds or boundaries at the global level does not diminish the seriousness of anthropogenic impacts. It does, however, imply that local-scale mitigation actions will be most effective.
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Zaitchik, Benjamin F. Climate and Health across Africa. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.555.
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Humans have understood the importance of climate to human health since ancient times. In some cases, the connections appear to be obvious: a flood can cause drownings, a drought can lead to crop failure and hunger, and temperature extremes pose a risk of exposure. In other cases, the connections are veiled by complex or unobserved processes, such that the influence of climate on a disease epidemic or a conflict can be difficult to diagnose. In reality, however, all climate impacts on health are mediated by some combination of natural and human dynamics that cause individuals or populations to be vulnerable to the effects of a variable or changing climate.Understanding and managing negative health impacts of climate is a global challenge. The challenge is greater in regions with high poverty and weak institutions, however, and Africa is a continent where the health burden of climate is particularly acute. Observed climate variability in the modern era has been associated with widespread food insecurity, significant epidemics of infectious disease, and loss of life and livelihoods to climate extremes. Anthropogenic climate change is a further stress that has the potential to increase malnutrition, alter the distribution of diseases, and bring more frequent hydrological and temperature extremes to many regions across the continent.Skillful early warning systems and informed climate change adaptation strategies have the potential to enhance resilience to short-term climate variability and to buffer against negative impacts of climate change. But effective warnings and projections require both scientific and institutional capacity to address complex processes that are mediated by physical, ecological, and societal systems. Here the state of understanding climate impacts on health in Africa is summarized through a selective review that focuses on food security, infectious disease, and extreme events. The potential to apply scientific understanding to early warning and climate change projection is also considered.
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Humphreys, John, and Sally Little, eds. Challenges in Estuarine and Coastal Science. Pelagic Publishing, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.53061/bdix4458.
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Estuarine and coastal waters are acknowledged centres for anthropogenic impacts. Superimposed on the complex natural interactions between land, rivers and sea are the myriad consequences of human activity – a spectrum ranging from locally polluting effluents to some of the severest consequences of global climate change. For practitioners, academics and students in the field of coastal science and policy, this book examines and exemplifies current and future challenges: from upper estuaries to open coasts and adjacent seas; from tropical to temperate latitudes; from Europe to Australia. This authoritative volume marks the 50th anniversary of the Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association, and contains a prologue by founding member Professor Richard Barnes and a short history of the Association. Individual chapters then address coastal erosion and deposition; open shores to estuaries and deltas; marine plastics; coastal squeeze and habitat loss; tidal freshwaters – saline incursion and estuarine squeeze; restoration management using remote data collection; carbon storage; species distribution and non-natives; shorebirds; Modelling environmental change; physical processes such as sediments and modelling; sea level rise and estuarine tidal dynamics; estuaries as fish nurseries; policy versus reality in coastal conservation; developments in Estuarine, coastal and marine management.
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Thornton, Fanny. Climate Change and People on the Move. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198824817.001.0001.
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The book applies a justice framework to analysis of the actual and potential role of international law with respect to people on the move in the context of anthropogenic climate change. That people are affected by the impacts of climate change is no longer doubted, including with implications for the movement of people (migration, displacement, relocation, etc.). The book tackles unique questions concerning international responsibility for people movement arising from the inequities inherent to climate change. Corrective and distributive justice provide the analytical backbone. They are explored in a substantial theoretical chapter and then applied to subsequent contextual analysis. Corrective justice supports analysis as to whether people movement in the climate change context could be conceived or framed as harm, loss, or damage which is compensable under international law, either through fault-centred regimes or no-fault regimes (i.e., insurance). Distributive justice supports analysis as to whether such movement could be conceived or framed as a disproportionate burden, either for those faced with movement or those faced with sheltering people on the move, from which duties of redistribution may stem. The book contributes to the growing scholarship and analysis concerning international law or governance and people movement in response to climate change by investigating the bounds of the law where the phenomenon is viewed as one of (in)justice.
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Ovodenko, Alexander. Consumers and Intermediate Producers in the Phase-out of Agricultural and Industrial Ozone-Depleting Substances. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190677725.003.0003.
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The chapter analyzes the impact of downstream consumer markets on environmental regime design by explaining why wealthy countries have successfully phased out industrial ozone-depleting substances (ODS) but not an agricultural pesticide known as methyl bromide under the Montreal Protocol, despite the 2005 phase-out deadline for that pesticide. Since the analysis focuses on the regulation of different sectors under the same treaty, it isolates the impact of markets without the threat of major confounding variables interfering with the conclusions. It emphasizes competitive pressures and the structure of intermediate producers in the industrial and agricultural markets employing ODS to explain why methyl bromide has been handled differently from industrial refrigerants. The findings illustrate the impacts of consumer preferences and market competition on the investments of fluoro-product companies and, in turn, on the policies of wealthy countries and rules in the ozone regime.
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Esler, Karen J., Anna L. Jacobsen, and R. Brandon Pratt. Planning for the future. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198739135.003.0009.
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Mediterranean-type climate (MTC) regions are highlighted in several global analyses of conservation risk and priorities. These regions have undergone high levels of habitat conversion and yet of all terrestrial biomes they have the second lowest level of land protection. With transformation pressures set to continue (Chapter 8), planning for a sustainable conservation future in MTC regions is therefore essential. Conservation activities are represented by a variety of philosophies and motives, partially driven by the underlying differences in transformation drivers and sociopolitical contexts across MTC regions. These activities include investment in, and best-practice management of, protected areas (land sparing), an interdisciplinary focus on integrated management of production landscapes (land sharing; stewardship), as well as ecological restoration to increase habitat, improve connectivity, and provide a hedge against the impacts of future climate change. These responses need to be applied in a strategic, synergistic manner to minimize future biodiversity loss.
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Frid, Christopher L. J., and Bryony A. Caswell. The future ocean. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198726289.003.0008.
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This chapter considers the future ocean: how it will be used by humanity, the threats from marine pollution and other synergistic human pressures. By 2050, the global population will have doubled in less than 100 years. Thus, more food, energy, transportation and waste disposal will be required. Increasing demands will be placed on ecosystems and their natural resilience will be tested to the limit. The oceans are complex dynamic systems and predicting their future state is difficult. Adaptation to these changes will require a robust scientific understanding of human impacts, their nature and scale and the options for remediation. As new materials are developed the challenges to marine pollution science continue to arise. However, as demonstrated in this book cost-effective technological solutions are not always possible. It is therefore critical that natural scientists, engineers, economists and social scientists work together to make marine pollution ‘a solvable problem’.
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Frid, Christopher L. J., and Bryony A. Caswell. The state of seven seas. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198726289.003.0006.
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Seven regions are described in terms of their pollution history, other synergistic human pressures, the current challenges and management approaches. Although the timing and detailed impacts vary, primarily for historical reasons, between regions all show similar patterns of change. Sea regions exposed to centuries of human activity (North Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Chesapeake Bay) are considered, as are those for which pollution is more recent (Canadian LOMAs and Coral Sea), and those expected to experience intense pressure in the near future (Arctic Ocean). Nutrients from agriculture and sewage from growing human populations are ubiquitous and not easily managed in marine systems. Controls on industrial discharges have succeeded in halting, sometimes reversing, degradation in some regions (Black Sea, Mediterranean, North Sea, Chesapeake Bay). However, shipping, coastal development and offshore infrastructure continue to apply pressure. While most regions are subject to international agreements and management regimes the effectiveness varies.
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Isendahl, Christian, and Daryl Stump, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199672691.001.0001.
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This volume presents theoretical discussions, methodological outlines, and case-studies describing the discursive overlap of the theoretical and methodological framework of historical ecology, and the emerging sub-discipline of applied archaeology. Historical ecology is based on the recognition that humans are not only capable of modifying their environments, but that all environments on earth have already been directly or indirectly modified. This includes anthropogenic climate change, widespread deforestations, and species extinctions, but also very local alterations, the effects of which may last a few years, or may have legacies lasting centuries or more. The volume presents a range of case-studies that highlight how modern environments and landscapes have been shaped by humans, and includes outlines of the methods we can use to better understand these changes. Authors include anthropologists, archaeologists, human geographers, and historians, all of whom are focussed not just on defining human impacts in the past, but on the ways that understanding these changes can help inform contemporary practices and development policies. Some present examples of how ancient or current societies have modified their environments in sustainable ways, while others highlight practices that had unintended long-term consequences. The possibility of learning from these practices are discussed, as is the potential of using the long history of human resource exploitation as a method for building or testing models of future change. Rather than merely acting as advocates for historical data, the chapters collected here also warn of the limitations of drawing simple lessons from the history of interactions between humans and their environments, and note that doing so is potentially just as damaging as ignoring these rich sources of data.
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Alston, Philip G., and Nikki R. Reisch, eds. Tax, Inequality, and Human Rights. Oxford University Press, 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190882228.001.0001.
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This book looks at the linkages between human rights and tax law and reveals their mutual relevance to tackling economic, social, and political inequalities. Against the backdrop of systemic corporate tax avoidance, the widespread use of tax havens, persistent pressures to embrace austerity policies, and growing gaps between the rich and poor, this book encourages readers to understand fiscal policy as human rights policy, with profound consequences for the well-being of citizens around the world. The chapters examine where the foundational principles of tax law and human rights law intersect and diverge; discuss the cross-border nature and human rights impacts of abusive practices like tax avoidance and evasion; question the role of states in bringing transparency and accountability to tax policies and practices; highlight the responsibility of private sector actors for the shape and consequences of tax laws; and critically evaluate certain domestic tax rules through the lens of equality and nondiscrimination. The chapters explore how the international human rights framework can anchor debates around international tax reform and domestic fiscal consolidation in existing state obligations. They address what human rights law requires of state tax policies, and what a state’s tax laws and loopholes mean for the enjoyment of human rights within and outside its borders. Ultimately, tax and human rights both turn on the relationship between the individual and the state, and thus both fields face crises as the social contract frays and populist, illiberal regimes are on the rise.
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Dowdall, Alex. Communities under Fire. Oxford University Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198856115.001.0001.
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Communities under Fire rewrites the history of the Western Front from the perspective of its civilian inhabitants. Between 1914 and 1918, the fighting passed through some of Europe’s most populated and industrialised regions. Large French towns including Nancy, Reims, Arras, and Lens lay at the heart of the battlefield. Their civilian inhabitants endured artillery bombardment, military occupation, and considerable material hardships. Many fled for the safety of the French interior, but others lived under fire for much of the war, ensuring the Western Front remained a joint civil-military space. Communities under Fire explores the wartime experiences of civilians on both sides of the Western Front, and uncovers how urban communities responded to the dramatic impact of industrialized war. It discusses how war shaped civilians’ personal and collective identities, and explores how the experiences of military violence, occupation, and forced displacement structured the attitudes of civilians at the front towards the nation. It argues that that the direct experiences of war shaped both personal and collective identities, placing civilians at the Western Front at the forefront of a broader process of wartime militarization. This development had wide-ranging social impacts, as civilians in towns at the Western Front felt their experiences marked them out as members of ‘communities under fire’ inhabiting distinct positions within wartime French society, and entitled them to privileged treatment. This book explains the multiple ways by which urban residents responded to, were changed by, succumbed to, or survived the enormous pressures of life in a warzone.
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Sheppard, Charles. Coral Reefs: A Very Short Introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198869825.001.0001.
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Reefs and the coral life that builds them were for centuries a source of mystery to naturalists and hazard to seafarers. Many ideas were developed of what built them and why they all existed so close to sea level but never above it. Darwin developed the theory of how they were built, which was proven a century later. The coral polyp is central to each coral colony and to the reef. Each houses countless symbiotic algal cells that provide the energy that supports the coral reef ecosystem, and the energy needed to extract minerals from seawater to deposit as solid limestone. These are the ocean’s most biodiverse ecosystem. The islands perched on them include many entire nations, and reefs provide land, food, and protection to these as well as parts of many others. The diversity and abundance of other species, from microbial systems that are key to nutrient and energy transfer, to the large predatory fish, are similarly vast, and various components of the reef system have been researched intensively since the advent of scuba techniques. Today, however, local impacts and pressures from pollution to overfishing have degraded and damaged many, and more recently, warming of ocean water resulting from climate change is causing an existential threat to the survival of this rich ecosystem. Arresting the decline is no longer a scientific problem but one for society and governments, and failure to do so will result, indeed already is, in untold damage to human societies that depend on coral reefs.
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Schmidt-Thomé, Philipp. Climate Change Adaptation. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.635.
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Climate change adaptation is the ability of a society or a natural system to adjust to the (changing) conditions that support life in a certain climate region, including weather extremes in that region. The current discussion on climate change adaptation began in the 1990s, with the publication of the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Since the beginning of the 21st century, most countries, and many regions and municipalities have started to develop and implement climate change adaptation strategies and plans. But since the implementation of adaptation measures must be planned and conducted at the local level, a major challenge is to actually implement adaptation to climate change in practice. One challenge is that scientific results are mainly published on international or national levels, and political guidelines are written at transnational (e.g., European Union), national, or regional levels—these scientific results must be downscaled, interpreted, and adapted to local municipal or community levels. Needless to say, the challenges for implementation are also rooted in a large number of uncertainties, from long time spans to matters of scale, as well as in economic, political, and social interests. From a human perspective, climate change impacts occur rather slowly, while local decision makers are engaged with daily business over much shorter time spans.Among the obstacles to implementing adaptation measures to climate change are three major groups of uncertainties: (a) the uncertainties surrounding the development of our future climate, which include the exact climate sensitivity of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the reliability of emission scenarios and underlying storylines, and inherent uncertainties in climate models; (b) uncertainties about anthropogenically induced climate change impacts (e.g., long-term sea level changes, changing weather patterns, and extreme events); and (c) uncertainties about the future development of socioeconomic and political structures as well as legislative frameworks.Besides slow changes, such as changing sea levels and vegetation zones, extreme events (natural hazards) are a factor of major importance. Many societies and their socioeconomic systems are not properly adapted to their current climate zones (e.g., intensive agriculture in dry zones) or to extreme events (e.g., housing built in flood-prone areas). Adaptation measures can be successful only by gaining common societal agreement on their necessity and overall benefit. Ideally, climate change adaptation measures are combined with disaster risk reduction measures to enhance resilience on short, medium, and long time scales.The role of uncertainties and time horizons is addressed by developing climate change adaptation measures on community level and in close cooperation with local actors and stakeholders, focusing on strengthening resilience by addressing current and emerging vulnerability patterns. Successful adaptation measures are usually achieved by developing “no-regret” measures, in other words—measures that have at least one function of immediate social and/or economic benefit as well as long-term, future benefits. To identify socially acceptable and financially viable adaptation measures successfully, it is useful to employ participatory tools that give all involved parties and decision makers the possibility to engage in the process of identifying adaptation measures that best fit collective needs.
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Brunner, Ronald D., and Amanda H. Lynch. Adaptive Governance. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.601.
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Adaptive governance is defined by a focus on decentralized decision-making structures and procedurally rational policy, supported by intensive natural and social science. Decentralized decision-making structures allow a large, complex problem like global climate change to be factored into many smaller problems, each more tractable for policy and scientific purposes. Many smaller problems can be addressed separately and concurrently by smaller communities. Procedurally rational policy in each community is an adaptation to profound uncertainties, inherent in complex systems and cognitive constraints, that limit predictability. Hence planning to meet projected targets and timetables is secondary to continuing appraisal of incremental steps toward long-term goals: What has and hasn’t worked compared to a historical baseline, and why? Each step in such trial-and-error processes depends on politics to balance, if not integrate, the interests of multiple participants to advance their common interest—the point of governance in a free society. Intensive science recognizes that each community is unique because the interests, interactions, and environmental responses of its participants are multiple and coevolve. Hence, inquiry focuses on case studies of particular contexts considered comprehensively and in some detail.Varieties of adaptive governance emerged in response to the limitations of scientific management, the dominant pattern of governance in the 20th century. In scientific management, central authorities sought technically rational policies supported by predictive science to rise above politics and thereby realize policy goals more efficiently from the top down. This approach was manifest in the framing of climate change as an “irreducibly global” problem in the years around 1990. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established to assess science for the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The parties negotiated the Kyoto Protocol that attempted to prescribe legally binding targets and timetables for national reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But progress under the protocol fell far short of realizing the ultimate objective in Article 1 of the UNFCCC, “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference in the climate system.” As concentrations continued to increase, the COP recognized the limitations of this approach in Copenhagen in 2009 and authorized nationally determined contributions to greenhouse gas reductions in the Paris Agreement in 2015.Adaptive governance is a promising but underutilized approach to advancing common interests in response to climate impacts. The interests affected by climate, and their relative priorities, differ from one community to the next, but typically they include protecting life and limb, property and prosperity, other human artifacts, and ecosystem services, while minimizing costs. Adaptive governance is promising because some communities have made significant progress in reducing their losses and vulnerability to climate impacts in the course of advancing their common interests. In doing so, they provide field-tested models for similar communities to consider. Policies that have worked anywhere in a network tend to be diffused for possible adaptation elsewhere in that network. Policies that have worked consistently intensify and justify collective action from the bottom up to reallocate supporting resources from the top down. Researchers can help realize the potential of adaptive governance on larger scales by recognizing it as a complementary approach in climate policy—not a substitute for scientific management, the historical baseline.
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Abdelmoneium, Azza, Michael Corman, and Janet Rankin. Family Home Caregivers for Elderly people. 2nd ed. Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press, 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.5339/difi_9789927141522.
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Improved economic conditions and standards of living that began around the 1950s have resulted in many structural changes in the Arab world, including significant decreases in morbidity, mortality, and fertility rates (United Nations, 2012). This has significantly altered the age demographic in Qatar and other countries in the region where individuals are living much longer, and the number of people aged 25–64 years have increased. Today, there are a significant number of Qataris (10,756) and nonQataris living in Qatar (18,070) above the age of 60. According to the 2010 census, there were 2,685 Qataris and 3,769 non-Qataris in the 65–69 age group, 2,032 Qataris and 1,605 non-Qataris in the 70–74 age group, and 2,630 Qataris and 1,096 non-Qataris over 75 years of age (Qatar Statistics Authority, 2010). Furthermore, the average life expectancy in Qatar is 79.4 (United Nations, 2012), suggesting that the number of older persons in Qatar is on the rise. Family members are the most common providers of home eldercare. However, recent societal changes have multiplied the pressures faced by family members who are responsible for such care. For example, studies have shown that increased participation of women in the workforce is one factor that significantly impacts the needs of families who care for an elderly member (Schoenfelder, Swanson, Pringle, Meridean, & Johnson, 2000; Dwyer & Coward, 1991). Qatar is no exception. Although extended families are common and filial responsibility is highly valued in Qatar, family eldercare providers might be dealing with significant strain that has the potential to compromise both their own quality of life and that of their elderly relatives. Despite these changes, research on elderly caregiving and the challenges of family elder caregivers in Qatar and the Arab world remains limited. Thus, the objective of the report is to investigate the experiences of elder caregivers in Qatar with a particular focus on the stress and burdens of caregiving, the coping strategies of caregivers, and the benefits garnered from their caregiving.
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Dube, Opha Pauline. Climate Policy and Governance across Africa. Oxford University Press, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.605.
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This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. Please check back later for the full article.Africa, a continent with the largest number of countries falling under the category of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), remains highly dependent on rain-fed agriculture that suffers from low intake of water, exacerbating the vulnerability to climate variability and anthropogenic climate change. The increasing frequency and severity of climate extremes impose major strains on the economies of these countries. The loss of livelihoods due to interaction of climate change with existing stressors is elevating internal and cross-border migration. The continent is experiencing rapid urbanization, and its cities represent the most vulnerable locations to climate change due in part to incapacitated local governance. Overall, the institutional capacity to coordinate, regulate, and facilitate development in Africa is weak. The general public is less empowered to hold government accountable. The rule of law, media, and other watchdog organizations, and systems of checks and balances are constrained in different ways, contributing to poor governance and resulting in low capacity to respond to climate risks.As a result, climate policy and governance are inseparable in Africa, and capacitating the government is as essential as establishing climate policy. With the highest level of vulnerability to climate change compared with the rest of the world, governance in Africa is pivotal in crafting and implementing viable climate policies.It is indisputable that African climate policy should focus first and foremost on adaptation to climate change. It is pertinent, therefore, to assess Africa’s governance ability to identify and address the continent’s needs for adaptation. One key aspect of effective climate policy is access to up-to-date and contextually relevant information that encompasses indigenous knowledge. African countries have endeavored to meet international requirements for reports such as the National Communications on Climate Change Impacts and Vulnerabilities and the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs). However, the capacity to deliver on-time quality reports is lacking; also the implementation, in particular integration of adaptation plans into the overall development agenda, remains a challenge. There are a few successes, but overall adaptation operates mainly at project level. Furthermore, the capacity to access and effectively utilize availed international resources, such as extra funding or technology transfer, is limited in Africa.While the continent is an insignificant source of emissions on a global scale, a more forward looking climate policy would require integrating adaptation with mitigation to put in place a foundation for transformation of the development agenda, towards a low carbon driven economy. Such a futuristic approach calls for a comprehensive and robust climate policy governance that goes beyond climate to embrace the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030. Both governance and climate policy in Africa will need to be viewed broadly, encompassing the process of globalization, which has paved the way to a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The question is, what should be the focus of climate policy and governance across Africa under the Anthropocene era?
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Goswami, B. N., and Soumi Chakravorty. Dynamics of the Indian Summer Monsoon Climate. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.613.
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Lifeline for about one-sixth of the world’s population in the subcontinent, the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) is an integral part of the annual cycle of the winds (reversal of winds with seasons), coupled with a strong annual cycle of precipitation (wet summer and dry winter). For over a century, high socioeconomic impacts of ISM rainfall (ISMR) in the region have driven scientists to attempt to predict the year-to-year variations of ISM rainfall. A remarkably stable phenomenon, making its appearance every year without fail, the ISM climate exhibits a rather small year-to-year variation (the standard deviation of the seasonal mean being 10% of the long-term mean), but it has proven to be an extremely challenging system to predict. Even the most skillful, sophisticated models are barely useful with skill significantly below the potential limit on predictability. Understanding what drives the mean ISM climate and its variability on different timescales is, therefore, critical to advancing skills in predicting the monsoon. A conceptual ISM model helps explain what maintains not only the mean ISM but also its variability on interannual and longer timescales.The annual ISM precipitation cycle can be described as a manifestation of the seasonal migration of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) or the zonally oriented cloud (rain) band characterized by a sudden “onset.” The other important feature of ISM is the deep overturning meridional (regional Hadley circulation) that is associated with it, driven primarily by the latent heat release associated with the ISM (ITCZ) precipitation. The dynamics of the monsoon climate, therefore, is an extension of the dynamics of the ITCZ. The classical land–sea surface temperature gradient model of ISM may explain the seasonal reversal of the surface winds, but it fails to explain the onset and the deep vertical structure of the ISM circulation. While the surface temperature over land cools after the onset, reversing the north–south surface temperature gradient and making it inadequate to sustain the monsoon after onset, it is the tropospheric temperature gradient that becomes positive at the time of onset and remains strongly positive thereafter, maintaining the monsoon. The change in sign of the tropospheric temperature (TT) gradient is dynamically responsible for a symmetric instability, leading to the onset and subsequent northward progression of the ITCZ. The unified ISM model in terms of the TT gradient provides a platform to understand the drivers of ISM variability by identifying processes that affect TT in the north and the south and influence the gradient.The predictability of the seasonal mean ISM is limited by interactions of the annual cycle and higher frequency monsoon variability within the season. The monsoon intraseasonal oscillation (MISO) has a seminal role in influencing the seasonal mean and its interannual variability. While ISM climate on long timescales (e.g., multimillennium) largely follows the solar forcing, on shorter timescales the ISM variability is governed by the internal dynamics arising from ocean–atmosphere–land interactions, regional as well as remote, together with teleconnections with other climate modes. Also important is the role of anthropogenic forcing, such as the greenhouse gases and aerosols versus the natural multidecadal variability in the context of the recent six-decade long decreasing trend of ISM rainfall.