- Table View
- List View
Decarbonization as a Route Towards Sustainable Circularity (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Maria Magdalena Ramirez-Corredores Mireya R. Goldwasser Eduardo Falabella de Sousa AguiarThis book surveys the current research on CO2 conversion processes and shows that these can close the carbon cycle as part of a circular economy. The technical and economic feasibility of these processes are examined together and current scientific challenges are signposted, which will guide future R&D. Technology sustainability is key for meeting and keeping decarbonization goals in the long term. However, considering economic and environmental sustainability individually is not enough. An integral view of sustainability that incorporates an energy term in the equation is needed. This book brings this concept to the fore.
Decarbonization of Cities in Asia: A Polycentric Approach to Policy, Business and Technology
by Vincent S. Cheng Guo-Jun LiThis book provides best practices for decarbonizing cities in East Asia, in which buildings are the major contributor to carbon emissions. Beyond the global commitment through the Paris Agreement to make collective efforts on climate action and accelerated policies, investment and development at the country and city level to combat climate change are occurring at an unprecedented rate. Rapid urbanization and increasing energy demand for large and dense Asian cities require smart and sustainable strategies to balance development with decarbonization. A poly-centric approach is needed, where a combination of policy-, market- and technology-driven changes can aid the transition towards development of carbon neutral cities. With practical examples in the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, green financing, climate action roadmap and policy, deployment of renewable energy, and low- to zero-carbon buildings, readers can find the motivation, considerations and implementation pathways to facilitate the transition into the new normal. It is the hope of the authors to encourage readers to see successful pathways in transitioning into a carbon-free industry and overcoming the effects of climate extremes.
Decarbonize Public and Commercial Buildings: China Building Energy and Emission Yearbook 2022
by Tao Zhang Xiaohua Liu Yi Jiang Shan Hu Qingpeng WeiOne of the key motivations and goals for China's social and economic development is the dual carbon target. Building is one of the most important sectors to reduce emissions and save energy, accounting for more than 20% of China's primary energy consumption and carbon emissions. This book analyzes the energy consumption of China's buildings sector in four categories, their characteristics and technologies to improve energy efficiency, and examines the greenhouse gas emissions of China's buildings, including building construction embodied emission and building operation emissions. In particular, this book discusses the ways to achieve carbon neutrality targets for China's public and commercial building sectors. This book also analyzes the energy mix, energy intensity, and technological prospects for achieving energy and carbon targets in the public and commercial building sectors. This book contains a large amount of survey data, monitoring data, and case studies. The debate on technologies and policies is underpinned by a variety of evidence and research that has been ongoing for more than a decade. The information, data, and policy recommendations will be of interest to a national and international audience working in the fields of energy, climate change, engineering, and building science.
Decent Work, Green Jobs and the Sustainable Economy: Solutions for Climate Change and Sustainable Development
by Peter PoschenThe challenges of achieving environmental sustainability and of generating decent work for all are closely linked. In this timely book, Poschen argues that an integrated approach to tackle these challenges is a necessity: the goal of environmentally sustainable economies will not be attained without the active contribution of the world of work. Decent Work, Green Jobs and the Sustainable Economy demonstrates that green jobs can be a key economic driver, as the world steps into the largely uncharted territory of building a sustainable and low-carbon global economy. Poschen shows that positive outcomes are possible, but require a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges.Enterprises, workers and governments are not passive bystanders in the great transformation that is urgently needed in our economies. They are essential agents of change, able to develop new ways of working in sustainable enterprises that safeguard the environment, create decent jobs and foster social inclusion. This book highlights the solutions that the world of work offers for policy and practice to tackle climate change, achieve environmental sustainability and to build prosperous and cohesive societies. It is essential reading for those in business, academia and government.
Decent Work-Life in Business: Essential Tool for Sustainable Development (Towards Sustainable Futures)
by Debasish Biswas Soumi MajumderDecent Work-Life in Business: Essential Tool for Sustainable Development presents a detailed discussion of the concept of decent work-life and its application in business for sustainable development. It discusses decent work-life culture in a business environment. The book makes a strong case for decent work, which not only provides work opportunities but also delivers a fair income, fair treatment, security at the workplace, and social protection for families. With the help of empirical data and statistical indicators, it explores themes such as: ILO and decent work agenda opportunities for work and dignity at work social dimensions of globalization and sustainable development poverty reduction through decent work work-life balance and social protection unacceptable work and social dialogue economic and social context of decent work This book will be an indispensable resource for the students, scholars and teachers of business management and especially those pursuing a career in human resource management. It will also interest scholars of political economy, sociology of work, business management, human resource management, labour studies, public policy, and social anthropology alongside industry experts.
Decentralization in Environmental Governance: A post-contingency approach (New Directions in Planning Theory)
by Christian ZuidemaDecentralization in Environmental Governance is a critical reflection on the dangers and risks of governance renewal; warning against one-sided criticism on traditional command and control approaches to planning. The book formulates the arguments that support when and how governance renewable might be pursued, but this attempt is not just meant for practitioners and scholars interested in governance renewal. It is also useful for those interested in the challenge of navigating a plural landscape of diverse planning approaches, which are each rooted in contrasting theoretical and philosophical positions. The book develops a strategy for making argued choices between alternative planning approaches, despite their theoretical and philosophical positions. It does so by revitalizing the idea that we can contingently relate alternative planning approaches to the circumstances encountered. It is an idea traced to contingency studies of the mid and late 20th century, reinterpreted here within a planning landscape dominated by notions of uncertainty, complexity and socially constructed knowledge. This approach, called ‘Post-contingency’, is both a theoretical investigation of arguments for navigating the theoretical plurality we face and an empirical study into renewing environmental governance. Next to its theoretical ambitions, Decentralization in Environmental Governance is practical in offering a constructive critique on current processes of governance renewal in European environmental governance.
Decentralization, Local Governance, and Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific (Routledge Studies in Sustainable Development)
by Bruno Carrasco, Hanif A. Rahemtulla, and Rainer RohdewohldSince its adoption in 2015, the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development has shaped not only international development cooperation but also the design of national trajectories for social and economic development. In tandem with other global agendas adopted that year (such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and UN Habitat’s New Urban Agenda) it remains the global and regional blueprint for sustainable development despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The term "localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" has been used to capture the importance of subnational governments for achieving national SDG agendas. However, there is little deeper analysis of the required nexus between fiscal, political, and legal arrangements for SNGs; their involvement in national policy arenas (which discuss and decide on national SDG strategies); and the need for locally disaggregated data systems on the one hand, and effective SDG localization strategies on the other hand. It is this aspect which the present publication explores in greater detail by using country examples and conceptual analyses. The text will be of interest to policymakers, scholars, students and practitioners in public policy and public administration, decentralization, and sustainable development, with a focus on the Asia and Pacific region. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO).
Decentralized Governance of Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa
by Esbern Friis-Hansen Charles Aben Professor Jacob Agea Bernard Bashaasha Sarah Ann D'Haen Mikkel Funder Carol Mweemba Isaac Nakendo Jonas Østergaard Nielsen Professor Imasiku Nyambe James Okiror Julie Fogt Rasmussen Godfrey SuubiTwo perspectives have dominated the social science discourse on climate change adaptation. Firstly, an international narrative among UN and donor agencies of technical and financial support for planned climate change adaptation. Secondly, a significant volume of studies discuss how local communities can undertake their own autonomous adaptation. Effective and sustainable climate adaptation requires a third focus: understanding of the political processes within sub-national institutions that mediate between national and local practices. This book address the knowledge gap that currently exists about the role of district-level institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa in providing an enabling institutional environment for rural climate change adaptation. Key Features: · Analyses the disconnect between national and local policy and practice, and how to overcome it · Analysis of the political ecology of climate change adaptation in 10 diverse rural districts across Sub-Saharan Africa based on evidence from thorough field work · Explains how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of climate change adaptation programmes by engaging with decentralized local governments and principles of subsidiarity with regards to decision-making and control over financial resources
Decentralized Governance of Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa
by Esbern Friis-HansenTwo perspectives have dominated the social science discourse on climate change adaptation. Firstly, an international narrative among UN and donor agencies of technical and financial support for planned climate change adaptation. Secondly, a significant volume of studies discuss how local communities can undertake their own autonomous adaptation. Effective and sustainable climate adaptation requires a third focus: understanding of the political processes within sub-national institutions that mediate between national and local practices. This book address the knowledge gap that currently exists about the role of district-level institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa in providing an enabling institutional environment for rural climate change adaptation. Key Features: #65533; Analyses the disconnect between national and local policy and practice, and how to overcome it #65533; Analysis of the political ecology of climate change adaptation in 10 diverse rural districts across Sub-Saharan Africa based on evidence from thorough field work #65533; Explains how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of climate change adaptation programmes by engaging with decentralized local governments and principles of subsidiarity with regards to decision-making and control over financial resources
Deciduous Forests
by Donna LathamInvestigating the planet's biomes and examining the modern threats to each ecosystem, this interactive series challenges young readers to look at how their own actions influence the planet's health. With compare-and-contrast facts and vocabulary-building sidebars, each engaging guide reveals how environmental threats-both human and natural-affect plants and animals.Showcasing the diverse woodland of deciduous forests, this resource reveals how many of its threats come from humans. Covering topics such as deforestation, acid rain, disease, and invasive species, this engaging guide shows how, in the complicated web of life in the forest, even natural threats can be made worse by human activity.
Decision Making Algorithms for Hydro-Power Plant Location
by Mrinmoy Majumder Soumya GhoshThe present study has attempted to apply the advantage of neuro-genetic algorithms for optimal decision making in maximum utilization of natural resources. Hydro-power is one of the inexpensive, but a reliable source of alternative energy which is foreseen as the possible answer to the present crisis in the energy sector. However, the major problem related to hydro-energy is its dependency on location. An ideal location can produce maximum energy with minimum loss. Besides, such power-plant also requires substantial amount of land which is a precious resource nowadays due to the rapid and uncontrolled urbanization observed in most of the urban centres in the World. The feasibility of such plants also depends on social acceptance as well as the level of environmental casualty and economic benefit, all of which is also spatially dependent. Decision making algorithms are applied to identify better solution if a problem has more than one alternative explication. Nature based algorithms are found to be efficient enough to catalyze such kind of decision making analysis. That is why the present study tries to utilize nature based algorithms to solve the problems of location selection for hydropower plants. The study employed six different types of nature based algorithms to select one of the locations among many available for installation of hydropower plant in the North Eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. The locations are selected based on their in stream resources and included in the decision making as alternatives. A methodology of criteria selection, determination of weightage and applications of bioinspired algorithms are adopted to produce utmost exertion of the available natural resources with minimum hostility and wastage of the same.
Decision Making Under Uncertainty, with a Special Emphasis on Geosciences and Education (Studies in Systems, Decision and Control #218)
by Vladik Kreinovich Laxman BokatiThis book describes new techniques for making decisions in situations with uncertainty and new applications of decision-making techniques. The main emphasis is on situations when it is difficult to decrease uncertainty. For example, it is very difficult to accurately predict human economic behavior, so in economics, it is very important to take this uncertainty into account when making decisions. Other areas where it is difficult to decrease uncertainty are geosciences and teaching. The book analyzes the general problem of decision making and shows how its results can be applied to economics, geosciences, and teaching. Since all these applications involve computing, the book also shows how these results can be applied to computing, including deep learning and quantum computing. The book is recommended to researchers, practitioners, and students who want to learn more about decision making under uncertainty—and who want to work on remaining challenges.
Decision Making for the Environment: Social and Behavioral Science Research Priorities
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesWith the growing number, complexity, and importance of environmental problems come demands to include a full range of intellectual disciplines and scholarly traditions to help define and eventually manage such problems more effectively. Decision Making for the Environment: Social and Behavioral Science Research Prioritiesis the result of a 2-year effort by 12 social and behavioral scientists, scholars, and practitioners. The report sets research priorities for the social and behavioral sciences as they relate to several different kinds of environmental problems.
Decision Making in Interdisciplinary Renewable Energy Projects: Navigating Energy Investments (Contributions to Management Science)
by Hasan Dinçer Serhat Yüksel Muhammet DeveciThis edited book presents a comprehensive analysis of the multidimensional aspects associated with decision making in renewable energy investment projects. It delves into the interplay between interdisciplinary studies, sustainability considerations, and circular economy principles within the renewable energy sector. By examining the impact of these interconnected domains, the book offers valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities inherent in decision making for renewable energy investments. The book is tailored to a diverse audience, including researchers, scholars, and professionals in the fields of renewable energy, sustainability, circular economy, and business management. It is equally suitable for graduate and undergraduate students studying environmental studies, renewable energy, sustainability, and related disciplines. Professionals working in the renewable energy industry, including project developers, investors, and policymakers, will find valuable insights to inform their decision-making processes. Additionally, engineers, economists, social scientists, and environmental consultants interested in interdisciplinary studies and their intersection with renewable energy will benefit from the book's comprehensive analysis.
Decision Making with Uncertainty in Stormwater Pollutant Processes: A Perspective on Urban Stormwater Pollution Mitigation (SpringerBriefs in Water Science and Technology)
by An Liu Ashantha Goonetilleke Prasanna Egodawatta Buddhi Wijesiri James McGreeThis book presents new findings on intrinsic variability in pollutant build-up and wash-off processes by identifying the characteristics of underlying process mechanisms, based on the behaviour of various-sized particles. The correlation between build-up and wash-off processes is clearly defined using heavy metal pollutants as a case study. The outcome of this study is an approach developed to quantitatively assess process uncertainty, which makes it possible to mathematically incorporate the characteristics of variability in build-up and wash-off processes into stormwater quality models. In addition, the approach can be used to quantify process uncertainty as an integral aspect of stormwater quality predictions using common uncertainty analysis techniques. The information produced using enhanced modelling tools will promote more informed decision-making, and thereby help to improve urban stormwater quality.
Decision Science for Future Earth: Theory and Practice
by Tetsukazu YaharaThis open access book provides a theoretical framework and case studies on decision science for regional sustainability by integrating the natural and social sciences. The cases discussed include solution-oriented transdisciplinary studies on the environment, disasters, health, governance and human cooperation. Based on these case studies and comprehensive reviews of relevant works, including lessons learned from past failures for predictable surprises and successes in adaptive co-management, the book provides the reader with new perspectives on how we can co-design collaborative projects with various conflicts of interest and how we can transform our society for a sustainable future. The book makes a valuable contribution to the global research initiative Future Earth, promoting transdisciplinary studies to bridge the gap between science and society in knowledge generation processes and supporting efforts to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Compared to other publications on transdisciplinary studies, this book is unique in that evolutionary biology is used as an integrator for various areas related to human decision-making, and approaches social changes as processes of adaptive learning and evolution. Given its scope, the book is highly recommended to all readers seeking an integrated overview of human decision-making in the context of social transformation.
Decision Support System for the Location of Healthcare Facilities: SitHealth Evaluation Tool (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Stefano Capolongo Alessandra Oppio Marta Dell'OvoThe book examines an integrated approach for addressing decisions about the location of healthcare facilities. Supported by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), the approach provides comprehensive information on territory, taking into account the spatial dimensions. Due to the multiple criteria involved, site selection for urban facilities is a crucial topic in planning decision processes, especially for healthcare facilities. Healthcare provision policies generally fail to address the distribution of facilities within cities, entrusting decisions to various stakeholders. Moreover current evaluation tools focus on the intrinsic performances of healthcare structures, disregarding the extrinsic characteristics, namely those related to the location. Starting with a cross-disciplinary literature review, the book describes a multi-methodological approach for decision-making regarding the location of healthcare facilities, and presents an innovative evaluation tool that simultaneously considers functional, locational, environmental and economic issues, providing a comprehensive overview of the areas under investigation.
Decision-Making for a Sustainable Environment: A Systemic Approach (Social Environmental Sustainability)
by Chris MaserIncreasingly, environmental decision making is like playing a multidimensional game of chess. With interactions between the atmosphere, the litho-hydrosphere, and the biosphere, the game is at once a measure of complexity, uncertainty, interdisciplinary acuity, social-environmental sustainability, and social justice for all generations. As such, it
Decision-making and Radioactive Waste Disposal (Routledge Studies in Waste Management and Policy)
by Gerry Nagtzaam Andrew NewmanThe International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that nuclear power generation facilities produce about 200,000 cubic meters of low and intermediate-level waste each year. Vital medical procedures, industrial processes and basic science research also produce significant quantities of waste. All of this waste must be shielded from the population for extended periods of time. Finding suitable locations for disposal facilities is beset by two main problems: community responses to siting proposals are generally antagonistic and, as a result, governments have tended to be reactive in their policy-making. Decision-making and Radioactive Waste Disposal explores these issues utilizing a linear narrative case study approach that critically examines key stakeholder interactions in order to explain how siting decisions for low level waste disposal are made. Five countries are featured: the US, Australia, Spain, South Korea and Switzerland. This book seeks to establish an understanding of the political, economic, environmental, legal and social dimensions of siting across those countries. This valuable resource fills a gap in the literature and provides recommendations for future disposal facility siting efforts. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of environmental law, justice, management, politics, energy and security policy as well as decision-makers in government and industry.
Decision-making for New Product Development in Small Businesses (Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies)
by Mary Haropoulou Clive SmallmanWhat goes on in a small firm that lives or dies by its capacity to innovate? How are decisions made on new product development, and how does that feed into the ecological, social and financial sustainability of the firm? This book answers the questions through an in-depth look at a small business that manufactures high-end carpet yarn. Using advanced analytical techniques to interrogate rich qualitative data, the book draws together established theories of decision-making and new product development, coupled with thinking about business sustainability to improve our understanding of this important area of business practice. The book further reinforces the importance and role of organizational learning in organizational decision-making, based on novel analysis of empirically developed qualitative data.
Decision-making in Humanitarian Operations: Strategy, Behavior and Dynamics
by Sebastián Villa Gloria Urrea Jaime Andrés Castañeda Erik R. LarsenThis book brings together research in humanitarian operations, behavioral operations and dynamic simulation. Part I outlines the main characteristics and strategic challenges of humanitarian organizations in preparedness, knowledge management, climate change and issues related to refugees and social inclusion. Part II gives an introduction to behavioral operations and experiments in single- and multi-agent settings, followed by discussions on quantal theory, framing effect and possible applications in the humanitarian sector. Part III introduces system dynamics and agent-based modeling and discusses how these techniques can be used to study dynamics and decision-making in humanitarian operations. This book is unique in providing a holistic view of the decision-making process and challenges in the humanitarian sector.
Decline Of The Steller Sea Lion In Alaskan Waters: Untangling Food Webs And Fishing Nets
by Committee on the Alaska Groundfish Fishery Steller Sea LionsFor an unknown reason, the Steller sea lion population in Alaska has declined by 80 percent during the past three decades. In 2001, the National Research Council began a study to assess the many hypotheses proposed to explain the sea lion decline including insufficient food due to fishing or the late 1970s climate/regime shift, a disease epidemic, pollution, illegal shooting, subsistence harvest, and predation by killer whales or sharks. The report's analysis indicates that the population decline cannot be explained only by a decreased availability of food; hence other factors, such as predation and illegal shooting, deserve further study. The report recommends a management strategy that could help determine the impact of fisheries on sea lion survival--establishing open and closed fishing areas around sea lion rookeries. This strategy would allow researchers to study sea lions in relatively controlled, contrasting environments. Experimental area closures will help fill some short-term data gaps, but long-term monitoring will be required to understand why sea lions are at a fraction of their former abundance.
Decline and Recovery of the Island Fox
by Timothy J. Coonan Catherin A. Schwemm David K. Garcelon Linda Munson Cheri AsaNative only to the California Channel Islands, the island fox is the smallest canid in North America. Populations on four of the islands were threatened to extinction in the 1990s due to human-mediated predation and disease. This is the first account of the natural history and ecology of the island fox, illustrating both the vulnerability of island ecosystems and the efficacy of cooperative conservation measures. It explains in detail the intense conservation actions required to recover fox populations, such as captive breeding and reintroduction, and large-scale ecosystem manipulation. These actions were successful due in large part to extraordinary collaboration among the scientists, managers and public advocates involved in the recovery effort. The book also examines the role of some aspects of island fox biology, characteristic of the 'island syndrome', in facilitating their recovery, including high productivity and an apparent adaptation to periodic genetic bottlenecks.
Decolonising Blue Spaces in the Anthropocene: Freshwater management in Aotearoa New Zealand (Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management)
by Karen Fisher Meg Parsons Roa Petra CreaseThis open access book crosses disciplinary boundaries to connect theories of environmental justice with Indigenous people’s experiences of freshwater management and governance. It traces the history of one freshwater crisis – the degradation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Waipā River– to the settler-colonial acts of ecological dispossession resulting in intergenerational injustices for Indigenous Māori iwi (tribes). The authors draw on a rich empirical base to document the negative consequences of imposing Western knowledge, worldviews, laws, governance and management approaches onto Māori and their ancestral landscapes and waterscapes. Importantly, this book demonstrates how degraded freshwater systems can and are being addressed by Māori seeking to reassert their knowledge, authority, and practices of kaitiakitanga (environmental guardianship). Co-governance and co-management agreements between iwi and the New Zealand Government, over the Waipā River, highlight how Māori are envisioning and enacting more sustainable freshwater management and governance, thus seeking to achieve Indigenous environmental justice (IEJ). The book provides an accessible way for readers coming from a diversity of different backgrounds, be they academics, students, practitioners or decision-makers, to develop an understanding of IEJ and its applicability to freshwater management and governance in the context of changing socio-economic, political, and environmental conditions that characterise the Anthropocene.
Decolonising Conflicts, Security, Peace, Gender, Environment and Development in the Anthropocene (The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science #30)
by Úrsula Oswald Spring Hans Günter BrauchIn this book 25 authors from the Global South (19) and the Global North (6) address conflicts, security, peace, gender, environment and development. Four parts cover I) peace research epistemology; II) conflicts, families and vulnerable people; III) peacekeeping, peacebuilding and transitional justice; and IV) peace and education. Part I deals with peace ecology, transformative peace, peaceful societies, Gandhi’s non-violent policy and disobedient peace. Part II discusses urban climate change, climate rituals, conflicts in Kenya, the sexual abuse of girls, farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria, wartime sexual violence facing refugees, the traditional conflict and peacemakingprocess of Kurdish tribes, Hindustani family shame, and communication with Roma. Part III analyses norms of peacekeeping, violent non-state actors in Brazil, the art of peace in Mexico, grass-roots post-conflict peacebuilding in Sulawesi, hydrodiplomacyin the Indus River Basin, the Rohingya refugee crisis, and transitional justice. Part IV assesses SDGs and peace in India, peace education in Nepal, and infrastructure-based development and peace in West Papua.• Peer-reviewed texts prepared for the 27th Conference of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) in 2018 in Ahmedabad in India.• Contributions from two pioneers of global peace research:a foreword by Johan Galtung from Norway and a preface by Betty Reardon from the United States.• Innovative case studies by peace researchers on decolonising conflicts, security, peace, gender, environment and development in the Anthropocene, the new epoch of earth and human history.• New theoretical perspectives by senior and junior scholars from Europe and Latin America on peace ecology, transformative peace, peaceful societies, and Gandhi’s non-violence policy.• Case studies on climate change, SDGs and peace in India; conflicts in Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico; Roma in Hungary;the refugee crisis in Bangladesh; peace action in Indonesia and India/Pakistan; and peace education in Nepal.