Miljøovervågning

There is a need of strengthening the global and local response to cope with the threat of climate change and adverse effects of rising anthropogenic activities in the mountain ecosystem. This book provides an up-to-date and comprehensive scientific and technical knowledge based on climate and land cover change impact assessment, adaptation and mitigation strategies in the Indian Himalayan watershed. The text updates the understanding scientific analysis to promote evidence-based policy formulation at regional and local levels. It can be used as reference materials with regards to climate and land cover change for those new learners interested in the mountainous region. This comprehensive book covers a wide range of potential research areas including climate change scenarios, science and its applications, adaptation to climate change-theory and assessment, water resources, agriculture, forest, biodiversity, and ecosystems, indigenous knowledge etc.

This book addresses one of the major solid waste streams resulting from modern society, construction and demolition debris (CDD). CDD in the past has not received the same attention as other waste streams (e.g., municipal solid waste), but with the growing recognition of the environmental and economic importance of proper CDD management, this material now is the focus of attention of many government agencies and private businesses. This book provides a comprehensive review of CDD, its characteristics, environmental risks, and regulatory requirements, along with an in-depth discussion of the issues pertaining to CDD recycling and disposal.

This book presents select proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE 2022) which is held in Xi¿an, China, November 1-4, 2022. The book covers a wide range of topics, including Hydraulics, Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Sustainability, Indoor Environments, Risk Analysis, Safety and Security, Ocean and Offshore Engineering; Ships and Floating Structures, Coastal Engineering. It will be useful for researchers and engineers working in water and environment related fields.

¿In this brief we consider some stochastic models that may be used to study problems related to environmental matters, in particular, air pollution.  The impact of exposure to air pollutants on people's health is a very clear and well documented subject. Therefore, it is very important to obtain ways to predict or explain the behaviour of pollutants in general. Depending on the type of question that one is interested in answering, there are several of ways studying that problem. Among them we may quote, analysis of the time series of the pollutants' measurements, analysis of the information obtained directly from the data, for instance, daily, weekly or monthly averages and standard deviations. Another way to study the behaviour of pollutants in general is through mathematical models. In the mathematical framework we may have for instance deterministic or stochastic models. The type of models that we are going to consider in this brief are the stochastic ones.¿

This book discusses current knowledge and challenges with the ecological management and conservation of wetlands, with a focus on the East Kolkata Wetlands of India. This area is referred to as a Ramsar Site, a designation given to areas with special protection statuses, since it is the largest natural waste recycling system in the world. The site faces many threats to its biodiversity and ecosystem functioning due to anthropogenic activity in the region, and therefore an assessment of the ecosystem services, bio-ecological uniqueness, and issues stemming from climate change and human impacts is needed to develop protection strategies for the future ecological functioning and sustainability of the wetlands. The authors use GIS and remote sensing techniques to assess and monitor harmful industrial and environmental impacts on the wetlands, and to inform mitigation and conservation strategies in the face of ongoing threats such as pollution, habitat destruction and bioinvasion. Thebook also highlights various social and economic aspects tied to the functioning and management of the wetlands, along with ecological, biological, and physio-chemical considerations. The study will be of use to students and researchers in aquatic ecology, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability and conservation, as well as to environmental planners, engineers, and policymakers.

Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, the impacts of climate change have been fierce, causing loss of human life and irreparable destruction to natural and man-made infrastructure in many parts of the world.The difference between climate change now and in the past is that of sudden and disproportionate disruption of the natural energy dynamics by the changing consumption patterns of billions of human beings who have polluted terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The picture that emerges from the exhaustive analysis of international data drawn from the most reliable sources indicates that we have possibly gained access to the gateway of extinction and it is time that we take corrective steps immediately.Global climate change is further altering our relationship with the environment, modifying relatively stable climatic factors and making them uncertain, unpredictable, and threatening. Changes in land use and an increasing demand for water resources due to climate change have affected the capacity of ecosystems to sustain food production, ensure the supply of freshwater resources, provide ecosystem services, and promote rural multi-functionality. Ensuring food production does not just depend on increasing water efficiency, promoting climate resilient crop production, or reducing land-use competition for urbanization but also on a more suitable and stable climate as the changes in climatic factors like precipitation, temperature, radiation, evaporation, and wind bring about some major shifts in global food supplies. According to Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES), focused on greenhouse gas emissions projections, and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change increases the risk of simultaneous crop failures (including corn, rice, legumes, and vegetables) if irrigation systems are not fully adapted to water stress situations. A changing climate could have many adverse impacts on other sectors of our environment. This book offers concrete, up-to-date, and appropriate study cum research material for students, researchers, academicians and policymakers. It will be of a greater interest to students and researchers in the field of environmental science, agriculture science, agronomy, and sustainable development.

This book intends to decipher the knowledge in the advancement of understanding, detecting, predicting, and monitoring landslides. The number of massive landslides and the damages they cause has increased across the globe in recent times. It is one of the most devastating natural hazards that cause widespread damage to habitat on a local, regional, and global scale. International experts provide their experience in landslide research and practice to help stakeholders mitigate and predict potential landslides. The book comprises chapters on: Dynamics, mechanisms, and processes of landslides; Geological, geotechnical, hydrological, and geophysical modelling for landslides; Mapping and assessment of hazard, vulnerability, and risk associated with landslides; Monitoring and early warning of landslides; Application of remote sensing and GIS techniques in monitoring and assessment of landslides. The book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers in adapting suitable modern techniques for landslide study.

This book explores state-of-art techniques based on open-source software and statistical programming and modelling in modern geospatial applications, specifically focusing on recent trends in data mining techniques and robust modelling in Geomorphological, Hydrological, Bio-physical and Social activities. The book is organized into physical, mountainous, coastal, riverine, forest, urban and biological activities, with each chapter providing a review of the current knowledge in the focus area, and evaluating where future efforts should be directed. The text compiles a collection of recent developments and rigorous applications of Geospatial computational intelligence (e.g., artificial neural network, spatial interpolation, physical and environmental modelling and machine learning algorithms etc) in geomorphic processes from a team of expert contributors. The authors address the wide range of challenges and uncertainties in the study of earth system dynamics due to climate change, and complex anthropogenic interferences where spatial modelling may be applied in the risk assessment of vulnerable geomorphological landscapes. The book will act as a guide to find recent advancements in geospatial artificial intelligence techniques and its application to natural and social hazards. This information will be helpful for students, researchers, policy makers, environmentalists, planners involved in natural hazard and disaster management, NGOs, and government organizations.

This book discusses the detrimental consequences of climate-related land changes over a 40-year period between 1981 and 2020, and focuses on how climate warming is deteriorating the agricultural system due to excessive heat, lack of moisture and more intensive and widespread droughts leading to a reduction of agricultural production. Most of the existing literature on the unfavourable consequences of global warming for land are based on a relatively short period of weather station data, covering local land areas with limited networks and monitoring parameters. These concerns have led to the use of satellite data, whose measurements are controlled by such vegetation characteristics as chlorophyll, carotenoids, moisture contents in the plants and temperature inside the vegetation community. Therefore, the discussion of this book is completely based on high-resolution global land surface measurements by the sensors on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration¿s (NOAA) operational afternoon polar-orbiting satellites. The book also focuses on understanding climate change impacts on land changes where humans are living, and combines biophysically-grounded methods and the 40-year data to develop models for monitoring large-scale Earth warming impacts on land and for timely prediction of climate consequences for humans. These 40-year trends in land characteristics will help to better inform the assessment of potential changes in the future and how to reach human sustainability. The book will of interest to scientists using satellite remote sensing to track climate change impacts on land over time, as well as students and researchers in climatology and environmental sustainability.

The book provides a cross-sectoral, multi-scale assessment of development-directed investigations in the main rivers of wider Central Asia and Afghanistan. The book highlights the development of river systems, water reservoirs, ecosystems and risks as well as the impact of climate change on water resources in Central Asian countries and Afghanistan. It provides information on the genesis of river basins, physical and chemical properties of water in rivers, and the hydrological regimes of the rivers of Central Asia and Afghanistan. The book is useful for scientists and researchers whose work focuses on rivers and the use of water resources, irrigation, ecosystems, risks, water supply, climate change and remote sensing, as well as for students and planners, administrations and other stakeholders in the water sector.

This edited volume deals with the understanding of the issues concerned with the pollution caused by toxic elements and heavy metals and their impacts on the different agro-ecosystems as well as the techniques involved in sustainable remediation and amelioration of polluted soils. Furthermore, the book is a detailed comprehensive account for the treatment technologies from unsustainable to sustainable which includes chapters prepared by professionals with expertise in environmental microbiology, biotechnology, bioremediation, and environmental engineering.It focuses on the characterization, reclamation, bioremediation, and phytoremediation of polluted soils. The research presented also highlights some of the significantly important plant and microbial species involved in remediation, the physiology, biochemistry, and the mechanisms of remediation by various plants and microbes, and suggestions for future improvement of bioremediation technology. It offers insights into the current focus and recent advances in bioremediation and green technology applications for sustainable soil management.

Water is the elixir of life and is crucial for sustainable development. Earlier, it was considered to be a limitless or at least a fully renewable natural resource. During the past 20 years, however, there has been tremendous pressure on this precious natural resource mainly due to rapid urbanization, industrialization and the increase in the human population. Together, these have resulted in increasing demand for irrigation, industrial, and household purposes to meet supply-chain requirements. Keeping in mind the scarcity of available water resources in the near future and its impending threats, it has become imperative on the part of scientists in hydrology and allied disciplines such as geography, landscape planning, sustainability science etc. Regional planners and supply chain management experts also must be involved in studying the spatial and temporal nature of the growing demand for water and the future availability for its judicial use and sustainable management.  A primary intent of the book is to provide comprehensive scientific knowledge base on water resource management and sustainability. It covers geo-engineering and scientific problems, case studies, and sustainable solutions in the water resources management domain. Additionally and of equal importance, the chapters of the book provide in-depth coverage on water resource vulnerability, water quality, wastewater treatment, application of remote sensing and geographical information systems hydrological modeling and harvesting, climate variability and runoff, sediment discharge and irrigation planning, community participation in water governance, internet of things and machine learning applications for sustainable water resources management. This practical, state-of-the-art reference book is a valuable resource for students, researchers, scientists, policymakers, spatio-temporal designers of water resource systems, various stake holders interested in hydro-climatology and sustainable water resources management.

This volume provides a versatile introduction to the study of drainage basin evolution, morphology, drainage basin hydrology and sedimentology, human interference, natural and anthropogenic hazards and various management techniques. This book offers the responsible factors of sediment yield and their absolute and specific growth and rate of delivery through tributaries to the main streams. Rivers are important geomorphic agents which reflect an amazing variety of form and behaviour, showing the wide range of natural environment in which they are originated.  The drainage system evolution and spatial network development within the dynamic nature are being discussed and how they are adjusted in the geomorphic time scale over the millions of years. This book shows how drainage systems function and react to change and why this thoughtful is required for flourishing integrated basin management. In tropical and sub-tropical countries population pressures as well as different developmental projects are being executed on the drainage basin without proper planning. Today scientists consider drainage basin as an administrative unit during implementation of regional projects. In this context this book will carry a bench mark for scholars and young scientists.

Wastewater-based Epidemiology for the Assessment of Human Exposure to Environmental Pollutants discusses wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) and its use in risk assessment and monitoring of human exposure to hazardous pollutants and pathogens. The book explores the health impacts of organic and inorganic pollutants from pesticides, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, phthalates, personal care products, and endocrine disruptors in the wastewater environment. The book examines the application of wastewater-based epidemiology in determining health risk and exposure to infectious diseases caused by viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, parasites, and bacteria. Other topics include detection techniques, sampling techniques, analytical methods, biomarkers, and the use of biosensors in wastewater-based epidemiology studies.

This book mainly provides the current status of water pollution faced by China under rapid changing environment and the actions that have been taken for prevention and treatment of water pollution. It points out that the water pollution situation is severe. Facing water pollution, China's experiences include several aspects on source control and pollution interception, internal nutrient removal of sediment, ecological restoration, and water transfer policy. There exists both the opportunity and challenge for the prevention and control of water pollution in China. The book contains numerous charts and diagrams which further illustrating China's paths to clean water.

Much of the earth's population is dependent on agriculture as it provides food for their sustenance. Successful crop production depends to a considerable extent on land and climate. Soil is the main component of land and a fertile soil is essential for crop growth. However, soil fertility declines over the years mainly due to land degradation.  Hence, implementing appropriate measures to control land degradation is important. It is the responsibility of the farmers and the governments to take action to control land degradation. Agricultural extension officers are involved in making farmers aware of land degradation and control measures. Planners and policy makers  need scientific assessments on land degradation and its implications so that they could advice the relevant authorities who prepare the national programs and budgets. This book highlights issues related to land degradation, the causal factors and methods of control. The audience is agricultural practitioners and planners as well as students of agriculture. Environmentalists would also benefit by understanding the main issues related to land degradation discussed.

This book explores the drivers and impacts of sand mining in the coastal areas of Lagos Nigeria. Based on empirical evidence, sand mining activity is driven by a number of urbanization-related factors while sand mining impacts are underlined by a number of sustainability-related factors. Four urbanization components describe the drivers of sand mining and four sustainability components describe the impacts of sand mining in Lagos. This book concludes on the puzzling dilemma of sand mining that supports thriving urbanization but undermines environmental sustainability in Lagos. Of course, sand mining has strong implications for environmental sustainability in Lagos coastal areas. This book is of immense benefit to environmental planners, city administrators, students of environmental science and the general public who have regards for environmental management. 

This volume presents the conference proceedings from FinDrones2020. The book highlights recent developments in drone technology by experts, academicians, and entrepreneurs for applications in agriculture, forestry, and other industries. Emphasis is placed on contextualizing the conference presentations and content to Finland and the unique challenges typical to this region. The work will be of interest to academicians and professionals involved in remote sensing applications of unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as enthusiasts of drone technological developments.

This book compiles available knowledge of the response of mountain ecosystems to recent climate and land use change and intends to bridge the gap between science, policy and the community concerned.The chapters present key concepts, major drivers and key processes of mountain response, providing transdisciplinary orientation to mountain studies incorporating experiences of academics, community leaders and policy-makers from developed and less developed countries. The book chapters are arranged in two sections. The first section concerns the response processes of mountain environments to climate change. This section addresses climate change itself (past, current and future changes of temperature and precipitation) and its impacts on the cryosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and human-environment systems. The second section focuses on the response processes of mountain environments to land use/land cover change. The case studies address effects of changing agriculture and pastoralism, forest/water resources management and urbanization processes, landscape management, and biodiversity conservation. The book is designed as an interdisciplinary publication which critically evaluates developments in mountains of the world with contributions from both social and natural sciences.