Download or read book Island Environments in a Changing World written by Lawrence R. Walker and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-03-24 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islands represent unique opportunities to examine human interaction with the natural environment. They capture the human imagination as remote, vulnerable and exotic, yet there is comparatively little understanding of their basic geology, geography, or the impact of island colonization by plants, animals and humans. This detailed study of island environments focuses on nine island groups, including Hawaii, New Zealand and the British Isles, exploring their differing geology, geography, climate and soils, as well as the varying effects of human actions. It illustrates the natural and anthropogenic disturbances common to island groups, all of which face an uncertain future clouded by extinctions of endemic flora and fauna, growing populations of invasive species, and burgeoning resident and tourist populations. Examining the natural and human history of each island group from early settlement onwards, the book provides a critique of the concept of sustainable growth and offers realistic guidelines for future island management.
Download or read book Island Environments in a Changing World written by Lawrence R. Walker and published by . This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Overview of the natural and human history of island environments from early settlement to current challenges in island management.
Download or read book Island Environments in a Changing World written by Lawrence R. Walker and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Islands represent unique opportunities to examine human interaction with the natural environment. They capture the human imagination as remote, vulnerable and exotic, yet there is comparatively little understanding of their basic geology, geography, or the impact of island colonization by plants, animals and humans. This detailed study of island environments focuses on nine island groups, including Hawaii, New Zealand and the British Isles, exploring their differing geology, geography, climate and soils, as well as the varying effects of human actions. It illustrates the natural and anthropogenic disturbances common to island groups, all of which face an uncertain future clouded by extinctions of endemic flora and fauna, growing populations of invasive species, and burgeoning resident and tourist populations. Examining the natural and human history of each island group from early settlement onwards, the book provides a critique of the concept of sustainable growth and offers realistic guidelines for future island management"--
Download or read book Land Cover and Land Use Change on Islands written by Stephen J. Walsh and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-07-16 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Globalization is not a new phenomenon, but it is posing new challenges to humans and natural ecosystems in the 21st century. From climate change to increasingly mobile human populations to the global economy, the relationship between humans and their environment is being modified in ways that will have long-term impacts on ecological health, biodiversity, ecosystem goods and services, population vulnerability, and sustainability. These changes and challenges are perhaps nowhere more evident than in island ecosystems. Buffeted by rising ocean temperatures, extreme weather events, sea-level rise, climate change, tourism, population migration, invasive species, and resource limitations, islands represent both the greatest vulnerability to globalization and also the greatest scientific opportunity to study the significance of global changes on ecosystem processes, human-environment interactions, conservation, environmental policy, and island sustainability. In this book, we study islands through the lens of Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) and the multi-scale and multi-thematic drivers of change. In addition to assessing the key processes that shape and re-shape island ecosystems and their land cover/land use changes, the book highlights measurement and assessment methods to characterize patterns and trajectories of change and models to examine the social-ecological drivers of change on islands. For instance, chapters report on the results of a meta-analysis to examine trends in published literature on islands, a satellite image time-series to track changes in urbanization, social surveys to support household analyses, field sampling to represent the state of resources and their limitations on islands, and dynamic systems models to link socio-economic data to LCLUC patterns. The authors report on a diversity of islands, conditions, and circumstances that affect LCLUC patterns and processes, often informed through perspectives rooted, for instance, in conservation, demography, ecology, economics, geography, policy, and sociology.
Download or read book Coastal environment in a changing world written by and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-06-08 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Islands at Risk written by John Connell and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2013 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a wide-ranging comparative analysis of contemporary economic, social, political and environmental change in small islands, island states and territories, through every ocean. It focuses on those island realms conventionally perceived as developing, rather than developed, in the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Oceans. John Connell examines the decline of agriculture and the rise of tourism, the problems of urbanization, and the particular role of migration and remittances, within a culture of migration. He seeks to balance economic challenges with environmental threats, notably that of climate change, and social changes with the survival of culture, pointing to awkward and hybrid development futures. This unique study comprehensively balances environmental, social and economic changes to provide a more wide-ranging assessment of sustainability that will be invaluable for academics and postgraduate students on environment and international development courses.
Download or read book Dealing with climate change on small islands Towards effective and sustainable adaptation written by Carola Klöck and published by Göttingen University Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Small islands have received growing attention in the context of climate change. Rising sea-levels, intensifying storms, changing rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures force islanders to deal with and adapt to a changing climate. How do they respond to the challenge? What works, what doesn’t – and why? The present volume addresses these questions by exploring adaptation experiences in small islands across the world’s oceans from various perspectives and disciplines, including geography, anthropology, political science, psychology, and philosophy. The contributions to the volume focus on political and financial difficulties of climate change governance; highlight the importance of cultural values, local knowledge and perceptions in and for adaptation; and question to what extent mobility and migration constitute sustainable adaptation. Overall, the contributions highlight the diversity of island contexts, but also their specific challenges; they present valuable lessons for both adaptation success and failure, and emphasise island resilience and agency in the face of climate change.
Download or read book Ecology and Evolution written by Richard Benz and published by NSTA Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Many of the ideas in this volume appeared in an earlier version in The Galâapagos: JASON Curriculum, 1991 by the National Science Teachers Association."
Download or read book Shaping the Future of Small Islands written by John Laing Roberts and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-11-23 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book provides fresh look at the issues of sustainable development, degradation of natural resources and vulnerability to climate change in Small Island developing states (SIDS). It documents the deteriorating state of SIDS and adaptation efforts made to address the impending crisis of unsustainable economic growth with international, national and community support. Authors have discussed issues like macroeconomic trends, vulnerability, resilience capability, and SIDS-specific strategies focusing on sectors like trade and tourism. Discussion continues with the examination of democracy, social capital, quality of life, and health concerns. Climate change and natural resource challenges are analyzed using case studies. The book also discusses diplomatic complexities of international climate agreements, collective action and institutional quality constitute the analysis of global environment and sustainable development.
Download or read book Barrier Dynamics and Response to Changing Climate written by Laura J. Moore and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-01-17 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents chapters, written by leading coastal scientists, which collectively depict the current understanding of the processes that shape barrier islands and barrier spits, with an emphasis on the response of these landforms to changing conditions. A majority of the world’s population lives along the coast at the dynamic intersection between terrestrial and marine ecosystems and landscapes. As narrow, low-lying landforms, barriers are especially vulnerable to changes in sea level, storminess, the geographic distribution of grass species, and the rate of sand supply—some barriers will undergo rapid changes in state (e.g., from landward migrating to disintegrating), on human time scales. Attempts by humans to prevent change can hasten the loss of these landforms, threatening their continued existence as well as the recreational, financial and ecosystem service benefits they provide. Understanding the processes and interactions that drive landscape response to climate change and human actions is essential to adaptation. As managers and governments struggle to plan for the future along low-lying coasts worldwide, and scientists conduct research that provides useful guidance, this volume offers a much-needed compilation for these groups, as well as a window into the science of barrier dynamics for anyone who is generally interested in the impacts of a changing world on coastal environments.
Download or read book Small Island Developing States written by Stefano Moncada and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores how vulnerable and resilient communities from SIDS are affected by climate change; proposes and, where possible, evaluates adaptation activities; identifies factors capable of enhancing or inhibiting SIDS people’s long-term ability to deal with climate change; and critiques the discourses, vocabularies, and constructions around SIDS dealing with climate change. The contributions, written by well-established scholars, as well as emerging authors and practitioners, in the field, include conceptual papers, coherent methodological approaches, and case studies from the communities based in the Caribbean Sea and the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. In their introduction, the editors contextualise the book within the current literature. They emphasise the importance of stronger links between climate change science and policy in SIDS, both to increase effectiveness of policy and also boost scholarly enquiry in the context of whose communities are often excluded by mainstream research. This book is timely and appropriate, given the recent commission by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of a Special Report that aims at addressing vulnerabilities, “especially in islands and coastal areas, as well as the adaptation and policy development opportunities” following the Paris Agreement. Coupled with this, there is also the need to support the policy community with further scientific evidence on climate change–related issues in SIDS, accompanying the first years of implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Download or read book The Caribbean in a Changing World written by Livingston Smith and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection is a critical reflection of the evolution of Caribbean countries since the demise of the West Indies Federation in 1962. At this historical juncture, some territories opted for independence while others remained dependent territories. The volume examines Caribbean societies in comparative and general ways, covering aspects of their ongoing development and challenges. It covers such areas as Caribbean integration, the state of human capital and social policy in the region, the education sector, Caribbean economic sustainability, and, significantly, the physical environment of the Caribbean. A central question has always been: should these territories have gone independent or stayed under some British tutelage? The book addresses this question, illustrating that these island states have made considerable progress, especially in the maintenance and deepening of democratic practices.
Download or read book Living with Biodiversity in an Island Ecosystem written by Takuo Furusawa and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-01-28 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a detailed case study of ecological and cultural interactions between the people and their natural environment at Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, a land of rich biodiversity. This volume documents the subsistence lifestyle of the people and their indigenous ecological knowledge, analyzes the effects of recent socioeconomic changes on the people and ecosystem, and proposes future directions for sustainability. The contents have been designed to answer questions such as, “What kinds of factors have determined whether current human actions are sustainable or will result in a collapse of biocultural diversity in the Solomon Islands?”; “How do Solomon Islanders recognize nature and biodiversity conservation in traditional ways or under socioeconomic changes?”; and “How can harmony between humans and nature be achieved in the Solomon Islands under changing socioeconomic conditions?” A truly transdisciplinary approach is applied, integrating theories of human ecology, quantitative ethnobiology, and folk ecology and methods of vegetation surveys, ethnographic fieldwork, remote sensing, and health surveys, in order to link different domains of humans and the natural world. In addition, this work focuses on the importance of understanding of diversity not only in natural environments, but also in human societies, and will be a valuable source for many, especially ecologists, anthropologists, conservation practitioners, and rural development planners.
Download or read book Changing Islands Changing Worlds written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Impacts of Climate Change on Food Security in Small Island Developing States written by Ganpat, Wayne G. and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the potential to impact weather patterns, agriculture, and habitability of certain regions, global warming is a topic of interest to environmentalists, scientists, as well as farmers around the world. The threat of food shortages and famine especially becomes a major concern as a result of recent climate shifts. Impacts of Climate Change on Food Security in Small Island Developing States discusses the repercussions of a shifting climate on food production and availability in small island nations. Comprised of research-based chapters on topics relevant to crop management, sustainable development, and livestock management on island territories, this advanced reference work is appropriate for environmental researchers, food scientists, academicians, and upper-level students seeking the latest information on agricultural concerns amidst a changing climate.
Download or read book Atoll Island States and International Law written by Lilian Yamamoto and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-25 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Atoll Island States exist on top of what is perceived to be one of the planet's most vulnerable ecosystems: atolls. It has been predicted that an increase in the pace of sea level rise brought about by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere will cause them to disappear, forcing their inhabitants to migrate. The present book represents a multidisciplinary legal and engineering perspective on this problem, challenging some common misconceptions regarding atolls and their vulnerability to sea-level rise. Coral islands have survived past changes in sea levels, and it is the survival of coral reefs what will be crucial for their continued existence. These islands are important for their inhabitants as they represent not only their ancestral agricultural lands and heritage, but also a source of revenue through the exploitation of the maritime areas associated with them. However, even if faced with extreme climate change, it could theoretically be possible for the richer Atoll Island States to engineer ways to prevent their main islands from disappearing, though sadly not all will have the required financial resources to do so. As islands become progressively uninhabitable their residents will be forced to settle in foreign lands, and could become stateless if the Atoll Island State ceases to be recognized as a sovereign country. However, rather than tackling this problem by entering into lengthy negotiations over new treaties, more practical solutions, encompassing bilateral negotiations or the possibility of acquiring small new territories, should be explored. This would make it possible for Atoll Island States in the future to keep some sort of international sovereign personality, which could benefit the descendents of its present day inhabitants.
Download or read book Islands written by Peter Vitousek and published by Springer. This book was released on 1995-07-18 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oceanic islands represent a set of systems in which biological diversity varies as a consequence of remoteness or size, not environment; they are also generally simpler than continental ecosystems. Islands therefore provide an opportunity to determine the direct effects of biological diversity on ecosystem function. The volume addresses the components of biological diversity on islands and their patterns of variation; the modern threats to the maintenance of biological diversity on islands; the consequences of island biology and its modification by humanity regarding aspects of ecosystem function; the global implications of islands for conservation; and how islands can help one to understand the processes inducing changes throughout the world.
