Download or read book Natural Resource Conflicts 2 volumes written by M. Troy Burnett and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-09-19 with total page 1000 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural resource and environmental conflicts have long been issues confronting human societies. This case-based examination of a wide range of natural resource disputes exposes readers to many contemporary examples that offer reasons for both hope and concern. The Rwandan genocide, the Sudanese civil war, and perpetual instability in the Middle East and Africa: each of these crises have arguably been instigated and maintained by natural resource disputes. China has undertaken a Herculean task to plant hundreds of millions of trees along its margins in an effort to save Beijing from crippling dust storms and halt the expansion of the Gobi desert. Will it work, and is it worth it? These and many other cases of conflict stemming from natural resource or environmental concerns are explained and debated in this up-to-date examination of contemporary and ongoing topics. The book examines conflicts over precious resources and minerals, such as diamonds, oil, water, and fisheries, as well as the pursuit of lesser-known minerals like Coltan and other "rare earth elements"—important resources in our technological age—in remote locations such as Greenland and the Congo. Each topic contains an overview and two position essays from different authors, thereby providing the reader with highly informative and balanced perspectives. Reference entries accompany each topic as well, helping students to better understand each issue. As the world hurtles into the 21st century, these natural resource issues are becoming increasingly important, with all global citizens having a significant stake in how these conflicts arise and play out.

Download or read book Cornerstone at the Confluence written by Jason A. Robison and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2022-11-08 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Signed on November 24, 1922, the Colorado River Compact is the cornerstone of a proverbial pyramid—an elaborate body of laws colloquially called the “Law of the River” that governs how human beings use water from the river system dubbed the “American Nile.” No fewer than forty million people have come to rely on the Colorado River system in modern times—a river system immersed in an unprecedented, unrelenting megadrought for more than two decades. Attempting to navigate this “new normal,” policymakers are in the midst of negotiating new management rules for the river system, a process coinciding with the compact’s centennial that must be completed by 2026. Animated by this remarkable confluence of events, Cornerstone at the Confluence leverages the centennial year to reflect on the compact and broader “Law of the River” to envision the future. It is a volume inviting dialogue about how the Colorado River system’s flows should be apportioned given climate change, what should be done about environmental issues such as ecosystem restoration and biodiversity protection, and how long-standing issues of water justice facing Native American communities should be addressed. In one form or another, all these topics touch on the concept of “equity” embedded within the compact—a concept that tees up what is perhaps the foundational question confronted by Cornerstone at the Confluence: Who should have a seat at the table of Colorado River governance?

Download or read book Water Planet written by Camille Gaskin-Reyes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-10-24 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through case studies, opposing viewpoints, and primary documents, this reference work examines the environmental and sustainability issues regarding water as well as how water is an intrinsic part of human culture. Every culture and ecosystem on earth depends on water. As the world's climate changes, human culture is increasingly threatened by the seemingly opposite problems of having too little clean, potable water and "having too much water"—e.g., flooding, melting polar ice caps, and rising sea levels. What are the solutions that humanity must collectively pursue to protect our ability to flourish on planet earth? Water Planet: The Culture, Politics, Economics, and Sustainability of Water on Earth offers an unprecedented examination of the critical subject of water sustainability. Its essays, viewpoints, case studies, and documents show how this vital resource that many in first-world countries take for granted is intricately woven into not only basic human survival but also cultural, political, and economic stability. Readers will learn about topics such as flooding and drought; the growing problem of water pollution; the connections between water and gender, including gender equity and gender aspects of water ownership; the effects of global temperature changes on the water supply; concerns regarding fishing and overfishing; water security; and sustainable water management.

Download or read book Colorado River Basin Water Management written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-06-30 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent studies of past climate and streamflow conditions have broadened understanding of long-term water availability in the Colorado River, revealing many periods when streamflow was lower than at any time in the past 100 years of recorded flows. That information, along with two important trends-a rapid increase in urban populations in the West and significant climate warming in the region-will require that water managers prepare for possible reductions in water supplies that cannot be fully averted through traditional means. Colorado River Basin Water Management assesses existing scientific information, including temperature and streamflow records, tree-ring based reconstructions, and climate model projections, and how it relates to Colorado River water supplies and demands, water management, and drought preparedness. The book concludes that successful adjustments to new conditions will entail strong and sustained cooperation among the seven Colorado River basin states and recommends conducting a comprehensive basinwide study of urban water practices that can be used to help improve planning for future droughts and water shortages.

Download or read book Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States written by U.S. Global Change Research Program and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-08-24 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summarizes the science of climate change and impacts on the United States, for the public and policymakers.

Download or read book Managing California s Water written by Ellen Hanak and published by Public Policy Instit. of CA. This book was released on 2011 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty written by Vincent A. W. J. Marchau and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-04-04 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book focuses on both the theory and practice associated with the tools and approaches for decisionmaking in the face of deep uncertainty. It explores approaches and tools supporting the design of strategic plans under deep uncertainty, and their testing in the real world, including barriers and enablers for their use in practice. The book broadens traditional approaches and tools to include the analysis of actors and networks related to the problem at hand. It also shows how lessons learned in the application process can be used to improve the approaches and tools used in the design process. The book offers guidance in identifying and applying appropriate approaches and tools to design plans, as well as advice on implementing these plans in the real world. For decisionmakers and practitioners, the book includes realistic examples and practical guidelines that should help them understand what decisionmaking under deep uncertainty is and how it may be of assistance to them. Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty: From Theory to Practice is divided into four parts. Part I presents five approaches for designing strategic plans under deep uncertainty: Robust Decision Making, Dynamic Adaptive Planning, Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways, Info-Gap Decision Theory, and Engineering Options Analysis. Each approach is worked out in terms of its theoretical foundations, methodological steps to follow when using the approach, latest methodological insights, and challenges for improvement. In Part II, applications of each of these approaches are presented. Based on recent case studies, the practical implications of applying each approach are discussed in depth. Part III focuses on using the approaches and tools in real-world contexts, based on insights from real-world cases. Part IV contains conclusions and a synthesis of the lessons that can be drawn for designing, applying, and implementing strategic plans under deep uncertainty, as well as recommendations for future work. The publication of this book has been funded by the Radboud University, the RAND Corporation, Delft University of Technology, and Deltares.

Download or read book The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-30 with total page 755 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Download or read book The Hoover Dam Documents written by United States Department of the Interior and published by . This book was released on 1948 with total page 694 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The San Juan Chama Project written by Leah S. Glaser and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Swimming Upstream written by Paul A. Sabatier and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2005-04-29 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, water resource management in the United States has begun a shift away from top-down, government agency-directed decision processes toward a collaborative approach of negotiation and problem solving. Rather than focusing on specific pollution sources or specific areas within a watershed, this new process considers the watershed as a whole, seeking solutions to an interrelated set of social, economic, and environmental problems. Decision making involves face-to-face negotiations among a variety of stakeholders, including federal, state, and local agencies, landowners, environmentalists, industries, and researchers. Swimming Upstream analyzes the collaborative approach by providing a historical overview of watershed management in the United States and a normative and empirical conceptual framework for understanding and evaluating the process. The bulk of the book looks at a variety of collaborative watershed planning projects across the country. It first examines the applications of relatively short-term collaborative strategies in Oklahoma and Texas, exploring issues of trust and legitimacy. It then analyzes factors affecting the success of relatively long-term collaborative partnerships in the National Estuary Program and in 76 watersheds in Washington and California. Bringing analytical rigor to a field that has been dominated by practitioners' descriptive accounts, Swimming Upstream makes a vital contribution to public policy, public administration, and environmental management.

Download or read book Global Trends 2040 written by National Intelligence Council and published by Cosimo Reports. This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Download or read book Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States written by Gregg Garfin and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sustainability of Engineered Rivers In Arid Lands written by Jurgen Schmandt and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interdisciplinary volume considers how nine arid/semi-arid river basins with irrigated agriculture will survive future climate change, siltation, and decreased flow.

Download or read book Clean Coastal Waters written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-08-17 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental problems in coastal ecosystems can sometimes be attributed to excess nutrients flowing from upstream watersheds into estuarine settings. This nutrient over-enrichment can result in toxic algal blooms, shellfish poisoning, coral reef destruction, and other harmful outcomes. All U.S. coasts show signs of nutrient over-enrichment, and scientists predict worsening problems in the years ahead. Clean Coastal Waters explains technical aspects of nutrient over-enrichment and proposes both immediate local action by coastal managers and a longer-term national strategy incorporating policy design, classification of affected sites, law and regulation, coordination, and communication. Highlighting the Gulf of Mexico's "Dead Zone," the Pfiesteria outbreak in a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, and other cases, the book explains how nutrients work in the environment, why nitrogen is important, how enrichment turns into over-enrichment, and why some environments are especially susceptible. Economic as well as ecological impacts are examined. In addressing abatement strategies, the committee discusses the importance of monitoring sites, developing useful models of over-enrichment, and setting water quality goals. The book also reviews voluntary programs, mandatory controls, tax incentives, and other policy options for reducing the flow of nutrients from agricultural operations and other sources.

Download or read book Dividing the Waters written by William Andrew Blomquist and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not only are these water supplies not depleted, they are in fact relatively healthy despite California's recent six-year drought.

Download or read book 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design written by Department Justice and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2014-10-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (a) Design and construction. (1) Each facility or part of a facility constructed by, on behalf of, or for the use of a public entity shall be designed and constructed in such manner that the facility or part of the facility is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, if the construction was commenced after January 26, 1992. (2) Exception for structural impracticability. (i) Full compliance with the requirements of this section is not required where a public entity can demonstrate that it is structurally impracticable to meet the requirements. Full compliance will be considered structurally impracticable only in those rare circumstances when the unique characteristics of terrain prevent the incorporation of accessibility features. (ii) If full compliance with this section would be structurally impracticable, compliance with this section is required to the extent that it is not structurally impracticable. In that case, any portion of the facility that can be made accessible shall be made accessible to the extent that it is not structurally impracticable. (iii) If providing accessibility in conformance with this section to individuals with certain disabilities (e.g., those who use wheelchairs) would be structurally impracticable, accessibility shall nonetheless be ensured to persons with other types of disabilities, (e.g., those who use crutches or who have sight, hearing, or mental impairments) in accordance with this section.