Chemicals As Intentional And Accidental Global Environmental Threats

This multidisciplinary book presents a critical assessment of our knowledge of chemical threats to environmental security, with special reference to prevention of chemical releases, rapid detection, risk assessment and effective management of emergency situations and long-term consequences of chemical releases. The technologies evaluated concern mainly prevention and management of both intentional and accident releases of chemicals into the environment. The book features contributors from a range of relevant scientific fields.

On 21 November 2007 the grand and elegant Delegates Hall of the Hungarian Parliament was the scene of the opening of a conference to discuss some of the most pressing issues of the day, those related to our unending thirst for energy, its environmental consequences, and the challenges that these bear on security. Over the next 3 days scientists, parliamentarians and their guests confronted, challenged, teased and cajoled each other in a NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) entitled “Energy and Environmental Challenges to Security,” affirming that knowledge and public service hold the keys to solving our greatest challenges. The magnitude of the security challenge was confirmed while this volume was being prepared. In mid-2008, the International Energy Agency issued a report concluding that US$45 trillion would be needed over the next half century to prevent energy shortages and greenhouse gas emissions from undermining global economic growth. But lest such large numbers cause us all to shrug, this volume brings attention to some of the more manageable aspects of the environment and energy security challenge – from addressing conflict resources such as illegal timber that contribute to corruption and regional instability, to means and mechanisms to enable the diversification of energy supplies, to environmental risk reduction strategies for particular installations. The participants in the Hungarian Parliament building were atypical for a NATO Advanced Research Workshop.

The sheer quantity of widely diverse data which now results from multiple sources presents a problem for decision-makers and analysts, who are finding it impossible to cope with the ever-increasing flow of material. This has potentially serious consequences for the quality of decisions and operational processes in areas such as counterterrorism and security. This book presents the papers delivered at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) 'Meeting Security Challenges through Data Analytics and Decision Support’, held in Aghveran, Armenia, in June 2015. The aim of the conference was to promote and enhance cooperation and dialogue between NATO and Partner countries on the subject of effective decision support for security applications. The attendance of many leading scientists from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines provided the opportunity to improve mutual understanding, as well as cognizance of the specific requirements and issues of Cyber Physical Social Systems (CPPS) and the technical advances pertinent to all collaborative human-centric information support systems in a variety of applications. The book is divided into 3 sections: counter terrorism: methodology and applications; maritime and border security; and cyber security, and will be of interest to all those involved in decision-making processes based on the analysis of big data.

The objective of this hugely important text is to contribute to the existing knowledge on soil pollution and remediation. Stress is given to the critical assessment of the used analyses and methods for study effects in combined chemical pollution (organic pollutants and pesticides, metals) on soil biota and fertility. Also featured is, among other things, an evaluation of specific aspects of risk assessment, and an assessment of advanced technologies for soil remediation.

The book contains the contributions at the NATO Study Institute on Exposure and Risk Assessment of Chemical Pollution – Contemporary Methodology, which took place in Sofia – Borovetz, Bulgaria, July 1–10, 2008. Rapid advances in mathematics, computer science and molecular biology and chemistry have lead to the development in of a new branch of toxicology called Computational Toxicology. This emerging field is addressing the estimation and prediction of exposure risk and effects of chemicals based on experimental data, measured concentration and biological mechanisms and computational models of biological systems. Mathematical models are also being used to predict the fate and transport of substances in the environment. Because this area is still in its infancy, there has been limited application from governmental agencies to regulating controllable processes, such as registration of new chemicals, determination of estimated exposure and risk based limits and maximum acceptable concentrations in different compartments of the environment – ambient air, waters, soil and food products. However, this is soon to change as the ability to collect, analyze and interpret the required information is becoming increasingly more efficient and cost effective. Full implementation of the new processes have to involve education on both part of the experimentalists who are generating the data and the models, and the risk assessors who will use them to better protect human health and the environment.

APPLIED WATER SCIENCE VOLUME 2 The second volume in a new two-volume set on applied water science, this book provides understanding, occurrence, identification, toxic effects and control of water pollutants in an aquatic environment using green chemistry protocols. The high rate of industrialization around the world has led to an increase in the rate of anthropogenic activities which involve the release of different types of contaminants into the aquatic environment. This generates high environmental risks, which could affect health and socio-economic activities if not treated properly. There is no doubt that the rapid progress in improving water quality and management has been motivated by the latest developments in green chemistry. Over the past decade, sources of water pollutants and the conventional methods used for the treatment of industrial wastewater treatment have flourished. Water quality and its adequate availability have been a matter of concern worldwide particularly in developing countries. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, more than 80% of diseases are due to the consumption of contaminated water. Heavy metals are highly toxic and are a potential threat to water, soil, and air. Their consumption in higher concentrations gives hazardous outcomes. Water quality is usually measured in terms of chemical, physical, biological, and radiological standards. The discharge of effluent by industries contains heavy metals, hazardous chemicals, and a high amount of organic and inorganic impurities that can contaminate the water environment, and hence, human health. Therefore, it is our primary responsibility to maintain the water quality in our respective countries. This book provides understanding, occurrence, identification, toxic effects and control of water pollutants in an aquatic environment using green chemistry protocols. It focuses on water remediation properties and processes including industry-scale water remediation technologies. This book covers recent literature on remediation technologies in preventing water contamination and its treatment. Chapters in this book discuss remediation of emerging pollutants using nanomaterials, polymers, advanced oxidation processes, membranes, and microalgae bioremediation, etc. It also includes photochemical, electrochemical, piezoacoustic, and ultrasound techniques. It is a unique reference guide for graduate students, faculties, researchers and industrialists working in the area of water science, environmental science, analytical chemistry, and chemical engineering. This outstanding new volume: Provides an in-depth overview of remediation technologies in water science Is written by leading experts in the field Contains excellent, well-drafted chapters for beginners, graduate students, veteran engineers, and other experts alike Discusses current challenges and future perspectives in the field Audience: This book is an invaluable guide to engineers, students, professors, scientists and R&D industrial specialists working in the fields of environmental science, geoscience, water science, physics and chemistry.

Environmental and Human Security: Then and Now 1 2 ALAN D. HECHT AND P. H. LIOTTA * 1 U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development 2 Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy Salve Regina University 1. Nontraditional Threats to Security The events of September 11, 2001 have sharpened the debate over the meaning of being secure. Before 9/11 there were warnings in all parts of the world that social and environmental changes were occurring. While there was prosperity in North America and Western Europe, there was also increasing recognition that local and global effects of ecosystem degradation posed a serious threat. Trekking from Cairo to Cape Town thirty years after living in Africa as a young teacher, for example, travel writer Paul Theroux concluded that development in sub-Saharan Africa had failed to improve the quality of life for 300 million people: “Africa is materially more decrepit than it was when I first knew it—hungrier, poorer, less educated, more pessimistic, more corrupt, and you can’t tell the politicians from the witch-doctors” (2002). While scholars and historians will debate the causes of 9/11 for some time, one message is clear: An often dizzying array of nontraditional threats and complex vulnerabilities define security today. We must understand them, and deal with them, or suffer the consequences. Environmental security has always required att- tion to nontraditional threats linked closely with social and economic well-being.

Heavy metals can be emitted into environment by both natural and anthropogenic sources, mainly mining and industrial activity. Human exposure occurs through all environmental media. Infants are more susceptible to the adverse effects of exposure. Increasing attention is now being paid to the mental development of children exposed to heavy metals. The purpose of this book is to evaluate the existing knowledge on intellectual impairment in children exposed to heavy metals in their living environment and to identify the research needs in order to obtain a clearer picture of the situation in countries and regions at risk, in which the economy is closely related to metallurgy and heavy metals emission, and to recommend a strategy for human protection. In greater detail the main objectives could be formulated as follows: to review the principal sources of single, and complex mixtures of, heavy metal pollutants in the environment; to identify suitable methodology for chemical analyses in the environment and in humans; to evaluate the existing methods for measuring mental impairment, including their reliability and validity; to recommend a standard testing protocol to be used in future research; to assess the future role of environmental heavy metal pollution in countries and regions at risk and its effects on children’s neurological development; to recommend a prevention strategy for protecting children’s health and development.