Sustainability Science Managing Risk And Resilience For Sustainable Development

A new, holistic transdisciplinary endeavour born in the 21st century, Sustainability Science: Managing Risk and Resilience for Sustainable Development aims to provide conceptual and practical approaches to sustainable development that help us to grasp and address uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity and dynamic change. Four aspects that permeate our contemporary world and undermine much of our traditional ways of thinking and doing. The concepts of risk and resilience are central in this endeavour to explain, understand and improve core challenges of humankind. Sustainability and sustainable development are increasingly important guiding principles across administrative levels, functional sectors and scientific disciplines. Policymakers, practitioners and academics continue to wrestle with the complexity of risk, resilience and sustainability, but because of the necessary transdisciplinary focus, it is difficult to find authoritative content in a single source. Sustainability Science: Managing Risk and Resilience for Sustainable Development presents the state of the world in relation to major sustainability challenges and their symptomatic effects, such as climate change, environmental degradation, poverty, disease and disasters. It then continues by elaborating on ways to approach and change our world to make it a safer and more sustainable place for current and future generations. The natural, applied and social sciences are woven together throughout the book to provide a more inclusive understanding of relevant processes, changes, trends and events. Shows how disturbances, disruptions and disasters have always been intrinsic byproducts of the same human-environment systems that supply us with opportunities, as well as what implications that has for policy and practice towards sustainable development today Introduces a new approach for grasping and addressing issues of risk and resilience in relation to sustainable development that is firmly rooted in a comprehensive philosophical and theoretical foundation and clearly linking the conceptual with the practical Presents a holistic agenda for change that includes a more explicit role of science, reinforced focus on capacity development and the overall necessity of fundamental social change Features more than 150 figures, full-color photographs, diagrams, and illustrations to highlight major themes and aid in the retention of key concepts

A new, holistic transdisciplinary endeavour born in the 21st century, Sustainability Science: Managing Risk and Resilience for Sustainable Development aims to provide conceptual and practical approaches to sustainable development that help us to grasp and address uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity and dynamic change. Four aspects that permeate our contemporary world and undermine much of our traditional ways of thinking and doing. The concepts of risk and resilience are central in this endeavour to explain, understand and improve core challenges of humankind. Sustainability and sustainable development are increasingly important guiding principles across administrative levels, functional sectors and scientific disciplines. Policymakers, practitioners and academics continue to wrestle with the complexity of risk, resilience and sustainability, but because of the necessary transdisciplinary focus, it is difficult to find authoritative content in a single source. Sustainability Science: Managing Risk and Resilience for Sustainable Development presents the state of the world in relation to major sustainability challenges and their symptomatic effects, such as climate change, environmental degradation, poverty, disease and disasters. It then continues by elaborating on ways to approach and change our world to make it a safer and more sustainable place for current and future generations. The natural, applied and social sciences are woven together throughout the book to provide a more inclusive understanding of relevant processes, changes, trends and events.

This book serves the purpose of documenting and promoting African experiences on sustainable development, which encompasses both, formal and non-formal education. Sustainable development is very important to Africa, but there is a paucity of publication which documents and promotes experiences from African countries. Due to their complexity, the interrelations between social, economic and political factors related to sustainable development, especially at universities, need to be better understood. There is also a real need to showcase successful examples of how African institutions are handling their sustainability challenges. It is against this background that this book has been produced. It is a truly interdisciplinary publication, useful to scholars, social movements, practitioners and members of governmental agencies and private companies, undertaking research and/or executing projects focusing on sustainability from across Africa. As African nations strive to pursue the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it is imperative to cater for the information needs seen across the continent and foster the dissemination of experiences and case studies, which may support both, on-going and future efforts. The scope of the book is deliberately kept wide, and we are looking for contributions across the spectrum of sustainable development from business and economics, to arts and fashion, administration, environment, languages and media studies.

Disasters undermine societal well-being, causing loss of lives and damage to social and economic infrastructures. Disaster resilience is central to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, especially in regions where extreme inequality combines with the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters. Disaster risk reduction and resilience requires participation of wide array of stakeholders ranging from academicians to policy makers to disaster managers. Disaster Resilient Cities: Adaptation for Sustainable Development offers evidence-based, problem-solving techniques from social, natural, engineering and other disciplinary perspectives. It connects data, research, conceptual work with practical cases on disaster risk management, capturing the multi-sectoral aspects of disaster resilience, adaptation strategy and sustainability. The book links disaster risk management with sustainable development under a common umbrella, showing that effective disaster resilience strategies and practices lead to achieving broader sustainable development goals. Provides foundational knowledge on integrated disaster risk reduction and management to show how resilience and its associated concept such as adaptive and transformative strategies can foster sustainable development Brings together disaster risk reduction and resilience scientists, policy-makers and practitioners from different disciplines Case studies on disaster risk management from natural science, social science, engineering and other relevant disciplinary perspectives

In recent years, the growing disparities between rural and urban areas in developing countries have been a cause of major concern. The rural-urban gap remains the single most well-documented development and welfare disparity in the developing world. This gap can be seen in the low economic activities, higher poverty levels, and lower quality infrastructure and services in rural areas as opposed to urban areas. While the magnitude of this rural-urban divide is well-documented, very little has been documented about its impact on inclusive and sustainable urban development. The Handbook of Research on Managing the Urban-Rural Divide Through an Inclusive Framework aims to capture the spatial and socio-economic divide between rural and urban areas and provides a road map to revamping the discussion that surrounds the urban-rural sphere. Covering key topics such as development, food security, and rural regions, this premier reference source is ideal for policymakers, government officials, industry professionals, researchers, academicians, practitioners, scholars, instructors, and students.

This book presents an earth science-based overview of the challenges to sustainability. It provides a detailed study of climate change, as well as energy, food, and water security across different regions. The author uncovers the problems caused by current social and environmental practices, and offers potential solutions. Focusing on systems theory, footprint analysis, risk, and resilience, many examples are given of how to use resources sustainably, especially common pool resources such as the atmosphere, oceans, and groundwater. The book develops its ideas from an array of practical case studies, centering on communal objectives and shared responsibilities.

Climate change is increasingly of great concern to the world community. The earth has witnessed the buildup of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, changes in biodiversity, and more occurrences of natural disasters. Recently, scientists have begun to shift their emphasis away from curbing carbon dioxide emission to adapting to carbon dioxide emission. The increase in natural disasters around the world is unprecedented in earth's history and these disasters are often associated to climate changes. Many nations along the coastal lines are threatened by massive floods and tsunamis. Earthquakes are increasing in intensity and erosion and droughts are problems in many parts of the developing countries. This book is therefore to investigate ways to prepare and effectively manage these disasters and possibly reduce their impacts. The focus is on mitigation strategies and policies that will help to reduce the impacts of natural disasters. The book takes an in-depth look at climate change and its association to socio-economic development and cultures especially in vulnerable communities; and investigates how communities can develop resilience to disasters. A balanced and a multiple perspective approach to manage the risks associated with natural disasters is offered by engaging authors from the entire globe to proffer solutions.

This open access book brings together research findings and experiences from science, policy and practice to highlight and debate the importance of nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation in urban areas. Emphasis is given to the potential of nature-based approaches to create multiple-benefits for society. The expert contributions present recommendations for creating synergies between ongoing policy processes, scientific programmes and practical implementation of climate change and nature conservation measures in global urban areas. Except where otherwise noted, this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/