Water Environmental Security And Sustainable Rural Development

This book, by one of the leading authorities on the subject, presents a deep analysis of the very difficult current situation in Afghanistan. Covering a wide range of important subjects including state-building, democracy, war, the rule of law and international relations, the book draws out two overarching key factors: the way in which the prevailing neopatrimonial political order, established in an earlier "state-free" period, has become entrenched, making it very difficult for any other political order to take root; and the hostile region in which Afghanistan is located, especially the way in which an ongoing "creeping invasion" from Pakistani territory has compromised the aspirations of both the Afghan government and its international backers to move the country to a more stable position.

This book highlights the multi-pronged strategy for achieving sustainable rural domestic water supply in India. It deepens the understanding of groundwater (predominant source of water supply) behaviour in response to natural processes in different geological settings, analyses the factors influencing the performance of water supply schemes; identifies the conditions under which groundwater-based drinking water sources become sustainable, suggests measures for improving the sustainability of drinking water wells in hard rock regions (covering 2/3rd of India’s geographical area), presents a decision-making framework for planning rural water supply schemes in the country for ensuring long-term sustainability, and suggests physical strategies and policy measures for achieving them. The analyses for development and validation of various models that explain groundwater system behaviour and performance of rural water supply schemes are undertaken for different geological settings in Maharashtra, as the state represents a microcosm of the various hydrological, topographical, and geohydrological conditions encountered in the country. The final analysis for proposing nation-wide strategies considers the various hydrological, geological, geohydrological, and topographical and climatic settings and groundwater contamination and pollution in the country.

Over the last decade, water security has replaced sustainability as the key optic for thinking about how we manage water. This reframing has offered benefits (including clear recognition of the link between humans, the environment and the right to water) and also posed challenges (the tendency in some quarters to interpret “security” solely in terms of geopolitical or economic “securitisation”). In this collection, the authors offer a radical repositioning of these debates updated to reflect the concerns of our post-pandemic world. The chapters in this volume examine several different themes including how water security articulates with locality and culture, how it operates across spatial scales and its moral/ethical resonances. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journals Water International and International Journal of Water Resources Development.

This book covers a variety of topics regarding environmental practices in our day-to-day lives, as well as topics concerning sustainable development as a broader concept embracing ecological, social, and economic aspects to improve the quality of life for people around the world. Starting with the traditional controversy between the neoclassical economy and sustainable economy, which may be overcome by scientific progress due to more intensive scientific studies of the sustainability paradigm, the book proceeds to discuss various problems and challenges regarding environmental protection and sustainable development in different countries and on different continents. This includes analyses of recent, sometimes fatal mining disasters in South and North America, challenges and opportunities for rural development in Africa and Australia, an exploration of the role of women for sustainable development in Palestine, water safety and water security issues in Asia and Australia, the environmental exploitation of popular tourism destinations like Acapulco, and deforestation in Malaysia, suggesting innovative approaches to turn challenges into opportunities to effectively tackle these problems. Other topics addressed involve sustainable energy creation for future generations, a research survey among Romanian students on sustainable consumption behavior, validity testing for a heat transfer model in a greenhouse, and a case study on sustainability risk management practices at Malaysia’s environmentally sensitive companies. The book closes with an examination of highly digitalized Smart Cities as a potentially valuable complement to conventional urban and rural lifestyles in connection with achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) is hosted and led by UNESCO. WWAP brings together the work of 31 UN-Water Members as well as 37 Partners to publish the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR) series. Under the theme Water for Sustainable Development, the WWDR 2015 has been prepared as a contribution from UN-Water to the discussions surrounding the post-2015 framework for global sustainable development. Highlighting water's unique and often complex role in achieving various sustainable development objectives, the WWDR 2015 is addressed to policy- and decision-makers inside and outside the water community, as well as to anyone with an interest in freshwater and its many life-giving benefits. The report sets an aspirational yet achievable vision for the future of water towards 2050 by describing how water supports healthy and prosperous human communities, maintains well functioning ecosystems and ecological services, and provides a cornerstone for short and long-term economic development. It provides an overview of the challenges, issues and trends in terms of water resources, their use and water-related services like water supply and sanitation. The report also offers, in a rigorous yet accessible manner, guidance about how to address these challenges and to seize the opportunities that sound water management provides in order to achieve and maintain economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Foodandwatersecurityissuesareregardedassinequanonif asocietywants to p- mote health, peace and prosperity. People who are well fed are also people with the means to changetheir situation. However,this is still an immense challengefor Asia especiallyintheglobalenvironmentalperspectiveinthe21stcentury. Peoplearound the globe will be facing a combination of problems concerning both environmental as well as social changes; therefore, the policy for future food and water security has to be upgraded in an integrated and holistic way. The need to put into persp- tive the ever-mounting body of new information on environmental security of food and water issues in Asia beyond the boundaries of separate disciplines provided the impetus for the development of this book. It is a compilation of selected ar- cles from two international symposiums entitled “Food and Water Sustainability in China 2007” and “Food and Water Sustainability in Asia 2008” which were held in Macau, China. Eminent scientists/researchers from different parts of Asia spoke at the symposium on topics such as the challenges in sustainable water resource m- agement, future projection of development strategies for sheries, increased yield of food grains by rainwater management in arid lands, multi-functional role of rice paddy area for food and water sustainability, the impact of biofuel production on food security, reclaimed wastewater for sustainable urban water use, heavy metal removal from contaminated soil and water, and adaptation strategies to cope with the climate change issues for food and water.