This volume provides new insights and conceptual understandings of the human and gender dimension of vulnerability in relation to the dynamics of tenure reforms in the dryland forests of Asia and Africa. The book analyzes the interaction between biophysical factors such as climate variability (e.g. droughts) with socio-political processes (e.g. new institutions and authority) and gender dimensions at various temporal and spatial scales. The book presents a number of case studies based on e...

This edited volume examines the changes that arise from the entanglement of global interests and narratives with the local struggles that have always existed in the drylands of Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia/Inner Asia.Changes in drylands are happening in an overwhelming manner. Climate change, growing political instability, and increasing enclosures of large expanses of often common land are some of the changes with far-reaching consequences for those who make their liv...

Tar sands “development” comes with an enormous environmental and human cost. In the tar sands of Alberta, the oil industry is using vast quantities of water and natural gas to produce synthetic crude oil, creating drastically high levels of greenhouse gas emissions and air and water pollution. But tar sands opponents—fighting a powerful international industry—are likened to terrorists, government environmental scientists are muzzled, and public hearings are concealed and rushed.Yet...

Water is our planet’s most precious resource. It is required by every living thing, yet a huge proportion of the world’s population struggles to access clean water daily. Agriculture, aquaculture, industry, and energy all depend on it - yet its provision and safety engender widespread conflict; battles likely to intensify as threats to freshwater abundance and quality, such as climate change, urbanization, new forms of pollution, and the privatization of control, continue to grow.B...

"How to build a more just world and save the planet....We should all heed Brown's advice."—Bill ClintonIn this updated edition of the landmark Plan B, Lester Brown outlines a survival strategy for our early twenty-first-century civilization. The world faces many environmental trends of disruption and decline, including rising temperatures and spreading water shortage. In addition to these looming threats, we face the peaking of oil, annual population growth of 70 million, a widenin...

Although climate change affects everybody it is not gender neutral. It has significant social impacts and magnifies existing inequalities such as the disparity between women and men in their vulnerability and ability to cope with this global phenomenon.This new textbook, edited by one of the authors of the seminal Women and the Environment in the Third World: Alliance for the Future (1988) which first exposed the links between environmental degradation and unequal impacts on women,...

The world is caught in the mesh of a series of environmental crises. So far attempts at resolving the deep basis of these have been superficial and disorganized. Global Political Ecology links the political economy of global capitalism with the political ecology of a series of environmental disasters and failed attempts at environmental policies.This critical volume draws together contributions from twenty-five leading intellectuals in the field. It begins with an introduc...

Studies warn that global warming and sea level rise will create hundreds of millions of environmental refugees. While climate change will undoubtedly affect future migration patterns and behavior, the potential outcomes are more complex than the environmental refugee scenario suggests. This book provides a comprehensive review of how physical and human processes interact to shape migration, using simple diagrams and models to guide the researcher, policy maker and advanced student through ...

'Refreshingly fluent narrative, brimming full of stories and metaphors'Tim O'Riordan, University of East Anglia, UK'A great balance between storytelling and analysis which points to the critical need for gaining control over resources'Jacqueline Ashby, CIAT, Colombia'Full of supporting evidence and clear arguments'Norman Uphoff, Cornell University, US'A wonderful book, put together with such vision and passion'Mark Ritchie, Institute of A...

Peri-urban interfaces - the zones where urban and rural areas meet - suffer from the greatest problems to humans caused by rapid urbanization, including intense pressures on resources, slum formation, lack of adequate services such as water and sanitation, poor planning and degradation of farmland. These areas, home to hundreds of millions of people, face unique problems and need distinctive and innovative approaches and solutions.This book, authored by top researchers and practiti...

Using case studies from Africa, South America, Asia and the Caribbean, this book examines the progress made in uniting national aspirations of sustainable development strategies with their local implementation. Comparing the situation on the ground with formal national environmental action plans, the book compares progress, or the lack of progress, between different sectors, cultures, regions and resources throughout the developing world. It examines whether local knowledge and actions are...

This introductory level text explores various theoretical approaches to human-environment geography, demonstrating how local dynamics and global processes influence how we interact with our environments.Introduces students to fundamental concepts in environmental geography and scienceExplores the core theoretical traditions within the field, along with major thematic issues such as population, food and agriculture, and water resourcesOffer...