The impacts of population growth, climate change, and water scarcity and variability on a country's economy or society, in addition to the sheer need to harness international rivers for domestic and regional purposes, have made the management of transboundary freshwater a subject of great import. Over the past several decades, research in various disciplines utilizing a variety of methodologies has explored these issues, focusing on freshwater's strategic importance as well as conflict, co...

Groundwater is humanity’s most vital supply of freshwater. Freshwater resources contained in aquifer systems globally are two orders of magnitude greater than those found in all rivers, lakes, and other surface freshwaters combined. Moreover, approximately one half of the world’s population today is dependent on groundwater for its basic needs.While these truisms are widely acknowledged, an additional reality is now recognized – many of these subsurface freshwater reservoirs are ac...

Legal mechanisms for the management, development and protection of water resources have evolved over the years and have reached unprecedented levels of complexity and sophistication. This phenomenon is largely in response to the global community’s sustainable development agenda, to the challenges and limitations imposed by climate variability, and to scientific and technological advances. Bringing together diverse experiences from across the world, this book analyses existing water law and...

This book provides a comprehensive review of the state of international law as it applies to transboundary groundwater resources and aquifers. The main focus is on recent developments and the emerging international law for transboundary aquifers as reflected in the practice of states and the work of the UN International Law Commission, UN Economic Commission for Europe, and International Law Association.The author takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject matter and provid...

This open access book focuses on the importance of reducing pollution and protecting water resources for the health of people and the environment. Water is vital for life on Earth. The quality of the world's freshwater resources is deteriorating due to the rise in pollution levels, which puts the health of people and the environment at risk. Emerging pollutants, a new class called Contaminants of Emerging Concern, pose a global water quality challenge. The identification and implementation...

"The vertical farm is a world-changing innovation whose time has come. Dickson Despommier's visionary book provides a blueprint for securing the world's food supply and at the same time solving one of the gravest environmental crises facing us today."--StingImagine a world where every town has their own local food source, grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to nature's grocery sto...

Hunger is a daily reality for a billion people. More than six decades after the technological discoveries that led to the Green Revolution aimed at ending world hunger, regular food shortages, malnutrition, and poverty still plague vast swaths of the world. And with increasing food prices, climate change, resource inequality, and an ever-increasing global population, the future holds further challenges.In One Billion Hungry, Sir Gordon Conway, one of the world's fo...

The collection of lectures and publications from the Schumacher Center for a New Economics represents some of the foremost voices on a new economics.It is high time that the discussion of peak oil includes a solution to the decline in supply. Richard Heinberg conveys to us the urgency of converting our current agricultural system while options for doing so are still available. There is something highly dysfunctional and ultimately destructive about a system of food production that ...

This document presents a summary of the first Status of the World's Soil Resources report, the goal of which is to make clear the essential connections between human well-being and the soil. The report provides a benchmark against which our collective progress to conserve this essential resource can be measured. The report synthesizes the work of some 200 soil scientists from 60 countries. It provides a global perspective on the current state of the soil, its role in providing ecosystem se...

Water is the world's life source and essential to all living creatures. Although we live on the blue planet, only 3 percent of all our water is drinkable. Yet we've grown accustomed to using it with abandon – individuals consume about 80 to 100 gallons per day adding up to the equivalent of an Olympic sized swimming pool every year. By this decade's end, when the world population is predicted to reach 8 billion, we will face severe shortages.In this ground breaking and forward-looki...

Our world runs on fossil fuels. It is estimated that oil production will drop to half of the peak amount around 2030. What will happen as we reach the point where there is no practical way to get whatever is still in the ground? Fossil fuels are in decline, but recoverable reserves of metals are also becoming less plentiful. Electricity will be in decline worldwide because it is produced mainly with fossil fuels. Without mechanization, irrigation, and synthetic fertilizer, yields for crops...

Try as we might, parts of North America may not escape the impacts of the global water crisis. The same kinds of water supply and quality issues that have appeared around our crowded planet are already beginning to present themselves here. Unfortunately, this is occurring at a time when, as a direct result of declining global food production, the world is beginning to rely more heavily than ever on agricultural communities in North America to help meet increasingly unattainable food-produc...