This volume discusses the increasing occurrence of floods and tornadoes in Southern Africa over the last few years. The book discusses existing flood and tornado management protocols, indigenous approaches to mitigate disaster risk, urban and peri-urban flooding, tornado-induced flooding and windstorms, and the challenges and vulnerabilities associated with rural and transboundary floods. The book offers planning and recovery strategies to minimise impacts from these events through sustainable means. Such means include sustainable drainage systems, waste management in harbors and beaches, community engagement in flood-prone areas, and improved food security measures in urban poor households.

Recurring and worsening flood incidence around the world has necessitated the understanding and strengthening of community-based flood risk management from an international perspective. This handbook emphasises the need for community action as part of an integrated flood risk management approach, highlighting case studies that have received recognition and made positive impacts, resulting in resilience-enhancing actions which can improve global community understanding. The content has been arranged such that it covers flood risk management approaches in the three main interfaces of before, during and after the flood event. Experts writing on case studies from Africa, Oceania, Europe, Asia and the Americas come together to present lessons from regional and continental experiences that will be useful in providing an understanding of the nature and effectiveness of the human-centred approach. The successful implementation of local and scientific knowledge as complementary measures is also highlighted in a systematic review on the use of technologies for flood risk reduction. This interesting and diverse range of contributions seeks to showcase opportunities for cross-cultural knowledge transfer and uptake in the field of flood risk management. This handbook is essential reading for researchers, policy makers and leaders involved in flood and disaster management in the built environment, risk assessment, environmental and civil/construction engineering and community action planning.

This contributed volume, based on papers presented at a conference held in Zimbabwe in mid-2021, interrogates solutions to COVID-19-related problems and issues across agricultural, environmental and water sectors in Zimbabwe and assesses their scientific, economic and practical validity. Across 19 chapters, this volume unpacks the science, economics and politics of the pandemic with a focus on understanding its secondary and tertiary impact on Zimbabwe’s population. The volume is also dedicated to understanding the practical and policy-oriented approaches in tackling the pandemic and confronting the “new normal” of COVID-19. It brings together researchers, development practitioners and policy makers from various disciplines in an endeavour to understand COVID-19 trends and analyse the scientific options for mitigation, containment, innovation and ultimately pre-empt the possible emergence and impacts of other pandemics in the future

Global polycrisis refers to the simultaneous occurrence of multiple interconnected crises. It is marked by the convergence and interaction of combined events, such as geopolitical tensions, economic instability, environmental degradation, public health emergencies, and social disturbance. In this context, this book explores the challenges and opportunities encountered by the Global South amid political instability, climate change, humanitarian crises, technological advancements, and regional cooperation. The book adopts a multidisciplinary framework, integrating theoretical studies with empirical cases from various southern regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This approach helps to foster an in-depth understanding of the complex challenges associated with development in these regions. The book emphasizes the perspectives and experiences of Global South countries, providing a platform for their voices to be heard. This allows readers to gain a more nuanced understanding of the unique contexts, perspectives, and successful experiences of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Furthermore, it investigates issues such as governance, security, migration, development, and emergent technologies, illuminates the role of regional organizations in fostering regional integration, peace, and stability and ultimately, provides a comprehensive and refined analysis of the Global South that challenges prevalent stereotypes and offers new perspectives on the world’s complex realities today. It includes case studies that enhance the practical relevance of the book, offering real-world examples that illustrate the theoretical concepts and highlightingsuccessful approaches to addressing development challenges. The book will appeal to scholars, researchers, and students interested in comprehending and addressing the challenges encountered by the Global South in a time of global polycrisis.

As plastic pollution emerges as an environmental challenge it carries significant societal and ecological ramifications. The increased presence of plastics in our ecosystem disrupts natural habitats, endangers wildlife, and contributes to essential water and soil resource degradation. Beyond its environmental impact, plastic pollution increases social issues, often affecting marginalized communities dealing with waste management crises. This crisis highlights the need for effective policies and innovative solutions while demanding broader reflection on consumer behaviors, corporate responsibility, and sustainable practices. As societies deal with plastic pollution, understanding its effects is crucial for fostering a healthier planet and equitable society. Societal and Environmental Ramifications of Plastic Pollution explores the impact of plastic pollutants on society and the environment. It examines the ramifications of pollution, including climate change, waste management, and plant stress. This book covers topics such as nanotechnology, pollutions, and wastewater treatment, and is useful resource for biologists, environmental scientists, climatologists, sociologists, computer engineers, academicians, and researchers.

The Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a comprehensive assessment of the scientific literature relevant to climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. The report recognizes the interactions of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies, and integrates across the natural, ecological, social and economic sciences. It emphasizes how efforts in adaptation and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions can come together in a process called climate resilient development, which enables a liveable future for biodiversity and humankind. The IPCC is the leading body for assessing climate change science. IPCC reports are produced in comprehensive, objective and transparent ways, ensuring they reflect the full range of views in the scientific literature. Novel elements include focused topical assessments, and an atlas presenting observed climate change impacts and future risks from global to regional scales. Available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

From the beginning of 21st century, there has been an awareness of risk in the environment along with a growing concern for the continuing potential damage caused by hazards. In order to ensure environmental sustainability, a better understanding of natural disasters and their impacts is essential. It has been recognized that a holistic and integrated approach to environmental hazards needs to be attempted using common methodologies, such as risk analysis, which involves risk management and risk assessment. Indeed, risk management means reducing the threats posed by known hazards, whereas at the same time accepting unmanageable risks and maximizing any related benefits. The risk management framework involves evaluating the importance of a risk, either quantitatively or qualitatively. Risk assessment comprises three steps, namely risk identification (data base, event monitoring, statistical inference), risk estimation (magnitude, frequency, economic costs) and risk evaluation (cost-benefit analysis). Nevertheless, the risk management framework also includes a fourth step, risk governance, i.e. the need for a feedback of all the risk assessment undertakings. There is currently a lack of such feedback which constitutes a serious deficiency in the reduction of environmental hazards. This book emphasises methodological approaches and procedures of the three main components in the study of environmental hazards, namely forecasting - nowcasting (before), monitoring (during) and assessment (after), based on geoinformatic technologies and data and simulation through examples and case studies. These are considered within the risk management framework and, in particular, within the three components of risk assessment, namely risk identification, risk estimation and risk evaluation. This approach is a contemporary and innovative procedure and constitutes current research in the field of environmental hazards. Environmental Hazards Methodologies for Risk Assessment and Management covers hydrological hazards (floods, droughts, storms, hail, desertification), biophysical hazards (frost, heat waves, epidemics, forest fires), geological hazards (landslides, snow avalanches), tectonic hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes), and technological hazards. This book provides a text and a resource on environmental hazards for senior undergraduate students, graduate students on all courses related to environmental hazards and risk assessment and management. It is a valuable handbook for researchers and professionals of environmental science, environmental economics and management, and engineering. Editor: Nicolas R. Dalezios, University of Thessaly, Greece

A focus on the legal aspects of medicine, ethical issues, and community-based work distinguishes this education manual for nurses from previous volumes in the series. Discussion questions and self-assessments are included in each chapter whose subjects include care for women with special needs, disabled clients, the elderly, and patients with HIV/AIDS or a malignant disease.

This edited book assesses the impacts of various extreme weather events on human health and development from a global perspective, and includes several case studies in various geographical regions around the globe. Covering all continents, it describes the impact of extreme weather conditions such as flash floods, heatwaves, cold waves, droughts, forest fires, strong winds and storms in both developing and developed countries. The contributing authors also investigate the spread of diseases and the risk to food security caused by drought and flooding. Further, the book discusses the economic damage resulting from natural disasters including hurricanes. It has been estimated that in 2017 natural disasters and climate change resulted in economic losses of 309 billion US dollars. Scientists also predict that if nothing is done to curb the effects of climate change, in Europe the death toll due to weather disasters could rise 50-fold by the end of the 21st century, with extreme heat alone causing more than 150,000 deaths a year, as the report on global warming of 1.5°C warns that China, Russia and Canada’s current climate policies would steer the world above a catastrophic 5°C of warming by the end of 2100. As such, the book highlights how the wellbeing of different populations is threatened by extreme events now and in the foreseeable future.