This book sheds light on this global environmental issue and proposes solutions to reduce contamination through multi-disciplinary approaches. Water is considered a vital resource because it is necessary for all aspects of human and ecosystem survival. However, due to natural processes and anthropogenic activities, various pollutants have been added to the groundwater system. Among these, heavy metals are some of the most serious pollutants. Cd, a toxic heavy metal used in Ni-Cd batteries, the coloration of plastic and various discarded electronic products released into the water system causes serious health issues. The chronic exposure to Cd produces a wide variety of acute and chronic effects in humans.

This book comprehensively assesses the management of micro and nano-plastics in contaminated soil and biosolids, highlighting recent techniques and technologies that facilitate their environmental remediation. It provides up-to-date information on the fate, occurrence, monitoring, and transport of micro and nano-plastics in the environment, aiming to determine their detrimental impact on environmental health. The book also explores how risk factors associated with these particles can be identified and mitigated through sustainable means. Micro and nano-plastic contamination is analyzed in various contexts, including agricultural soil systems, urban areas, and wastewater. Special attention is given to the mechanisms of recent decontamination strategies, such as microbial and enzyme-assisted degradation and biochar. The intended audience for this book includes students, researchers, professionals in the urban municipal wastewater treatment sector, waste management and industrial practitioners, as well as policymakers.

A "zero waste" society and the "circular economy" trend are urgently needed. Even if achieving 100% trash recycling and a fully circular economy may not always be attainable, aiming toward this goal might result in a sustainable future. Municipal solid wastes pose a hazard to the environment because of open burning, landfills, reckless disposal, and many other factors. Waste is being thrown away in more significant quantities and is made up of several different materials. Municipal solid waste (MSW) characteristics must be carefully considered when developing, implementing, or modifying solid waste management systems. Local waste variables that vary with cultural, climatic, socioeconomic, and institutional capacities are crucial for developing efficient waste management techniques.

Despite the strong economic growth of the last decades, our modern global society is facing the existential threat of climate change. It is now realized that the linear economic model is not sustainable in the long run and cannot sustain the life standards. The new circular economy approach that is already under discussion suggests the adjustment of our priorities and the re-orientation of the future infrastructure investments. In this context, we are looking for new, innovative and sustainable solutions to increase the resiliency of our societies, to protect and restore the ecosystems, and to maintain the necessary economic growth without further undermining the planet’s boundaries. The well-being of coming generations will depend on our ability to adapt our economies to this challenge. In particular, transforming today’s cities into sustainable cities is one of the main adaptations that will be necessary. A holistic approach looking at cities from a system’s perspective is neededto achieve this goal.

In this book, world-leading researchers in corporate sustainability explore the importance of considering environmental, social, and governance criteria to ensure the survival and profitability of a company, as well as the protection of people and the planet. The book serves as a resource for company executives and managers seeking to implement sustainable practices, investors and shareholders interested in how companies address environmental and social challenges, students and academics studying issues related to sustainability and corporate social responsibility, consulting and advisory professionals, and sustainability activists and advocates seeking to learn more about how companies can be part of the solution to environmental and social problems.

In the ideal world, major decisions would be made based on complete and reliable information available to the decision maker. We live in a world of uncertainties, and decisions must be made from information which may be incomplete and may contain uncertainty. The key mathematical question addressed in this volume is "how to make decision in the presence of quantifiable uncertainty." The volume contains articles on model problems of decision making process in the energy and power industry when the available information is noisy and/or incomplete. The major tools used in studying these problems are mathematical modeling and optimization techniques; especially stochastic optimization. These articles are meant to provide an insight into this rapidly developing field, which lies in the intersection of applied statistics, probability, operations research, and economic theory. It is hoped that the present volume will provide entry to newcomers into the field, and stimulation for further research.

Soil is a complex system of inorganic and organic materials, living organisms, water, and air. It is home to more than one trillion species of microorganisms. Soil also plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. Because plants absorb carbon from the atmosphere, convert it to plant tissue, and return it to the soil as plant residue, soils globally act as the world’s largest sink of active carbon. Soil has role to play in food production and safety. Soil contamination undermined by modern agricultural practices that deplete soil carbon stocks. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have been raising recorded temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, forestry, and fisheries have almost doubled in the last 50 years and will increase by 30% by 2050 given the current trend. The primacy of arresting climate change is nowhere more evident than the adoption of 195 countries of the first legally binding global climate deal at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015. With atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) reaching 400 parts per million in 2016, soils can be an ally in bringing the CO2 level down to a sustainable level if protected for regeneration. Soil protection and regeneration is a technique that involves the conservative rehabilitation of soil ecosystem and farmland.

The world consists of many complex systems, ranging from our own bodies to ecosystems to economic systems. Despite their diversity, complex systems have many structural and functional features in common that can be effectively si- lated using powerful, user-friendly software. As a result, virtually anyone can - plore the nature of complex systems and their dynamical behavior under a range of assumptions and conditions. This ability to model dynamic systems is already having a powerful influence on teaching and studying complexity. The books in this series will promote this revolution in “systems thinking” by integrating computational skills of numeracy and techniques of dynamic mod- ing into a variety of disciplines. The unifying theme across the series will be the power and simplicity of the model-building process, and all books are designed to engage the reader in developing their own models for exploration of the dyn- ics of systems that are of interest to them.

Bioremediation is the use of biological interventions for mitigation of the noxious effects caused by pollutants in the environment including wastewater. It is very useful approach for a variety of applications in the area of environmental protection. It has become an attractive alternative to the conventional clean-up technologies that employ plants and their associated microorganisms to remove, contain, or render harmless environmental contaminants.

This book aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current challenges in one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Environmental sustainability and climate change implications in the mountain ecosystems in general and mountainous regions of the Global South in particular are key concerns of the present-day world. In particular, the mountainous regions in the Global South are excessively being subjected to haphazard developmental activities making them vulnerable to all possible aspects of climate change. Ecologically fragile and biodiversity-rich (considered ‘hotspot’ of biodiversity) Himalayan Region (HR) is subjected to high vulnerability due to climate change and unsustainable developmental activities. A major portion of the Indian HR, for instance, has gradually been endangered by intense environmental burden owing to rapid and haphazard urbanization, extreme weather events, etc.

This book explores the relationship between pedestrians/cyclists’ mode and route choice to/from metro/railway stations and the micro-level (street-scale) built environment in a second-tier city in China. More specifically, it investigates how the street-scale built environment influences pedestrians/cyclists’ mode choice and route choice behavior and examines user preferences for the micro-level built environment around metro stations. The focus on a second-tier city is motivated primarily to expand the set of Chinese cities where the effects of the built environment on pedestrian/cyclist mode and route choice have been studied. Results demonstrate the effects of the street-scale built environment on pedestrian flows. The effects are higher for the main road, which is directly connected with the metro station. The findings of this book are expected to support the design of preferred walking/biking built environments around a metro station.

This book presents the integrating of economics and urban geography to create a framework of cooperation around the idea of urban economic stability. It explores these disciplines through the economic lens and creates a collaborative environment for addressing the global challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and future global shocks. Environmental advocates and proponents of economic growth are increasingly at odds—having looked at the economic impact of the decline of the environment as well as the environmental loss that occurs with unchecked growth and urbanization. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic changed the global scene. The world shook in its foundations, as a number of countries’ lockdown affected not only the global economy but also society and the environment. The global community has seen the negative impact of COVID-19 on our economies. There have been steep declines in gross domestic product, job losses have been in the millions, and people have seen their incomes fall. An unplanned shutdown has taken its toll and has been a shock to the economies of the world. Past shocks and how they have impacted urban economies as well as for how long are core to bettering our understanding of present and future urban economic change. The underlying economic factors that make a shock more damaging to certain economies or industries, as well as understanding these vulnerabilities, help entities recover from economic shocks and allow them to better understand how impacts on individual businesses can be implemented. The pandemic revealed the need to adopt a global development approach, taking into consideration four dimensions: global value chains, debt, digitalization, and the environment. Topics related to the causation and lockdown are explored through a number of case studies from around the world.

This book informs about knowledge gain in soil and land degradation to reduce or prevent it for meeting the mission of the Sustainable Developments Goals of the United Nations. Essence, extent, monitoring methods and implications for ecosystem functioning of main soil degradation types are characterized in overview chapters and case studies.

This book presents peer-reviewed articles from the 2nd International Conference on Dam Safety Management and Engineering (ICDSME 2023), organized by the Malaysian National Committee on Large Dams (MYCOLD), Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) and Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). With the theme “resilient dams for resilient communities,” the conference highlights dam safety and engineering issues by together dam professionals and experts around the world to discuss, reflect and share their experiences in addressing these issues.