Interlocal Adaptations to Climate Change in East and Southeast Asia

This Open Access book’s main focus is agriculture and natural resource management, disaster risk reduction, and human resource development in the countries of East and Southeast Asia and Japan. Asia is one of the regions which is the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. More than sixty percent of the world’s people live in the region, making it the growth center of the world. Asia is vast and includes various countries and regions, this book is focused on East and Southeast Asia including Japan. It is essential to share the knowledge and experiences for adapting climate change among these areas. In order to tackle these issues, the book aims to: Promote inter-local lessons learnt sharing climate change adaptations; "agriculture and natural resource management" and "disaster risk reduction and human resource development" Provides insights into new adaptation measures and research approaches that can consider the regional nature of Southeast Asia Share practical adaptation options permeated by society in each country/region This book will be of interest to researchers and students examining climate change impacts in East and Southeast Asia

Interlocal Adaptations to Climate Change in East and Southeast Asia

This Open Access book’s main focus is agriculture and natural resource management, disaster risk reduction, and human resource development in the countries of East and Southeast Asia and Japan. Asia is one of the regions which is the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. More than sixty percent of the world’s people live in the region, making it the growth center of the world. Asia is vast and includes various countries and regions, this book is focused on East and Southeast Asia including Japan. It is essential to share the knowledge and experiences for adapting climate change among these areas. In order to tackle these issues, the book aims to: Promote inter-local lessons learnt sharing climate change adaptations; "agriculture and natural resource management" and "disaster risk reduction and human resource development" Provides insights into new adaptation measures and research approaches that can consider the regional nature of Southeast Asia Share practical adaptation options permeated by society in each country/region This book will be of interest to researchers and students examining climate change impacts in East and Southeast Asia

Integrated Waste Management

This book reports research on policy and legal issues, anaerobic digestion of solid waste under processing aspects, industrial waste, application of GIS and LCA in waste management, and a couple of research papers relating to leachate and odour management

Obstacles and Opportunities in Planning and Implementing Integrated Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management (ISMSWM) in Kuwait – a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Country

The conventional municipal solid waste (MSW) management approach focuses on collection, transportation and final disposal, while at the same time neglecting the prevention of waste and recycling. The conventional approach focuses mainly on technical solutions and economic efficiency of disposal of MSW. Yet, because this approach deals with waste streams individually it is ineffective. The evolving concept of sustainable development (SD) indicates a transition from conventional systems to more integrated systems for resource management. Planning and implementing a sustainable MSW system imply the adoption of “integrated approaches” but there are gaps in the operationalization and often the social dimensions are overlooked. High-income nations continue to develop systems approaches that meet their current and future needs and ensure that both governments and residents understand the need for proper MSW management. A parallel situation does not readily apply to oil exporting high-income Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The State of Kuwait was chosen as a case study to explore the obstacles and opportunities of planning and implementing an integrated and sustainable MSW management (ISMSWM) system. Accordingly, the current study established a goal to reach beyond the recommendation of “integration approaches” to better understand and recognize how to operationalize the “integration” of an MSW management system. As a first step, a conceptual framework of planning for an ISMSWM system was developed, refined and tested. In this research, an ISMSWM framework was designed to account for integrated environmental management (IEM) approaches along with sustainable development dimensions, stakeholders’ involvement, SWM elements and approaches and Environmental system analysis (ESA) tools to address the obstacles and opportunities during planning, decision-making and operationalization of an ISMSWM system. Based primarily on post-positivist epistemology, a research framework was built upon the case study of Kuwait, employing mixed qualitative/quantitative methods that included the review of documents, key informant interviews, waste actors’ questionnaires, householder’ questionnaires and a focus group discussion which centered on the results of a life cycle assessment (LCA). Over 80% of the 65 waste actors surveyed identified a lack of coordination between responsible authorities, and 91% identified a lack of collaboration between authorities at governmental, sectoral (among MSW management responsible authorities) and public levels. Most of the waste actors also supported collaboration, a balance between top-down and bottom-up approaches, and the establishment of collaborative committees. Over 85% were also in favour of public participation in waste separation, promotion of public training programs and the inclusion of waste management topics in the educational curriculum. Widespread support was reported by the waste actors for the participation of the private sector and a decentralized approach for planning. Of the 400 householders surveyed 80% agreed to purchase fewer disposable products: to participate in activities which promote recycling; and, to separate organic waste if green bins were offered. The researcher concludes that current MSW planning relies on a top-down approach in Kuwait. Although some critical changes at the regulatory and policy-making levels have been made with the aid of international institution, the outcomes have failed to deliver tangible changes at the operational level. There is a need for an intensive willingness to change the current situation in Kuwait and build a structure by local stakeholders that adopts integrated environmental management (IEM) approaches. The adoption of a conceptual framework for ISMSWM in Kuwait would be of assistance with the implementation of IEM management approaches to promote better practices in planning, decision-making and operationalization. Based on the research findings, the developed framework could offer an opportunity for the waste actors, researchers and decision-makers for comprehensive thinking and integrative planning, decision-making, and implementation of ISMSWM for oil-exporting high-income Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries such as Kuwait

The Sierra Madre Mountain Range: Global Relevance, Local Realities

bookEnvironment and Developmen

The contribution of guest houses to economic growth and employment as key components of local economic development in the Eden District Area

Tourism has come to be seen as a key driver for local economic development in South Africa, as it provides opportunities for pro-poor and community-based initiatives. On a global scale, the challenges of confronting poverty and unemployment continue to dominate the development agenda. The ability of Local Economic Development (LED) to empower local people has earned favour with national governments and development theorists. The imperative facing South Africa to achieve a more equitable and sustainable economy is essentially the challenge to adopt and implement a development approach that will reduce poverty and unemployment (which are the two key objectives of LED) to the greatest extent. It is within this context that the South African government has sought to incorporate LED into their economic development framework, predominantly through the decentralisation of development control and planning to the local government level. This study examined the contribution of guest houses to economic growth and employment as key components of LED in a sustainable manner. The study revealed that guest houses are playing a key role in the development of the local economy in the Eden district region. Guest houses are providing employment opportunities to the local residents both on a full-time and part-time basis. Further to this, guest houses are buying many locally-produced products and services from local suppliers and this contributes to economic growth of the local economy. However, this study also found that many of the guest houses in the area are not aware of government incentives available to support them and very few of them have made use of these services. This is something that needs to be addressed if these guest houses are to continue to strengthen the local economy and provide employment opportunities in a sustainable manner. The study revealed that many of the guest houses are operating in an environmentally friendly manner and this will ensure their future sustainability. The broader situation and the contribution of the accommodation sector as critical assets in local and national tourism economies has been thoroughly researched in tourism research around the world. Existing work on the accommodation sector in the South African tourism economy is mainly urban-focused and indicates that its local development impacts can be positive albeit not always maximised through local linkages, however, only a limited amount of academic investigations examines the contribution of tourism sub-sectors to economic growth and employment. The authenticity of this study is based on Its contribution which must be viewed in relation to the relatively limited body of literature in the contribution of tourism sub-sectors to economic growth and employment and in this case guest houses as one type of accommodation sub-sector

ECOS 2012

The 8-volume set contains the Proceedings of the 25th ECOS 2012 International Conference, Perugia, Italy, June 26th to June 29th, 2012. ECOS is an acronym for Efficiency, Cost, Optimization and Simulation (of energy conversion systems and processes), summarizing the topics covered in ECOS: Thermodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer, Exergy and Second Law Analysis, Process Integration and Heat Exchanger Networks, Fluid Dynamics and Power Plant Components, Fuel Cells, Simulation of Energy Conversion Systems, Renewable Energies, Thermo-Economic Analysis and Optimisation, Combustion, Chemical Reactors, Carbon Capture and Sequestration, Building/Urban/Complex Energy Systems, Water Desalination and Use of Water Resources, Energy Systems- Environmental and Sustainability Issues, System Operation/ Control/Diagnosis and Prognosis, Industrial Ecology