Global Resources and the Environment - Oliver, Chadwick Dearing

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Résumé :
In the past few decades, sustainability of natural resources and the social and environmental issues that surround them have become increasingly topical. This multidisciplinary book discusses the complex relationships between society, natural resources and the environment. Major resources including water, agriculture, energy, minerals and forests are considered, as well as different facets of the environment including climate, landforms and biodiversity. Each resource is discussed in the context of both environmental and socio-economic factors affecting their present and future distribution and demand. Presenting a balanced, comprehensive overview of the issues surrounding natural resources and sustainability, this accessible volume will be of interest to policy makers, resource managers, graduate students and researchers in the natural and social sciences....

Biographie:
Chadwick Dearing Oliver is the Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Director of the Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry at Yale University, Connecticut. His research focuses on global issues of landscape management, and he has considerable experience advising public and private forest resource organizations in the United States and abroad. He is the author of the highly cited book Forest Stand Dynamics, now in its second edition (1996).

Sommaire:
Preface; Part I. Introduction, Dynamic Systems, and Change: 1. Socio-environmental systems; 2. A perspective on dynamic systems; 3. Change, sustainability, and resilience; Part II. People: 4. Where people live, communicate, and interact; 5. People, societies, populations, and changes; 6. Resources, governments, and other social influences; Part III. Climates: 7. Global distribution of climates; 8. Greenhouse gases, atmosphere, and climates; 9. Past and future climate changes; Part IV. Landforms: 10. Landforms and soils; 11. Bedrock landforms; 12. Landforms of transported materials; Part V. Biodiversity: 13. Biodiversity: individual species; 14. Biodiversity: communities and landscapes; 15. Robust and threatened species, communities; 16. Managing biodiversity; Part VI. Water: 17. The hydrologic cycle; 18. The annual hydrograph and water use; 19. Managing and mitigating the hydrologic system; Part VII. Agriculture: 20. Food groups and nutrition; 21. Agriculture and the green revolution; 22. Future agriculture production and distribution; Part VIII. Energy: 23. Energy sources, the energy cycle, exergy; 24. Conserving energy and renewable energy; 25. Future energy: reducing fossil fuel use; Part IX. Minerals: 26. Rocks and mineral properties, mining; 27. Rocks and minerals: production, use, and distribution; Part X. Forests: 28. Forests, ecosystem services, and timber; 29. Forest distribution, area, and volume changes; 30. Silviculture, forest degradation, and landscape management; Part XI. Perspective: 31. Integrating the environment, resources, and people; Appendix I. Country groups used in analyses; Appendix II. Elements, chemical symbols, atomic numbers, and masses; Index.