An Illustrated Eco-history of the Mekong River Basin
An Illustrated Eco-history of the Mekong River Basin

Author: Tomoya Akimichi

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13:

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An Illustrated Eco-history of the Mekong River Basin is a broad-ranging study of the interactions transforming people's livelihoods and their environment in this rapidly-developing yet ecologically-diverse region. Encompassing scientific material on climate, health and habitat through to social studies on the large number of ethnic groups, the new findings presented here from specialists in a plurality of disciplines reflect the drastic changes of recent times, concomitant with various impulses toward modernization, economic globalization, and sixty years of rapid population growth. Local relationships with the environment have been incessantly restructured and transformed amidst these political and economic upheavals, revealing unique linkages between certain determinants of change. Over sixty international researchers collaborated (specializing in agricultural science, natural resources, ecological science, human ecology, geography, history and anthropology) bringing vitality and depth to the treatment of these complex issues. The book vividly and succinctly reveals an array of interesting and serious issues in the Mekong River basin, and serves as an indispensable guide to the historical ecology of the region.

Global Ecology in Historical Perspective
Global Ecology in Historical Perspective

Author: Kazunobu Ikeya

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-03-10

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 9811965579

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This book primarily examines human-animal and human-plant interactions in Asian forests (Southeast Asia and Japan) and inland waters (China). For comparison, cases from the Americas (whales in the Arctic, sea turtles in the Caribbean, and plants in the Amazon) and Central Asia are also included. The relationship between plants, animals, and humans in Asia is quite unique from a global perspective. For example, "satoyama" in Japan means ecotone area, or the boundary between a village and a forest. There, as the number of inhabitants declines, bears, wild boars, and other animals increasingly ravage crops, sometimes attacking humans as well. By showing the regional nature of human-animal and human-plant interactions in Asia, this book provides for the first time a framework for understanding the world's animal and plant-human relationships. It is assumed that the relationships between humans and animals and plants during this period were diverse, including hunting, taming, semi-domestication, and full domestication. At the same time, for regions outside of Asia, the extent to which these diverse relationships were adapted and how diversity was formed is explained from the perspective of historical ecology. Customers can expect to derive perspectives on the coexistence of human-animal and plant-animal relationships from this book in the near future. The conservation of rare species, diverse habitats, and biodiversity is a central theme in considering the relationship between modern civilization and the global environment. In post-industrial Japan, one focus has been the protection of iconic animals such as storks, crested ibis, dugongs, and sea turtles, while damage to crops and humans by deer, wild boars, monkeys, bears, and other common animals has become an important social issue. How can the world's 7.7 billion-plus people live in harmony with other species? We would like to get some hints on how to solve the problems we are facing.

A Companion to Global Environmental History
A Companion to Global Environmental History

Author: J. R. McNeill

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2015-05-04

Total Pages: 578

ISBN-13: 111897753X

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The Companion to Global Environmental History offers multiple points of entry into the history and historiography of this dynamic and fast-growing field, to provide an essential road map to past developments, current controversies, and future developments for specialists and newcomers alike. Combines temporal, geographic, thematic and contextual approaches from prehistory to the present day Explores environmental thought and action around the world, to give readers a cultural, intellectual and political context for engagement with the environment in modern times Brings together environmental historians from around the world, including scholars from South Africa, Brazil, Germany, and China

Routledge Handbook of the Environment in Southeast Asia
Routledge Handbook of the Environment in Southeast Asia

Author: Philip Hirsch

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-09-13

Total Pages: 681

ISBN-13: 1315474875

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The environment is one of the defining issues of our times, and it is closely linked to questions and dilemmas surrounding economic development. Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most economically and demographically dynamic regions, and it is also one in which a host of environmental issues raise themselves. The Routledge Handbook of the Environment in Southeast Asia is a collection of 30 chapters dealing with the most significant scholarly debates in this rapidly growing field of study. Structured in four main parts, it gives a comprehensive regional overview of, and insight into, the environment in Southeast Asia. Wide-ranging and balanced, this handbook promotes scholarly understanding of how environmental issues are dealt with from diverse theoretical perspectives. It offers a detailed empirical understanding of the myriad environmental problems and challenges faced in Southeast Asia. This is the first publication of its kind in this field; a helpful companion for a global audience and for scholars of Southeast Asian studies from a variety of disciplines.

Environmental Resources Use and Challenges in Contemporary Southeast Asia
Environmental Resources Use and Challenges in Contemporary Southeast Asia

Author: Mario Ivan Lopez

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-05-17

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 9811088810

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This edited volume introduces dynamic approaches to the study of Southeast Asia’s environmental diversity from different disciplinary perspectives at the interface between the natural and social sciences. It brings together research on the region’s environmental resource use and shared ecological challenges in the context of present day globalization to offer insights for possible future directions. The book introduces unique approaches to the study of Southeast Asia’s environmental changes and resource management under the influence of intensifying economic change in the region. It also examines the slow erosion of Southeast Asia’s rich environment and addresses serious issues such as the decrease in biodiversity and tropical forests, and the degradation of peat lands. At the same time, it discusses the social issues that are tied to energy-dependent growth and have intensified over the last two decades. It also analyzes the new roadmaps being created to protect, conserve, and manage the environment. By investigating the many ecological issues surrounding us, the volume brings to light the constant struggles we face while trying to develop a more inclusive and equitable approach to natural resources governance. This volume is relevant for students, academics and researchers who have an interest in the Southeast Asian environment and the way in which we use and interact with it.

Potential Pulses
Potential Pulses

Author: Rahul Chandora

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2024-10-07

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1800624638

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The fight against global hunger demands a fresh perspective. Lesser-known legumes, often called 'potential pulses', can play a pivotal role. These underutilized powerhouses, including adzuki bean, bambara groundnut, faba bean, cowpea, grass pea and horse gram, among others, are currently untapped resources. Their potential goes beyond their ability to thrive in harsh environments (caused by high temperature, drought, etc.) and fix nitrogen. With increased understanding of these legumes and their genetic and genomic potential, we can unlock a new world of sustainable and nutritious food sources. Focusing on the untapped genetic and genomic potential of these legumes, this book empowers researchers, breeders, and policymakers to unlock a new era of food and nutritional security. By leveraging the power of their genes, we can transform underutilized pulses into the nutritional heroes of tomorrow.

Orphan Crops: Breeding and Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Nutrition
Orphan Crops: Breeding and Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Nutrition

Author: Simon E. Bull

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2024-01-18

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 2832543111

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Orphan crops play an important role in food and nutrition security especially in growing economies where small-holder farmers produce the majority of food. Despite their importance in global agriculture and their often remarkable nutrient content and adaptation to challenging environmental conditions, orphan crops have received limited attention by the scientific community and industry. However, the diversity of neglected plant species provides a large genetic resource that could significantly contribute to broadening the biodiversity of trait-desired crops for novel value chains, sustainable development and food security. The uptake of new plant breeding techniques, notably genome editing, as well as ‘omic’ tools, are now accelerating translation of basic research and facilitating the exploration of orphan crops. These advancements also give rise to public and politic engagement discussions to maximize socio-economic impact. Given that the greatest need for food and nutritional security is in growing economies, issues of food sovereignty and sustainability of their food systems become front-and-centre. There is now an exceptional opportunity to tackle some of the major current challenges in agriculture, including climate change, sustainable cropping systems, food quality, and nutritional security through broadening research in wild relatives of crops and on orphan species. This Research Topic seeks to showcase research on neglected plants using advanced molecular technologies (e.g. genome sequencing, 'omics', etc) and new plant breeding approaches, methods, and tools. This Research Topic will also discuss the challenges and opportunities arising when modern breeding techniques are applied for translational research.

Production Technology of Underutilized Vegetable Crops
Production Technology of Underutilized Vegetable Crops

Author: Savita

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-04-20

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 3031153855

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This volume discusses the nutraceutical importance, production technologies, management and cultivation practices of underutilized vegetables, which can be described as those vegetable crops which are neither grown commercially on a large scale nor traded widely. While much of the crops addressed in the book are cultivated, traded and consumed at the local level, there are over 60 species of minor vegetables with high growth and yield potentials that are not cultivated to a large extent for greater populations. This work highlights the production technologies needed to grow these vegetables on a larger scale and under various adverse soil and climatic conditions, and their nutritional and medical benefits to assist with food security, health and poverty alleviation in rural areas. Production of underutilized vegetables is low, due to the unavailability of planting material, lack of awareness about the nutritional and medicinal importance among the farmers and inadequate information on the production techniques of these crops. In this context, there is an urgent need to take up a program on genetic resources exploration, management, utilization, and improvement of underutilized vegetable crops to ensure food and nutritional security. Readers will learn about these technologies and practices, while also learning about the unique properties and benefits of these underutilized vegetables. The book will be useful for academicians and researchers focusing on vegetable production and breeding, as well as farmers and sustainability scientists looking for underexplored sources of nutrition to benefit large rural populations.

Contested Waterscapes in the Mekong Region
Contested Waterscapes in the Mekong Region

Author: François Molle

Publisher: Earthscan

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 1849770867

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The water resources of the Mekong river catchment area, from China, through Thailand, Cambodia and Laos to Vietnam, are increasingly contested. Governments, companies and banks are driving new investment in roads, dams, diversions, irrigation schemes, navigation facilities, power plants and other emblems of conventional "development." Their plans and interventions pose multiple burdens and risks to the livelihoods of millions of people dependent on wetlands, floodplains, fisheries and aquatic resources.