Coastal zones exemplify the environmental pressures we face: their beauty attracts settlement, they offer potential for diverse economic activities, and they are sensitive natural habitats for important species, as well as providing a range of ecosystem services. They are also extremely vulnerable to the vicissitudes of climate change, which include rising sea levels and changes in extreme events such as storms. With large populations living in coastal and estuarine cities facing the ongoing threat of inundation, coordinated management is essential, especially as coastal zones form a linked system in which piecemeal, uncoordinated management could be counterproductive.
Enlarge My Coast tells of Pastor Blackstone's return to India to see the completion of a project inspired during his first trip to the subcontinent of Asia in 2006. This time his traveling companion will be a church deacon of the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Russ Coffin. Blackstone and Coffin travel to Kerala State to help in the dedication of the new Venmony Baptist Church sanctuary and parsonage built through the support of their ministry in Maine. Once again Pastor Blackstone is able to share the wonders and wants of India through the eyes of another adventurous traveler. Enjoy with them the fascination of watching a working elephant beside a rural road; the attempt of catching on film five people on a motorcycle at one time; a houseboat ride on Kerala's largest lake; listening to Russ's first sermon; graduation day at Kerala Baptist Bible College; an Indian barbeque of pancakes and omelets; of trying to find a bell for the college in the busy and confusing markets of one of Kerala's biggest cities; and an auto-rickshaw ride through rubber tree-lined lanes, banana grove-covered valleys, and an Indian road repair crew! As in his other India books, Though None Go with Me and Though One Go with Me, share the practical spiritual lessons Pastor Blackstone learned on this, his third India journey and his first mission trip to the State of Andrah Pradesh as the guest evangelist for the Independent Gospel Baptist Churches of India. Share in the personal experience of a daylong journey on the infamous Indian railway into the backcountry of central India, of driving a bullock cart, eating an Indian catfish, making friends with a dog named Ellie, preaching in a thatched-roof church, being surprised by a police raid at four in the morning, and witnessing more people coming to Christ at one time than at any other time in the pastor's ministry. Journey for a month into the unpredictable land of India and enjoy the surprises around each corner as Pastor Blackstone travels to three Indian states and gets to meet fellow pastors from five states. The fellowship will be sweet, the food will be hot, and the friendships made will be eternal!
This book is the first comprehensive guide for coastal planners and those aiming to achieve effective coastal management world-wide. The book is to assist in the sustainable development and use of the world's coastal zones by providing a blueprint for planners and managers who want to produce integrated coastal management plans. Coastal Planning and Management provides a link between planning and management tools and draws on examples of successful coastal planning and management from around the world including North America, Europe, Asia, Indo-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, the authors are able to provide clear and practical guidelines for the people who make daily decisions about the world's coastlines.
For as long as humans have been inhabiting coastal areas and recording what occurs in their environments, coastal zones have been defined through dynamic interactions. And this is further underlined by a more recent development: observed sea level rise. In a thorough but not overly technical approach, Adapting to Sea Level Rise in the Coastal Zone: Law and Policy Considerations provides a legal-policy framework for facing the challenges of sea level rise. The book includes an analysis of sea level rise adaptation strategies that examines the legal impacts of coastal land use decisions based on the current interpretation of private property rights in relation to public control over those rights. The author discusses the science behind sea level rise and highlights policy complexities and options. He then presents an overview of related legalities, and bringing it all together, applies the principles offered in the book, concluding with strategies and solutions and a perspective on the future. If we accept the premise that sea level rise is occurring and will continue for the foreseeable future, then we must begin to consider policy responses to this risk in coastal regions. Part of any pragmatic policy response must include a review of the options available to public institutions when developing and implementing rational adaptation policies. This book offers practical legal/policy approaches to sea level rise adaptation that promotes sound planning in the face of climate change and rising seas.
This sobering examination of climate-change and the disastrous effects of rising sea levels explains what must be done to avoid the worst outcomes. By the end of this century, hundreds of millions of people living at low elevations along coasts will be forced to retreat to higher and safer ground. Because of sea-level rise, major storms will inundate areas farther inland and will lay waste to critical infrastructure, such as water-treatment and energy facilities, creating vast, irreversible pollution by decimating landfills and toxic-waste sites. Retreat from a Rising Sea explains in gripping terms what rising oceans will do to coastal cities—detailing the specific threats faced by Miami, New Orleans, New York, and Amsterdam. This policy-oriented book then lays out the drastic actions we must take now to remove vulnerable populations. Aware of the overwhelming social, political, and economic challenges that would accompany effective action, the authors consider the burden to the taxpayer and the logistics of moving landmarks and infrastructure, including toxic-waste sites. They also show readers the alternative: thousands of environmental refugees, with no legitimate means to regain what they have lost. The authors conclude with effective approaches for addressing climate-change denialism and powerful arguments for reforming U.S. federal coastal management policies.
Coastal Zones: Solutions for the 21st Century bridges the gap between national and international efforts and the local needs for actions in communities where coastal zone challenges are faced daily. The solution-oriented approach covers issues of coastal zone management as well as responses to natural disasters. This work provides ideas on how to face the challenges, develop solutions, and localize management of common-pool resources. Coastal Zones targets academic stakeholders and coastal stakeholders who have local knowledge and experience but need a theoretical framework and a greater range of skills to make use of this experience. Represents the collaborative work of more than 200 coastal zone researchers from all continents Provides a transdisciplinary approach that draws on stakeholder knowledge as well as diverse disciplines in the natural and social sciences Provides a basis for the co-development of an effective understanding of social-ecological systems in the coastal zone
