Vulnerability of Land Systems in Asia

Vulnerability of Land Systems in Asia

Author: Ademola K. Braimoh

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-11-17

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1118854950

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This book provides a comprehensive yet accessible overview of land systems vulnerability assessment in Asia - fundamental to the understanding of the link between global change, environmental sustainability and human wellbeing. The extent and intensity of human interactions with the environment have increased spectacularly since the Industrial Revolution. Thus, the global change research community and development practitioners increasingly recognize the need to address the adverse consequences of changes taking place in the structure and function of the biosphere and the implications for society. With a focus on Asia, this book provides an overview of the vulnerability of land systems and the subsequent multiple stressors in this region. The book offers a discussion surrounding the potential causal processes that affect land systems vulnerability and our capacity to cope with different perturbations. It also identifies factors that help to integrate vulnerability assessment into policy and decision-making. • Addresses the complex issues arising from human–environment interactions that cannot be satisfactorily dealt with by core disciplinary methods alone. • Key coverage of a variety of topics from the vulnerability of smallholder agriculture and urban systems to the impact of socioeconomic processes at the sub-regional level. • Coverage of the causal processes that affect land systems vulnerability and capacity to cope with different perturbations are documented. • Focus on integrating vulnerability assessment into policies and decision-making • Includes contributions from leading academics in the field.


Equitable Land Use for Asian Infrastructure

Equitable Land Use for Asian Infrastructure

Author: Piyush Tiwari

Publisher: Asian Development Bank

Published: 2020-02-25

Total Pages: 570

ISBN-13: 9784899742098

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Developing Asia's demand for high-quality, integrated infrastructure requires a steady but equitable supply of land. However, obtaining rights over land can be complicated by hurdles imposed by geography, settlement patterns, conflicting cultures, sociopolitical factors, and land use problems unique to each country. This timely volume identifies policies that can balance the rights and interests of first nations' peoples, informal settlers, and rural landowners against the development imperatives of land procurement for the greater public good. It provides instructive case studies of the state of Asian land registration, eminent domain, and redevelopment in situations of vulnerable communities. The collected chapters also propose and assess some promising models that might be customized to local conditions, such as long-term land leasing with options to buy. This is a companion volume to ADBI Press' pioneering series of titles (all available through Brookings Press)--Infrastructure for a Seamless Asia; Financing Infrastructure in Asia and the Pacific: Capturing Impacts and New Sources; and Principles of Infrastructure: Case Studies and Best Practices. This volume will be of interest to policymakers, practitioners, academics, and students.


Changes in the Human-monsoon System of East Asia in the Context of Global Change

Changes in the Human-monsoon System of East Asia in the Context of Global Change

Author: Congbin Fu

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 9812832424

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This book is the first in a series of assessments of regional climate change. Irreversible changes to regional biogeochemistry, and terrestrial and marine ecosystem functioning are brought about by increases in population, intensified land use, urbanization, industrialization and economic development. These may have global as well as regional consequences. The objectives of the assessments are, (i) to better understand how human activities in regions are altering regional atmospheric, terrestrial, and marine environments, (ii) to provide a sound scientific basis for sustainable regional development, and (iii) to develop the capability of predicting changes in global-regional linkages in the Earth System and to recognize the future consequences of such changes. This book describes such a study for monsoon East Asia, providing a state-of-the-art summary of what we already know, and serves as a basis for identifying knowledge gaps that require study.


Non-Traditional Security Challenges in Asia

Non-Traditional Security Challenges in Asia

Author: Shebonti Ray Dadwal

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 1351556185

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Asia is challenged by a number of non-traditional security issues including the foodenergywater nexus, climate change, transnational crime, terrorism, disaster relief and economic performance. This volume categorizes and clarifies some key emerging issues in the area and looks at their interconnectedness and implications.The essays explore how non-traditional issues can manifest as security challenges, and the role of the state and military in dealing with these. Issue-based and area-specific, they rely on facts and interpretation of data, avoiding alarmist predictions. A nuanced and analytical approach into an uncharted area, this book will be essential for policymakers, researchers and students of security and strategic studies, foreign policy, sociology and political economy, as well as the general readers.


Urbanisation at Risk in the Pacific and Asia

Urbanisation at Risk in the Pacific and Asia

Author: David Sanderson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-05-05

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1000053547

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This book presents practical approaches for tackling the threats from climate change and disasters to urban growth in Pacific island countries and Asian nations. With chapters written by leading scholars and practitioners, Urbanisation at Risk presents research and case studies from island countries across the Pacific, Cambodia, Nepal and the Philippines. The book explores and presents the theory, policy and practice of how governments, civil society, aid organisations and people themselves prepare for, withstand and recover better from urban disasters including windstorms, floods, earthquakes and fires, and the effects of climate change. This book is written for urban policy makers, researchers, humanitarian aid and development workers, and anyone interested in urbanisation, participatory approaches, disasters, resilience and climate change adaptation.


Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia

Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia

Author: Rajib Shaw

Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann

Published: 2016-01-06

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 0128023775

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Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia presents the latest information on the intensity and frequency of disasters. Specifically, the fact that, in urban areas, more than 50% of the world's population is living on just 2% of the land surface, with most of these cities located in Asia and developing countries that have high vulnerability and intensification. The book offers an in-depth and multidisciplinary approach to reducing the impact of disasters by examining specific evidence from events in these areas that can be used to develop best practices and increase urban resilience worldwide. As urban resilience is largely a function of resilient and resourceful citizens, building cities which are more resilient internally and externally can lead to more productive economic returns. In an era of rapid urbanization and increasing disaster risks and vulnerabilities in Asian cities, Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia is an invaluable tool for policy makers, researchers, and practitioners working in both public and private sectors. - Explores a broad range of aspects of disaster and urban resiliency, including environmental, economic, architectural, and engineering factors - Bridges the gap between urban resilience and rural areas and community building - Provides evidence-based data that can lead to improved disaster resiliency in urban Asia - Focuses on Asian cities, some of the most densely populated areas on the planet, where disasters are particularly devastating


Progress of Geo-Disaster Mitigation Technology in Asia

Progress of Geo-Disaster Mitigation Technology in Asia

Author: Fawu Wang

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-09-05

Total Pages: 609

ISBN-13: 3642291074

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This book includes the recent 10-year achievement of geo-disaster mitigation by leading Asian scientists from Japan, China, Indonesia, Korea, Iran and Far East of Russia. Case studies on recent occurred geo-disasters in Asian region have been presented. The forming mechanics of hazards such as earthquake and landslide are deeply discussed, and the disaster mitigation technology for building and pipeline safety, landslide hazard assessment and risk management are introduced.


Monitoring Climate Change Impacts

Monitoring Climate Change Impacts

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2010-11-27

Total Pages: 109

ISBN-13: 0309158710

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The stresses associated with climate change are expected to be felt keenly as human population grows to a projected 9 billion by the middle of this century, increasing the demand for resources and supporting infrastructure. Therefore, information to assess vulnerabilities to climate change is needed to support policies and investments designed to increase resilience in human and Earth systems. There are currently many observing systems that capture elements of how climate is changing, for example, direct measurements of atmospheric and ocean temperature. Although those measurements are essential for understanding the scale and nature of climate change, they do not necessarily provide information about the impacts of climate change on humans that are especially relevant for political and economic planning and decision making. Monitoring Climate Change Impacts tackles the challenge of developing an illustrative suite of indicators, measurements (and the locations around the globe where the measurements can be applied), and metrics that are important for understanding global climate change and providing insight into environmental sustainability. Eight panels provided input on: cryosphere, land-surface and terrestrial ecosystems, hydrology and water resources, atmosphere, human health and other dimensions, oceans (both physical and biological/chemical), and natural disasters. The book also provides an illustrative set of metrics that are likely to be affected by climate change over the next 20-25 years and, when taken together, can potentially give advance warning of climate-related changes to the human and environment systems.


Land Grabs in Asia

Land Grabs in Asia

Author: Connie Carter

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-05-01

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1317446313

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Although there is no universally accepted definition of the term "land grabbing", ordinary people whose livelihoods are adversely affected by land grabbing know exactly what it is. It involves the physical capture and control of land and homes, including the usurpation of the power to decide how and when these will be used and for what purposes – with little or no prior consultation or compensation to the displaced communities. This thought-provoking book defines land grabbing, and examines aspects of the land grabs phenomenon in seven Asian countries, researched and written by country-specific legal scholars. The book provides unique perspectives on how and why land grabbing is practised in China, India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia, and explores the surprising role that law plays in facilitating and legitimizing land grabs in each country. In contrast to most of the literature which law focuses on foreign investors’ rights under international law, here the focus is on domestic laws and legal infrastructures. Finding that Asian States need to move beyond existing regimes that govern land to a regime that encourages more equitable land rights allocation and protection of stakeholders’ rights, the book urges further research in the nexus between the use of law to facilitate development. Land Grabs in Asia is the first book to explore land grabbing in multiple jurisdictions in Asia. As such, it will appeal to students and scholars of law and development, law and society, and international relations, as well as being essential reading for development policy-makers and government ministers.


Challenges and Strategies of Dryland Agriculture

Challenges and Strategies of Dryland Agriculture

Author: S.C. Rao

Publisher: Scientific Publishers

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 9387991091

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The world has made remarkable progress in maintaining adequate food supplies during the past quarter century by introducing yield-increasing technologies such as better genetics, crop protection products, and more efficient use of fertilizers and irrigations. Far more people depend on irrigation in the modern world than during the times of ancient Sumeria. The spread of irrigation has been the key factor in increasing global crop yields. But future scarcity present the single biggest threat to future food production. The shift of water from agriculture to the growing cities and industry almost certainly will impact global food production. This means that dryland agriculture will be increasingly important in meeting food requirement for the growing population. Advaces in plant genetics and agronomic conservation technologies, when considered in concert, continue to provide the greatest opportunities to achieve sustainability and profitability in dryland agriculture and will continue to be the focus of the ARS research program. The ARS is please to join the crop Science Society of America and international center for Agriculture Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) in sponsoring a symposium “Challenges and strategies for Dryland Agriculture” at the Trisocieties Annual Meeting in November 2002 at Indianapolis, IN. This special publication contains an impressive series of paper by international group of experts on dryland agricultural production, conservation, and policy. The principles, philosophies, and technologies presented in this publication have the potential to contribute to improve food security and livelihoods for the people in dryland regions of the world.