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This is the first book to provide vital information on key local ecosystems, their functions, state of health, and their role in development in an Asian context, particularly on the Indian subcontinent. It addresses six major ecosystems on the Indian subcontinent – mountain, rural, desert, forest, urban, and freshwater – and discusses their functions, how they support livelihoods and the economy, the impacts on ecosystem services, and management issues. Asia is home to nearly one third of the global population. With massive industrialization occurring at an increasing pace to support the lifestyles of a growing population, impacts on natural ecosystems are inevitable in this region. The ...
Ecosystem services are the resources and processes supplied by natural ecosystems which benefit humankind (for example, pollination of crops by insects, or water filtration by wetlands). They underpin life on earth, provide major inputs to many economic sectors and support our lifestyles. Agricultural and urban areas are by far the largest users of ecosystems and their services and (for the first time) this book explores the role that ecosystem services play in these managed environments. The book also explores methods of evaluating ecosystem services, and discusses how these services can be maintained and enhanced in our farmlands and cities. This book will be useful to students and researchers from a variety of fields, including applied ecology, environmental economics, agriculture and forestry, and also to local and regional planners and policy makers.
Agrifood systems generate significant benefits to society, including the food that nourishes us and jobs and livelihoods for over a billion people. However, their negative impacts due to unsustainable business-as-usual activities and practices are contributing to climate change, natural resource degradation and the unaffordability of healthy diets. Addressing these negative impacts is challenging, because people, businesses, governments and other stakeholders lack a complete picture of how their activities affect economic, social and environmental sustainability when they make decisions on a day-to-day basis. The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 looks into the true cost of food for sustain...
A New Global Agenda: Priorities, Practices, and Pathways of the International Community explores the most compelling issues of our time, highlighting key strategies, initiatives, and calls to action. Taking up where the former annual series, A Global Agenda: Issues Before the U.N., left off, this book sets the work of the U.N. in the context of cross-sectoral perspectives and multi-stakeholder partnerships. To catalyze regenerative solutions for People, Society, and Planet, A New Global Agenda engages visionary thought leaders, advocates, and innovators spanning international policy, academia, private sector, and civil society. This is a must-read for scholars, students, practitioners and gl...
Sustainable Food and Agriculture: An Integrated Approach is the first book to look at the imminent threats to sustainable food security through a cross-sectoral lens. As the world faces food supply challenges posed by the declining growth rate of agricultural productivity, accelerated deterioration of quantity and quality of natural resources that underpin agricultural production, climate change, and hunger, poverty and malnutrition, a multi-faced understanding is key to identifying practical solutions. This book gives stakeholders a common vision, concept and methods that are based on proven and widely agreed strategies for continuous improvement in sustainability at different scales. While...
This book explains how True Cost Accounting is an effective tool we can use to address the pervasive imbalance in our food system. Calls are coming from all quarters that the food system is broken and needs a radical transformation. A system that feeds many yet continues to create both extreme hunger and diet-related diseases, and one which has significant environmental impacts, is not serving the world adequately. This volume argues that True Cost Accounting in our food system can create a framework for a systemic shift. What sounds on the surface like a practice relegated to accountants is ultimately a call for a new lens on the valuation of food and a new relationship with the food we eat...
'Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.' Credit has crunched, debt has turned toxic, the gears of the world economy have ground to a halt. Yet despite its failures, the same market-driven ideas are being applied to everything from famine to climate change. We need to ask again one of the most fundamental questions a society ever addresses: why do things cost what they do? Radical, original, nimbly argued, The Value of Nothing draws on ideas from history, philosophy, psychology and agriculture to show how we can build an economically and environmentally sound future.
This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Urban Land Systems: An Ecosystems Perspective" that was published in Land
The Business Guide to Sustainability is a practical introduction to implementing a comprehensive sustainability strategy in any organization. Written by top business consultants, this useful book can be applied in both large and small enterprises. This edition shifts away from a discussion of CSR to focus more squarely on sustainability. It explores strategies for implementing sustainability in each of the functional areas of the corporation (accounting, HR, operations, etc.), while providing examples from a range of sectors, including manufacturing, services, and government. The book also includes the authors’ S-CORE assessment tool to help organizations determine whether they are on the right track, identify new opportunities, and assign accountability and responsibility. Brimming with interesting stories and examples, and covering new developments such as the emergence of BRICs and the effects of the Great Recession, this book will interest managers, business owners, and students for whom sustainability is a priority.