Responsible water management and circular economy aims to establish a common understanding of circular economy principles and resilience in the water sector and to support countries in the implementing those principles. It is essential for water security to deal with the effect of climate change. It can be achieved through smart water management, use of non-conventional water resources, rejuvenation of natural water systems, using advance tools and techniques and adaptation strategies. It will help in improving the water availability in terms of quantity as well as quality and human health. Smart water governance and educating society can also play an important role in achieveing the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) “Water for all“. The book aims to accelerate interaction among various stakeholders.

This book examines the issue of solid waste generation and management as a worldwide phenomenon, focusing on strategies that facilitate the disposal and utilization of waste while ensuring environmental integrity and meeting the needs of future generations. The process of urbanization, particularly in densely populated cities, has resulted in a notable increase in the production of solid waste. Unfortunately, the current management system employed by the government, as well as the available resources and technical capabilities, is insufficient in effectively addressing this issue. As a result, the accumulation of solid waste in the environment continues to rise, causing adverse impacts on both the natural surroundings and human well-being. The contamination of the air, soil, and water directly stems from this mounting waste. To confront this global challenge, determined efforts are being made to manage and diminish the volume of solid waste, with the ultimate goal of safeguarding the environment and preserving the welfare of future generations. Furthermore, the book delves into various sustainable development approaches, such as Gasification and Ash Melting, Anaerobic Digestion, and Composition. Additionally, it highlights the recent advancements in these techniques by scientists, which contribute to promoting sustainable solid waste management.

As a result of global warming, extreme events, such as firestorms and flash floods, pose increasingly unpredictable and uncertain existential threats, taking lives, destroying communities, and wreaking havoc on habitats. Current aesthetic, technological and scientific frameworks struggle to imagine, visualise and rehearse human interactions with these events, hampering the development of proactive foresight, readiness and response.

This book informs about knowledge gain in soil and land degradation to reduce or prevent it for meeting the mission of the Sustainable Developments Goals of the United Nations. Essence, extent, monitoring methods and implications for ecosystem functioning of main soil degradation types are characterized in overview chapters and case studies.
Challenges, approaches and data towards identification of degradation in the frame of improving functionality, health and multiple ecosystem services of soil are demonstrated in the studies of international expert teams. The book consists of five parts, containing 5–12 single chapters each and 36 in total. Parts are explaining (I) Concepts and Indicators, (II) Soil Erosion and Compaction, (III) Soil Contamination, (IV) Soil Carbon and Fertility Monitoring and (V) Soil Survey and Mapping of Degradation.

This book is the second volume of a selection of the best papers presented at the XXX National Conference of Commodity Science held in Bari, Italy on 27–28th October, 2022. It is designed to help advance the knowledge and application of Commodity Science in innovation, quality, and sustainability principles and goals. Furthermore, it provides support in confronting the current environmental and socioeconomic challenges and contributes to addressing and solving those concerns in a circular economy context.

In this book, we have contributions from experts working on diverse aspects of waste management and waste entrepreneurship with an aim to contribute toward a holistic understanding of the existing and forthcoming waste handling challenges. Waste entrepreneurship refers to the practice of creating and operating businesses that aim to address the problem of waste management. It signifies businesses that are dedicated to finding innovative solutions for managing waste and plays a crucial role in building a sustainable future. Waste entrepreneurs identify waste as a valuable resource and use state-of-the-art tactics to reduce, reuse, recycle, and re-purpose it. By developing new technologies, services, and products that help reduce waste and recycle materials, they can create new economic opportunities while simultaneously reducing the environmental impact of waste. The primary audience of this book are researchers (from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds) working in the field of waste management (especially E-waste, Plastics, Paper and Cardboard Waste, Organic Waste, and Construction and Demolition Waste) and environmental sustainability.

This volume uses aerosol optical depth (AOD) analysis through mapping and remote sensing techniques to derive the relationship between aerosols and hazardous precipitation events, primarily in the form of flooding. Attention is also given to pollution caused by an abundance of particulate matter in the atmosphere and its impacts on human health, which is also assessed via the study of AOD. Background is given on how AOD is retrieved, and why it is a useful tool for estimating atmospheric particle concentration, but also the challenges associated with using this approach. Different aerosol types are introduced to perform a comparative analysis of the most common associations between pollution impacts on temperature and resulting precipitation events. These analyses will help to provide an overview of the best strategies to make informed and sustainable disaster risk management practices and policies. The target audience for the work is students, researchers, and scientists working witha vision towards sustainability, public health safety and air pollution mitigation measures. It will also be a useful text for climate change policy makers, environmental engineers and stakeholders in social development sectors.

This book sheds light on this global environmental issue and proposes solutions to reduce contamination through multi-disciplinary approaches. Water is considered a vital resource because it is necessary for all aspects of human and ecosystem survival. However, due to natural processes and anthropogenic activities, various pollutants have been added to the groundwater system. Among these, heavy metals are some of the most serious pollutants. Cd, a toxic heavy metal used in Ni-Cd batteries, the coloration of plastic and various discarded electronic products released into the water system causes serious health issues. The chronic exposure to Cd produces a wide variety of acute and chronic effects in humans.

This book comprehensively assesses the management of micro and nano-plastics in contaminated soil and biosolids, highlighting recent techniques and technologies that facilitate their environmental remediation. It provides up-to-date information on the fate, occurrence, monitoring, and transport of micro and nano-plastics in the environment, aiming to determine their detrimental impact on environmental health. The book also explores how risk factors associated with these particles can be identified and mitigated through sustainable means. Micro and nano-plastic contamination is analyzed in various contexts, including agricultural soil systems, urban areas, and wastewater. Special attention is given to the mechanisms of recent decontamination strategies, such as microbial and enzyme-assisted degradation and biochar. The intended audience for this book includes students, researchers, professionals in the urban municipal wastewater treatment sector, waste management and industrial practitioners, as well as policymakers.

A "zero waste" society and the "circular economy" trend are urgently needed. Even if achieving 100% trash recycling and a fully circular economy may not always be attainable, aiming toward this goal might result in a sustainable future. Municipal solid wastes pose a hazard to the environment because of open burning, landfills, reckless disposal, and many other factors. Waste is being thrown away in more significant quantities and is made up of several different materials. Municipal solid waste (MSW) characteristics must be carefully considered when developing, implementing, or modifying solid waste management systems. Local waste variables that vary with cultural, climatic, socioeconomic, and institutional capacities are crucial for developing efficient waste management techniques.

Despite the strong economic growth of the last decades, our modern global society is facing the existential threat of climate change. It is now realized that the linear economic model is not sustainable in the long run and cannot sustain the life standards. The new circular economy approach that is already under discussion suggests the adjustment of our priorities and the re-orientation of the future infrastructure investments. In this context, we are looking for new, innovative and sustainable solutions to increase the resiliency of our societies, to protect and restore the ecosystems, and to maintain the necessary economic growth without further undermining the planet’s boundaries. The well-being of coming generations will depend on our ability to adapt our economies to this challenge. In particular, transforming today’s cities into sustainable cities is one of the main adaptations that will be necessary. A holistic approach looking at cities from a system’s perspective is neededto achieve this goal.

In this book, world-leading researchers in corporate sustainability explore the importance of considering environmental, social, and governance criteria to ensure the survival and profitability of a company, as well as the protection of people and the planet. The book serves as a resource for company executives and managers seeking to implement sustainable practices, investors and shareholders interested in how companies address environmental and social challenges, students and academics studying issues related to sustainability and corporate social responsibility, consulting and advisory professionals, and sustainability activists and advocates seeking to learn more about how companies can be part of the solution to environmental and social problems.

In the ideal world, major decisions would be made based on complete and reliable information available to the decision maker. We live in a world of uncertainties, and decisions must be made from information which may be incomplete and may contain uncertainty. The key mathematical question addressed in this volume is "how to make decision in the presence of quantifiable uncertainty." The volume contains articles on model problems of decision making process in the energy and power industry when the available information is noisy and/or incomplete. The major tools used in studying these problems are mathematical modeling and optimization techniques; especially stochastic optimization. These articles are meant to provide an insight into this rapidly developing field, which lies in the intersection of applied statistics, probability, operations research, and economic theory. It is hoped that the present volume will provide entry to newcomers into the field, and stimulation for further research.

Soil is a complex system of inorganic and organic materials, living organisms, water, and air. It is home to more than one trillion species of microorganisms. Soil also plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. Because plants absorb carbon from the atmosphere, convert it to plant tissue, and return it to the soil as plant residue, soils globally act as the world’s largest sink of active carbon. Soil has role to play in food production and safety. Soil contamination undermined by modern agricultural practices that deplete soil carbon stocks. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have been raising recorded temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, forestry, and fisheries have almost doubled in the last 50 years and will increase by 30% by 2050 given the current trend. The primacy of arresting climate change is nowhere more evident than the adoption of 195 countries of the first legally binding global climate deal at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015. With atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) reaching 400 parts per million in 2016, soils can be an ally in bringing the CO2 level down to a sustainable level if protected for regeneration. Soil protection and regeneration is a technique that involves the conservative rehabilitation of soil ecosystem and farmland.