Available as an ebook
Please purchase via www.iwaponline.comOpens in new window
Also part of Water Intelligence Online Digital Reference Library
Standard ePrice: £111.00
+ VAT
Available as an ebook
Please purchase via www.iwaponline.comOpens in new window
Also part of Water Intelligence Online Digital Reference Library
Standard ePrice: £111.00
+ VAT
This book represents the outcome of the Second IWA Leading-Edge Conference held in Sydney, Australia in November 2004.
Sustainability is a paradoxical concept. We know we want to protect the environment from human-induced change, yet ecosystems are dynamic, constantly changing and adapting in response to a multitude of factors, the combined effect and subtleties of which are probably well beyond human calculation.
Furthermore, our conscious desire to protect the environment - which forces us to think of humans as sitting outside ecosystems - conflicts with the unavoidable fact that we are an unconscious actor within those ecosystems.
We must also recognise that the goal of "protecting the environment" is not a clear-cut objective. Perhaps, because of its complexity and propensity to change, we cannot know what the fully protected environment would look like. Individual preferences too make the conceptualisation of an ideal state impossible; do we strive for an ecosystem in which we play a minor part - barely influencing natural outcomes - or one that is more actively managed and provides for our needs or wants?
Neither this volume, nor the conference from which it draws, resolve the paradoxes described above. The papers presented here do, however, provide insight into the innovative thinking and practical projects undertaken across the globe that move us from patently unsustainable conditions to those in which our economic activity, impact on ecosystems and desire for positive social outcomes are in better balance.
River Basin Restoration and Management is the result of two workshops that took place at the 4th IWA World Water Congress: The Restoration of Degraded River Basins and River Basin...
Rapid growth of cities and industries in China is having a dramatic impact on the environment. To counteract further decrease of water quality of rivers, lakes and groundwater bodies, an...
Aerobic Granular Sludge has recently received growing attention by researchers and technology developers, worldwide. Laboratory studies and preliminary field tests led to the...
The World Health Organization estimates that globally one billion people are without access to safe water and two billion people without adequate sanitation. The health...
Groundwater has provided great benefits to agriculture irrigation in semi-arid OECD countries, but its intensive use beyond recharge in certain regions has depleted resources and generated...
As part of IWA's role to promote networking and career development opportunities for young researchers and professionals, IWA established the Young Researchers Conference (YRC) in 2002 as a...
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events, notably of droughts and floods to which the agriculture sector is particularly exposed. While...