Regions at Risk: Comparisons of Threatened EnvironmentsJeanne X. Kasperson, Roger E. Kasperson, Billie Lee Turner Human-induced environmental change is to be found throughout the world, but there are areas that scientists consider to be "critical regions" - regions that are particularly vulnerable to or suffering from environmental degradation. In this volume nine such "critical environmental regions" (Amazonia, the Aral Sea basin, the middle mountains of Nepal, Kenya's Ukambani region, the US Southern High Plains, the Mexico Basin, the North Sea, the Ordos Plateau of China, and the eastern Sundaland region of South-East Asia) are examined as case-studies. In chapter one the authors provide a detailed look into the concepts of environmental criticality and endangerment and propose formal definitions. The nine regional studies that follow in the subsequent chapters serve to translate the conceptual framework into the physical and social realities of each area. The case-studies make available an up-to-date synthesis of vast amounts of inaccessible data, and as such will be valuable to scholars and policy makers interested in specific areas of the world and others interested in regional comparisons. Anyone concerned with global environmental change, criticality, human-environment interactions, and how societies in different regions have responded to environmental degradation will find much that is new and important in this pioneering, innovative study. |
Contents
Amazonia | 42 |
The Aral Sea basin | 92 |
The Nepal middle mountains | 140 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
activities agricultural Akamba Amazon Amazonia Aral Sea Aral Sea basin areas assessment Basin of Mexico Borneo Brazil cent Central conservation cotton criticality cropland crops Darya decline deforestation District drought East Kalimantan ecological economic ecosystems endangerment environment environmental change environmental degradation export extraction farmers farming fish forest global groups Ih-Ju League impacts important increased Indonesia industry Institute irrigation Jodha Kenya Kitui Kitui District km² land land-use livestock Llano Estacado logging Lubbock Machakos Machakos District Malaysia ment Mexico City middle mountains natural Nepal North Sea Ordos Plateau pasture plants political pollution population growth problems production programmes protection region Research rivers runoff rural Sabah Sarawak shifting cultivation social societal response soil erosion sources Southern High Plains species Sundaland sustainable Syr Darya Texas timber tion trajectories tropical Ukambani University urban Uzbekistan vegetation vulnerability well-being zone