Management of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development and Ecological Hazards IV
Hannah Boxall reviews Management of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development and Ecological Hazards IV, edited by C.A Brebbia
Management of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development and Ecological Hazards IV
Editor: C.A. Brebbia
Publisher: WIT Press
Price: £108
A selection of short papers presented at the 4th International Conference on Management of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development and Ecological Hazards (a series of conferences merrily subtitled ‘Ravage of the Planet’), the chapters presented in Brebbia’s book all discuss the objective of reaching sustainability in the framework of different disciplines to arrive at optimal solutions.
The series of conferences underline the concern of the international community with the state of the planet, with the basic premise of determining a solution before the point of no return. This trans-disciplinary approach to sustainability encompasses examples of planning and development solutions for air, water, energy, soil and/or ecology.
This article was taken from Issue 83While the opportunity to observe environmental concerns in a broad range of settings through the eyes of local academics is welcome, it comes with some unfortunate translation errors. The editing comes into question again in a section on monitoring ecological hazards in Southern Asia, which contains two papers on studies in Namibia.
Of particular interest to Resource readers, perhaps, will be a paper on how municipal solid waste can best be valorised in the Spanish province of Granada, where more than 60 per cent of waste ends up in landfill. The University of Granada study considers the costs and benefits of bio-methanisation plants, solid recovered fuel production plants and gasification plants with a good mix of theory, calculation and context.
Elsewhere, an investigation into the human impact on hazardous waste risks in the Slovak Republic finds correlations between the generation of hazardous waste and both the local standard of life and population density, and looks at the subsequent risks that such waste presents. This paper is very densely packed with methodology, however, and seems to require a leap of faith on the part of the reader to arrive at its conclusion.
The vast array of topics and niche fields of research make for dense reading material, and there is little or no linkage between papers and sections. Each research topic would be most beneficial to a reader specialised in that field, although they are generally accessible to those with a background in environmental sciences.
