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Arctic Sustainability Research : Past, Present and Future
Andrey N. Petrov
The Arctic is one of the world’s regions most affected by cultural, socio-economic, environmental, and climatic changes. Over the last two decades, scholars, policymakers, extractive industries, governments, intergovernmental forums, and non-governmental organizations have turned their attention to the Arctic, its peoples, resources, and to the challenges and benefits of impending transformations. Arctic sustainability is an issue of increasing concern as well as the resilience and adaptation of Arctic societies to changing conditions. This book offers key insights into the history, current state of knowledge and the future of sustainability, and sustainable development research in the Arctic. Written by an international, interdisciplinary team of experts, it presents a comprehensive progress report on Arctic sustainability research. It identifies key knowledge gaps and provides salient recommendations for prioritizing research in the next decade. Arctic Sustainability Research will appeal to researchers, academics, and policymakers interested in sustainability science and the practices of sustainable development, as well as those working in polar studies, climate change, political geography, and the history of science. -- Provided by publisher
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Arctic Social Indicators: ASI II - Implementation
Joan Nymand Larsen, Peter Schweitzer, and Andrey Petrov
Arctic Social Indicators II (ASI-II) is a follow-up activity to ASI-I (2010) and the first Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR, 2004). The objective of ASI (2010) was to develop a small set of Arctic specific social indicators that as a collective would help facilitate the tracking and monitoring of change in human development in the Arctic. ASI indicators were developed for six domains that are considered prominent aspects of human development in the Arctic by residents in the Arctic: Health and Population; Material Wellbeing; Education; Cultural Wellbeing; Contact with Nature; and Fate Control. The objective of the present volume of ASI is to present and discuss the findings of the work on measuring the set of recommended ASI indicators; to conduct a series of regional case studies to illustrate and test the strength and applicability of these indicators; to identify and describe data challenges for the Arctic region specifically in relation to these Arctic specific indicators and to draw conclusions about the ability of ASI to track changes in human development; and to formulate policy relevant conclusions for the long-term monitoring of Arctic human development. The core content of ASI-II is a set of five carefully selected case studies, which form the basis for drawing conclusions about the applicability of the ASI indicators and for formulating policy relevant conclusions. Case studies are performed for Sakha Republic (Yakutia); the West-Nordic Region; Northwest Territories; Inuit Regions of Alaska; and the Inuit World, with the Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic (SLiCA) used to augment ASI.Findings on the state and changes in Arctic human development and wellbeing are presented. Based on our analysis and conclusions from the five case studies the framework for an ASI monitoring system is introduced. We argue that the long-term monitoring of human development in the Arctic would be greatly facilitated by the regular and frequent collection and reporting of relevant data, including those required for the proposed small set of ASI indicators. -- Provided by publisher
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Africa, Tropical Timber, Turfs and Trade: Geographic Perspectives on Ghana's Timber Industry and Development
John Henry Owusu
This book examines development issues, particularly spatial integration, in Sub-Saharan Africa regarding its tropical timber trade, and the related formal-informal operational turf creation, control and dynamics. Focusing primarily on Ghana, Owusu examines the scramble to control the timber trade by various political and socio-economic interests, from the colonial to the neo-liberal era. In relation to this, Owusu documents the structural and organizational changes that have occurred in the region resulting from national and international development policies, such as modernization and neo-liberal structural adjustment on industrialization and development, and assesses the roles played by powerful international organizations such as The World Bank as agents of economic change. The discussion is couched in the critical but often unrecognized or neglected role the discipline of geography and its associated perspectives play in relation to examining and understanding the unequal relationship between the advanced and developing economies, and how that relationship affects development and trade behavior of developing economies. The core argument made regarding this relationship is tied to the structuralist perspective that Africa’s persistent underdevelopment problem is rooted in the very structure of its political economy. Based on the discussion, Owusu identifies and distills lessons from Ghana’s experience for Development policy and practice in Africa and comparable Developing countries in the 21st Century. -- Provided by publisher
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Spatial Decision Support Systems: Principles and Practices
Ramanathan Sugumaran and John DeGroote
Although interest in Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS) continues to grow rapidly in a wide range of disciplines, students, planners, managers, and the research community have lacked a book that covers the fundamentals of SDSS along with the advanced design concepts required for building SDSS. Filling this need, Spatial Decision Support Systems: Principles and Practices provides a comprehensive examination of the various aspects of SDSS evolution, components, architecture, and implementation. It integrates research from a variety of disciplines, including the geosciences, to supply a complete overview of SDSS technologies and their application from an interdisciplinary perspective. This groundbreaking reference provides thorough coverage of the roots of SDSS. It explains the core principles of SDSS, how to use them in various decision making contexts, and how to design and develop them using readily available enabling technologies and commercial tools. The book consists of four major parts, each addressing different topic areas in SDSS: 1. Presents an introduction to SDSS and the evolution of SDSS 2. Covers the essential and optional components of SDSS 3. Focuses on the design and implementation of SDSS 4. Reviews SDSS applications from various domains and disciplines -- investigating current challenges and future directions. The text includes numerous detailed case studies, example applications, and methods for tailoring SDSS to your work environment. It also integrates sample code segments throughout. Addressing the technical and organizational challenges that affect the success or failure of SDSS, the book concludes by considering future directions of this rapidly emerging field of study. -- Provided by publisher
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