World Water Crisis
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Earth - the blue planet - is a world more than half covered by oceans, its poles capped with ice sheets and its atmosphere laden with moisture. Yet, in the last decade, water resources planners have frequently signalled an impending water crisis. The message is that the world is running out of water and that only by careful planning and the adoption of integrated water resources management can catastrophe be avoided. _x000D__x000D_In his impressive new work, Stephen Brichieri-Colombi challenges these perceptions over global freshwater availability. He maintains that the crisis is one of resource management rather than availability: it arises because water resource planners advocate exploitation of rivers without due regard to social, environmental and geopolitical consequences. Without an overarching political framework integrated water resource management fails on international rivers, its holy grail of optimality is illusory, and the benefits of basinwide co-operation over bilateral co-operation are minimal. The author advances a new paradigm - water in the national economy - which focuses upon improved domestic water management and the benefits from regional rather than basinwide co-operation. The approach combines insights from a wide range of disciplines and reveals how policies that favour family planning, urbanisation, improved diets, rain-fed farming, economic growth, food imports for cities and improved water-use efficiency can enable developing countries to meet future food and water demands without increasing abstraction from rivers and consequential riparian conflict. _x000D__x000D_Combining technical expertise with a wealth of experience, The World Water Crisis: the Failures of Resource Management offers a lucid and powerful re-appraisal of the development of global water resources. It will command the interest of professionals, policy makers, researchers and academics involved in the practicalities and politics of global water issues.
Building Safer Communities. Risk Governance, Spatial Planning and Responses to Natural Hazards
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A collection of essays that discusses the directions and key components of risk governance. It also includes the analysis of proactive approaches to the governance of risk from natural hazards, and approaches to broaden the scope of public policies related to the management of risks from natural hazards.
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The Dictionary of Human Geography
With clear, critical, and constructive surveys of key terms by leading researchers in the field, "The Dictionary of Human Geography," fifth edition, remains the definitive guide to the concepts and debates in human geography. Comprehensively revised new edition of a highly successful text with over 300 key terms appearing for the first time Situates Human Geography within the humanities, social sciences and sciences as a whole Written by leading experts in the field Major entries not only describe the development of concepts, contributions and debates in Human Geography but also advance them Features a new consolidated bibliography along with a detailed index and systematic cross-referencing of headwords
The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods
Qualitative research is designed to explore the human elements of a given topic, while specific qualitative methods examine how individuals see and experience the world. Qualitative approaches are typically used to explore new phenomena and to capture individuals' thoughts, feelings, or interpretations of meaning and process. Such methods are central to research conducted in education, nursing, sociology, anthropology, information studies, and other disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and health sciences. Qualitative research projects are informed by a wide range of methodologies and theoretical frameworks. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods presents current and complete information as well as ready-to-use techniques, facts, and examples from the field of qualitative research in a very accessible style. In taking an interdisciplinary approach, these two volumes target a broad audience and fill a gap in the existing reference literature for a general guide to the core concepts that inform qualitative research practices. The entries cover every major facet of qualitative methods, including access to research participants, data coding, research ethics, the role of theory in qualitative research, and much more--all without overwhelming the informed reader. Key Features Defines and explains core concepts, describes the techniques involved in the implementation of qualitative methods, and presents an overview of qualitative approaches to research Offers many entries that point to substantive debates among qualitative researchers regarding how concepts are labeled and the implications of such labels for how qualitative research is valued Guides readers through the complex landscape of the language of qualitative inquiry Includes contributors from various countries and disciplines that reflect a diverse spectrum of research approaches from more traditional, positivist approaches, through postmodern, constructionist ones Presents some entries written in first-person voice and others in third-person voice to reflect the diversity of approaches that define qualitative work Key Themes Approaches and Methodologies Arts-Based Research, Ties to Computer Software Data Analysis Data Collection Data Types and Characteristics Dissemination History of Qualitative Research Participants Quantitative Research, Ties to Research Ethics Rigor Textual Analysis, Ties to Theoretical and Philosophical Frameworks The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods is designed to appeal to undergraduate and graduate students, practitioners, researchers, consultants, and consumers of information across the social sciences, humanities, and health sciences, making it a welcome addition to any academic or public library.