Pollution and threats to the environment

This book is the first edited compilation of selected, refereed papers submitted to ERTEP 2007.

Anthropogenic emissions of ammonia cause a host of environmental impacts, including loss of biodiversity, soil acidification and formation of particulate matter in the atmosphere.

Over the last 60 years, we have recognized increasingly that our world is connected, and the impacts of environmental catastrophes and economic crises in one region of our world have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences globally.

Irrigated agriculture produces about 40% of all food and fibre on about 16% of all cropped land.

While almost every aspect of society-nature interactions can be treated as an environmental security issue, the threats to human societies originating from inadequate freshwater management constitute one of the most wi- spread and pressing problems.

Wind erosion occurs in many arid, semiarid and agricultural areas of the world.

The book reviews the current state of knowledge on the chemical and physical processes occurring in the environmental media (i) the atmosphere, (ii) the aqueous phase and (iii) soil and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the chemical mechanisms (both explicit and condensed) currently available to simulate the multimedia environmental chemistry of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter in these media.

In this day and age, it is unfortunate that the economic prosperity and development leads to disruption of the dynamic balance of the environment.

Life on Earth is critically dependent upon the continuous cycling of water between oceans, continents and the atmosphere.

Over the last three decades drought episodes have resulted in severe social problems in Mediterranean countries, receiving broad attention from the international scientific and policy communities.

In 1969, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established the C- mittee on Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS).

Plasma decontamination is a rapidly expanding area of modern science and engineering.

Since its establishment as a policy research institute in 1990, the Institute for In- grated Development Studies (IIDS) has been engaged in promoting public awa- ness and understanding of issues of national importance by undertaking studies and research on contemporary themes.

International Documents on Environmental Liability brings together 30 official full-text documents in the field of international environmental liability into an easily accessible, practical handbook; details the work of the International Law Commission on this topic; and provides the latest versions of international liability conventions and their statuses - including the latest on: (1) 2003 UNECE Kyiv Liability Protocol; (2) 2004 EC Directive on Environmental Liability; (3) 2005 Antartica Liability Annex.

Although numerous books have been written on both monitoring and modelling of coastal oceans, there is a practical need for an introductory multi-disciplinary volume to non-specialists in this field.

At present, constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment are a widely used technology for treatment of various types of wastewaters.

This book presents the environmental history of the Delta of the lowland rivers Rhine and Meuse, an ecological story on evolving human-environmental relations coping with climate change and sea-level rise.

As a result of arms control efforts over the past 50 years, nuclear material is subject to strict national controls and tough international treaties.

Sol-gel processing is a soft-chemistry method to obtain functional materials at low temperatures.

This book contains a selection of papers presented at the Advanced Research Workshop on 'The Socio-economic causes and consequences of desertification in Central Asia' held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in June 2006.

Environmental and Human Security: Then and Now 1 2 ALAN D.

John Wesley Powell, U.

Background This book is the most obvious outcome of the "e;COST 351, WATMOVE"e; project (see www.

International experts in the field of oil spill response, including reprsentatives from 26 NATO countries, participated in a workshop in Canada to discuss their experience in the development and application of current and emerging technologies for oil spill response in the marine environment.

Wetlands have been used for uncontrolled wastewater disposal for centuries.

Braving the Currents systematically identifies, applies, and evaluates criteria to define success in complex multi-party natural resource disputes.

Concern over the effects of noise on marine life, particularly marine mammals, has emerged as a topic of considerable interest to both professionals and laypersons alike.

We are facing increasing environmental concerns associated with water, air, and soil pollution as well as climate change induced by human activities.

Global Change is increasingly considered a critical topic in environmental research.

Water is one of the most essential elements for sustaining life.

"e;Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

This book has been several years in the making.

In many parts of the world, groundwater resources are under increasing threat from growing demands, wasteful use, and contamination.

Lakes and coastal wetlands all over the world are ideal places for human habitation, fisheries, industries, shipping and recreation.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic compounds of natural or anthropogenic origin that resist photolytic, chemical and biological degradation.

In line with the Water Framework Directive, this book stresses the need for an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach to balance the competing demands on water-domestic, agricultural, industrial, tourism and environmental/ecological- and promote economically efficient, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable water use in selected regions from Southern Europe, the Mediterranean and the developing world.

In case of security threats there is a need for temporal access to complete, updated, reliable information, in a dedicated form, is an essential prerequisite to effectively counter security threats.

It is widely stipulated that the world's water supply will come to symbolize the blue gold of the 21st century.

Global awareness of environmental issues has increased on an unprecedented scale.

Groundwater is of utmost importance in the arid and semi-arid environment.

The NATO Advanced Workshop "e;Advanced Combustion and Aerothermal Technologies: Environmental Protection and Pollution Reductions"e; was held in Kiev (Ukraine) from 15 to 19 May 2006 and was organized by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics (Ukraine) and Cardiff University (UK).

Global change due to natural processes and anthropogenic activity as well as the natural variability of the climate system will impact all areas of the globe.

Chemical industries have to face the big challenge of finding adequate processes to produce large quantities of new products for which there is a present need, decreasing at the same time both the impact on the environment and the risk of disasters.

Growing population and rising standards of living exert stress on water supply and the quality of drinking water.

The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on RecentAdvancesin Adsorption Processes for Environmental Protection and Security was held during, September 9-12, 2006, at Hotel Salyut, Kiev, Ukraine.

The world's livestock sector is amidst a major transformation, fuelled by high demand for meat and milk, which is likely to double over the next two decades in developing countries.

This North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) was devoted to Wastewater Reuse - Risk Assessment, Decision-Making and Environmental Security held in Istanbul, Turkey, at the Hotel Villa Suites, Taksim during October 12-16, 2006.

The 8th Highway and Urban Environment Symposium (8HUES) was held on 12-14 June 2006 in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Integrated Water Resources Management and Security in the Middle East brings together diverse voices relating to the critical issue of water management in one of the world's most politically volatile areas: the Middle East.

This book looks at the sources and composition of the atmosphere and rainfall, with particular attention on acidifying components and those that affect ecosystems.