Ecohydrology from Catchment to Coast
Aim & scope
This series:
Rivers and coastal ecosystems are at the nexus of the Anthropocene, with enormous environmental issues, and inhabited by nearly half the human population. These systems and the surrounding human societies form coastal social-ecological systems that increasingly face enormous environmental issues from multiple pressures, which threaten their ecological and economical sustainability. The pressures are derived from hazards which then become risks where they impact society and where, in some cases, human responses exacerbate the risks. Currently, there is just one big idea regarding managing these systems – how to maintain and protect the natural ecological structure and keep it functioning and yet at the same time allow the ecosystems to deliver services which produce societal goods and benefits.
The pressures include basically all human activities within the river catchments such as changes to land use and hydrology in the river catchment, and directly on coastal ecosystems from land claim, coastal sand mining, harbour dredging, pollution and eutrophication, overexploitation such as overfishing and extraction of groundwater, gas, and petroleum extraction. In addition, coastal zones are impacted by climate change – this is not just the ‘usual’ culprits of sea level rise, ocean acidification and increased temperature but also, just as important, changes in the rainfall-runoff of the river catchments, stronger coastal storms, and the changes to species distributions, including the influx of invasive species. No country so far has established integrated management of its water resources from the catchment to the coast due to socio-political compromises. The book series aims to lead the field worldwide by addressing this problem, showing solutions to the increasing problems worldwide of a water crisis. During the 20th Century, coastal scientists studied these water problems and issues. Now, in the 21st Century, they must focus on how to solve these problems and issues through better management and innovative approaches. That is the aim of this book series.
Audience
Water resources managers Hydrologists Ecologists Hydraulic engineers Farming Economists Irrigators Planners Fishermen Climatologists