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Academics assemble to create ‘climate change bible’ for rivers and seas

Published:

Cover of new book Advances in Modelling and Prediction on the Impact of Human Activities and Extreme Events on Environments

New book pulls together leading experts to explain how we can protect environment

How do you know if a new bridge will disrupt the ecosystem of a river? What impact do ports have on the marine environment? How does urbanisation and industrialisation affect coastal regions?

All of these questions (and more) are discussed in rich detail in a new book which draws together some of the world’s leading environmental experts.

Advances in Modelling and Prediction on the Impact of Human Activities and Extreme Events on Environments is a 414-page bible-of-sorts, replete with 21 peer-reviewed papers, with the aim of creating a guide for anyone interested in examining the adverse impact humans have on marine environments, the impact of natural hazards and more importantly, what we can do to mitigate their effects.

Jaan Pu, Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Bradford and one of the book’s editors, said: “Human activities have changed the ecosystems, so it is very important to determine ways to predict these consequences to enable the preservation and restoration of these key areas.

“The selected papers in this book cover a wide range of issues that are mainly relevant to the numerical and experimental characterization of complex flow conditions under specific circumstances induced by the natural hazards.

“It also focuses on the effect of climate change on the hydrological processes in the mountainous, river and coastal environments and the protection of ecosystems and the restoration of areas damaged by the effects of the climate change and human activities.”

Jaan said: “As rapid urbanization and industrialization cause severe impacts on mountainous, river and coastal environments, increasing the risks for people living in these areas, the new book focuses on profiling and predicting the environmental impact of human activity and extreme events.

“Experts understand that events attributed to climate change are becoming more frequent, aggravating the entire scenario and introducing ulterior uncertainties for the accurate and efficient management of these areas to protect the environment, as well as the health and safety of people.

“Climate change is altering the rain and extreme heat, and inducing other weather mutations leading to more frequent natural disasters such as flood events, erosions, and contamination and spreading of pollutants.”

The new publication is a response to the growing need for efforts to be devoted to investigating the underlying causes and to identifying feasible mitigation and adaptation strategies to reduce the negative impacts on both the environment and citizens. 

MDPI, a leading publisher of peer-reviewed, open access journals has published Advances in Modelling and Prediction on the Impact of Human Activities and Extreme Events on Environments.

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