This book addresses challenges and opportunities in the Energy-Water-Environment (EWE) nexus, with a particular focus on research and technology development requirements in harsh desert climates. Its chapters include selected contributions presented during the 1st international conference on sustainable Energy-Water-Environment nexus in desert climates (ICSEWEN-19) held at the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) in Doha, Qatar in December 2019. This volume is comprised of three main chapters, each describing important case studies and progress on water, energy and environmental questions. A fourth chapter on policies and community outreach on these three areas is also included. This compilation aims to bridge the gap between research and industry to address the socioeconomic impacts of the nexus imbalance as perceived by scientists, industrial partners, and policymakers. The content of this book is of particular importance to graduate students, researchers and decision makers interested in understanding water, energy and environmental challenges in arid areas. Re searchers in environmental and civil engineering, chemistry, hydrology and environmental science can also find unique in-situ observations of the current nexus imbalance in deserts climate to validate their investigations. It is also an invaluable guide for industry professionals working in water, energy, environment and food sectors to understand the rapidly evolving landscape of the EWE nexus in arid areas. The analyses, observations and lessons-learned summarized herein are applicable to other arid areas outside North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as well, such as central Australia, the southwest of the United States and deserts in central Asia.

Design options and planning procedures must be critically examined to ensure that landscapes are created with sensitivity to water quality and management issues as well as overall ecological integrity. Handbook of Water Sensitive Planning and Design presents the history of water as a design and planning element in landscape architecture and describes new interpretations of water management. This text pushes the frontiers of standard water management in new directions, challenging readers into abandoning the comfortable safety of conducting business-as-usual within narrow disciplinary confines, and instead directing views outward to the exciting and incompletely mapped regions of true interdisciplinary water sensitive planning and design. With contributions from renowned practitioners, Part I provides seventeen chapters addressing the subject of site-specific water sensitive design and Part II presents another seventeen chapters focusing on issues relating to the water sensitive planning of riparian buffers and watersheds. In addition, Professor France has provided a "Response" to accompany each chapter, which succinctly underscores the salient features in more detail and emphasizes cross-linking to other chapters in the book. The "Overview" provides a brief road-map to navigate through the section. Finally, the discussion summaries at the end of each section elaborate on past problems, current challenges, and future directions. Handbook of Water Sensitive Planning and Design puts forward the very best of modern water sensitive planning and design and should be required reading for everyone involved in this dynamic and crucial field.

Encyclopedia of Deserts represents a milestone: it is the first comprehensive reference to the first comprehensive reference to deserts and semideserts of the world. Approximately seven hundred entries treat subjects ranging from desert survival to the way deserts are formed. Topics include biology (birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, invertebrates, plants, bacteria, physiology, evolution), geography, climatology, geology, hydrology, anthropology, and history. The thirty-seven contributors, including volume editor Michael A. Mares, have had extensive careers in deserts research, encompassing all of the world’s arid and semiarid regions. The Encyclopedia opens with a subject list by topic, an organizational guide that helps the reader grasp interrelationships and complexities in desert systems. Each entry concludes with cross-references to other entries in the volume, inviting the reader to embark on a personal expedition into fascinating, previously unknown terrain. In addition a list of important readings facilitates in-depth study of each topic. An exhaustive index permits quick access to places, topics, and taxonomic listings of all plants and animals discussed. More than one hundred photographs, drawings, and maps enhance our appreciation of the remarkable life, landforms, history, and challenges of the world’s arid land.