The blue economy, comprising coastal and marine resources, offers vast benefits for sub-Saharan Africa: of the 53 countries and territories in the region, 32 are coastal states; there are 13 million sq km of maritime zones; more than 90% of the region’s exports and imports come by sea; and the African Union hails the blue economy as the ‘new frontier of African renaissance’. Despite their importance, the region’s coastal and marine resources have been neither fully appreciated nor fully utilized. They are only now being recognized as being key to Africa’s potential prosperity. As the region grows, it has, in general, not taken adequate safeguards to protect these valuable resources. That is partly because some of the problems (pollution, for example) are regional and know no borders. All too often, short-term gains are made at the expense of the long term (overfishing, for example). This book provides, for the first time, a study of the constraints and opportunities the blue economy offers for sub-Saharan Africa. It includes an introduction and overview; sectoral analyses (including tourism, fisheries, mineral resources, culture, shipping and maritime safety); country case studies; and analyses of regional and international efforts towards better coastal zone and marine management.

Marketing and Managing Tourism Destinations is a comprehensive and integrated introductory textbook covering destination management and marketing in one volume. It focuses on how destination management is planned, implemented, and evaluated as well as the management and operations of destination management organizations (DMOs), how they conduct business, major opportunities, and challenges and issues they face to compete for the global leisure and business travel markets. Much has changed since the publication of the second edition of this book in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic was unpredictable at the time and has caused havoc for destinations and DMOs. The third edition includes many materials about the COVID-19 impacts and recovery from the pandemic. This third edition has been updated to include: four new chapters (Chapter 2—“Destination Sustainability and Social Responsibility”; Chapter 3—“Quality of Life and Well-Being of Destination Residents”; Chapter 11—“Destination Crisis Management”; and Chapter 20—“Destination Management Performance Measurement and Management”) new and updated international case examples to show the practical realities and approaches to managing different destinations around the world coverage of contemporary topics including, for example, COVID-19, social responsibility, metaverse, mixed reality, virtual meetings, teleworking, digital nomads, viral marketing, blended travel, regenerative tourism, meaningful travel, and several others a significantly improved illustration program keyword lists It is illustrated in full color and packed with features to encourage reflection on main themes, spur critical thinking, and show theory in practice. Written by an author with many years of industry practice, university teaching, and professional training experience, this book is the essential guide to the subject for tourism, hospitality, and events students and industry practitioners alike.

Cities in Asia and the Pacific are expanding rapidly. With this growth, persons with disabilities, older persons, women, and children face significant challenges in accessing urban services and fully participating in city life. To address such barriers, inclusive environments are needed wherein infrastructure and services are built considering the different needs of everyone. The inclusive cities guidelines provide universal design solutions, accessibility standards, and case studies on inclusive urban development to help create a barrier-free built environment and public space. These guidelines adopt both international standards and national standards in Georgia to provide support to urban practitioners and planners in ensuring old and new developments can adapt and contribute toward the creation of inclusive and livable cities.

Aquatic ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and home to a diverse array of species and habitats, providing a wide variety of benefits to human beings. Many of these valuable ecosystems are at risk of being irreversibly damaged by human activities and pressures, including pollution, contamination, invasive species, overfishing and climate change. Such pressures threaten the sustainability of these ecosystems, their provision of ecosystem services and ultimately human well-being. Ecosystem-based management (EBM) is now widely considered the most promising paradigm for balancing sustainable development and biodiversity protection, and various international strategies and conventions have championed the EBM cause and the inclusion of ecosystem services in decision-making. This open access book introduces the essential concepts and principles required to implement ecosystem-based management, detailing tools and techniques, and describing the application of these concepts and tools to a broad range of aquatic ecosystems, from the shores of Lough Erne in Northern Ireland to the estuaries of the US Pacific Northwest and the tropical Mekong Delta.

Woodfuel is extremely important for energy security in Africa. About eighty percent of both rural and urban populations in the 49 countries that comprise South-Saharan (SSA) Africa rely on wood-based biomass to satisfy their energy needs, especially for cooking. Under the Paris Agreement for Climate Change, countries have submitted their 'Intended Nationally Determined Contributions' (INDCs) to the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), to define their national ambitions. After Paris, these have now become legally binding NDCs. Therefore, the role that woodfuel plays in the NDCs of SSA countries needs to be assessed. We reviewed and assessed INDC/NDCs of a selection of SSA countries to identify how they focus on wood fuel. This paper provides a first analysis of the role that woodfuels play in the NDCs. Only five of the 22 countries analyzed do not mention wood fuels at all. While all of those that do mention roadmaps, only just over half of them offer budgetary considerations, and about half of them identify institutional responsibilities for the woodfuel sector. In many NDCs, woodfuel is seen as a backwater technology, and not the renewable energy source it could be come if sustainably harvested and managed. We find that, overall, next iterations of the NDCs in SSA countries need to become more specific regarding the role of woodfuels in national climate and development policies.

Conservation of biodiversity is a fundamental concern towards securing a sustainable future. This volume argues that despite various domestic and international policies and legal frameworks on biodiversity conservation — be it forest, wildlife, marine, coastal, etc. — their implementation suffers from many deficiencies. It explores the factors that hinder effective implementation of these policies and frameworks. It also analyses existing laws, both international and domestic, to identify inherent problems in the existing legal system. The book maintains that careful adherence to established procedures and protocols, public awareness, filling the lacuna in legal framework, and a strong political will are sine qua non for effective conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development. The volume defends the protection of traditional knowledge and participation of indigenous communities along with reinforcements of intellectual property in this regard. It also commends the role played by the Indian judiciary, especially the Supreme Court of India and India’s National Green Tribunal for the preservation and enhancement of natural resources by applying established as also evolving principles of environmental law. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of environmental studies, development studies, policy studies and law related to biodiversity and conservation.