ABSTRACT

The seventh edition of Environmental Hazards provides a much expanded and fully up-to-date overview of all the extreme environmental events that threaten people and what they value in the 21st century globally. It integrates cutting-edge materials to provide an interdisciplinary approach to environmental hazards and their management, illustrating how natural and human systems interact to place communities of all sizes, and at all stages of economic development, at risk. Part 1 defines basic concepts of hazard, risk, vulnerability and disaster and explores the evolution of hazards theory. Part 2 employs a consistent chapter structure to demonstrate how individual hazards occur, their impacts and how the risks can be assessed and managed.

This extensively revised edition includes:

  • Fresh perspectives on the reliability of disaster data, disaster risk reduction, risk and disaster perception and communication, and new technologies available to assist with environmental hazard management
  • The addition of several new environmental hazards including landslide and avalanches, cryospheric hazards, karst and subsidence hazards, and hazards of the Anthropocene
  • More boxed sections with a focus on both generic issues and the lessons to be learned from a carefully selected range of up-to-date extreme events
  • An annotated list of key resources, including further reading and relevant websites, for all chapters
  • More colour diagrams and photographs, and more than 1,000 references to some of the most significant and recent published material
  • New exercises to assist teaching in the classroom, or self-learning

This carefully structured and balanced textbook captures the complexity and dynamism of environmental hazards and is essential reading for students across many disciplines including geography, environmental science, environmental studies and natural resources.

part One|250 pages

The Nature of Hazard

chapter Chapter One|52 pages

Hazards in the Environment

chapter Chapter Two|40 pages

Dimensions of Disaster

chapter Chapter Three|30 pages

Vulnerability, Resilience and Sustainability

chapter Chapter Four|54 pages

Risk Assessment and Management

chapter Chapter Five|72 pages

Disaster Risk Reduction

part Two|302 pages

The Experience and Reduction of Hazard

chapter Chapter Six|34 pages

Earthquake Hazards

chapter Chapter Seven|40 pages

Volcanic Hazards

chapter Chapter Eight|40 pages

Tsunami Hazards

chapter Chapter Nine|40 pages

Mass Movements

chapter Chapter Ten|24 pages

Storm Hazards

chapter Chapter Eleven|26 pages

Flood Hazards

chapter Chapter Twelve|29 pages

Drought Hazards

chapter Chapter Thirteen|23 pages

Extreme Temperature Hazards

chapter Chapter Fourteen|22 pages

Wildfire Hazards

chapter Chapter Fifteen|22 pages

Epidemic Disease Hazards

part Three|66 pages

Environmental Hazard and Risk in an Anthropocene

chapter Chapter Sixteen|8 pages

Anthropocene Challenges

chapter Chapter Seventeen|34 pages

Industrial and Waste Hazards

chapter Chapter Eighteen|20 pages

Climate and Beyond

chapter Chapter Nineteen|2 pages

Using Environmental Hazards Knowledge for Action