In the face of unprecedented challenges in managing water resources, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a revolutionary force, reshaping the landscape of water conservation, treatment, irrigation, policy formulation, watershed management, and the monitoring of groundwater and surface water. This book explores the transformative role of AI in the water domain, exploring cutting-edge applications and innovative solutions that promise to address pressing issues in sustainable water management. As we navigate the complexities of a changing climate, population growth, and urbanization, the chapters within this book offer insights into how AI technologies can enhance efficiency, optimize resource utilization, and provide data-driven strategies for ensuring the resilience and sustainability of our vital water ecosystems. From intelligent water treatment systems to precision agriculture and policy decision support, each chapter unfolds a narrative of AI-driven advancements, providing a comprehensive guide for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers navigating the intersection of artificial intelligence and water management.

This book presents state-of-the-art perspectives on the Blue Economy. It applies important geographical and sustainability transitions perspectives and underscores how Blue Economy dynamics are situated in regional contexts and shaped by the people who live there.The book highlights the Blue Economy concept as a potential driver of regionally sensitive, ecologically embedded, and community-focused sustainability. The scope for Blue Economy to form a core "cog" in our low-carbon future is obvious, from the potential for renewable energy production and coastal resilience building to possibilities for sustainable food production and the delivery of economic opportunities for peripheral communities. However, fundamental questions remain on how to meaningfully deliver these promises, such as how to avoid embedding a model of damaging extractivism, as per the terrestrial economy, and how to deliver on the key social sustainability principles of human well-being, equity, and justice when planning and developing blue economies. As the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development opens, this book provides a timely reminder of the richness, diversity, and potential of coastal and marine spaces. It advances geographical and transdisciplinary understandings of the Blue Economy and sets a baseline for continued scholarly engagement with the Blue Economy from a variety of perspectives.

Focusing on maritime security, this book discusses Blue Economy and Smart sea transport systems in the context of the Indian Ocean rim countries and the multifaceted challenges that they are likely to face while attempting to develop such systems. It introduces Blue Economy as a concept with an emphasis on lower costs, reduced waste, greater efficiency, and value addition in all services associated with the near and deep oceans, with the establishment of Smart sea transport systems as the adaptive response in a global trade system. It highlights the roles of maritime security in politics, economics, and environmental management issues that constitute the challenges of achieving such goals. In this regard, the authors approach the issues from the institutional perspective to examine ways in which relevant transport and supply chain stakeholders can collaborate to build secure, resilient global systems of maritime trade. This book will be of interest to anyone interested in marine policy and global supply chains, especially in maritime security, its impacts and risks on transport and supply chain infrastructures, and the related socioeconomic activities likely to be affected. Readers will gain insight into the effective ways to adapt to such risks and how to benefit from the generated opportunities on transport, supply chains, and the global economy.

Renewable-energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. Renewable-energy includes sources such as sunlight, tides, waves, wind, rain, and geothermal heat. According to BP's-2018 Energy Outlook (EO), renewable energy will be the fastest growing source of energy, increasing fivefold by 2040 thus providing around 14% of global primary energy at this future point. On the other hand, climate change is bringing about rising temperatures, which have significant negative impacts on humans and the environment, and transitioning to renewable energy sources, such as biofuels, can help meet this challenge. Transitioning to renewable energy, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels, is one way to help slow down the effects of climate change. While renewables used to be a more expensive option, new clean energy technologies are lowering costs and helping to move economies away from fossil fuels. The 1st International Conference on Climate Change and Ocean Renewable Energy (CCORE 2022), is a virtual conference held from November 4-7, 2022, presenting experiences and ideas through research talks and presentations from diverse fields in climate change and ocean renewable energy. This event offers a platform in bringing together a forum for students, postdocs and established scientists to exchange their ideas and contribute to an integrative approach to climate change and ocean renewable energy.

Achieving sustainability is perhaps the single-most important task for our generation. In the face of a looming climate disaster, calls for the sustainable use of the world’s resources are getting louder. As the sea covers more than 70 per cent of the earth’s surface, this holds even more true for the use of ocean resources. Despite its vastness, the sea has often been a securitised and politicised space, where the concepts of sustainability and security meet at sea in the form of a myriad of important contemporary issues. In this volume, we set out the intersection between sustainability and security alongside the security-development nexus, and examine these issues under four dimensions of security: economic security, ecological security, human security, and traditional security. Within sections dedicated to each of these we explore both theory and practice by offering cases alongside a conceptual discussion, and in so doing cover topics ranging from the Blue Economy and the net-zero agenda, to natural disasters and climate change, from food security and the future of Small Island Developing States, to the geopolitics of the Arctic. This book takes a bird’s eye view, connecting the dots between these issues of security and sustainability, and ending with scenarios for the future with policy-making in mind. This volume presents a timely and compelling argument that policymakers and scholars need to come to terms with the intersection of sustainability and security at sea. The editors detail a clear and insightful conceptual approach for grasping the simultaneity and interplay of security and sustainability concerns that will give inspiration to further research in the field. Chapter contributors convincingly illustrate aspects of this approach across regions, scales and sites of political engagement – from port cities to the UN.

The global blue economy is an important part of the world’s economy, providing jobs and resources to billions of people around the world. It currently faces a number of challenges, from overfishing and pollution, to climate change and ocean acidification. In order to ensure a sustainable future for the blue economy, there is need to develop strategies and policies that promote the conservation and responsible use of marine resources, such as fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the protection of marine habitats and ecosystems. Blue economy also includes activities such as marine tourism, shipping, renewable energy and other forms of ocean-based economic activity.
This reference work gives a comprehensive overview of the topic and provides guidance on how to address the challenges associated with developing a sustainable blue economy. It also discusses items such as the role of women and youth in a sustainable blue economy, how to create a supportive policy and regulatory environment, and how to ensure the equitable sharing of benefits generated by the blue economy. It supports the implementation of various SDGs such as SDG1 (No Poverty), SDG2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), SDG13 (Climate Action), SDG14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 17 (Partnerships to achieve the Goals). This book will be a valuable resource for policymakers and decision-makers to ensure the long-term sustainability of our marine resources, while giving insights into the economic opportunities and potential for growth.

"This book critically analyses different dimensions in the sustainable transitions outlined by the European Green Deal, focusing on both internal actions and external relations and highlighting the EU's diverging powers and capabilities in achieving the core objectives. As with the Green Deal itself, the chapters cover different policies including financial instruments, energy policies, climate policies and external policies and apply the ideal-type logics of appropriateness and consequences to analyse sustainable transformations. The variety of the cases contribute to a broad understanding of how different actors interpret and implement the aims of the European Green Deal, including especially those lagging behind, who, for various reasons, are struggling with the sustainable transition. From examining their policies, the book illuminates the challenges and opportunities they are facing. Overall, the contributions address key questions surrounding the EU's powers and limits in inducing transformative change and implementing the European Green Deal. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of EU sustainability policies, sustainability transitions and green economy, environmental studies, energy policy, energy governance and climate change, public policy, comparative politics and international relations".

This volume comprehensively discusses marine bioprospecting and its applications in the marine bioeconomy, specifically in clean energy generation, and in biomedical, industrial and agricultural sectors. The advent of modern technology, particularly advancements in deep-sea exploration and biotechnology, has enabled scientists to delve deeper into the ocean's depths and discover a treasure trove of unique organisms and compounds. This demonstrates that the rich history of human interactions with the oceans is firmly ingrained in marine bioprospecting. The blue-economy, which is a more accurate name for the systematic search for valuable substances and organisms in the water, has gained popularity in recent years as a possible route for sustainable economic development. One of the key driving factors behind marine bioprospecting is the growing realization that marine organisms possess unique biochemical compounds with the potential to revolutionize various industries. These compounds include novel enzymes, antimicrobial agents, bioactive molecules, and even potential pharmaceuticals. Readers will learn about the applications of these discoveries in bioremediation, wastewater treatment, and biofuel production, as well as the identification of natural substitutes for things that are detrimental to the environment, which include biodegradable plastics derived from marine microorganisms.

The Ocean and Us provides an overview of our contemporary understanding of the ocean and all the ways our lives interact with it. It is intended for everyone with an interest in our blue planet. The book brings together the expertise of over 35 ocean specialists from around the world. It explores a wide variety of themes including the importance of a healthy ocean in the fight to halt and contain climate change. It covers issues such as overfishing and pollution, as well as emerging themes such as the blue economy, marine animal welfare and how we can leverage innovation to protect the ocean. The book provides an overview of some of the world’s iconic threatened and at risk ocean ecosystems, and outlines current governance structures and ocean management tools. It also discusses the important social dimensions between people and the ocean, such as ocean and human wellbeing, communities and the ocean, and who gets to participate in the ocean space.

This Open Access book on Ocean Governance examines sustainability challenges facing our oceans today. The book is organized into three sections: knowledge systems, policy foundations and thematic analyses. The knowledge produced in the book was catalyzed by the scientific outcomes within the European-funded Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) network “Ocean Governance for Sustainability – Challenges, Options and the Role of Science”. This network brings together scientists, policy-makers and civil society representatives from 28 nation states to cooperate on ocean governance research. This book offers a compilation of new research material including focused case studies, broad policy syntheses and reflective chapters on the history and current status of knowledge production systems on ocean governance. New research material is presented, although some chapters draw on secondary sources. The book starts with synthetic review chapters from the editors, outlining past and present knowledge systems, addressing how and why ocean governance for sustainability is where it currently stands with critical reflections on existing narratives, path dependencies and colonialist histories. This is followed by chapters addressing, synthesizing and analyzing different legal and policy frameworks for ocean governance both regionally and internationally. At the core of the book are the thematic analyses, which provide focused case studies with detailed contextual information in support of different ocean governance challenges and sustainability pathways around the world.

This open access book focuses on how scientific methodologies can help industrial managers, entrepreneurs and policymakers handle the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in an efficient and realistic way. It also offers an operative scheme for scientists to overcome their discipline barriers. Is interdisciplinarity an intrinsic research value or is it merely instrumental for handling the increasing flux of open problems that sustainability poses to science?Can these problems of sustainability be solved with what the authors already know? Is it just a matter of having the right people at the table and giving them sufficient resources, or is it something more? Is meeting the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations a scientific definition of sustainable development? Questions similar to those posed in the sixties regarding complexity must be asked about sustainability today. In addition, the new data science includes powerful tools for making novelquantitative predictions about future sustainability indicators, an open problem that the book discusses.

This book focuses, in seven chapters, on the perspectives and solutions that different research groups offer to try to address problems related to SDG 14: Life Below Water. The different objectives developed in SDG 14 are treated independently, with an attempt to give a global vision of the issues. The mechanism used to select the book's content was through an Artificial Intelligence program, choosing articles related to the topics by means of keywords. The program selected those articles, and those that were not related to the topic or did not focus on SDG 14 were discarded by a subject matter expert. Obviously, the selection was partial and the entire subject is not covered, but the final product gives a very solid idea of ​​how to orient ourselves to delve deeper into the topic of SDG 14 using published chapters and articles. The AI program itself selected the text of these contributions to show the progress in different topics related to SDG 14. This mode of operation will allow specialists (and non-specialists) to collect useful information for their specific research purposes in a short period of time. At a time when information is essential in order to move quickly by providing concrete answers to complex problems, this type of approach will become essential for researchers, especially for a subject as vast as SDG 14.