Geography of the 21st Century: Global Environmental Challenges and Solutions

This book presents a complete, chapter-by-chapter treatment of environmental geography for undergraduate learners, structured to support the multidisciplinary, outcome-based approach to undergraduate education associated with India's National Education Policy 2020, though it does not require adoption under any particular curricular framework and can be used flexibly within any comparable undergraduate geography or environmental studies programme. Structure: The book comprises thirteen chapters, each addressing a distinct but interconnected dimension of contemporary environmental geography: • Chapter 1: Geography, Environment and the Earth System • Chapter 2: Population, Resources and Environmental Change • Chapter 3: Climate Change and Global Environmental Transformation • Chapter 4: Atmospheric Pollution and Environmental Health • Chapter 5: Water Resources, Water Security and Global Water Crisis • Chapter 6: Land, Soil Degradation and Desertification • Chapter 7: Forests, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation • Chapter 8: Energy, Minerals and Sustainable Resource Development • Chapter 9: Agriculture, Food Security and Sustainable Development • Chapter 10: Oceans, Coasts and Marine Environmental Challenges • Chapter 11: Urbanisation, Waste and Environmental Sustainability • Chapter 12: Environmental Hazards, Disasters and Geographical Resilience • Chapter 13: Global Environmental Governance and Sustainable Development The first chapter establishes the foundational concepts, including the Earth system, feedback and threshold, the IPAT relationship, planetary boundaries and the precautionary principle, that recur without being redefined throughout the chapters that follow. The concluding chapter draws the preceding twelve chapters together within a single governance and sustainable development framework, tracing the international, national and local institutions through which the environmental challenges examined throughout the book are addressed. Features: Every chapter shares a common set of pedagogical features, designed to combine conceptual depth with accessible, exam-oriented structure: 1. A Learning Outcomes box stating the specific, action-verb competencies the chapter develops. 2. Sections organised in a consistent pattern of definition, classification, causes and consequences, with cross-references linking related material across chapters rather than repeating it. 3. Two to four Key Concept boxes per chapter, highlighting terms of particular definitional or analytical significance. 4. At least one Indian Knowledge Systems box per chapter, connecting the chapter's theme to a specific traditional Indian practice, technology or philosophy, documented and referenced rather than presented anecdotally. 5. Tables and figure spaces with numbered captions, presenting classification schemes, comparative data and conceptual diagrams. 6. A detailed case study, generally India-specific, illustrating the chapter's themes in a single concrete setting, accompanied by discussion questions. 7. A chapter summary in bulleted form, and a key term table giving each term's Hindi equivalent and a concise definition. 8. Review questions in five categories: multiple-choice questions with an answer key, short-answer questions, long-answer questions, a case-based question tied to the chapter's case study, and assertion-reason questions with an answer key. 9. Map and activity-based exercises, including map work, field-based activity, GIS and remote sensing activity, data activity and discussion activity. 10. A list of suggested readings drawn from standard academic and government sources.