Climate Change and Regional Socio-Economic Systems in the Global South: Resilience Strategies for Sustainable Development

This volume showcases how the climate change phenomena (CCP) have been causing multifaceted threats to humankind through increasing numbers of extreme events, affecting social, economic, and human development worldwide. The Global South is especially showcased in this contributory volume where adverse effects of CCP and related disasters impact majority of the population which depends on land and natural resources for their livelihoods. This book asserts that climate change and extreme events are potential threats to sustainable human development and micro spatial observations and analysis of impacts of CCP are vital for adopting resilience policies. This book, not enquiring why CCP is happening, embarks on a quest to showcase how best to respond to such phenomena through detailed and well-founded micro-spatial investigations on poor farmers, pastoralists, fishermen folk, migrant labours, slum dwellers, who are considered the most threatened by climate changes and weather shocks, based on possible disruptions in the production process. Scholarly contributions in this volume analyze how local and regional versions of CCP actively challenge the economies and livelihoods, question the social securities and good governance, and how such phenomena ultimately become a constraint in achieving sustainable development in the Global South. This volume accommodates many aspects of regional adaptation strategies in vulnerable areas and groups in different parts of the Global South to ensure stability and peacefulness. Academicians, research scholars, and readers inquisitive about the socio-economic dimensions of climate change in the Global South, will find the discussions across different chapters of this volume interesting.

Mukunda Mishra is Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, and designated Vice Principal of Dr. Meghnad Saha College in West Bengal, India. Dr. Mishra completed his postgraduate studies in Geography and Environmental Management at Vidyasagar University (receiving top rank in both the B.Sc. and M.Sc. panels of merit) and holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the same University. He was selected for the prestigious National Merit Scholarship by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. His research chiefly focuses on analyzing unequal human development, and on creating multi-criteria predictive models. He has more than ten years of hands-on experience in dealing with development issues at the ground level in various districts of eastern India. Dr. Mishra has written one monograph and edited five volumes with Springer. He has also authored forty articles and book chapters, published by reputed international publishers.

Andrews José de Lucena is Associate Professor, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has completed his Master in Geography from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and holds a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Postgraduate Institute and Engineering Research (COPPE/UFRJ). His research interest is chiefly concerned with the urban climate and its research methods, climate change, and environment. He has participated on integrated research projects with several professionals and institutions in the area of climatology and urban meteorology, atmospheric-hydrological modeling, remote sensing in urban areas and urban development in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro. He coordinates the Integrated Laboratory of Applied Physical Geography (LIGA/UFRRJ) and integrates the Environmental Satellite Applications Laboratory of the Meteorology Department (LASA/UFRJ). He manages the website www.climatologia.com.br with information about land surface temperature in the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro.

Brij Maharaj is Professor of Geography, University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. He has received widespread recognition for his research on urban politics, mega-events, segregation, local economic development, xenophobia and human rights, migration and diasporas, religion, philanthropy and development, and has published over 150 scholarly papers in renowned journals such as Urban Studies, International Journal of Urban and Regional Studies, Political Geography, Urban Geography, Antipode, Polity and Space, Geoforum, Migration and Development, Local Economy, and GeoJournal, as well as five co-edited book collections. He is a B-rated NRF researcher. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.