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Natural disasters and extreme events in agriculture: impacts and mitigation M. V. K. Siva Kumar, Mannava V. K. Sivakumar, Raymond P. Motha, Haripada P. Das 0 Resenhas Springer, 2005 - 367 páginas Agricultural production is highly dependent on weather, climate and water availability and is adversely affected by the weather and climate-related disasters. Droughts and natural disasters such as floods can result in crop failures, food insecurity, famine, loss of property and life, mass migration and negative national economic growth. It may not be possible to prevent the occurrence of these natural disasters, but the resultant disastrous effects can be reduced considerably through proper planning and effective preparation. Vulnerability associated with the hazards of natural disasters can be controlled to some extent by accurate and timely prediction and by taking counter-measures to reduce their impacts on agriculture. This book based on an expert meeting held in Beijing, China should be of interest to all organizations involved in disasters reduction and mitigation of extreme events. TOC:Preface.- Impacts of Natural Disasters in Agriculture.- The Role of Disaster Preparedness in National Planning.- The Occurrence and Predictability of Extreme Events.- Accessibility of Database Information.- Tools for Forecasting or Warning.- Agrometeorological Impact Assessment.- Damage Assessment of Agrometeorological Relevance.- Impacts of Tropical Cyclones on Chinese Lowland Agriculture.- Frost and High Temperature Injury in China.- Impacts of Sand Storms/Dust Storms on Agriculture.- Disaster Reduction Planning and Response.- Agricultural Drought Policy and Practices in Australia.- Agrometeorological Disaster Risk Management in China.- Degradation of Vegetation and Agricultural Productivity.- Agricultural Drought Mitigation.- Early Detection and Monitoring of Drought and Flood in China.- The Decision of the Center of a Tropical Cyclone.- Application of Remote Sensing and GIS fo

How should we understand the politics of security today? This article addresses this question from one particular perspective, that of 'biosecurity'. It examines contemporary strategies for managing biorisks in three European states: France, Germany and the United Kingdom. We suggest that the framing of threat and response differs, even within Europe, and that one can identify three different configurations: contingency planning, protection and resilience. Each of these embodies a significantly different way of reconciling fundamental imperatives for those who would govern a liberal society today - the imperative of freedom and the imperative of security