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In line with COP21 agreements, state-led climate change mitigation and adaptation actions are being undertaken to transition to carbon-neutral, green economies. However, the capacity of many countriesfor action is limited and may result in a 'boomerang effect', defined as the unintended negative consequences of such policies and programmes on local communities and their negative feedbacks on the state. To avoid this effect, there is a need to understand the policy drivers, decision-making processes, and impacts of such action, in order to determine the ways and means of minimizing negative effects and maximizing mutually beneficial policy outcomes. This book directly engages the policy debates surrounding water resources and climate actions through both theoretical and comparative case studies. It develops the 'boomerang effect' concept and sets it in relation to other conceptual tools for understanding the mixed outcomes of state-led climate change action, for example 'backdraft' effect and 'maldevelopment'. It also presents case studies illustrative of the consequences of ill-considered state-led policy in the water sector from around the world. These include Africa, China, South Asia, South America, the Middle East, Turkey and Vietnam, and examples of groundwater, hydropower development andforest hydrology, where there are often transboundary consequences of a state's policies and actions. In this way, the book adds empirical and theoretical insights to a still developing debate regarding the appropriate ways and means of combating climate change without undermining state and social development.

Food insecurity and hunger continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Many of today's food crises are linked to violent conflicts in various ways. The number of people affected by conflict- driven food crises increased from 74 million in 2018 to more than 77 million one year later—particularly in north-eastern Nigeria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. The achievement of food security ending hunger and malnutrition and enabling sustainable agriculture production as addressed by Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 'Zero Hunger' depends therefore largely on progress made on SDG 16 in promoting peaceful and inclusive societies. However, the severe food crises in the past decade have demonstrated the weaknesses to govern food (in)security in conflict settings. While national governments or belligerents are often unable or unwilling to respond adequately to food crises, humanitarian relief operations face the challenges of reaching those people most in need of food supply and simultaneously avoiding exacerbating the conflict. This has left many of the affected communities having to find their own responses to food insecurity. If food crises are to be effectively addressed, research and policy actions need to tackle both food crises and violent conflict.

The environment-security nexus is not a new topic in academic and political discourse, but it has currently gained new significance due to a number of factors. Growing concerns about global environmental change including climate change and fears about increasing demand and competition for natural resources caused by population growth and economic development both figure prominently among these factors.

AbstractGeographic Information Systems (GIS) continue to gain important recognition from disaster practitioners and academic researchers during what is arguably the most publicly visible disaster management phase – disaster response. The broader world of GIS academic research and industry practice for disaster response continues to change. This review article inventories the current state-of-the-art in GIS for disaster response and demonstrates progress in the data and people aspects of GIS for disaster response since previous literature reviews. The review is structured to serve as a metaphorical bridge between two reader groups – disaster management practitioners interested in understanding developing trends in GIS for disaster response and academic researchers with minimal to no understanding of GIS and/or mapping concepts within the disaster response context. With this readership in mind, we outline definitions of GIS, disaster response and the need for GIS in disaster response, review interdisciplinary literature from a variety of spatially-oriented disaster management fields and demonstrate progress in various aspects of GIS for disaster response. The review concludes with a GIS for disaster response research agenda and provides a list of resources for researchers new to GIS and spatial perspectives for disaster management research.