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Arsenic contamination in shallow groundwater aquifers in the lower Gangetic basin constitutes a major health hazard in the Bengal basin extended over Bangladesh and India. It has been estimated that at least 35 million people in Bangladesh and 6 million people in India are severely affected by arsenic-contaminated water. More so, about 57 and 9 million people in Bangladesh and West Bengal, respectively, are exposed to arsenic-contamination risk. The use of hazardous, arsenic-bearing groundwater for drinking, cooking, and irrigation in West Bengal and Bangladesh has led to what has been described by the WHO as the worst case of mass poisoning in human history. In case of West Bengal, the problem of arsenic contamination was discovered in the 1980s; since then several mitigation measures were adopted by the provincial and federal governments, community organizations, and NGOs. Yet, poor infrastructural arrangements, dire poverty, lack of awareness, and education increased the risk of arsenic exposure over the decades. In this chapter, an effort has been made to critically analyze the extent of mitigation measures adopted so far in the state of West Bengal. It discusses in detail the chronological responses of the provincial government in arsenic risk mitigation, implementation of adopted mitigation measures, and the consequent response and actions of arsenic-affected communities in West Bengal. The chapter also highlights the emerging challenges of arsenic risk mitigation in West Bengal and proposes a “system-based” framework for risk mitigation.

Market-based approaches to environmental management are increasingly common. In 1983 when Joeres and David published their pioneering collection, Buying a Better Environment, the concept was seen as at best novel, and at worst far-fetched. Yet today, conservation and water quality credits are for sale in many developed countries, and the idea of payment for ecosystem services is ubiquitous in environmental policy circles. This paper traces that shift from command-and-control to market-based environmental management through analysis of the evolving practice of stream mitigation banking (SMB) in the US. In the most common form of SMB today, a for-profit company buys land with a damaged stream on it and restores it to produce mitigation credits which can then be purchased by developers to fulfill their permit conditions under the Clean Water Act. Though decidedly noncommercial in origin, SMB was converted into for-profit tradable regulatory mechanism in 2000 and has since spread rapidly across the US with the strong support of the US Environmental Protection Agency. Using Bourdieu’s field concept as a framework, I argue that the neoliberal transformation of mitigation banking is a product of both relations within the regulatory field, of that field’s relations with the fields of science, and of power.

The purpose of this study identified the priorities, challenges and different aspects of the mitigation phase according to policymakers for planning and better management of reducing risk within the cultural, religious, social and political conditions of Iran.

In the present qualitative study, 19 policymakers in different levels of the disaster management organizations were selected based on purposive sampling. Semi-structured and face-to-face interviews were used to identify the participants’ views. The findings were analyzed using thematic analysis.

The present situation and the challenges of the mitigation phase were the main themes in this study. Risk perception, training and media were the sub-themes. Political, legal, social and cultural challenges of the mitigation phase were also sub-themes.

The findings of this study indicated that different aspects should be considered to minimize the risk of earthquake. In addition, all kinds of media, including visual, written, audio, instrumental, group and multimedia, should be used for enhancing public awareness so that readiness for earthquakes can be considered as a permanent mission of the citizens, who are always concerned about earthquakes.

Container shipping companies face various risks with different consequences that are required to be mitigated. Limited empirical research has been done on identifying and evaluating risk management strategies in shipping operations with different risk consequences. This paper aims to identify the appropriate risk mitigation strategies and evaluate the relative importance of these strategies.

Literature review and interviews were used to identify and validate the appropriate risk mitigation strategies in container shipping operations. A questionnaire with a Likert five-point scale was then conducted to rank the identified risk mitigation strategies in terms of their overall effectiveness. Top six important strategies were selected to evaluate their relative importance under three risk consequences (i.e. financial, reputation and safety and security incident related loss) through using another questionnaire with paired-comparison. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was then conducted to analyse the paired-comparison questionnaire.

After conducting a systematic literature review and interviews, 18 mitigation strategies were identified. The results from the first questionnaire show that among the 18 strategies, the top three are “form alliances with other shipping companies”, “use more advanced infrastructures (hardware and software)” and “choose partners very carefully”. After conducting fuzzy AHP, the results show that shipping companies emphasize more on reducing the risk consequence of financial loss; and “form alliance with other shipping companies” is the most important risk mitigation strategy.

This paper evaluates the risk mitigation strategies against three risk consequences. Managers can benefit from the systematic identification of mitigation strategies, which shipping companies can consider for adoption to reduce the operational risk impact.

To build resilient supply chains, buyers should implement risk mitigation tactics. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the risky decision-making process that underlies buyers’ decisions to adopt supply risk mitigation tactics for creating supply-side resilience.

The authors employ experimental scenarios to simulate supply disruptions of low and high likelihood. The authors then assess buyers’ decisions to adopt supply risk mitigation tactics in response to these scenarios.

The authors find that buyers’ perceptions of supply disruption likelihood are positively related to their adoption of buffer- and process-oriented risk mitigation tactics and preference for process-oriented risk mitigation tactics. Conversely, risk propensity negatively affects buyers’ adoption of buffer- and process-oriented mitigation tactics.

Beyond risk perceptions, the authors consider how risk propensity also affects the risky decision-making process. Moreover, whereas previous studies often focus on a single mitigation tactic, the authors study buyers’ adoption of multiple buffer- and process-oriented risk mitigation tactics to create supply-side resilience.

The purpose of this paper is to examine why building owners are often reluctant to adopt adequate mitigation measures despite the vulnerability of their buildings to earthquake disasters, by exploring the economic-related barriers to earthquake mitigation decisions.

A case study research method was adopted and interviews chosen as the method of data collection.

Critical economic-related impediments that inhibited seismic retrofitting of earthquake-prone buildings were revealed in this study. Economic-related barriers identified include perception about financial involvement in retrofitting, property market conditions, high insurance premiums and deductibles, and the high cost of retrofitting. The availability of financial incentives such as low interest loans, tax deductibles, the implementation of a risk-based insurance premium scale and promoting increased knowledge and awareness of seismic risks and mitigation measures in the property market place are likely to address the economic-related challenges faced by property owners when undertaking seismic retrofitting projects. The provision of financial incentives specifically for seismic retrofitting should be introduced in policy-implementation programme tailored to local governments’ level of risks exposure and available resources.

The recommendations provided in this study suggest strategies and answers to questions aimed at understanding the types of incentives that city councils and environmental hazard managers should focus on in their attempt to ensure that property owners actively participate in earthquake risk mitigation.

This paper adopts a holistic perspective for investigating earthquake risk mitigation by examining the opinions of the different stakeholders involved in seismic retrofit decisions.

In the context of the negotiations for apportionment of emission reduction post‐Kyoto regime, issues of equity and fairness have emerged. The purpose of this paper is to generate a model for equitable emission reduction apportionment.

The mathematical model has been designed utilizing mitigation capacity (based on gross domestic product (GDP)) and cumulative excess emissions as the criteria for apportionment. Quantitative results have been arrived at, using cumulative γ and parabolic mitigation emission reduction trajectories to demonstrate the impact on stakeholders.

The apportionment outcomes are independent of the specific trajectory fine‐tuned in the feasibility region. Since the apportionment takes into account entitlements and the mitigation capacity, Africa and India have negligible reduction targets in tune with the development goals in these economies. Substantial reduction commitments would fall on the USA and the EU countries. China gets a moderate target due to higher emissions and GDP.

The approach is in consonance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibility enunciated in the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. The method can easily incorporate emissions trading. The issue of population as a driving factor of emissions has been partially accounted for by considering the entire national GDP as an emission reduction responsibility factor, without considering population based GDP entitlements.

The generalized framework can be extended to situations involving responsibility apportionment in public policies dealing with externalities. The framework is original and will be useful to policymakers and other stakeholders dealing with climate change, as well as researchers looking at externalities of a global or national dimension.

As adaptation and mitigation are separated in international and national policies, there is also a division in the financial resources mobilized by the international community to help developing countries deal with climate change. Given that mitigation activities can benefit or hinder adaptation, and vice versa, promoting activities that contribute to both objectives can increase the efficiency of fund allocation and minimize trade-offs, particularly in land-related activities such as agriculture and forestry. The purpose of this study is to analyze how climate funding organizations consider the integration of adaptation and mitigation.

The authors interviewed representatives of climate funds directed toward forestry and agriculture to gain a better understanding of how they perceive the benefits, risks and barriers of an integrated approach; whether they have concrete activities for promoting this approach; and how they foresee the future of adaptation–mitigation integration.

Interviews revealed a diverse range of perceived benefits, risks and barriers at local, national and global scales. Most interviewees focused on the local benefits of this integration (e.g. increasing the resilience of forest carbon projects), whereas others emphasized global risks (e.g. decreasing global funding efficiency because of project complexity). Despite the general interest in projects and policies integrating adaptation and mitigation, few relevant actions have been implemented by organizations engaged in climate change finance.

This paper provides new insight into how the representatives of climate funds perceive and act on the integration of adaptation and mitigation in forestry and agriculture. The findings by the authors can inform the development of procedures for climate change finance, such as the Green Climate Fund. While managers of climate funds face barriers in promoting an integrated approach to adaptation and mitigation, they also have the capacity and the ambition to overcome them.

Emergency management has come to be regarded by many analysts as a critical part of the development of sustainable communities. The emergency management function has been linked to issues such as environmental stewardship and community planning. Especially important is the linkage between hazard mitigation efforts and community planning in the context of building sustainable communities. But this conceptual linkage has been difficult to implement in practice. The resolution of this difficulty and a clarification of the essential linkage of hazard mitigation to community planning will require a broader definition and a reformulation of the emergency management function. It will also require an assessment and the removal of impediments that currently stand in the way of the implementation of this linkage. Practical steps can be taken to begin this important chore.

This paper aims to examine the policy environments, institutional arrangements and practical implementation of some initiatives undertaken by the Government of Cameroon, together with some relevant stakeholders, in addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation at various levels in the country, which are prerequisites to promote synergistic ways of addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Using a qualitative approach to data collection, the paper draws upon information collected from relevant literature and interviews with 18 key country resource personnel.

Results revealed that most reviewed policies/programs/strategies do not mention “climate change” explicitly but propose some activities which indirectly address it. Interaction is fair within the government ministries but weak between these ministries and other institutions. Inadequate financial resources are being opined as the most important challenge stakeholders are (and would continue) facing as a result of adopting integrated approaches to climate change. Other challenges include inadequate coordination, insufficient sensitization and capacity building, ineffective implementation, inadequate compliance, lack of proper transparency and inadequate public participation. To redress the aforementioned constraints and challenges, the paper concludes by outlining a number of recommendations for policy design.

The following recommendations were made: create a national technical committee to oversee and provide scientific guidance to the government on synergistic approaches; promote private sector investment and sponsorship on synergistic approaches; create local awareness, etc. It is important to underscore that minimal studies have been conducted to analyze multi-stakeholder perspectives on synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation in Cameroon. This study attempts to bridge this major gap.