Climate Change, Environmental Hazards and Community-Based Resilience

This book discusses climate change, environmental dangers, and local communities’ responses to these problems. It is a valuable resource to a wide range of readers, including academics, researchers, and people working in governments, and non-governmental and international organizations.

As climate change continues, the location of weather-related hazards may shift, creating new risks. Problems such as floods, landslides, soil erosion, heat waves, droughts, land degradation, and pollution are becoming more common due to human activities and climate change, causing major damage to property and loss of life. For decades, many countries have been looking for ways to deal with the impacts of climate change. These efforts have provided valuable lessons, especially for developing countries that are now facing the growing threat of climate-related disasters. Today, building community resilience to manage these environmental dangers has become a global priority. This book explores the patterns of climate change and the spread of environmental disasters. The volume also highlights how local communities’ knowledge can be used to build resilience against these challenges.

The book is organized into three parts. The first part incorporates the modeling of climate change. In part 2, modeling of environmental hazards and its relation with climate change are explored. In part 3, community-based resilience to climate change and different environmental hazards are discussed.

Prof. Raju Sarkar is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Delhi Technological University and Coordinator of the Centre of Excellence in Disaster Risk Reduction. He previously served at the Royal University of Bhutan, where he established a Disaster Risk Reduction research centre and initiated the Engineering Geology programme. He holds key leadership positions in IASPEI–IUGG and has extensive field experience in the Hindu-Kush Himalayas. His work focuses on geo-hazards risk management, landslides, seismology, construction engineering, and community resilience, with numerous publications and international research projects.

Dr. Sunil Saha is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Gour Banga, specializing in Environmental Geography. His research focuses on fluvial landforms, geo-environmental hazards (gully erosion, landslides, floods), and surface–subsurface hydrology and their spatio-temporal impacts on land use. With over eight years of teaching and research experience, he has been listed among the world’s top 2% scientists (2021–2025) by Stanford University. He has supervised multiple Ph.D. and M.Phil. scholars and published over 75 research papers, 17 book chapters, and one book.

Prof. Prateek Sharma is the Vice Chancellor of Delhi Technological University and an expert in Environmental Engineering. He holds a Ph.D. from IIT Delhi and has over 29 years of teaching and research experience. His research focuses on environmental systems modelling, air quality, statistical applications, and environmental risk assessment. He is a Fellow of the Wessex Institute (UK) and a member of the National Knowledge Network supporting the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

Prof. Rajib Shaw, a Japanese national of Indian origin, is Professor at Keio University’s Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC). He previously served as Executive Director of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) programme and as Professor at Kyoto University. His expertise includes community-based disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, and disaster education. He has authored over 73 books and 450 academic publications and holds key advisory roles with the United Nations and Asian science bodies.