"Industrial, agricultural, residential land uses and the connected discharge of chemical substances cause environmental problems world-wide. This volume provides an overview on the behavior and function of the healthy environment, the capacity of the ecosystem to serve humanity and compensate for adverse changes. The prime contributors to these changes such as production and use of chemical substances, abandoned and contaminated land, chemical agriculture, mining and the complex waste problem are introduced. The focus of this book is environmental knowledge and its conscious and structured application in environmental management and decision making"--provided by publisher