Palgrave Handbook of Ecosystems and Human Wellbeing

Robert C. Brears is an author, editor, and international expert on water security, climate resilience, and sustainable development. He is the author of Financing Water Security and Green Growth (Oxford University Press) and editor of The Circular Economy and Liveable Cities (Cambridge University Press), with an extensive body of work spanning water resources management, nature-based solutions, and the circular water economy.He is the Founder of Our Future Water, Global Climate Solutions, and Our Future Water Intelligence, where he leads the development of strategic intelligence and research on water systems, infrastructure, and climate-related risk for policy, investment, and regulatory audiences. He also founded Mitidaption, advising governments, businesses, and organisations on climate change and environmental risk for over 15 years.Robert serves on the roster of experts for the Green Climate Fund, contributing to the review and development of climate finance proposals. His recent work includes final-stage technical input into a USD 391.4 million multi-country GCF Full Proposal spanning Latin America, supporting Independent Technical Advisory Panel and Board consideration. He is also a Strategic Advisor on water security proposals with IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture.He is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Editor-in-Chief of multiple Palgrave Major Reference Works with Springer Nature, including handbooks on nature-based solutions, urban climate resilience, environmental policy, and sustainable futures. He also serves as Series Editor for the Palgrave Studies in Climate Resilient Societies.Robert has worked extensively with international organisations including the World Bank, UNIDO, FAO, and EIT Food. His roles have included keynote speaking at COP28 and global water forums, programme development on the water–food nexus, and delivery of training and advisory services on urban water management and climate resilience.He has conducted field research globally, including Antarctic expeditions, and regularly publishes insights that reach a global professional audience across policy, finance, and infrastructure sectors.Dr. Tara Rava Zolnikov focuses on aspects of culture in a global health setting. Dr. Zolnikov earned a Ph.D in Developmental Science from North Dakota State University and an M.S. in Environmental Health from Harvard School of Public Health and a second M.S. in Industrial Hygiene from Montana Tech of the University of Montana and recently finished her third MS degree in Sport Psychology at North Central University and is expected to graduate in 2024. She also earned a B.S.degree in Biological Sciences from Montana Tech of the University of Montana.  She has been a professor of global health and environmental health for the last decade. She was also recently accepted as a fellow of ultra elite The Explorer's Club. Dr. Zolnikov’s research primarily focuses on global health issues in low and middle-income countries,including Kenya, Ghana, India, Colombia, and Brazil. She has worked with the Kenya Red Cross on a variety of public health projects,ranging from infectious diseases (E.g. Ebola and HIV/AIDS) to access to water projects. She is primarily a qualitative researcher and concentrates on providing vulnerable populations with a voice; she uses autoethnographic, ethnographic, and phenomenological perspectives to understand or live through these experiences in order to recreate them for a widespread audience. Additionally, Dr. Zolnikov is the vice president of a non-profit organization, Water 2 Schools, which focuses on providing access to water to Maasai communities around Narok, Kenya. She also has a consulting business online and works as a research consultant, formats in APA 7th edition, and doctoral project expert.  She has been a volunteer at Workplace Health Without Borders for over a decade. Dr. Zolnikov has published extensively in some of the world's most renowned public health and global health journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, AIDS and Behavior, Science of the Total Environment, and many more. She has also written and published two books, which focus on qualitative research and environmental health, and recently finished writing her third book. Finally, she is the editor-in-chief of Elsevier's Dialogues in Health journal.