Applications of GIS and Remote Sensing in Soil Environment Monitoring

Monitoring plays an essential role in the efficient and sustainable management of the environment. Accurate and rapid procedures and data enable the activation and implementation of public policies and initiatives with which to address emergencies and medium-term environmental depletion processes. Among these, soil consumption is one of the most important issues. Soil sealing threatens the protection of the environment and the security of food production [1,2] in a world where only 10–12% of natural soils are still available for agriculture [3]. Another important threat to the soil as a resource is the increase in the erosion process. Several studies expect soil erosion to increase in the 21st century due to global climate change and land use [4,5]. At this point, measures to mitigate the effects of soil erosion are currently on the agenda of international institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization [6] and the European Union [7]. On the other hand, the availability of remote sensing data with greater temporal and spatial resolution has increased recently [8]. This wealth of data, integrated with field observations, enables increasingly efficient monitoring processes. Therefore, it is essential to implement and perfect more accurate and efficient methods and model

Journalistic views on post-violent peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In this chapter we focus on the media portrayal content of a specific ­traumatic event and journalists’ discourse about it in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH). Despite the growing role and authority of journalists in shaping our understanding of collective pasts, the possible role of journalists as active agents in contributing to heightening tensions has been marginalized. Analyzing media texts can demonstrate how a “specific, limited truth” about the start of war in BIH is being selected, instrumentalized, and legitimized in the public awareness. Focus on journalists’ perceptions of war and positive post-violence offers an understanding of different views about the start of the war, and guilt. This is why the basic research questions here deal with how journalists in BIH represent the violent past. Specifically, how do they cover a specific traumatic event and what are their perceptions about possibilities of realizing positive post-violence? Research on post-conflict processes looks at the ways in which people attempt to recreate their social fabric in ways appropriated to the changes in their social environment. Thus, the larger question that we are interested in here is whether journalists, like storytellers, frame their stories according to their ethnical belonging and the cultural environment? Furthermore, what media conditions might make possible positive post-violence after violent conflict