With climate change and deforestation, debris flows and debris avalanches have become the most significant landslide hazards in many countries. In recent years there have been numerous debris flow avalanches in Southern Europe, South America and the Indian Subcontinent, resulting in major catastrophes and large loss of life. This is therefore a major high-profile problem for the world's governments and for the engineers and scientists concerned. Matthias Jakob and Oldrich Hungr are ideally suited to edit this book. Matthias Jakob has worked on debris flow for over a decade and has had numerous papers published on the topic, as well as working as a consultant on debris flow for municipal and provincial governments. Oldrich Hungr has worked on site investigations on debris flow, avalanches and rockfall, with emphasis on slope stability analysis and evaluation of risks to roads in built-up areas. He has also developed mathematical models for landslide dynamic analysis. They have invited world-renowned experts to joint them in this book.

Volume thirty-one of Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies brings together nine essays on leading geographers and their work. With its publication, the cumulative record of geographers' lives and works in GBS exceeds 460 essays. Here, the editors bring forward critical appraisals of six French geographers, and so illustrate the rich traditions of geographical scholarship in that country; of a leading Portuguese figure; a Briton who played a major role in establishing geography in modern New Zealand; and a British woman who pioneered connections between the history of geography in practice and the histories of science and technology. Geographers' lives and geography's making is wonderfully illuminated in international, national and cross-disciplinary context.

Originally published in 1989, this book provides an overview of the economic dimensions of climate and human activities, and considers how the variable nature of the atmosphere must be accepted as an integral part of the management package. It discusses how climatic repercussions can hold major importance for international politics, particularly in the light of the impacts of climatic changes induced by greenhouse gases.

This book charts the developments in the discipline of geography from the 1950s to the 1980s, examining how geography now connects with urban, regional and national planning, and impacts on areas such as medicine, transport, agricultural development and electoral reform. The book also discusses how technical and theoretical advancements have generated a renewed sense of philosophic reflection – a concern closely linked with the critical examination and development of social theory.