Early warning and disaster management:the importance of geographic information(Part A)

Natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions,earthquakes,tsunamis,floods,fires,droughts,landslides and others occur frequently in most parts of our world.Therefore,many activities are being carried out to improve especially the Early Warning(EW)for disasters,but also all other phases of Disaster Management(DM)such as preparedness,awareness,response,recovery and mitigation.

Early warning and disaster management:the importance of geographic information(Part B)

This special issue is part of a double special issue(Part A was published in the previous issue of this journal)dealing with the role of Geographic Information(GI)for Early Warning(EW)and Disaster Management(DM).In the editorial of Part A we gave an introduction to the topic focussing on initiatives from the EU and China and we have highlighted the importance of Digital Earth for EWand DM.We have also reflected on the outcome of some events organized by the guest editors which were important for the topic and for this special issue.

Atlas information systems and geographical names information systems as contributants to spatial data infrastructure

National and international programs dealing with spatial data infrastructures(SDI)made it possible to compile a uniform digital base and a universal toolkit for the integrated description of territories on global to national scales.Atlas information systems(AIS)are considered to be an integrating tool for diverse information resources(modelling,visualisation and analysis),as well as for the elaboration of various scenarios and the possible development of alternatives for such complex systems as those of nature-society-economy.As there is an increased use of digital maps at spatial data infrastructures all aspects related to geographical names are of particular importance in this application of AIS to SDI.It is important to realise a toponymic project,dealing with place-names and their variants depending on the language and time period when a specific place-name was used.The layer of geographical names is considered to be one of the three most important data components of AIS.

可持续发展情景下丝绸之路沿线国家土地利用及其对陆地碳库影响

可持续发展目标(SDGs)呼吁全世界共同采取行动,促进繁荣并保护地球.本研究面向SDGs构建了环境、粮食和经济等可持续发展情景,预测2020~2030年丝绸之路沿线国家的土地利用变化,并分析其对陆地碳库的影响。研究表明:未来土地利用变化及其对陆地碳库的影响在不同情景下存在显著差异。在可持续环境情景下,林地得到了有效保护,相较于2020年中国林地碳储量增加了约0.60%;在可持续粮食情景下,耕地流失得到了缓解,尤其在南亚及东南亚地区的耕地面积呈现上升趋势:在可持续经济情景下,城市扩张速度加快,引起的碳损失量最多这项研究有助于推进丝绸之路沿线甚至全球可持续发展进程,为探寻可持续发展路径提供了科学依据。