The purpose of this book is to analyse and discuss a series
of topics related with environmental conservation, land-use
planning and management and impact prevention as seen from
the perspective of the Earth Sciences, but with an inte-
grated, interdisciplinary approach.
The contributions included in the book intend to give an
overview of existing problems and trends and to point out
certain lines along which work and/or actions will be par-
ticularly needed in the near future. In short, they intend
to show where we stand now with regard to those problems and
in what direction we should move.
Readers will find particularly useful the brief presentation
of a variety of important environmental earth science top-
ics, the description of the present state of the art and the
suggestions for methodological approaches to solve different
problems, as well as the guidelines for action presented
throughout the book.