Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geography
Multidimensional Inconsistency in Forest Ecosystem Representation: An NLP-Assisted Thematic Review
Published: 2026-05-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography
Forest ecosystem monitoring increasingly relies on multisensor remote sensing approaches integrating optical imagery, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and LiDAR observations to assess biomass, degradation, and ecosystem condition. However, these systems frequently generate inconsistent representations of the same ecosystem due to differences in sensor sensitivity, ecological complexity, scale [...]
What works in agrarian adaptation: a systematic assessment of CGIAR climate research evidence
Published: 2026-05-08
Subjects: Geography
Effective climate adaptation in agrarian settings is critical for the billions of people whose livelihoods depend on agriculture, yet evidence on what adaptation actions actually reduce climate risk remains fragmented and difficult to generalize. In this study we assess the effectiveness of agrarian adaptation using 403 empirical case studies published by CGIAR scientists and partners in [...]
Forest or tundra? How different vegetation reconstructions of Last Glacial landscapes in Europe may shape our perception of early human dispersal processes
Published: 2026-05-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geography, Human Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Physical and Environmental Geography
Regional variability and long-term changes of past ecosystems likely had a strong impact on hunter-gatherer population dynamics, including the expansion of anatomically modern humans and the disappearance of Neanderthals. However, our understanding of these ecosystems remains limited, even when looking at large-scale patterns, such as the extent and distribution of forested areas. Vegetation [...]
Wildlife tourism in times of crisis: A critical discourse analysis of media coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic
Published: 2026-05-06
Subjects: Geography
Tourism is a growing, if controversial, approach to wildlife conservation. Constructed on neoliberal ideological assumptions, tourism-as-conservation-strategies can reinforce social inequalities and patterns of historical oppression. This model of conservation and economic development is also vulnerable to global market trends and disruptions. In this paper we use content and critical discourse [...]
A Multi-Dimensional Framework for Diagnosing Inconsistencies in Remote Sensing-Based Ecosystem Assessment
Published: 2026-05-04
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography
Remote sensing-based ecosystem assessment increasingly relies on the integration of spectral, structural, and model-derived datasets; however, inconsistencies among these data sources can produce divergent representations of vegetation dynamics and carbon processes. This study proposes a multi-dimensional framework to diagnose such inconsistencies by integrating scale, dimensional, and variable [...]
Closing the Digital Gap in Nigerian Land Records: An Open-Source QGIS Plugin for Cadastral Survey Archiving and Spatial Management
Published: 2026-05-03
Subjects: Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Human Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Other Geography, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science
Secure, retrievable cadastral records are foundational to land tenure security and effective land administration, yet most private cadastral surveying firms in Nigeria maintain survey records exclusively on paper, a structural limitation that prevents spatial querying, concurrent access, and long-term integrity verification across the 50-year archival period required by the Survey Co-ordination [...]
Evidence of non-additional pig manure offset projects
Published: 2026-04-26
Subjects: Geography
Each carbon offset represents the claim that one ton of CO₂ emissions has been avoided or removed from the atmosphere. For offsets to deliver real climate benefits, the emission reductions they represent must be “additional,” meaning they would not have occurred without financial support from the carbon market. Despite its importance, additionality has proven difficult to achieve in practice. [...]
Structural–carbon decoupling and forest structural thinning in degrading forests of Southwestern Nigeria using GEDI LiDAR and multi-sensor data fusion
Published: 2026-04-13
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography
Accurate monitoring of forest degradation requires indicators that capture both structural condition and carbon dynamics. While canopy height derived from spaceborne LiDAR is widely used as a proxy for forest condition, its ability to represent aboveground biomass (AGB) under ongoing degradation remains uncertain. This study examines the relationship between canopy height and AGB in tropical [...]
Seventeen city types define distinct pathways for climate mitigation and adaptation worldwide
Published: 2026-03-31
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Planetary Sciences
Understanding that cities are main arenas of climate action, it remains unclear which cities should focus on what kind of action taking a global comparative lens. Recent contributions identified four different types of cities across seven world regions, while others specified a huge case study literature database on cities and climate change biased towards established, stagnant, and megacities, [...]
No place to hide? Regional resilience and vulnerability to global catastrophic risk
Published: 2026-03-27
Subjects: Agriculture, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Food Science, Forest Sciences, Geography, Public Health
What places on Earth are most resilient to global catastrophic risk (GCR)? We provide the first systematic study of what locations are more resilient to a range of catastrophic threats. We reviewed the literature on resilience factors against the impacts of nuclear war, near-Earth objects, large-magnitude volcanic eruptions, large-scale cyberattacks, high altitude electromagnetic pulse, [...]
Spatiotemporal relationships, influencing factors and policy implications of coastal man–land system spatial resilience based on interpretable machine learning models: A case study of China’s southeastern coastal region
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Geography
Spatial resilience, as a projection of system resilience at the landscape scale, offers a novel spatial interpretation for analyzing man–land interactions in coastal zones. This study builds an evaluation system from “element-landscape-system” levels, based on the conceptual framework of spatial resilience in coastal man–land systems. It examines the spatiotemporal evolutionary features of [...]
Agricultural expansion and intensification in Brazil: A literature synthesis of dynamics, drivers, and implications
Published: 2026-03-24
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Human Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Other Geography, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science
Brazil’s long-term agricultural development reflects a complex interplay between human-driven land-use change and natural ecosystems. Since the 1960s, agricultural production in Brazil has expanded rapidly, driven by global food demand and national economic growth, through two primary pathways: (1) agricultural expansion via conversion of natural vegetation, particularly forests, and (2) [...]
HIGH-RESOLUTION DIGITAL TERRAIN MODEL FOR THE ITALIAN TERRITORY
Published: 2026-03-12
Subjects: Agriculture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Engineering Education, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Life Sciences, Mining Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Risk Analysis, Social and Behavioral Sciences
High-resolution digital terrain models are essential for environmental planning and territorial analyses, and provide foundations for geomorphological and hydrological applications, including flood and landslide modelling and geo-hydrological hazard and risk assessments. In Italy, airborne LiDAR surveys have improved the representation of terrain morphology in the last decade, but their coverage [...]
Validation of ICESat-2 ATL13 Version 7 Water Surface Elevation on Small High-Latitude Rivers: A Case Study of the River Dee and River Don, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Published: 2026-03-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Hydrology, Remote Sensing, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science
Satellite Laser Altimetry represents an attractive opportunity to supplement the sparsely distributed in situ gauge network used to monitor rivers. The performance of satellite laser altimetry on small, high latitude streams has however been characterized as being poor. This research will be validating ICESat-2 ATL13 version 7 measured water surface elevations (WSE) for the River Dee (average [...]
Future heat-stress regimes under CMIP6: a multi-index assessment of persistence and human-relevant thermal constraints
Published: 2026-03-03
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Studies, Geography, Nature and Society Relations
Human exposure to heat stress is increasing under climate change as rising temperatures interact with atmospheric moisture to constrain thermoregulation and outdoor activity. While numerous heat-stress indices are used in climate impact studies, their joint interpretation in terms of climatic regimes, persistence, and physiological relevance remains fragmented. Here, we provide a global, [...]