This book encourages a critical dialogue between interdisciplinary fields that border heritage boundaries and seeks to contribute a wide range of scholarly perspectives and case studies (both national and international). The widespread use of the concept of soft power is sometimes grossly misused as a synonym for anything other than military force. While the concept is one of the most popular and influential in progressive foreign policy circles and is noted for being the ability of a country to convince others that its cause is the best, without having to resort to economic or military...

This contributed volume presents relevant examples of socio-environmental research that highlight the challenges and opportunities of using geotechnologies in interdisciplinary settings across the vast, culturally, and environmentally mega-diverse region known as Latin America. While remote sensing has been mostly used for mapping and monitoring physical features, geographic information systems open up opportunities for the integration of socio-economic and environmental data collected through individual and community-based surveys, in-situ measurements,...

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of rivers affected by natural and anthropogenic disturbances in the southern Chile and Patagonia. It presents a detailed description of the rivers affected by climatic extremes, volcanic eruptions, large-wood dynamics and impacts, sediment-laden flows, and Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). Moreover, it contains an in-depth discussion of a variety of topics encompassing the ecosystem function of Pacific Patagonia rivers, the geomorphic signatures of Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) and their impacts within river corridors,...

This book presents an important contribution to the knowledge of the banana soils of Venezuela. Banana, the edible fruit of Musaceae, is a staple food for more than 400 million people worldwide due to their nutritional and energy attributes. This makes Musaceae a crop of worldwide relevance, particularly in tropical regions, highlighting the impact of improved Musaceae cropping systems in the current efforts worldwide oriented towards a new agricultural revolution based on sustainable intensification. To achieve this, better practices for food production based on scientific and...