Geology for Global Development

Engineering Geology

Rainfall related geohazards: floods, landslides and mudslides in Rio – A dangerous combination of nature and human-related factors

March 18, 2019
Rainfall related geohazards: floods, landslides and mudslides in Rio – A dangerous combination of nature and human-related factors
Mudslides in Angra dos Reis, southwest in the Rio de Janeiro state. Credit: Agência Brasil (CC BY 3.0 BR)

Rainfall-related geohazards in Brazil’s poorer, mountainous city margins could be mitigated using better urban planning and communication. Our own Brazilian blogger Bárbara Zambelli Azevedo explores the problem and possible solutions. I come from Brazil, a country well-known for its beautiful landscapes, football and carnival. Ok, some stereotypes are true, indeed. Situated in the middle of the So ...[Read More]

Private solutions, public science: how to bridge the gap?

March 12, 2019
Private solutions, public science: how to bridge the gap?
Launching System 001 Credits: The Ocean Cleanup / Pierre Augier

The urgency around many sustainability issues leads some billionaire investors to throw caution in the wind, frustrated with the pace of academic research. Robert Emberson sympathises with private projects like the Ocean Cleanup, even when things go wrong. ‘How’, he asks, ‘might we build a constructive bridge between ambitious entrepreneurs and scientific sceptics? ‘ Reading and writing about sust ...[Read More]

The ethical questions behind the school climate strike. Do we have a place in earth’s ecosystems? Jesse Zondervan’s February 2019 #GfGDpicks #SciComm

March 5, 2019
The ethical questions behind the school climate strike. Do we have a place in earth’s ecosystems? Jesse Zondervan’s February 2019 #GfGDpicks #SciComm
A school strike in Melbourne, Australia. Julian Meehan / School Strike, CC BY-SA

Each month, Jesse Zondervan picks his favourite posts from geoscience and development blogs/news which cover the geology for global development interest. This month’s picks include: The ethical questions behind the school climate strike; Military worries about the fight against sea-level rise – how will you help? Do we have a place in earth’s ecosystems? School climate strikes As school clim ...[Read More]

New mining frontiers: Digging into the unknown

June 5, 2018
New mining frontiers: Digging into the unknown
The gorgonian sea fan Callogorgia americana and symbiotic brittle stars from a site at approximately 350 meters depth in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico. In the bottom left of the image are some small, brown anemones that have colonized a portion of the skeleton of the sea fan. . Credit: Lophelia II 2010 Expedition, NOAA-OER/BOEMRE. .

While climate change occupies the headlines as our biggest long-term concern for sustainability,  there may well be further anthropogenic challenges that arise in the next century as we disrupt the delicate interplay of natural ecological and geological cycles to satisfy the need for resources of our ever-growing population. The mining industry makes for a pertinent example: it sits on the verge o ...[Read More]