Resilient Land Systems in the Face of Increasing Disaster Risks

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Systems and Global Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 January 2027 | Viewed by 683

Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Interests: geohazard; GIS; remote sensing; machine learning; water resources
Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Interests: remote sensing and GIS applications in geohazard assessment and environmental impact study; SAR and PSInSAR applications in monitoring ground subsidence and landslide deformation rate; underground transportation geotechnics; rock mass characterization; numerical modeling, such as finite element and finite difference methods for ground thermal regimes; stress–strain distribution in the rock or soil mass
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rising frequency and severity of natural disasters such as floods, landslides, wildfires, and droughts are placing unprecedented stress on land systems across the globe. Developing resilient land systems is essential to safeguard ecosystems, infrastructure, and human livelihoods. In this context, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, and Machine Learning (ML) have emerged as critical tools to monitor land dynamics, evaluate vulnerability, and provide predictive insights that inform disaster preparedness and sustainable management strategies.

This Special Issue, Resilient Land Systems in the Face of Increasing Disaster Risks, seeks to highlight recent advances in geospatial technologies and data-driven approaches that strengthen resilience. We invite contributions that integrate GIS, Remote Sensing, and ML to explore innovative methodologies, interdisciplinary applications, and practical solutions for disaster risk reduction. By bringing together original research and review articles, this Special Issue will serve as a platform for advancing scientific understanding and informing policies on resilient land systems in diverse geographic and socio-economic contexts.

The suggested themes include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. GIS, Remote Sensing, and ML applications for monitoring and predicting floods, landslides, wildfires, and droughts.
  2. Assessing land system vulnerability, exposure, and resilience using geospatial technologies.
  3. Climate change impacts on land systems and adaptive geospatial approaches.
  4. Big data and AI-driven models for disaster preparedness and land management.
  5. Remote Sensing for land-use dynamics, urban expansion, and ecosystem resilience.
  6. Policy and planning frameworks supported by GIS and Remote Sensing for resilient land systems.

We welcome original research articles, case studies, and reviews that demonstrate how geospatial innovations and machine learning can enhance resilience in the face of increasing disaster risks.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Kind regards,

Dr. Dorcas Idowu
Dr. Wendy Zhou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • resilient land systems
  • disaster risk reduction
  • GIS
  • remote sensing
  • machine learning
  • climate change adaptation
  • land-use dynamics
  • sustainable land management

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

56 pages, 26740 KB  
Article
Burned Area Evidence for Process-Sensitive Post-Fire Hydrogeomorphic Monitoring Across Mediterranean and Iberian–Atlantic Regions
by Salvatore Polverino, Hourakhsh Ahmadnia, Rokhsaneh Rahbarianyazd Ahmadnia and Behnam Mobaraki
Land 2026, 15(8), 1494; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15081494 - 17 Aug 2026
Viewed by 232
Abstract
In operational terms, post-fire landscapes require monitoring priorities that reflect hydrogeomorphic susceptibility rather than burned extent alone. This study tests whether European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) burned area evidence, combined with open terrain, rainfall, drainage, soil, land cover, and settlement context data, [...] Read more.
In operational terms, post-fire landscapes require monitoring priorities that reflect hydrogeomorphic susceptibility rather than burned extent alone. This study tests whether European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) burned area evidence, combined with open terrain, rainfall, drainage, soil, land cover, and settlement context data, can be translated into source-to-output traceable monitoring priority units across Mediterranean and Iberian–Atlantic regions. The backbone integrates Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) driver structuring, cell criticality score (CCS) screening from the CCS-V0 conventional weighted linear GIS baseline to CCS-V5 staged refinement, upper-quartile (Q75) hotspot topology, multi-criteria decision analysis/cost penalty (MCDA/COST-PEN) ranking, and quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO)-ready selected/reserve organization. Across Vesuvius–Campania, Attica, Cyprus, Portugal, and Spain, the screening outputs show procedural portability without implying geomorphological equivalence, field-confirmed hydrogeomorphic damage, or cross-theater hazard comparability: hotspot geometry, dominance, fragmentation, and candidate composition remain theater-dependent. In Vesuvius–Campania, CCS-V1 rainfall conditioning reduced Q75 hotspot clusters from 58 to 18 and increased the dominant cluster ratio from 23.1% to 63.07%; in Portugal, CCS-V5 contracted hotspot support from 17,240 to 862 cells while increasing dominance to 66.13%. The final QUBO-ready layer retained 11 of 32 candidate units. The contribution links (i) EFFIS/Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) source sector traceability and valid support construction, (ii) DEMATEL-informed CCS refinement and hotspot topology interpretation, (iii) role-based transfer testing across non-equivalent theaters, and (iv) QUBO-ready prioritization for verification-oriented post-fire monitoring. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilient Land Systems in the Face of Increasing Disaster Risks)
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