Geomorphology is part of Earth Sciences and is best described as the scientific study of landforms, their assemblages, and the processes that moulded them in the past and that continue to change them today. Geomorphologists study the shapes of landforms and the regularities of their spatial distribution; they decipher their origin and evolution, and try to establish their ages. Geomorphology has also been dubbed the ‘science of scenery’. Thus, the scenery – the combination of landforms and water – has become a subject of scientific inquiry.
Geomorphology is also about the interpretation of natural landscapes and, in the context of World Heritage properties, it helps us to understand what brought about their uniqueness and their rarity.

Read the whole paper published by World Heritage Review magazine published jointly by UNESCO and Publishing for Development (printed four times a year in English, French and Spanish). The publication presents and promotes the preservation of our World Heritage, with detailed feature articles and news items about the most outstanding cultural and natural sites in the world.

Geomorphological Mapping: a professional handbook of techniques and applications is a new book targeted at academics and practitioners who use, or wish to utilise, geomorphological mapping within their work. Synthesising for the first time an historical perspective to geomorphological mapping, field based and digital tools and techniques for mapping and an extensive array of case studies from academics and professionals active in the area. Those active in geomorphology, engineering geology, reinsurance, Environmental Impact Assessors, and allied areas, will find the text of immense value.

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Physical landscapes are one of the most fascinating facets of our Planet, which tell stories about the evolution of the surface of the Earth. This book provides an up-to-date information about the geomorphology of the selected ‘classic’ sites from around the world and shows the variety of geomorphological landscapes as moulded by different sets of processes acting over different timescales, from millions of years to days. The volume is written by nearly fifty geomorphologists from more than twenty countries who for many years have researched some of the unique sceneries on the planet. The thirty six chapters present each continent of the world. They describe landscapes of different origin, so that the reader can learn about the complexity of processes behind the sceneries.

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Human activities, especially in the last two centuries, have had a huge impact on the environment and landscape through industrialisation and land-use change, leading to climate change, deforestation, desertification, land degradation, and air and water pollution. These impacts are strongly linked to the occurrence of geomorphological hazards, such as floods, landslides, snow avalanches, soil erosion, and others. This book, with chapters written by an international team of geomorphologists provides state-of-the-art knowledge about the contribution of geomorphology to the comprehension of hazards, links the work undertaken by geomorphologists to the framework of the likely impacts of climatic change and global environmental change, shows the significance of technology (remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems) for hazard and risk assessment and management, and demonstrates the role of geomorphology in vulnerability and risk analysis, disaster prevention and sustainability.

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Geomorphology can be regarded as the ‘Science of Scenery’. It seeks to explain how landscapes develop over time, the operation of earth surface processes such as erosion, landsliding and river flows, and the interactions between these processes and the landscape … The link between scientific research and environmental policy, however, is far from automatic. One of the key themes of the conference [Regional Conference on Geomorphology in Kota Kinabalu, 2007 – ed.] was ‘Communicating Geomorphology’, which explored how field scientists can integrate their research with a wider body of knowledge about the environment, discuss ideas with stakeholders and explain the significance of their research findings to a wider audience.

Read the whole paper published by ASIANGEOgraphic