Environmental

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, and other participatory research techniques to offer additional analytically grounded power when evaluating socio-environmental processes that shape Latin American landscapes.

Environmental decision making is, like politics, mostly local. In fact, making decisions about the environment at the subnationallevel-in state, regional, and local jurisdictions-is a lot like politics. For resolving environ­ mental issues demands, but often resists, a balance between deeply held feelings and stark confrontations among opposing views.