Suppression of historical fire regimes has changed the composition and structure of many fire-dependent ecosystems, frequently resulting in decreased grazing productivity and biodiversity in grasslands and savannas. Land managers have attempted to reverse these trends through the application of prescribed fire, but regulations and liability concerns often deter them. District court judges play a key role in defining the legal context of prescribed burning by interpreting applicable statutes in personal injury or property damage cases resulting from escaped prescribed fire.

The use of satellite data to detect forest areas impacted by extreme events, such as droughts, heatwaves, or fires is largely documented, however, the use of these data to identify the heterogeneity of the forests’ response to determine fine scale spatially irregular damage is less explored. This paper evaluates the health status of forests in southern Italy affected by adverse climate conditions during the hot and dry summer of 2017, using Sentinel-2 images (10m) and in situ data.

Papua New Guinea is a country in Oceania that hosts unique rain forests and forest ecosystems which are crucial for sequestering atmospheric carbon, conserving biodiversity, supporting the livelihood of indigenous people, and underpinning the timber market of the country. As a result of urban sprawl, agricultural expansion, and illegal logging, there has been a tremendous increase in land-use land cover (LULC) change happening in the country in the past few decades and this has triggered massive deforestation and forest degradation.