The role of the earth sciences in a sustainable world

Abstract

At the dawn of a new millennium, Geology will surely play an increasingly important role in our better understanding of the Earth, in our path towards a sustainable society. With broader application of information technology and modeling of the geological processes, Geology is becoming more and more quantitative, and better prepared to give its contribution to Earth management. This is a very complex task, since all processes on the Earth are interlinked, and hence the approach must be interdisciplinary, when the participation of geoscience professionals from different fields is essential.