Changes in climate, land use, and land management impact the occurrence and severity of wildland fires in many parts of the world. This is particularly evident in Europe, where ongoing changes in land use have strongly modified fire patterns over the last decades. Although satellite data by the European Forest Fire Information System provide large-scale wildland fire statistics across European countries, there is still a crucial need to collect and summarize in-depth local analysis and understanding of the wildland fire condition and associated challenges across Europe. This article aims to provide a general overview of the current wildland fire patterns and challenges as perceived by national representatives, supplemented by national fire statistics (2009–2018) across Europe. For each of the 31 countries included, we present a perspective authored by scientists or practitioners from each respective country, representing a wide range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds. The authors were selected from members of the COST Action “Fire and the Earth System: Science & Society” funded by the European Commission with the aim to share knowledge and improve communication about wildland fire. Where relevant, a brief overview of key studies, particular wildland fire challenges a country is facing, and an overview of notable recent fire events are also presented. Key perceived challenges included (1) the lack of consistent and detailed records for wildland fire events, within and across countries, (2) an increase in wildland fires that pose a risk to properties and human life due to high population densities and sprawl into forested regions, and (3) the view that, irrespective of changes in management, climate change is likely to increase the frequency and impact of wildland fires in the coming decades. Addressing challenge (1) will not only be valuable in advancing national and pan-European wildland fire management strategies, but also in evaluating perceptions (2) and (3) against more robust quantitative evidence.

In civil engineering, carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional materials. The article provides a comprehensive overview of the application of CFRP composites in various building structural elements and their characteristics and properties, such as their fatigue and corrosion resistance, stiffness and high strength, and incorporation of temperature factors. The advantages and disadvantages of CFRP composites and the current trends and prospects for CFRP composites in the construction sector are discussed. In addition, the article compares various studies on CFRP composites to shed light on their performance and potential limitations. This paper aims to provide useful information to researchers and practitioners interested in using CFRP composites in civil engineering applications. In addition, the article discusses emerging materials in CFRP, such as nanostructured carbon fibres, hybrid fibre reinforcement, and self-sensing CFRP. Additionally, the paper outlines how CFRP composites promote sustainability by increasing structural durability and longevity.

This study investigated operational and structural health monitoring (SHM) as well as damage evaluations for building structures. The study involved damage detection and the assessment of buildings by placing sensors and by assuming weak areas, and considered situations of assessment and self-monitoring. From this perspective, advanced sensor technology and data acquisition techniques can systematically monitor a building in real time. Furthermore, the structure’s response and behavior were observed and recorded to predict the damage to the building. In this paper, we discuss the real-time monitoring and response of buildings, which includes both static and dynamic analyses along with numerical simulation studies such as finite element analysis (FEA), and recommendations for the future research and development of SHM are made.

The aim of this paper was to assess groundwater quality in a landfill and waste management site, with special regard to levels of organic pollution indicators: chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and total organic carbon (TOC). Analysis of specific indicators was conducted for piezometers located in the area of the Radiowo landfill, the composting plant and the facilities adjacent to the landfill. The article discusses the temporal and spatial changes of selected organic pollution indicators. Based on the results of groundwater monitoring, several maps of COD, BOD and TOC areal distribution were provided. Statistical distribution of monitoring data was presented using box-and-whisker plots. Pearson’s correlation coefficients between selected pollution indicators were measured with a significance level set at p < 0.01 and p < 0.05. The strongest correlation was observed between BOD and COD. The maximum BOD/COD ratio was observed at the level of 1.561 before the closure of the vertical barrier, whereas, at present, average values of this ratio are below 0.18. The results indicate significant improvement of groundwater quality in the landfill site after the closure of the vertical barrier. In particular, this refers to BOD values, which decreased even 160 times in the 1998–2016 monitoring period.

The behaviour of natural and artificial slopes is controlled by their thermo-hydro-mechanical conditions and by soil–vegetation–atmosphere interaction. Porewater pressure changes within a slope related to variable meteorological settings have been shown to be able to induce soil erosion, shrinkage–swelling and cracking, thus leading to an overall decrease of the available soil strength with depth and, ultimately, to a progressive slope collapse. In terms of numerical modelling, the stability analysis of partially saturated slopes is a complex problem and a wide range of approaches from simple limit equilibrium solutions to advanced numerical analyses have been proposed in the literature. The more advanced approaches, although more rigorous, require input data such as the soil water retention curve and the hydraulic conductivity function, which are difficult to obtain in some cases. The quantification of the effects of future climate scenarios represents an additional challenge in forecasting slope–atmosphere interaction processes. This paper presents a review of real and ideal case histories regarding the numerical analysis of natural and artificial slopes subjected to different types of climatic perturbations. The limits and benefits of the different numerical approaches adopted are discussed and some general modelling recommendations are addressed.

Landfills have been identified as potential sources of heavy metal pollution of the environment. The municipal solid waste Łubna landfill is one of the largest landfills in Poland. Its impact on heavy metal pollution (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cr) of groundwater, soil and plants has been thoroughly evaluated. Elevated levels of contamination have not been recorded in the vicinity of the landfill. The concentrations of heavy metals in soil from the vicinity of the landfill were similar to the geochemical background levels for the forest and farming soils of central Poland. The concentrations of heavy metals in European goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea L.) and grasses (Poaceae) did not exceed the baseline concentrations and did not indicate environmental pollution by heavy metals. The levels of the metal concentration in groundwater did not exceed the standards established for water intended for consumption.