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[From the text] Many people in Africa rely directly on their natural ecosystems for their livelihoods. A key driver of these ecosystems is water, which in Africa has a high spatial and temporal variability. Water comes from rainfall, but the availability of that water depends on the way that it is processed through the landscape unit known as a drainage basin. Drainage basins are the "home" of rivers; rivers which sustain ecosystems and their dependents (human society). Humans and ecosystems cannot live apart from one another, but the relationship can be exploitative and degrading, or harmonious and protective. Throughout history human activity has been subject to direct controls and indirect pressures subjected by the larger society, through political, economic and cultural forces that are often intertwined. Rivers are especially sensitive to the geography of this relationship. Being longitudinal ecosystems that transfer water and other materials from the source of the river to the oceans, activities in upstream areas have a direct impact on downstream areas. To explore these socio-ecological relationships within the context of an African drainage basin I have developed the concept of political geoecology that is explored in this address.

Ecological Civilisation has been China's policy concept to frame its environmental sustainability strategy. While it lacks a clear definition, its multiple practices show a reliance on the development and implementation of technologies that reduce pollution levels and beautify the country. One of those technologies are New Energy Vehicles (NEV), which stand at the centre of an e-mobility transition across urban China. I engage with the growing debate on China's Ecological Civilisation and e-mobility transition by reflecting on the critical junctions between this policy concept and the NEV industry. I suggest that the New Energy requirements of China's Ecological Civilisation rely on power relations that enhance state capacity domestically and transnationally. In this sense, the pursuit of New Energy to build China's Ecological Civilisation relies on moral and sovereign forms of power. In a context of increasing tensions between China and countries in the North Atlantic, my contribution shows that these forms of power enhance China's state capacity through its economic infrastructure, re-producing old dependencies and inequalities.

16 Pags. This article as a Preface by the Editors belonging to a special issue of Catena titled "Geoecology in Mediterranean mountain areas. Tribute to Professor José María García Ruiz". The definitive version is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03418162 ; The origin of this special issue arose from a scientific meeting held in Logroño (Spain) in October 2014, under the theme Geoecology in extreme environments: mountains and semiarid areas ( Arnáez et al., 2014). The main motivation of the event was to recognise, on the occasion of his retirement, the outstanding contribution of Prof. José María García-Ruiz to the progress of Geoecology in Mediterranean mountain areas. Prof. García-Ruiz (Zaragoza, 1949) was lecturer, between 1974 and 1987, at the University of Cáceres and La Rioja. As staff Scientist and later Professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), he was Head of the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE-CSIC) (1987–1990) and Head of the Department of Global Change at the same institute, President of the Spanish Society of Geomorphology (1994–1996), besides a productive and tireless researcher. He has published more than 300 scientific articles, one third of them in international journals, and more than 35 books. He has participated in 40 research projects funded by the European Commission, Spanish and regional governments. With his enthusiasm and dedication he has inspired and encouraged a wide number of geographers and geomorphologists, including 10 PhD students and a great number of collaborators, most of them now working at different Universities and Research Centres around the world. ; Peer reviewed

The ideas about the content of the concept of "geoecological space", types, scientifi c content and applied tasks, types of systems studied by geoecology, theoretical foundations of which are developed on the basis of the concept of environmental functions of abiotic spheres of the Earth are characterized. Types and groups of indicators used to assess geoecological conditions.

Mountain geoecology, as a sub-discipline of Geography, stems from the life and work of Carl Troll who, in turn, was inspired by the philosophy and mountain travels of Alexander von Humboldt. As founding chair of the IGU Commission on High-Altitude Geoecology (1968), Troll laid the foundations for inter-disciplinary and international mountain research. The paper traces the evolution of the Commission and its close links with the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme (1972-) and the United Nations University's mountain Project (1978-). This facilitated the formation of a major force for inclusion of a mountain chapter in AGENDA 21 during the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Herat Summit (UNCED) and the related designation by the United Nations of 2002 as the International Year of Mountains. In this way, mountain geoecology not only contributed to worldwide mountain research but also entered the political arena in the struggle for sustainable mountain development and the well-being of mountain people. ; La geoecología de montaña, como sub-disciplina de la Geografía, entronca con la vida y trabajo de Carl Troll, quien, a su vez, fue inspirado por la filosofía y viajes de Alexander von Humboldt. Como presidente fundador de la comisión de la UGI sobre High Altitude Geoecology (1968), Troll colocó las bases para la investigación interdisciplinar e internacional de las montañas. Este trabajo presenta la evolución de la Comisión y sus estrechas relaciones con el Programa Hombre y Biosfera de UNESCO (1972-) y con el Proyecto de montaña de la Universidad de Naciones Unidas (1978-). Esto facilitó la inclusión de un capítulo sobre la montaña en AGENDA 21 durante la Cumbre de la Tierra de Río de Janeiro (UNCED), y la consiguiente designación de 2002 como el Año Internacional de las Montañas por parte de Naciones Unidas. En este sentido, la geoecología de montaña no sólo contribuyó a la investigación de las montañas del mundo sino que también empujó a la política en el esfuerzo por un desarrollo sostenible de la montaña y el bienestar de los habitantes de la montaña.

The National Institute of Research and Developmentfor Marine Geology and Geoecology – GeoEcoMar was created in 1996 according to the Governmental Decision 1315/25.11.1996, by reorganizing the Romanian Centre for Marine Geology and Geo-ecology CRGGM (founded in 1993). Presently the National Institute of Marine Geology and Geoecology - GeoEcoMar is the Romanian pole of excellence for research in marine, coastal and fluvial geology, geophysics and geo-ecology, as well as an international reference centre for Marine and Earth Sciences in the Black Sea region. In the last twenty years, GeoEcoMar has experienced a continuous scientific and financial growth, both at national and international levels. Since 1996 an "institute of national interest" due to its technical potential and scientific performances, GeoEcoMar`s main objective is to perform complex and multidisciplinary researches of sea – delta – river macro-systems, having as key focus the Black Sea – Danube Delta – Danube River system.

Six scientific-informative paradoxes of the current state of geoecology are determined. New theoretical foundations of geoecology as an interdisciplinary science, developed on the basis of the concept of ecological functions of Earth abiotic spheres, are formulated. They include ideas about the content, object, subject, logical and scientific structures of geoecology, geoecological conditions and their condition, the position of geoecology in the system of sciences about the Earth and the biosphere.