Ash dieback disease hit the headlines in 2012 with predictions of devastation, but then seemed to be forgotten. Yet in the intervening years it has continued to spread and is now threatening millions of trees across the UK.

The housing crisis has moved up the political agenda recently, and featured prominently at this year’s Ecobuild conference.

The UK faces some significant challenges over the next decade sourcing its energy and maintaining security of supply.

There is a revolution going on in the development and application of satellite technology, and much of it is highly relevant to surveyors.

The notion of selling nature seems, at first, to be rather uncouth. You might wonder what a romantic poet such as Wordsworth would have made of it.

In this Land Journal we look at how financial technology "fintech" and cadastres that can use digital currencies have positive applications in land and real-estate transactions.

It may be hard to believe at the moment, but there is more to life than Brexit — as, I hope, this issue of Land Journal demonstrates.

Our lead article by the eminent Stig Enemark — well-known to many of you — is entitled “Supporting the 2030 global agenda”, and examines the need for sound land governance and administration as well as the importance of land issues in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Surveyors also have an important role in land management and flood resilience. This issue of Land Journal has an article on holistic natural flood prevention and land stewardship.

There’s a strong technological theme to this issue, though this is not deliberate. Rather, it is a reflection of how technology is affecting so many aspects of surveying, leading to new ways of looking at and shaping the world.