On June 28 through July 1, 2006, a NATO advanced research workshop was
held in Kyiv, Ukraine. This meeting of scholars from both NATO and NATO
partner countries brought together the leading researchers in the field
of Fuzziness and Uncertainty in GIS for Environmental Security and
Protection. The papers based upon the presentations at this meeting are
included in this book. They were all quite good, some focusing on the
use of fuzzy sets in geography, others focusing on explicit
environmental concerns in Ukraine. What this book cannot show is the
camaraderie and spirit of cooperation that permeated the atmosphere of
this workshop. These researchers, many of whom had never met before, are
now colleagues, and are continuing to collaborate on research to this
day, and probably beyond. Scholars from various positions and countries
have chosen to work together in the spirit of cooperation to make the
ideas presented in this book come to fruition. At press time, we do not
know if Ukraine will become a NATO member or not. In any case, the
editors wish to thank the NATO Science Committee for their funding,
encouragement, and work in making this workshop a reality. We hope that
the spirit of cooperation and intellectual curiosity that was so lively
at the conference will encourage the reader in the perusal of this work.