Water systems are experiencing dynamic societal demands and extreme environmental changes. The integration of modular water systems into existing centralized infrastructures, creating hybrid systems, could mitigate these challenges by enabling more resilient water management. However, the existence of technological alternatives has not changed the continuous reliance on centralized water infrastructure. Supportive policy instruments are key to foster the operation of modular technology within hybrid water systems. This article focuses on the role of substantive and procedural policy instruments for the successful operation of modular water systems within a hybrid water infrastructure. Based on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), we can confirm the claim in the literature that relying on regulatory instruments is relevant for operating modular technology within hybrid systems. However, we also find combinations of policy instruments where regulatory instruments do not matter. Furthermore, we find that procedural instruments emphasizing stakeholder participation interplay with different substantive policy instruments to support the successful operation of modular systems.

This article examines the policy background and legislative frameworks underlying the regulation of transboundary movement of potentially invasive alien species (IAS). The starting point is the examination of the fundamental regulatory concepts for IAS that are found in (1) the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) (in accordance with the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, ‘SPS Agreement’) and (2) the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), together with a discussion on whether IAS are legally regarded as ‘pests’. How these concepts are applied in different transboundary situations is then examined with examples from within federal jurisdictions (USA, Australia) and across external and internal boundaries in transnational jurisdictions (European Union and Eurasian Economic Union). Special attention is paid to IAS in aquatic environments and the question of naturalisation of once alien species. The article concludes with suggestions for development of future policy on IAS taking into account the degree of effectiveness of present regulatory frameworks and the need to consider the impact of climate change on future threats from invasives.

Economic instruments for conservation are invoked as a strategy to achieve the dual goals of maintaining healthy ecosystems and improving human well-being. The outcomes of such instruments are highly variable and there has been limited analysis of their social outcomes. Economic instruments for conservation can create opportunity and political leverage for minority groups or reinforce pre-existing power relationships and reproduce socio-economic inequalities. This research examines the equity implications of a government scheme from Brazil known as an ecological fiscal transfer, looking at how institutional arrangements and local power dynamics influence the application of revenue to achieve social outcomes. A case study from the Atlantic forest explores whether the application of revenue reflects the interests of a broad community base and avoids elite capture, or if decision-making processes are engineered by local power actors to further specific interests. Results demonstrate how poor local institutional capacity limits the effective governance of the revenue, leading to limited positive social outcomes. Furthermore, incentives offered by the mechanism stimulate conservation activity which implies high costs for the rural poor. The application of a framework of good governance guides the development of recommendations for improving the social equity of ecological fiscal transfer policies. These findings reinforce the importance of the design of EFTs applied in regions of poverty, if they are to promote socially equitable conservation.

In view of a continuing global decrease of forest cover, many authors mention forest governance as a basic concept contributing to reduced deforestation, specifically in the tropics. There are numerous definitions for forest governance. The concept is commonly understood as a broad approach and assessment tools comprise dozens of indicators. However, there is no information about relations between single indicators, their individual importance and whether contextual factors modify their effects. This article aims to analyze if the hypothesized relation between governance leading to reduced tropical deforestation in general holds true, to identify the most decisive governance components and to explore if the wider socio-economic and political context influences potential governance effects. The structure - agency concept is used as theoretical basis to identify underlying mechanisms and as conceptual basis for discussing individual indicators. We employ a quantitative literature review based on scientific articles on governance and deforestation. From a total of 810 articles we select the most frequently cited publications related to the subject. From the resulting 198 papers only those are studied that contain empirical relations between governance and deforestation. The remaining 28 studies are analyzed by applying the governance indicators of the World Resource Institute as categories for content analysis. Likert scores are used to quantify governance effects as input for subsequent principal component analysis and multiple linear regressions. Results show that indeed high governance scores frequently relate to lower rates of deforestation and we thus recommend continued political support for the concept. But the reviewed studies mostly focus on a smaller number of classical governance indicators, which suggests that the governance concept might benefit from streamlining into a more targeted approach. In this respect, several indicators were related to underlying principal components reflecting the agency and structure concept. Even though we cannot claim a statistically significant stronger effect of one or the other component, single structural indicators were more strongly and more consistently linked to reduced deforestation in comparison to agency related indicators. The concept can thus be helpful to guide policy design and implementation. We show this by applying it to the ongoing discussion on results based payments under REDD+ as a prominent example for agency related measures. The reviewed literature in addition suggests that governance effects are moderated by deforestation drivers such as corruption, illegal logging and population growth and by interventions like technology transfer.

Recent studies argue that the scientific communication of climate change overly emphasizes climate extremes. This, in turn, leads to a universal “atmosfear” as an association of anthropogenic climate change with frightening future scenarios. We analyze the factors driving such kinds of atmosfear, concerning the particular cases of hot extremes (heatwaves) and wet extremes (floods). Can uncertainty or fear motivate resilience or even initiate action to cope with potential future challenges? A transition is needed in the current public discourse on climate change: from atmosfear to orchestrated global climate action to rapidly induce the social and behavioral changes that are fundamental to meet climate policy objectives. The current climate change debate is largely framed in terms of risks and damages. However, we argue that positive messages could serve climate action better. We list several positive examples resulting from action against climate change: co-benefits, win-win or multiple-win opportunities, that climate action might entail.

Social-ecological system (SES) promoting sustainable management of natural resources in common ownership are steered by a complex governance system that includes regulations through laws and policies, and management by administrative authorities operating across multi-level institutional structures that, in turn, are shaped by stakeholder interests. In addition, the long-term progress of natural resource management not only relies upon the existence of a well-structured and functional governance system, but needs that system to adaptably facilitate sustainable resource management in line with current knowledge and best practices. In this research we mapped the administrative structure that steers rangeland management in Iceland and undertook a critical analysis of the governance system´s structure and functions to examine if agricultural and environmental policy targets have facilitated improved rangeland management practices. A survey, based on a questionnaire distributed to selected public sector employees and sheep farmers, was used to gauge the participants: a) attitude towards rangeland management practices, b) perception of the level of collaboration and state support for rangeland restoration and c) views on current agricultural and environmental policies on rangeland management. The results strongly indicate that neither the current administrative structure nor the governance process itself have significantly facilitated expected attitude changes within the agricultural sector or among local authorities. Furthermore, it has neither facilitated significant attitude nor behavioral changes among sheep farmers aimed at improved rangeland management, in line with current government agricultural and environmental policy targets. Our key findings support previous research that shows the governance system for rangeland management in Iceland as structurally limited and suffering from weak vertically and horizontally integration. Furthermore, our findings clearly reveal the need for improved governance for rangeland management and the need for increased levels of knowledge application within the system.

This article provides an overview of how systematic review (SR) methods have been used to evaluate public policy. It argues that these methods can be applied to the evaluation of environmental public policy, but that certain challenges need to be addressed in order to fulfil the SR methods potential. The article reflects upon two methodological challenges confronting systematic reviewers: how data from the articles should be synthesised; and how to take societal contexts into account. Analysing how these challenges have been addressed in practice contributes to the theoretical discussion about the usefulness of different synthesis methods, and the role of context. Three lessons are drawn as to how systematic review methods can become useful when applied to the evaluation of environmental public policy, namely: (1) to anticipate the heterogeneity in the literature from the beginning – in terms of both research design and operationalisation of key concepts; (2) to consider the purpose of the review when deciding whether to take a single- or multi-context approach; and (3) to be methodologically innovative when applying the systematic review methods to complex policies.

Contemporary socio-environmental problems such as the reduced availability of natural resources, the loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, pollution, an unprecedented population growth, the mass migration of people to cities, and urban sprawl may be associated with the consequences of an economic infinite growth paradigm on a finite planet. Despite international goals for improving the spatial and environmental management, current and future developments are continuously planned without the consideration of the biophysical limits to growth. This could be equated with the environmental carrying capacity (ECC), a concept and a tool for the sustainable development of human settlements. This research use the environmental indicators such as Ecological Footprint (EF) and biocapacity (BC) for ECC quantification. Despite EF and BC accounting is well-developed at the global, national and regional levels, there is still lack of local - urban standard for EF assessment. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to present the local approach for EF assessment and its potential to use for ECC assessment at local (i.e., city) level. The study compares the hybrid EF, which joined the bottom-up CF with the remaining EF’s components from a top-down approach, with the standard top-down EF approach. In this study, the assessment focused mainly on household consumption which could be equated as main driver responsible for Ecological Footprint. Thus, the impact of household consumption was quantified according to four categories reflecting resources’ use and waste generation as: Food, Housing, Mobility, Services and Goods. The analysis of ECC was conducted for the Polish city of Wrocław in Central Eastern Europe for the year 2016. The results showed, that the city of Wrocław exceeds its ECC. Both calculations were affected by data limitations, and likely represent overestimation of the EF. The proposed approach could be important for ECC assessment, quantification of the EF of human activities, and more sustainable spatial management of the city.

Ship traffic has nearly tripled in the Canadian Arctic over the past decade and additional growth is expected as climate change continues to increase navigability in the region. In response, the Canadian Government is developing Low Impact Shipping Corridors as an adaptation strategy that supports safety and sustainability under rapidly changing environmental conditions. The corridors are specified voluntary maritime routes where services and infrastructure investments are prioritized. While a large amount of data from different sources were used to establish the location of the corridors, important local and traditional knowledge from Arctic communities has yet to be considered in much detail. The Arctic Corridors and Northern Voices (ACNV) project was established in response to this fundamental gap in knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to outline perspectives and recommendations for the corridors from 13 Canadian Inuit communities across Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homeland) that were involved in the ACNV project through a series of participatory community mapping exercises. A summary of the recommendations for the corridors that emerged from communities is presented including spatial representations for: 1) preferred corridors, 2) areas to avoid, 3) restrictions by season, 4) modification of vessel operation and 5) areas where charting is needed. The findings of the study further reiterate the vital need for meaningful inclusion of northern voices and science alongside federal government agencies in the development of Arctic shipping policy and governance.

Transdisciplinary sustainability research (TDR) is characterised by methodologies that support a rich and direct interaction between academics and other societal stakeholders. However, it is not to be taken for granted that societal stakeholders are interested in collaboration, or that researchers have the skills to put participative methods into action. While there are several frameworks available to evaluate transdisciplinary research, the quality of participants’ engagement is often neglected during evaluations. The aim of this paper is to empirically assess the intrinsic motivation of participating societal stakeholders to engage in TDR by pairing Self-Determination Theory with Poggi’s conceptual analysis of enthusiasm. We argue that the quality of collaboration between academic and other societal stakeholders is reflected by the latter’s enthusiasm to participate, and that this supports the co-creation of outputs that societal stakeholders can put into practice. Two smallholder dairy farmer groups in Nakuru County, Kenya, reflected on their engagement in a collaborative learning process (CLP) that started in 2013. The goal of the collaboration was to co-develop contextualized innovations. We found that giving more voice and increasing representation and power of farmers in the research process sparked their enthusiasm, while a sense of progress and success sustained it. The strengthened sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness associated with intrinsic motivation helped participants invest in co-creating research outputs that have direct effects on their production systems. Especially for agricultural research for development spanning between Global North and Global South contexts, sensitivity to encouraging participants’ intrinsic motivation can contribute towards decolonizing research methodologies and shifting more power towards the societal stakeholders that these projects are meant to serve. We conclude that assessing participants’ intrinsic motivation and enthusiasm helps to determine the quality of collaboration. A possible implication could also be the differentiation between methodological approaches employed in TDR that deeply engage societal stakeholders for knowledge integration and co-production, and those that do so only at a superficial level.

This study identifies and analyses the underlying assumptions of experts involved in the first author meeting (FAM) of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)’s Values Assessment, and how they shape understandings of the multiple values of nature. We draw from survey data collected from 94 experts attending the FAM. Respondents self-report the tendencies and aims they bring to the assessment (i.e. motivation), the type and amount of evidence they require for knowledge to be valid (i.e. confirmation) and their epistemic worldviews (i.e. objectivity). Four clusters emerged that correspond to Pragmatist, Post-Positivist, Constructivist and Transformative epistemic worldviews. This result clarifies how different knowledge claims are represented in science-policy processes. Despite the proportionately higher number of social scientists in the Values Assessment, compared with previous IPBES assessments, we still found that fewer experts have Constructivist or Transformative worldviews than Pragmatist or Post-Positivist outlooks, an imbalance that may influence the types of values and valuation perspectives emphasised in the assessment. We also detected a tension regarding what constitutes valid knowledge between Post-Positivists, who emphasised high levels of agreement, and Pragmatists and Constructivists, who did not necessarily consider agreement crucial. Conversely, Post-Positivists did not align with relational values and were more diverse in their views regarding definitions of multiple values of nature compared to other clusters. Pragmatists emphasized relational values, while Constructivists tended to consider all value types (including relational values) as important. We discuss the implications of our findings for future design and delivery of IPBES processes and interdisciplinary research.

In the past decade, research on interconnected resource challenges has primarily focused on quantifying physical resource interconnections, and there is a growing focus on the social, economic, and policy dimensions of these interconnections. While the nature of the complexity of interconnected resource challenges resulted in emphasizing the need for inter- and trans-disciplinary research and in increased collaboration between research groups, little work has examined the convergence of perspectives between the research groups and their respective stakeholders. This paper focuses on the San Antonio Region of Texas: a resource hotspot characterized by rapid urbanization, increased energy production in the Eagle Ford Shale Play, and growing agricultural activity. The paper reports on a survey sent to 370 researchers and regional stakeholders from governmental, non-governmental/non-profit, and business organizations in the Region’s water, energy, or food sectors. The study goals were to 1) evaluate levels of convergence in perspectives regarding the water, energy, and food challenges in the Region; 2) quantify existing levels of communication of both researchers and regional stakeholders with identified WEF organizations in the region; and 3)identify barriers to and opportunities for improving communication between the WEF organizations and the researchers involved. The authors found aspects of convergence between surveyed regional stakeholders and researchers. Aspects of convergence exist between both groups regarding the potential of different Texas Development Water Board strategies to address future water challenges. Modest levels of communication were reported between surveyed researchers and regional stakeholders with other identified WEF organizations. Both groups converge on the potential roles of “increased communication” and “sharing information between agencies” as a means to improve cooperation to address interconnected resource challenges. To make this possible, institutional mechanisms and resource allocations for such activities must be revisited.

Despite increasing scientific understanding of the global environmental crisis, we struggle to adopt the policies science suggests would be effective. One of the reasons for that is the lack of inclusive engagement and dialogue among a wide range of different actors. Furthermore, there is a lack of consideration of differences between languages, worldviews and cultures. In this paper, we propose that engagement across the science-policy interface can be strengthened by being mindful of the breadth and depth of the diverse human-nature relations found around the globe. By examining diverse conceptualizations of “nature” in more than 60 languages, we identify three clusters: inclusive conceptualizations where humans are viewed as an integral component of nature; non-inclusive conceptualizations where humans are separate from nature; and deifying conceptualizations where nature is understood and experienced within a spiritual dimension. Considering and respecting this rich repertoire of ways of describing, thinking about and relating to nature can help us communicate in ways that resonate across cultures and worldviews. This repertoire also provides a resource we can draw on when defining policies and sustainability scenarios for the future, offering opportunities for finding solutions to global environmental challenges.

The open landscapes produced over centuries by small-scale farming in Norwegian coastal and fjord areas are threatened by agricultural abandonment, raising public concern for maintenance of the species-rich and valuable coastal grasslands. Semi-natural grasslands, traditionally grazed in the spring and fall and mown in summer, are most affected. Two linear programming models, one for small-scale sheep and one for small-scale mixed dairy and meat farms, both described in a separate method article, were developed. In the models is studied effects on production, grazing and land utilization, of altering government financial support among leys on arable land, enclosed farm pasture, grazing animals, and altering the (regulated) prices farmers pay for concentrate feed at the farm level. Sheep grazing can be expanded by intensification through increased fertilization and purchase of concentrate feed. Raising steers instead of bulls on dairy and beef farms with a milk quota would result in more mixed grazing by both sheep and steers, which is advantageous for the landscape. Steers are currently quite rare in Norway and their numbers can be increased with more subsidies for grazing, (Grazing Support (GS)) or by increasing the Regional Environmental Support (RES), a policy instrument targeting local projects for more grazing in specific areas. The current Agriculture and Cultural Landscape (ACL) subsidy payment places a higher value on arable land compared to the more biodiverse farm pastures, resulting in weaker incentives for keeping farm pasture in production. Raising the rate for farm pasture relative to that of arable land in the ACL scheme would result in stronger incentives for keeping such farm pasture in production, and likely increase biodiversity and landscape values. Increased GS for sheep might lead to more purchase of concentrate to keep more animals through the winter and eventually needs to be counteracted with higher prices for concentrated feedstuffs.

The impact of collaborative research approaches on science and society has been subject to much debate and speculation. However, empirically grounded analyses of the process-impact link remain the exception. That includes comparing participation planning, intended processes, expectations and implementation. This paper delivers a theoretically informed comparison between different approaches to participation that are practised. It does so by performing a criteria-guided analysis of 31 participatory sustainability studies covering different areas of study and spatial levels. This provides an understanding of how participation is translated from theory into practice, what challenges occur that contradict initial aims, and how these potentially influence expected effects. The results show stark divergences between planning and implementation: persistent normative ideals in the planning phase, echoing deliberative and emancipatory claims, contrast with an emphasis on effectiveness during implementation. This leads to a systematic over-representation of experts and an under-representation of diverse societal actors in the studies. The focus is on producing directly measurable results rather than promoting possible (long-term) societal effects. These findings facilitate a deeper discussion of which conditions and procedures could aid the design and delivery of high-impact collaboration in the future.

Boundary spanning – the practice of facilitating knowledge exchange to address complex sustainability challenges – has the potential to align research and policymaking and increase the uptake of research in decision making. But the goals, methods, and outcomes of boundary-spanning activities in the environment sector can be difficult to describe, missing an opportunity to share lessons learned and improve as a community of practice. This paper describes boundary-spanning activities to integrate research about environmental sustainability with federal ocean policy dialogues in the U.S. We describe the process of organizing, facilitating, and learning from a series of meetings in which five interdisciplinary researchers engaged with federal ocean policy audiences. While the longer-term impacts of the activities associated with these meetings are subtle and remain difficult to detect, more immediate outcomes are observable. These include new professional relationships among researchers and policy staff, reported relevance of the research to general policy discourse, and a narrative that frames the opportunity for policymakers to learn from past industrialization on land as they manage an emerging industrial revolution in the ocean. By presenting the process and outcomes of our boundary-spanning activities, we aim to stimulate timely debate within ocean policy, management, and research communities about the importance of multiple benefits provided by healthy and intact ocean ecosystems and how to protect them in the face of the expanding industrialization of the ocean.

The post-conflict scenario in Colombia poses several environmental urgencies, making it necessary to identify and prioritize new challenges for biodiversity conservation and ecosystems management. It is critical to understand how government agencies, NGOs, and academics perceive these challenges, as they all contribute to fundamental decision-making on environmental issues. To achieve this objective we formulated fifty-two research questions that were edited, evaluated, and prioritized by members of each group in a dedicated workshop. Ten of these questions were identified as top priorities and shared with twenty additional members of each group. Perceptions and rankings of the ten priority questions were then compared among groups, but no statistical difference was found. These results highlight that broadly similar goals for biodiversity conservation are shared by all key decision makers in post-conflict Colombia. Namely, conservation through sustainable management practices and development of local economies previously affected by the conflict. The process of developing and prioritizing these research questions helped to identify key drivers of biodiversity loss and create a research agenda to mitigate environmental impacts in post-conflict Colombia.

In 2012 Sweden implemented a collaborative governance regime for managing moose (Alces alces). This was guided by the awareness that decentralization and stakeholder participation can help to reduce conflicts, foster systematic learning, and handle complexity. However, previous research has highlighted that there are no blueprint approaches to the governance and management of natural resources. In this case, diverse multi-use landscapes, ever-changing ungulate populations, and other external stressors (e.g. climate change, wildlife diseases) can create challenges for collaborative institutions. Adaptive capacity is therefore needed as it allows a system and the actors involved to react successfully to social-ecological changes and to develop even in times of no imminent change or risk. Using Swedish moose management as an example of a multi-level governance system, this research assesses the critical determinants of adaptive capacity across levels. We developed and applied a psychometric approach to measure actors’ perceived adaptive capacity on two levels in the management system. A web-based survey was sent to Moose Management Groups (n = 765, response rate = 81 %) and Moose Management Units (n = 1,380, response rate = 71 %). Using structural equation modelling, we assessed the relative importance of governance aspects, different types of social capital, as well as human and financial capital on actors’ perceived adaptive capacity. Linking and bridging social capital in the system had significant impacts on both levels. Actors felt more prepared to handle future challenges in moose management when they perceived benefits through collaborations with levels below and expressed social trust in authorities and the management level above. Besides those similarities between the two levels, fairness was a more important determinant of actors’ perceived adaptive capacity on the lower management level. These results can contribute to a future improvement of the collaborative governance setting by finessing strategic interventions on different levels. Furthermore, our results illustrate the importance of scale when assessing the adaptive capacity of a system.

Climate change has reduced the snow cover in the Swiss Alps, negatively impacting the winter tourist sector. The adaptation of artificial or technical snow, as a solution to combat a decline in tourism, is pervasive, yet controversial. This paper uses Q methodology to analyse the perspectives of stakeholders in relation to artificial snow production with regard to the three pillars of sustainable development. While all stakeholders agreed that there are ecological constraints to socioeconomic development, three distinct perspectives were identified. Perspective 1 prioritizes the environment, not accepting ecological compromises for socioeconomic development. Perspective 2 is more willing to accept trade-offs, focusing on economic diversification and long-term strategies. Perspective 3 focuses on the economy, with a preference for the status quo. The ecological awareness of all stakeholders provides a promising basis for sustainable development. However, the diverse views on priority setting present nontrivial obstacles towards devising future strategies for sustainable development.

Mainstreaming biodiversity in development cooperation activities is called for by scientists and policy-makers alike, as the current biodiversity crisis can only be mitigated if the linkages between biodiversity and human wellbeing are acknowledged. Reconciling biodiversity conservation and human development is a particularly topical challenge in highly biodiverse developing countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the population is highly dependent on natural resources for their livelihood. This study combines expert interviews with an evaluation of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports, in order to determine the current motivations, obstacles and effectiveness of biodiversity mainstreaming in the DRC and to assess the framing, the representation and use of biodiversity in recently conducted EIAs in the DRC. Our findings indicate that biodiversity mainstreaming in the DRC is considered challenging due to enduring contextual (e.g. governance) factors; and that there is a strong support base for EIA among the interviewed experts. Turning to actual EIAs that were recently performed in the DRC, the diversity of framings motivating the uptake of biodiversity is remarkable. Instrumental reasons do not thwart intrinsic motivations –which is indicative of a support base for the non-instrumental value of biodiversity. The use of biodiversity baseline data in mitigation measures is low, and the taxonomic resolution of the biodiversity data in EIAs is uneven. Despite these challenges, the potential of EIA in the DRC is considered high, and linkages between project-driven EIA practice and biodiversity data collection and dissemination should be strengthened.

Salmon production, and aquaculture in general, entails certain environmental risks that must be managed and controlled. In Norway, as in other aquaculture-producing countries, governments seek means of improving the industry and encouraging sustainable conduct. In Norwegian aquaculture regulation, the salmon louse has become an important indicator and regulatory instrument – a governmental technology. The louse is a proxy for the environmental impact of the industry and as a governmental technology, it is used to regulate and incite behavior. In this paper, we draw on results from both interviews and an analysis of responses to a consultation round for a governmental White Paper proposing new means for regulating the growth of the aquaculture industry. Based on these results, we investigate the becoming of the salmon louse as a regulatory instrument, and how this is perceived among relevant stakeholders. The political significance of the salmon louse serves to illuminate how a governmental technology is created to instill control from a distance. The history of how the salmon louse has become a governable object additionally elucidates disagreements and uncertainties surrounding modern salmon farming and demonstrates that the creation of governmental technologies persists in the face of resistance.

Citizen Science (CS) has been emerging in the last decade as a new field of environmental monitoring involving a direct collaboration between everyday citizens and scientists. In Tunisia, several recent governmental efforts aimed at reinforcing and renovating the existing official water monitoring systems. However, the lack of reliable hydrological data is still an issue, which could be better addressed through integrating a CS approach. The latter approach is tested for rainfall monitoring in the Medjerda catchment in Tunisia using cost-effective and publicly available manual rain gauges. We used a step-by-step approach to target, engage and train citizens on using the monitoring tools and transmitting the data to a user-friendly online platform. The ongoing approach involved 7 citizens from different generations and different educational backgrounds. The collected daily CS data are compared with data from reference stations. Results yield a significant correlation between CS data collected at 3 different sites and the reference stations with r (Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC)) ranges between 0.91 and 0.98 for all citizens. Student’s t-test was applied to evaluate the significance of the agreement between the CS and reference data. In addition, the variability of the CS data is compared with the variability associated with the official governmental data. The CS approach delivered consistent outcomes to complement existing Tunisian monitoring systems, and also to enhance innovation, adaptation, and local capacity building in the Tunisian water sector.

Novel technologies are continually being developed every day. Lessons from the past show that some resulted in unintended harm to the Earth’s system. The challenge for organizations working at the interface of the environment, technology, and society is, therefore, how to best harness the environmental benefits from new technologies while minimizing their potential adverse effects. Here, we identify some of the emerging technologies that the international development community needs to consider as it seeks to take advantage of new technologies to promote sustainable development. There are several innovations – such as blockchain, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, cellular agriculture, and gene editing techniques that could either positively or negatively affect the environment, food security, human health, and the transition to clean energy. Some of their benefits and potential environmental and socio-economic concerns are discussed. We further suggest actions that can be taken by organizations involved in sustainable development, such as the United Nations and other global and regional bodies, to exploit the benefits from novel technologies and mitigate their risks.

Science-policy interface organizations and initiatives (SPIORG) are a key component of environmental governance designed to make links between science and society. However, the science­policy interface literature lacks a structured approach to explaining the impacts of context on and by these initiatives. To better understand these impacts on and interactions with governance, this paper uses the concept of the governance ‘meshwork’ to explore how dynamic processes – encompassing prior, current and anticipated interactions – co­produce knowledge and impact via processes, negotiation and networking activities at multiple governance levels. To illustrate the interactions between SPIORGs and governance meshwork we use five cases representing archetypal SPIORGs. These cases demonstrate how all initiatives and organizations link to their contexts in complex and unique ways, yet also identifies ten important aspects that connect the governance meshwork to SPIORGs. These aspects of the meshwork, together with the typology of organizations, provide a comprehensive framework that can help make sense how the SPIORGs are embedded in the surrounding governance contexts. We highlight that SPIORGs must purposively consider and engage with their contexts to increase their potential impact on knowledge co-­production and policy making.

Conservation scientists produce knowledge that is destined to inform conservation action. There is however a widespread perception that a “knowing-to-doing” gap hinders the uptake of knowledge for conservation action. Vague reasoning on who is to take action is pointed here as a significant component of that problem. As conservation scientists discuss options on how to bridge that gap, they have to reflect on issues of agency and organization: who do they see as taking action? What does significant action essentially consist in? And what is the fundamental structure of the relations and power dynamics between the actors involved? Based on such questions, we propose here a typology of six underlying conceptual models of organized action that are used (implicitly or explicitly) to reflect and debate on action for conservation. We analyse the system of crossed critiques that result from the differences in their premises on agency and organization. This clarification allows a better understanding of recurrent controversies in the conservation field, and can help conservation scientists be more explicit about their strategic choices as they increasingly focus on the kind of action they want their research to inform.

Although thousands of biodiversity indicators have already been designed, scientists and decision-makers are still asking for new versions. Why are we still not satisfied? Our argument is that, if biodiversity indicators aim to improve the effectiveness of science-policy interfaces, it is essential to assess their actual contribution to biodiversity conservation. How? Through an analysis of current uses of indicators in the strategic interactions among a set of actors placed in a given field of biodiversity organized actions This paper presents our investigations into the use of French national and regional red lists of threatened species as a strategic resource for scientists and policy-makers. The manner the red lists are designed, discussed and used is essential so that they can be adapted to suit the way biodiversity is managed in France. The lists systematise information on threatened species in ways that allow users to strategically connect or disconnect knowledge and action, according to the needs of environmental operators in different situations. Their contribution to effective biodiversity actions lies in what we call their potential to act as ‘circuit breakers’ between science and policy. This research suggests new perspectives both for analysing environmental management situations including indicator design and for operators who want to design new indicators.

Co-production is one of the most important ideas in the theory and practice of knowledge and governance for global sustainability, including ecology and biodiversity conservation. A core challenge confronting the application of co-production has been confusion over differences in definition and practice across several disciplinary traditions, including sustainability science, public administration, and science and technology studies. In this paper, we review the theoretical foundations of these disciplinary traditions and how each has applied co-production. We suggest, at the theoretical level, the differences across disciplines are, in fact, more apparent than real. We identify several theoretical convergences that allow us to synthesize a strong conceptual foundation for those seeking to design and implement co-production work in programs of global sustainability research and policy.

This paper presents an historical perspective on the interaction between conservation science and policy. Drawing on a synthesis of studies of the history of conservation, and combining this with work in science policy and related fields, it considers the implications of a shift, beginning in the 1960s, in the politics of expertise. Before that time, scientific evidence and interpretations were usually discussed within restricted arenas of experts and policymakers. After the 1960s, they instead increasingly became matters of public debate. This shift had several consequences for conservation. It encouraged scientists and other advocates to present conservation as a strictly scientific matter, that was based on authoritative, quantitative and transparent – and therefore publically defensible – processes. Conservation science itself evolved to emphasize spatial concepts and practices that could provide the basis for rule-based, replicable procedures for determining conservation priorities. This account therefore illustrates the insights to be gained from reconsidering the history of conservation in terms of our understanding of the evolving status and social roles of expertise.

Scientific knowledge is considered to be an important factor (alongside others) in environmental policy-making. However, the opportunity for environmentalists to influence policy can often occur within short, discrete time windows. Therefore, a piece of research may have a negligible or transformative policy influence depending on when it is presented. These ‘policy windows’ are sometimes predictable, such as those dealing with conventions or legislation with a defined renewal period, but are often hard to anticipate. We describe four ways that environmentalists can respond to policy windows and increase the likelihood of knowledge uptake: 1) foresee (and create) emergent windows, 2) respond quickly to opening windows, 3) frame research in line with appropriate windows, and 4) persevere in closed windows. These categories are closely linked; efforts to enhance the incorporation of scientific knowledge into policy need to harness mechanisms within each. We illustrate the main points with reference to nature conservation, but the principles apply widely.

Despite the expressed desire for ‘evidence based policy’, especially in the environmental field, many policies seem to ignore available knowledge and to put aside scientific evidence. The science–policy interface, therefore, has abundant examples showing that knowledge production and decision-making processes should be analysed together. In this regard, we address the question of how biodiversity scientists could participate in social and political negotiation so that scientific biodiversity knowledge becomes evidence. We use the use of Bti for mosquito control in the Camargue, South of France, as an empirical case study to examine the place of biodiversity in the decision-making process and the role of scientists supporting biodiversity conservation. We demonstrate that to become evidence, scientific knowledge has to be widely adopted by stakeholders. In that context, biodiversity scientists have to keep demonstrating impacts on biodiversity to maintain the controversy opened. They also have to propose and eventually test alternative solutions. Combining actor-network theory and strategic analysis, our approach encourages social scientists to adopt case-based long-term field studies to contribute to reflections by biodiversity scientists as they struggle to make their work impact biodiversity policy.

Ecology researchers are increasingly willing to be involved in conservation policy-making processes. However, such processes are driven by complex negotiations between numerous stakeholders. The wish to engage is therefore not enough for ecological scientists to conduct effective science–policy interactions with respect to their conservation goals. The capacity for scientists to influence such negotiations also depends on their understanding of the strategic context, which involves complex cooperation and opposition dynamics among the stakeholders. Reflexive strategic action, an approach derived from the management sciences, can help develop collaborations between social scientists and ecologists that provide both (i) prime field observations on the involvement of scientists in policy-making processes and (ii) a support to scientists in their actions, by increasing their awareness of the strategic context in which they are embedded. In this study, an action research approach was developed within the context of a partnership between an ecology research team and a conservation NGO. The partnership aimed to design a new science–management interface for Mediterranean biodiversity conservation. The action research project was based on reflexive strategic action and focused on how such a partnership could strengthen the capacity of both partners to influence biodiversity conservation policies. While the relationship between the research team and the conservation NGO seemed to be based on a tactical pragmatism, both partners identified the need for a more effective advocacy coalition. Strategic reflexivity brought a number of insights to the partners and helped them collaborate towards their conservation goals. Ultimately, the increase in reflexivity brought by the social sciences is more likely to be useful when all those involved – social scientists, ecology researchers and conservation NGOs – share the same normative perspective on conservation goals.

Scenario planning is a popular decision-support method that is increasingly being applied to climate change adaptation. However, evaluation of scenario planning for adaptation is lacking. In this paper we summarise a science-policy session held at the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference in May 2019, where practitioners explored the strengths and weaknesses of scenario planning for climate adaptation and identified modifications to enhance the method’s utility. Eight case studies spanning three scenario planning types (problem-focused, actor-focused and reflexive-interventionist) from varied socio-cultural contexts were presented by the authors, followed by discussion amongst the 40 participants. Strengths focussed on opportunities provided by scenario planning for stakeholder participation, and raising their awareness about future risks, vulnerability and uncertainty. Participatory scenario planning was most useful for building stakeholder consensus at the local scale (e.g. communities, neighbourhoods) over shorter timeframes (e.g. 20 years). Weaknesses centred on the inability of scenarios to generate quantitative predictions and concrete adaptation solutions. This was partly attributed to practitioners’ limited understanding of stakeholder politics and power dynamics, and the resulting lack of integration of scenario exercises within decision-making processes. Scenarios were also limited by being static, and participatory processes were resource-intensive. Suggested modifications were to develop iterative scenario planning embedded within decision-making cycles. Such ‘transient scenarios’ could absorb system feedbacks and updated information to prioritise adaptation responses, thus actively contributing to ongoing adaptation pathways. Applying monitoring, evaluating and learning would enable reflexive refinement of the method, adapting it to become an agile approach applicable to varied socio-cultural and political contexts.

Sustainable management of natural resources under economic, environmental and social perspective, needs to consider a fair balance between its uses and availability. Sustainable agriculture goal is to establish innovative and new farm tools and service capacities that help the intensive farm sector to optimize input management (energy, nutrients and water) and productivity. The main objective of this paper was to investigate, in a durum wheat production system in central Italy under Mediterranean conditions, the following aspects: (i) environmental sustainability of fertilization treatments through the energy inputs/outputs analysis and reduction of Nitrate (N-NO3) in water cycle; (ii) agricultural system agronomic and economic performance and (iii) to identify regulatory and economic instruments actually in place to promote sustainable fertilization. To describe and address the sustainability assessment of durum wheat production system we adopt the “Water Energy Food nexus” (WEF) as conceptual framework. The findings of this research showed that there is a great difference between the marketable yields obtained with mineral fertilization strategies and those by organic fertilizer, while considering the environmental sustainability, our results provide evidences of the significance of the reduction of energy use and the high value of renewable energies and the decreasing of non-renewable one. At the same time the reduced impact of groundwater quality due to the organic fertilizer seems to be an interesting result to be analyzed in the long-term perspective. The contraposition between economy and environment is one of the main challenges to be solved through adequate policy instruments.

The majority of global emissions scenarios compatible with holding global warming to less than 2 °C depend on the large-scale use of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) to compensate for an overshoot of atmospheric CO2 budgets. Recent critiques have highlighted the ethical and environmental risks of this strategy and the danger of building long-term climate policy on such speculative technological scenarios emerging from integrated assessment models. Here, we critically examine both the use of BECCS in mitigation scenarios and the decision making philosophy underlying the use of integrated assessment modelling to inform climate policy. We identify a number of features of integrated assessment models that favour selection of BECCS over alternative strategies. However, we argue that the deeper issue lies in the tendency to view model outputs as objective science, capable of defining “optimal” goals and strategies for which climate policy should strive, rather than as exploratory tools within a broader policy development process. This model-centric decision making philosophy is highly sensitive to uncertainties in model assumptions and future trends, and tends to favour solutions that perform well within the model framework at the expense of a wider mix of strategies and values. Drawing on the principles of Robust Decision Making, we articulate the need for an alternative approach that explicitly embraces uncertainty, multiple values and diversity among stakeholders and viewpoints, and in which modelling exists in an iterative exchange with policy development rather than separate from it. Such an approach would provide more relevant and robust information to near-term policymaking, and enable an inclusive societal dialogue about the appropriate role for carbon dioxide removal within climate policy.

Sustainability Transition Experiments (STEs), leveraging a transdisciplinary research approach, have recently been proposed as a method to accelerate sustainability transitions. This paper outlines a proposed three-part evaluation framework to assess the process, societal effects, and sustainability transition impacts of STEs. The paper extracts the key insights from multiple literatures, generating a set of indicators to be used in assessing sustainability transition experiments. Particular emphasis is placed on the assessment of longer-term sustainability impacts. We propose a development pathway approach to organize elements of sustainability transition impact into a coherent framework that highlights the inter-relationships between levels of scales in systems transition and foregrounds the role of changes in governance roles and relationships and the role of politics in transitions. The paper offers insights into the challenge of evaluating the sustainability transition impacts of a transdisciplinary research project and provides an important bridge between the evaluation of processes, societal effects, and their link to sustainability transition impacts.

By building infrastructure, planners want to exert control over the environment for the sake of society. Due to uncertainty and complexity, such control is always limited and can become contested. Based on a case study of replacing a pumping station, we show how planners can understand the replacement of infrastructure and what informs adequate replacement strategies amid uncertainty. The paper argues that the concepts (un)control and (re)structuring help understand replacements in the context of infrastructure planning. Infrastructure replacements are interventions on different levels which restructure existing systems, asset networks, local areas and assets themselves. Necessary information for developing a replacement strategy, exerted control or uncontrol, possible innovations and restructuring effects differ among these levels. We conclude that planners need to be cognizant that infrastructure replacements, no matter how large or small, restructure both environments and social institutions.

Palm oil is an edible oil with a high yield, various economic benefits, and many diverse uses. However, its production has led to increased deforestation, the endangerment of several species, and toxic greenhouse gas emissions. The current study had two aims: (1) to generate a list of palm oil-related pro-environmental behaviours (PEB) that general community members in Australia can do; and (2) to identify one or more behaviours from this list to address in a behaviour-change intervention. Semi-structured interviews with 12 experts (environmental journalists, conservation scientists and activists) generated a list of 11 potential palm oil-related PEB. The same experts rated this list in terms of potential effectiveness in reducing the negative environmental effects of palm oil. A community sample of 300 participants rated the same PEB on likelihood of adoption and current penetration (i.e., the extent to which they already engage in the behaviour). These scores were integrated into a behaviour prioritization matrix, which revealed that the most beneficial PEB to target was “purchasing products containing only sustainable palm oil”. This study is an essential preliminary step in behaviour change interventional research, and outlines the process of selecting specific consumer behaviour related to environmental concerns. Policy-based implications are discussed.

The key challenge for transdisciplinary research aiming to integrate social and scientific knowledge is to produce societal and scientific impacts at the same time. Participatory modelling is a method that uses models in three ways: as a means to generate knowledge, to achieve knowledge integration and to enable societal impact. Agent-based modelling is a computer simulation technique that allows for simulating different actors as agents, the socioeconomic and natural environment they are embedded in, and the interactions among agents and between agents and their environment. This paper presents projects developing agent-based models of Austrian regions with single farm households as agents. The models simulate how changes in socioeconomic and political conditions affect patterns of land use, agricultural production and the socioeconomic situation within this region. Farm households and their decision-making process with its ecological, economic and social implications represent the basis of the agent-based models. We discuss how and why participatory modelling can help foster the impact potentials of transdisciplinary research and what the limitations of the different types of models are. We show that participatory modelling allows for the integration of the most relevant issues in the models and for the development of scenarios and strategies together with the stakeholders. Participatory modelling shows its strength in structuring communication on future scenarios and recommendations for action towards reaching the targets of the various groups involved in transdisciplinary research. Stakeholders can use the model for effective discussion and education processes to find sustainable pathways in agricultural development.

Decision-makers face a particular challenge in planning for climate adaptation. The complexity of climate change's likely impacts, such as increased flooding, has widened the scope of information necessary to take action. This is particularly the case in valuable low-lying coastal regions, which host many competing interests, and where there is a growing need to draw from varied fields in the risk-based management of flooding. The rising scrutiny over science's ability to match expectations of policy actors has called for the integration of stakeholder and scientific knowledge domains. Focusing on the Broads — the United Kingdom's largest protected wetland — this study looked to assess future flood risk and consider potential adaptation responses in a collaborative approach. Interviews and surveys with local stakeholders accompanied the development of a hydraulic model in an iterative participatory design, centred on a scientist-stakeholder workshop. Knowledge and perspectives were shared on processes driving risk in the Broads, as well as on the implications of adaptation measures, allowing for their prioritisation. The research outcomes highlight not only the challenges that scientist-stakeholder integrated assessments of future flood risk face, but also their potential to lead to the production of useful information for decision-making.

Participation of relevant stakeholders, knowledge integration, responsive and emergent design and effective boundary management are four key features of transdisciplinary research (TDR). These features pose significant challenges to both undertaking TDR and evaluating its societal impact. We argue that TDR’s context specificity and complexity warrant an evaluation approach that supports the coordinating team in developing these key features. In light of this, this article aims to reconcile two distinct foci of TDR evaluation, namely supporting transdisciplinary capacity building and impact evaluation. We share the results from a combined approach in which the authors acted both as facilitators and evaluators of a TDR project, to conduct an embedded, formative evaluation. Our findings show that the approach allowed for better access to the participants and sensitivity to their perspectives on impact, and for enhanced understanding of complex internal and external project dynamics and how these shaped the project. This resulted in a meaningful assessment of TDR’s societal impacts and enabled attributing these to specific process elements. Moreover, the approach supported the coordinating TDR team’s capacities for developing key TDR features. Four TDR capacities were identified: building TDR ownership, openness and transparency for integrating divergent TDR needs, purposeful responsiveness to emergent TDR needs and navigating institutional realities and TDR ambitions. The approach presented may serve as stepping stone for the TDR community to further the conversation on (the impact of) inclusive, reflexive and responsive research.

The newly published article by Pereira et al. (2019) analyzed the threaten of Brazilian political perspectives to the conservation of Amazonian forest. We highlighted some recent events that has leading Brazilian scientists and environmentalists worried. Mining activities and uncontrolled fire are usually associated to negative impacts on local biodiversity and on ecosystem services supporting traditional populations, such as indigenous people and riverine populations, besides generates tons of toxic wastes. Brazil’s president intentions regarding resource exploitation in the Amazon, mostly inside indigenous lands, may lead to catastrophic consequences not only for Amazon biodiversity and traditional populations, but also for the achievement of Brazilian and world´s targets of reducing global carbon emissions and to decrease current global warming rates. The active management of these areas is thus essential to preserve their role on climate change mitigation and must be the focus of the Brazilian government, rather than one considering exploring local mining and agrobusiness.

Heat waves and Saharan dust outbreaks have been acquiring more frequency and intensity in the Canary Islands during the last decades. Both climatic hazards are known to produce impacts on human health such as mortality (due to heat waves) and morbidity (due to dusty weather). This work addresses possible climate adaptation policies in Tenerife assuming the increasing impact of heat waves and Saharan dust outbreaks in the island under a climate change scenario. It explores the institutional setting of climate change adaptation planning in Tenerife and evaluates the statu quo of adaptation planning in the island through the engagement of key social actors. An historical review of the local and regional press articles and legislation, an in-depth round of interviews, together with questionnaires to the main social actors allows framing the social and political context in which climate change adaptation in Tenerife is embedded. Key social actors were engaged, including international organisations, atmospheric research centres, local Universities, regional and insular governments, trade unions, and environmental NGOs, among others. The main obstacles mentioned by the social actors that hinder the development of an effective climate adaptation policy address scientific knowledge, data collection and policy making, focusing on the uncertainty of climate models, the lack of epidemiological data and contrasting opinions regarding the existing climate adaptation policies. Public participation, mainstreaming of climate policies and an integrated approach between mitigation and adaptation plans were identified as key policy issues. The outcomes of this study could be meaningful for climate adaptation initiatives at local or regional level, such as the Global Covenant of Mayors, that intend to promote climate resilience through the setup of climate adaptation strategies and plans at municipality level.

The future of human life in the world's river deltas depends on the success of water management. To deal with uncertainties about the future, policymakers in the Netherlands have used scenarios to develop water management strategies for the coastal zone of the Rhine-Meuse delta. In this paper we reflect on six decades of scenario use in the Netherlands, and provide recommendations for future studies. Based on two criteria, 'Decision robustness' and 'Learning success', we conclude that (1) the possibilities for robust decisionmaking increased through a paradigm shift from predicting to exploring futures, but the scenario method is not yet fully exploited for decisionmaking under uncertainty; and (2) the scenarios enabled learning about possible impacts of developments and effectiveness of policy options. New scenario approaches are emerging to deal with the deep uncertainties water managers are currently facing.

As an agricultural country and one of the world's major food exporters, Thailand relies heavily on the use of pesticides to protect crops and increase yields. During the past decade, the Kingdom of Thailand has experienced an approximate four-fold increase in pesticide use. This increase presents a challenge for the Royal Thai Government in effectively managing and controlling pesticide use based upon the current policies and legal infrastructure. We have reviewed several key components for managing agricultural pesticides in Thailand. One of the main obstacles to effective pesticide regulation in Thailand is the lack of a consolidated, uniform system designed specifically for pesticide management. This deficit has weakened the enforcement of existing regulations, resulting in misuse/overuse of pesticides, and consequently, increased environmental contamination and human exposure. This article provides a systematic review of how agricultural pesticides are regulated in Thailand. In addition, we provide our perspectives on the current state of pesticide management, the potential health effects of widespread, largely uncontrolled use of pesticides on the Thai people and ways to improve pesticide management in Thailand.

Motor vehicle traffic is an important source of particulate pollution in cities of the developing world, where rapid growth, coupled with a lack of effective transport and land use planning, may result in harmful levels of fine particles (PM(2.5)) in the air. However, a lack of air monitoring data hinders health impact assessments and the development of transportation and land use policies that could reduce health burdens due to outdoor air pollution. To address this important need, a study of traffic-related PM(2.5) was carried out in the city of Nairobi, Kenya, a model city for sub-Saharan Africa, in July 2009. Sampling was carried out using portable filter-based air samplers carried in backpacks by technicians on weekdays over two weeks at several sites in and around Nairobi ranging from high-traffic roadways to rural background. Mean daytime concentrations of PM(2.5) ranged from 10.7 at the rural background site to 98.1 μg/m(3) on a sidewalk in the central business district. Horizontal dispersion measurements demonstrated a decrease in PM(2.5) concentration from 128.7 to 18.7 μg/m(3) over 100 meters downwind of a major intersection in Nairobi. A vertical dispersion experiment revealed a decrease from 119.5 μg/m(3) at street level to 42.8 μg/m(3) on a third-floor rooftop in the central business district. Though not directly comparable to air quality guidelines, which are based on 24-hour or annual averages, the urban concentrations we observed raise concern with regard to public health and related policy. Taken together with survey data on commuting patterns within Nairobi, these results suggest that many Nairobi residents are exposed on a regular basis to elevated concentrations of fine particle air pollution, with potentially serious long-term implications for health.

Adaptation to climate change has been considered to be crucial to current societies, especially for small islands. In this paper the case of Tenerife (in the Canary Islands) is analysed. Tenerife is a small island located northwest of the African continent, in the Atlantic Ocean. Tenerife presents a high vulnerability to heatwaves and Saharan dust events as a consequence of its closeness to the Saharan desert. In fact, increasing frequency of heatwaves and Saharan dust events has been reported and could worsen in the future due to global warming. An exploration of adaptation strategies to an increase of the frequency and intensity of these phenomena is therefore needed. Different social actors have been engaged in a participatory process aiming at exploring pathways for adaptation to extreme weather events. Resilience was argued as the relevant framing to address those hazards. Four focus group sessions were carried out in order to explore key transformative elements necessary to make resilient futures for Tenerife. The results highlight the need for broader climate-based policies across all sectors to assure that the island becomes resilient to climatic and non-climatic shocks.

The Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF) is often used as a conceptual tool for studying diverse risk perceptions associated with environmental hazards. While widely applied, it has been criticised for implying that it is possible to define a benchmark 'real' risk that is determined by experts and around which public risk perceptions can subsequently become amplified. It has been argued that this objectification of risk is particularly problematic when there are high levels of scientific uncertainty and a lack of expert consensus about the nature of a risk and its impacts. In order to explore this further, this paper examines how 'experts' - defined in this case as scientists, policy makers, outbreak managers and key stakeholders - construct and assemble their understanding of the risks associated with two invasive tree pest and disease outbreaks in the UK, ash dieback and oak processionary moth. Through semi-structured interviews with experts in each of the case study outbreaks, the paper aims to better understand the nature of information sources drawn on to construct perceptions of tree health risks, especially when uncertainty is prevalent. A key conclusion is that risk assessment is a socially-mediated, relational and incremental process with experts drawing on a range of official, anecdotal and experiential sources of information, as well as reference to past events in order to assemble the risk case. Aligned with this, experts make attributions about public concern, especially when the evidence base is incomplete and there is a need to justify policy and management actions and safeguard reputation.

Tree diseases are on the increase in many countries and the implications of their appearance can be political, as well as ecological and economic. Preventative policy approaches to tree diseases are difficult to formulate because dispersal pathways for pest and pathogens are numerous, poorly known and likely to be beyond human management control. Genomic techniques could offer the quickest and most predictable approach to developing a disease tolerant native ash. The population of European Ash (Fraxinus Excelsior) has suffered major losses in the last decade, due to the onset of Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (previously called Chalara Fraxinea) commonly known in the UK as ash dieback. This study presents evidence on the public acceptability of tree-breed solutions to the spread of Chalara, with the main aim to provide science and policy with an up-stream 'steer' on the likely public acceptability of different tree breeding solutions. The findings showed that whilst there was a firm anti-GM and 'we shouldn't tamper with nature' attitude among UK publics, there was an equally firm and perhaps slightly larger pragmatic attitude that GM (science and technology) should be used if there is a good reason to do so, for example if it can help protect trees from disease and help feed the world. The latter view was significantly stronger among younger age groups (Millennials), those living in urban areas and when the (GM)modified trees were destined for urban and plantation, rather than countryside settings. Overall, our findings suggest that the UK government could consider genomic solutions to tree breeding with more confidence in the future, as large and influential publics appear to be relaxed about the use of genomic techniques to increase tolerance of trees to disease.

Human health is greatly affected by inadequate access to sufficient and safe drinking water, especially in low and middle-income countries. Drinking water governance improvements may be one way to better drinking water quality. Over the past decade, many projects and international organizations have been dedicated to water governance; however, water governance in the drinking water sector is understudied and how to improve water governance remains unclear. We analyze drinking water governance challenges in three countries-Brazil, Ecuador, and Malawi-as perceived by government, service providers, and civil society organizations. A mixed methods approach was used: a clustering model was used for country selection and qualitative semi-structured interviews were used with direct observation in data collection. The clustering model integrated political, economic, social and environmental variables that impact water sector performance, to group countries. Brazil, Ecuador and Malawi were selected with the model so as to enhance the generalizability of the results. This comparative case study is important because similar challenges are identified in the drinking water sectors of each country; while, the countries represent diverse socio-economic and political contexts, and the selection process provides generalizability to our results. We find that access to safe water could be improved if certain water governance challenges were addressed: coordination and data sharing between ministries that deal with drinking water services; monitoring and enforcement of water quality laws; and sufficient technical capacity to improve administrative and technical management of water services at the local level. From an analysis of our field research, we also developed a conceptual framework that identifies policy levers that could be used to influence governance of drinking water quality on national and sub-national levels, and the relationships between these levers.

The importance of designing suitable participatory governance processes is generally acknowledged. However, less emphasis has been put on how decision-makers design such processes, and how they learn about doing so. While the policy learning literature has tended to focus on the substance of policy, little research is available on learning about the design of governance. Here, we explore different approaches to learning among German policymakers engaged in implementing the European Floods Directive. We draw on official planning documents and expert interviews with state-level policymakers to focus on learning about the procedural aspects of designing and conducting participatory flood risk management planning. Drawing on the policy learning and evidence-based governance literatures, we conceptualise six types of instrumental 'governance learning' according to sources of learning (endogenous and exogenous) and modes of learning (serial and parallel). We empirically apply this typology in the context of diverse participatory flood risk management planning processes currently unfolding across the German federal states. We find that during the first Floods Directive planning cycle, policymakers have tended to rely on prior experience in their own federal states with planning under the Water Framework Directive to inform the design and carrying out of participatory processes. In contrast, policymakers only sporadically look to experiences from other jurisdictions as a deliberate learning strategy. We argue that there is scope for more coordinated and systematic learning on designing effective governance, and that the latter might benefit from more openness to experimentation and learning on the part of policymakers.

This paper aims to get a better understanding of the motivational and transaction cost features of building global scientific research commons, with a view to contributing to the debate on the design of appropriate policy measures under the recently adopted Nagoya Protocol. For this purpose, the paper analyses the results of a world-wide survey of managers and users of microbial culture collections, which focused on the role of social and internalized motivations, organizational networks and external incentives in promoting the public availability of upstream research assets. Overall, the study confirms the hypotheses of the social production model of information and shareable goods, but it also shows the need to complete this model. For the sharing of materials, the underlying collaborative economy in excess capacity plays a key role in addition to the social production, while for data, competitive pressures amongst scientists tend to play a bigger role.

Air pollution causes an estimated 200,000 deaths per year in the United States alone. Older adults are at greater risk of mortality caused by air pollution. Here we quantify the number of older adult facilities in Los Angeles County that are exposed to high levels of traffic derived air pollution, and propose policy solutions to reduce pollution exposure to this vulnerable subgroup. Distances between 20,362 intersections and 858 elder care facilities were estimated, and roads or highways within 500 of facilities were used to estimate traffic volume exposure. Of the 858 facilities, 54 were located near at least one major roadway, defined as a traffic volume over 100,000 cars/day. These 54 facilities house approximately 6,000 older adults. Following standards established for schools, we recommend legislation mandating the placement of new elder care facilities a minimum of 500 feet from major roadways in order to reduce unnecessary mortality risk from pollution exposure.

This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on how to attribute and evaluate the contribution of transdisciplinary research to sustainable development. As co-created knowledge is a key product of transdisciplinary research, we tested the hypothesis that the extent to which this knowledge is utilized beyond the project consortia, in different areas – from scientific methods and insights to policy decisions – and across a continuum of geographical scales can be used to identify potential impact pathways. For this purpose, we developed an analytical framework that links the transdisciplinary process to six possible utilization stages, which we used as indicators of the usability of co-created knowledge. We gathered data from 22 research projects active in 36 countries using a survey and semi-structured interviews. Our results show that even during implementation of the projects, co-created knowledge is utilized by multiple actors at different stages, in all areas and at all scales simultaneously, suggesting multiple impact pathways. Project knowledge is predominantly utilized for national-level policymaking, and research partners named co-creation of knowledge with key stakeholders as the most frequently used mechanism for promoting knowledge utilization. Closer analysis revealed different understandings of and approaches to knowledge co-creation. These can be linked to weaker or stronger definitions of transdisciplinarity. The analysis shows that researchers using strong transdisciplinarity approaches typically face challenges in encompassing multiple epistemologies and facilitating dialogue. Some results suggest that inclusion and collaboration in co-creating knowledge can empower actors otherwise excluded. Our research shows that although transdisciplinary projects have nonlinear impact pathways, these can be partially assessed using the proposed analytical framework. Further, our results indicate a link between usability, inclusion, and collaboration in transdisciplinary research. We conclude with the observation that transdisciplinarity and its requirements still need to be better understood by actors within and beyond the research community.

The objective of this paper is to investigate how indigenous peoples’ involvement can improve the environmental management practices of organizations in the natural resource extraction sector. Based on a qualitative study and semi-structured interviews with 33 respondents, this study sheds more light on the environmental involvement of a particular category of stakeholder rarely considered in the managerial literature. The findings show the risk management issues, corporate legitimacy objectives, and regulatory requirements underlying this type of environmental involvement. We also identify the main practices and benefits of fully engaging with indigenous peoples on environmental issues, particularly in terms of knowledge of local ecosystems and sensitive sites, biodiversity management, development of environmental values within the organization, and support in environmental monitoring. The paper contributes to the literature on both environmental management and relationships between extractive organizations and indigenous communities. Managerial implications and avenues for future research are also discussed.

Traditionally water, energy and food (WEF) resources are governed in many countries by separate sets of laws, rules and institutions. However, recent studies have increasingly underlined the WEF nexus approach as a framework for coherent, holistic and integrated implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address fragmentations and ensure cleaner and efficient production methods in each sector. This article examines the legal and governance aspects of integrating and implementing the WEF nexus in practice. Various legal and institutional challenges that arise with a nexus approach, such as incompatibility of WEF nexus aims, limited rule linkages, institutional limitations and resource constraints are examined in order to identify the ways in which an integrative legal framework on WEF can help close these gaps. The study suggests that enhanced levels of legislation and rule linkage; elaboration of common and shared principles by institutional actors in WEF domains; as well knowledge, expertise and information sharing on WEF-related decision making are significant steps towards advancing systemic and integrated governance of WEF resources.

Urban air quality management (AQM) refers to the activities aimed at reducing air pollution in order to protect human health and the environment in a city. This work presents the formulation of the Urban Air Quality Management Capabilities Index (CECA) and the results of its pilot application in ten Latin American cities. CECA offers a comprehensive and systematic analysis of a city's capacity to formulate and implement air quality management strategies. It is comprised of 31 indicators classed across nine dimensions and three main components (technical capabilities, data capabilities, exploiting capabilities). We defined a specific scoring scale for each indicator. Scores in the scale were determined from surveys administered to local authorities and experts. The pilot application of CECA in Latin America demonstrated that the index provides relevant information on the needs and possibilities for cities to implement primary and rapid actions to reduce air pollution. Within the ten pilot cities, Mexico City and Santiago stand out for leading AQM capabilities. They have integrated technical knowledge into long-term AQM plans and implementation strategies. Consequently, both cities have managed to strengthen their institutions and policies to set effective command and control mechanisms, while proposing incentives for technological improvements. The group of cities with CECA intermediate and low scores evidenced that AQM is starting to emerge in the region. An essential aspect to improve across such cities is the transition to a comprehensive AQM, that goes much further than monitoring. Continuous assessment is needed to improve urban capabilities to address air pollution and to promote interactions among cities in finding solutions. Furthermore, CECA approach encourages cities to prioritize urban AQM, while fosters a comprehensive view and multisector action at local, regional and national scales.

Street trees are an important component of green infrastructure in cities, providing multiple ecosystem services (ES) and hence contributing to urban resilience, sustainability and livability. Still, access to these benefits may display an uneven distribution across the urban fabric, potentially leading to socio-environmental inequalities. Some studies have analyzed the distributional justice implications of street tree spatial patterns, but generally without quantifying the associated ES provision. This research estimated the amount of air purification, runoff mitigation and temperature regulation provided by circa 200,000 street trees in Barcelona, Spain, using the i-Tree Eco tool. Results were aggregated at neighborhood (n = 73) and census tract (n = 1068) levels to detect associations with the distribution of five demographic variables indicating social vulnerability, namely: income, residents from the Global South, residents with low educational attainment, elderly residents, and children. Associations were evaluated using bivariate, multivariate and cluster analyses, including a spatial autoregressive model. Unlike previous studies, we found no evidence of a significant and positive association between the distribution of low income or Global South residents and a lower amount of street tree benefits in Barcelona. Rather, higher ES provision by street trees was associated with certain types of vulnerable populations, especially elderly citizens. Our results also suggest that street trees can play an important redistributive role in relation to the local provision of regulating ES due to the generally uneven and patchy distribution of other urban green infrastructure components such as urban forests, parks or gardens in compact cities such as Barcelona. In the light of these findings, we contend that just green infrastructure planning should carefully consider the distributive implications associated with street tree benefits.

Recent empirical studies show a persistent gap between ‘socially robust’ knowledge produced by transdisciplinary research projects and its ability to promote change on a large scale. Current discourses about the ‘project-to-science-and-practice-at-large gap’ have focused mainly on exploring various conditions that need to be fulfilled to produce ‘socially robust’ knowledge. Yet, those discourses have rarely built on the broader literature of knowledge utilization, which Greenhalgh and Wieringa (2011) emphasize acknowledges ‘the fundamentally social ways in which knowledge emerges, circulates, and gets applied in practice.’ Their insights are helpful in advancing our understanding of why transdisciplinary research projects do or do not contribute to sustainability on a large scale. Expanding Jahn et al. (2012)’s model of transdisciplinary research, we present a revised conceptual model of an ideal-typical, interactive and iterative transdisciplinary research process that adds two new phases from the field of knowledge utilization to their original three-phase model and accounts for the social and relational nature of knowledge utilization. The revised model includes five phases through which transdisciplinary projects operate in different order: (i) defining sustainability problems, (ii) producing new knowledge, (iii) assessing new knowledge, (iv) disseminating new knowledge in realms of both science and practice and (v) using new knowledge in both realms.

Transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge is widely credited with producing knowledge that can contribute to sustainability transformations, but there is little empirical evidence showing to what extent and through what mechanisms it is actually advancing sustainability. This article analyses how 31 transdisciplinary projects conceptualised the link between transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge and sustainability transformations, and as part of an institutional learning process explores what experiences projects garnered while implementing their theories of change. The research identified three generic conceptualisations of impact generation mechanisms: a) promoting systems, target, and transformation knowledge for more informed and equitable decision-making, b) fostering social learning for collective action, and c) enhancing competences for reflective leadership. It also identified seven different strategies through which the studied projects implemented these three generic mechanisms to induce sustainability transformations. Exploring potentials and limitations of the different mechanisms, the article concludes that the question is not which mechanisms or strategies are better than others, but in what situation and combination they might be most promising.