Electric vehicles are a dominant policy solution in the EU. In policy documents, a transition to electric vehicles is justified through promises of a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and oil imports, as well as positive impacts on citizens (through reduced pollution) and the economy (through a boost in manufacturing and the generation of jobs). The evidence supporting such claims remains

Managing social-ecological systems increasingly requires collaboration among diverse teams with a wide range of worldviews and perspectives. Increased attention to the social and cultural factors that shape environmental outcomes is needed for these collaborative teams to function effectively. Mental models are cognitive representations of the external world which guide an individual’s thinking, decision-making

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories represent the link between national and international political actions on climate change, and climate and environmental sciences. Inventory agencies need to include, in national GHG inventories, emission and removal estimates based on scientific data following specific reporting guidance under the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

A common approach in scientific research and policy is a commitment to develop projects or legislation trying to improve problems experienced by low-income and rural communities; however, lack of interaction with community members during the process tends to produce unsatisfactory results. We visited disadvantaged communities in the San Joaquin Valley of California and interviewed local stakeholders

By the 2050s, more than 120 million people are predicted to settle in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), which covers large coastal cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Cities in the PRD are vitally important to China in relation to their socio-economic contributions. From recent evidence, this strongly urbanized area is vulnerable to, and currently facing bigger incidences of, coastal and urban

In 2018, the U.S. National Park Service announced a controversial plan to translocate 20−30 gray wolves (Canis lupus) to Isle Royale National Park to increase genetic diversity and ultimately the dwindling wolf population. Media were restricted physical access during the translocations, citing safety concerns for the wolves and management team, as well as logistical challenges because of the remoteness

The literature on environmental impact assessments (EIA) tends to focus on national case studies, while neglecting subnational EIA systems. Federalist countries represent 40 % of the world’s population and by their design link national and subnational governments in institutional arrangements that delineate or share power across administrative and sectorial areas. Therefore, the study of institutional

Drivers of agricultural transformation vary from place to place. They need to be explored, especially under the new context of changing climate, environment and socio-economic development in coastal regions. This paper aims to discover the drivers of change through an analysis of the agricultural transformation process in the Vietnamese Mekong delta and then develop a framework for the next steps to

This paper uses an environmental justice framework to explore whether existing vulnerabilities in Puerto Rico are associated with the rate of electricity restoration after Hurricane María. Based on the literature discussing the relationship between vulnerability and environmental justice, we expected that the areas identified as vulnerable to environmental injustice would recover more slowly than less

In this communication, I reply to the recent article by Jeffery and Verheijen (2020) ‘A new soil health policy paradigm: Pay for practice not performance!’. While expressing support for their call for a more pronounced role of soil protection in agri-environmental policy, I critically discuss the two main elements of their specific proposal: its emphasis of the concept of soil health and the recommendation

The Congo Basin is a vital water artery in Central Africa and holds more than 50 % of Africa's surface water. Despite the abundance of natural and human resources, the region faces a multitude of social, political, and governance challenges exacerbated by the climate crisis and water stress settings. These conditions severely impact native communities and pastoral populations living in vulnerable conditions

Society critically depends on scientific expertise to inform and justify action on many complex issues. Scientific debates drive science, but the processes of informing policy are commonly designed with the assumption of scientific consensus, for example about the nature of chemical risk. We are concerned that this design may result in the manufacturing of consensus through the exclusion of potentially

While being major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, cities also suffer some of the most severe climate change impacts. Urban forests have gained increasing recognition as nature-based solutions to climate change via the various benefits they provide, such as carbon sequestration and temperature regulation. Many cities have developed climate change and/or urban forest policies to enhance climate resilience

Sustaining urban environmental quality requires effective policy measures that integrate local monitoring and contextualized high-resolution modelling with actionable scenarios. Knowledgeable decision making in this field can nowadays be supported by an array of atmospheric models, but their transfer into an Integrated Urban hydrometeorological, climate and environmental Services (IUS) remains challenging

Environmental policy is crucial for defining the scope of conservation and development at the local, national, and international level. Because of its broader framework for balancing conservation and development, environmental policy is considered as the concern of all actors representing multiple disciplines, ranging from environmentalists to development professionals. However, the current practice

In a food-limited urban environment, policy can improve or exacerbate existing inequalities in access to natural resources. While urban marine subsistence fishers in the United States (US) commonly provision their diets using local fish, little is known about how local policy relates to subsistence fisher vulnerability and existing socioeconomic disadvantage. Further, it is unclear how US state agencies

The present paper traces a chronological history, or roadmap, of the documentation produced by the European Union (EU) to promote and implement nature-based solutions (NBS) as an innovation action aiming to establish a socially inclusive, economically vibrant and ecologically resilient society. The EU’s ambition is to position Europe as the world leader in NBS Research (via scientific research aiming

‘Think global, act local’ has been linked with climate change issues for several decades and suggests a simple downscaling of ideas, tools and processes can be relatively easily achieved. Adaptation pathways, for example, are increasingly used to identify and evaluate adaptation options against a range of plausible futures. The process is applied to both large-scale infrastructure and investment decisions

As early as March 2020, anecdotal reports and some news stories began trickling in about COVID-19 related restrictions and their impacts on strategic mineral supply chains, and the miners who labor in the informal mining sector. However, these reports were few and far between. Imperative was the need for a more accurate and comprehensive picture of the situation, should development partners wish to

Climate Resilient Trajectories are routes to development progress that take into account aspects of climate change adaptation and mitigation in a sustainability context, offering a way to explicitly consider impacts of development and climate change choices on different sectors, scales, and socio-economic effects. Due to their scope and relevance, Climate Resilient Trajectories are of great interest

Geodiversity is a basis for geotourism development. Geosites and geodiversity sites then represent particular issues of geotourist interest, however, in some cases, their potential and suitability for the geotourism is not recognized. The paper is focused on the geotourism potential assessment that forms a basis for sustainable use of geodiversity in an urban area. By using the set of criteria for

The EU legislation requests post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) of a genetically modified (GM) organism even if its pre-market risk assessment indicated negligible risks. It has been claimed that the monitoring of the only currently commercially cultivated GM plant in the EU, Bt MON810 maize, has not revealed any adverse effects. However, the implementation of its PMEM has been criticised repeatedly

Forest certification has become an important element in the trade of forest and wood products in many countries worldwide. We reviewed the Controlled Wood audit process under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which is one of the world’s largest forest certification schemes. We analysed an FSC Controlled Wood audit of logging operations conducted by VicForests (a government owned logging business

Disregarding research not published in English may pose a risk to finding solutions for urgent global concerns, such as biodiversity loss, or climate change. To assess the extent of this ‘missing voice’, we compared the representation of 22 languages in scientific publications on climate change in Africa, indexed by widely used databases. Between 87 % and 95 % of publications were in English, with

Scientific research is increasingly motivated to produce knowledge for sustainability decision-making and action. This is driving some funders, academic institutions, and researchers to pursue research approaches that are more interactive with potential users of the knowledge created. Yet despite compelling evidence that these more collaborative approaches lead to increased use, it remains unclear

Implementing policies able to drive energy sector transition is an objective of the European Union. Based on economic literature, we argue that several determinants might be either drivers or barriers to the effectiveness of energy policy interventions: political-institutional, socio-economic and region-specific factors. For understanding their role in the Italian framework, this research aims at assessing

The construction of desalination plants is proliferating worldwide. In Chile, seawater purification technologies are framed as a tool for confronting water scarcity, stabilizing water provision and optimizing overall water availability while minimizing impacts on groundwater resources. Yet, local communities hosting desalination facilities in their territories are still confronting ongoing water-related

The global COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the shortcomings of our health, social, and economic systems. While responding to the health crisis, governments are scrambling to understand and address the knock-on economic effects from market disruptions, and respond to other major disturbances (e.g. natural disasters). We conducted 61 key informant interviews with Indo-Fijian small-scale fisheries (SSF)

Improved environmental management is key to several of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This paper focuses on the interaction between formalization of the Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) sector in Tanzania, and the regulation of negative environmental impacts. Key environmental impacts associated with ASM in Tanzania include: deforestation, use of mercury and cyanide in gold processing

Increasing recognition of the complexity of environmental problems, and the need to understand social processes and human values, is leading environmental management agencies in many nations, including the USA, to integrate more research from the social sciences through the inclusion of social scientists on interdisciplinary teams. For this study we conducted focus groups at three research laboratories

Doing a PhD in a transdisciplinary research (TDR) project allows early-career scientists (ECSs) to study innovative topics in socioecological systems and to apply methods involving the co-design and co-production of knowledge with practitioners. However, a series of interviews and a group discussion with ECSs involved in TDR projects revealed not only the benefits for career development but also a

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) mandates to incorporate the participation of stakeholders and the general public in the development and updating of the river basin management plans. So far, the WFD implementation has been mainly focused on perennial rivers without considering temporary rivers properly, neither in biomonitoring programs nor participatory processes. This paper aims at adapting

Rapid urban change, in the form of green space (GS) degradation, is exacerbating inequalities in cities, which in turn may aggravate health and subjective well-being (SWB) disparities. Despite extensive evidence-based literature, gaps remain in our understanding of the relationship between GS and SWB in the Just City context—a concept that seeks achieving equity for the residents as its major objective

This exploratory qualitative study utilised the IPCC categories of adaptation opportunities and constraints as a framework to understand the barriers and enablers to the development and uptake of contextually relevant climate-resilient water management technology in three sub-Saharan African cities. In-depth interviews were undertaken with key informants from the research, government, and civil society

Quantitative environmental policy indicators are useful for modeling the impact of environmental policy on the economy. They can be important tools for policy-makers, companies, investors, and researchers alike. Well-crafted environmental policies lead to cleaner environments whilst encouraging innovative behaviour to stimulate green growth and ‘win-wins’ for the economy and the environment. Such win-win

This paper critically assesses the capacity of water sector actors in Dhaka to further support more collaborative and adaptive approaches to emerging freshwater pollution management challenges. Socio-economic, demographic and environmental changes (e.g., flooding) pose substantial and shifting barriers to effective freshwater pollution management in Dhaka, with direct implications for population health

The Coase Theorem has a central place in the theory of environmental economics and regulation. Its applicability for solving real-world externality problems remains debated. We first place this seminal contribution in its historical context. We then survey the experimental literature that has tested the importance of the many, often tacit assumptions in the Coase Theorem. We discuss a selection of

Forest regeneration is a major land-use change in European uplands, and whether or not this is a desirable change for biodiversity is disputed. While this debate seems to be largely situated in the field of natural sciences, this paper aims to also examine its social dimensions. To do so, we adopt a comparative discourse analysis with four cases of protected areas in France, Spain, and Scotland. We

Theory of Change (ToC) has been promoted as a useful tool in sustainability research for visioning, planning, communication, monitoring, evaluation and learning. It involves a mapping of steps towards a desired long-term goal supplemented with continuous reflection on how and why change is expected to happen in a particular context. However, there is limited reported experience with the development

Governments are increasingly applying collaborative approaches even though little is known about how effectively the outputs are implemented. This empirical study used the ‘Soil and Water’ Working Group of the Dialogue for Nature Consideration in Sweden to investigate which aspects of legitimacy influence the implementation of collaborative outputs. It included document analysis, observation and 38

The European Natura 2000 (N2000) is the largest network of protected areas in the world. It was established to protect Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and habitats. While introduction pathways of invasive alien species (IAS) are strongly linked to human activities, they are not prohibited within N2000 sites, which makes them highly vulnerable to biological invasions. Nevertheless, very

This research analyzes the role that air pollution plays, controlling for other socio-economic factors, in the movement of the population among Italian provinces. In spite of the increased prominence of environmental degradation in the public policy debate, empirical evidence on the effects of air quality on the attraction or retention of people is still limited in Italy. This study aims at partly

Environmental policies that require native vegetation conservation can be challenging to implement, especially in productive agricultural landscapes. In Brazil, the Brazilian Native Vegetation Protection Law mandates ‘Legal Reserves’, protected native vegetation that landowners must retain on their properties. If landowners do not have the required minimum amount of native vegetation on their properties

Flood-prone areas are more often than not held under private property rights. Hence, the purpose of this research is to highlight how crucial private stakeholders are to the effectiveness of any instrument for flood risk and hence directly impact on the effectiveness of flood management and yet, private property rights are rarely highlighted in such schema. Additionally, the location of flood-prone

This paper firstly proposed an analytical framework for the relationship between ecosystem services value (ESV) and multidimensional poverty-reduction index; then, it conducted a quantitative assessment of ESV including ecosystem disservices in China’s Three Gorges Reservoir region; next, it explored the interactive relationship between ESV and multidimensional poverty-reduction index in an attempt

Adaptation to climate change is increasingly advocated as we approach a 1.5 °C future. Policy-makers emphasise that the required transformation begins with local action. Yet, there is a gap in understanding why local action can remain largely locked-in to maladaptive cycles, with variable on-ground evidence of transformative change. Using ‘the politics of scale,’ we interrogated ‘the local’ using ethnographic

There is growing coordination and cooperation between the water and energy sectors in Jordan. However, a water-energy nexus approach is seen as a useful management tool by the water sector more than it is by the energy sector. Strong political leadership will be required for a far-reaching adoption of the nexus approach. Increasing policy connections between Jordan’s water and energy sectors will lead

Like many other countries, Germany aims to create flood retention areas via polders and dike relocations. As these measures require access to diverse plots, land acquisition is clearly a challenging task for the responsible water authorities. A revision to the national water law in 2017 introduced several new instruments for land acquisition, i.e. pre-emption rights and regulations to ease expropriation

Polycentric governance has gained prominence in the environmental sector because of the potential for multiple, overlapping decision centers to address complex, multiscale socio-ecological challenges. These decision centers may interact with each other through cooperation, conflict and conflict-resolution, competition, co-existence, and may result in transformations such as consolidation/fusion, and

There is growing interest – and need – among researchers and research organizations to contribute societally relevant work as well as to demonstrate the policy impact of their research. Diverse science-policy interfaces (SPIs) aim for scientifically informed policymaking by connecting scientists with policymakers. Effective SPIs need to be grounded in credibility, relevance and legitimacy; at the same

Environmental innovations are key enablers of transition towards greener economies. Despite their importance, empirical studies examining the effect of green technologies on CO2 emissions are still limited. Using an autoregressive distributed-lag model (ARDL), we analyze the impact of environmental innovations, the consumption of renewable energies, GDP per capita, and degree of economic openness on

Current trends in climate change indicate that the impact on the most vulnerable systems will increase. Urban areas, which concentrate population, economic activity and infrastructures, are sometimes at high-risk locations. Yet they are to be considered as vulnerable systems in need of harmonized structures supporting their efforts towards mitigating climate effects and/or adapting their territories

The relationship between specific ecosystem services (ES) and different types of conflicts are explored to aid understanding of the barriers to effective biodiversity conservation management. Drawing from conflict theory, content analysis is undertaken of public documents generated during consultations about Natura 2000 management that were conducted in Poland between 2010−2015. Results show the links

This paper aims to assess causes and the interactions between decision making, stakeholders and individuals, law and public policies to build a more precise overview of the relations, the possible results, and the factors which can interfere with environmental conditions and dynamics in Brazilian Amazônia. To better elucidate the issue, rational choice and deterrence theories were used, and a model

This study examines the statistical relationship between people's movements and difference in air quality between the origin and the destination, using computational social science approach. We put forward an important environmentally driven human movement question: Would people move to places of better air qualities? Utilizing Twitter Streaming API, 39,928,132 randomized geo-coded tweets posted by