Human economic activities and following carbon emissions have been recognized to be a real threat to the environment. The current levels of consumption-based carbon footprints in all developed economies grossly exceed the sustainable level. Scientists have concluded that in addition to technological solutions, downscaling of consumption and far-reaching changes in lifestyles will be needed to achieve

Efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing forest carbon stocks (REDD+) have evolved over the past decade. Early REDD+ programs and local/subnational projects used various interventions (i.e. enabling measures, disincentives and incentives), implemented by government, the commercial and non-commercial private sector, but are currently understudied vis-à-vis

In this paper we assess the sustainability of Variable Rate Technology (VRT) application for different wheat intensive agricultural areas in Europe. Within the H2020 FATIMA project we developed an analytical framework to assess the environmental and economic sustainability of nutrient management in two Case Studies in Greek and Czech Republic, implemented with different fertilization strategies in

Conservation projects are likely to fail if plans to preserve important wildlife habitats and species are not co-developed between conservation organisations and local communities to reflect the needs and diverse values of the latter. Tropical peatland conservation represents a case in point: local community livelihoods have only recently come into focus, particularly within academic literature. Instead

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) provides a source of livelihood for millions of mostly poor people across the globe. At the same time, however, the sector is predominantly informal and associated with a range of persistent social and environmental challenges, including chronic poverty, deforestation, land degradation, mercury pollution and river siltation. The ASM sector is connected to all

In 2019 floods made up 49 % of disasters and 43 % of disaster related deaths globally. Flooding is also the costliest natural disaster, with yearly estimated losses of $36.3 billion. In order to counter these challenges, the flood risk management (FRM) narrative is evolving towards integration of blue/green infrastructure (BGI), using projects that harness nature and mimic natural processes. However

Power asymmetries affect the governance of natural resources but are rarely considered explicitly in ecosystem services research, which often overlooks the diversity of actors and their interactions. In this paper, we propose an innovative and easily replicable method to analyze two types of power asymmetries, using social network analysis and a power typology which distinguishes between influence

The present contribution argues for taking power in hydrodiplomacy seriously and claims that the hydrodiplomacy literature is too focused on the ‘puzzling’ of diplomacy at the expense of the ‘powering’. Legitimate rule needs a combination of hard (coercion) and soft power (consent). We posit that different styles can be distinguished in negotiation by focusing on the use of power resources. With this

To alleviate grassland degradation, top-down command-and-control environmental regulation measures such as grazing bans and balance grazing have been implemented to control herders’ animal-stocking rates in the pastoral areas of northern China. However, previous literature has generally acknowledged that grazing restrictions have been ineffective in controlling overgrazing, as herders continue to graze

The market of bottled water is projected to become the largest beverage category by volume worldwide. Consumption data are already impressive in many countries, with Italy leading the path in the European Union. Such market expansion will come with environmental costs, due to increasing plastics production and increasing bottle leakage in the environment. To tackle the problem consumer purchasing decision

In the US alone, there are over 200 tools that support climate adaptation planning, along with a large number of case studies documenting their use. Case studies frequently document positive results. Systematic assessment of processes can provide important benefits, including justification for action and expenditures, promotion of learning and adaptive management, accountability, and ensuring “fit”

This study aimed to determine the association between average temperature and humidity with COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. This study included 9,455 confirmed cases during the observation period (March 08, 2020 to May 03, 2020). The peak spread of COVID-19 occurred at an average temperature of 26 °C. We find, under a linear regression framework, high temperature and high humidity significantly reduce

Evidence-informed decision-making aims to deliver effective actions informed by the best available evidence. Given the large quantity of primary literature, and time constraints faced by policy-makers and practitioners, well-conducted evidence reviews can provide a valuable resource to support decision-making. However, previous research suggests that some evidence reviews may not be sufficiently reliable

Innovation processes face significant and not well-understood uncertainties in resource-constrained environments in developing countries. Through a case study of a water innovation process focused on Kenya, this article studies the prevailing uncertainties and management principles. With the help of a framework that combines information on technological, organizational, commercial and social aspects

Citizen science has gained momentum in the past two decades as a participatory research approach. However, it is necessary to analyze when and how this participation takes place within the knowledge generation process. We analyzed 36 cases of citizen science in Mexico to describe the relationship between the stages and levels of public participation in knowledge generation and the geographic, temporal

Because of its long experience with water scarcity, South Africa has built a highly active research and innovation capacity in the water sector, which is spearheaded by the Water Research Commission (WRC). As a result, South African scientists have been among the significant contributors to new knowledge creation in the water innovation domain, especially in water treatment technologies. This innovation

Climate change adaptation is increasingly perceived as a global and interconnected policy challenge among practitioners and academics, making localized solutions insufficient. In parallel to this trend, a growing number of international organizations that do not have climate as their core mandates link adaptation to various issue areas, such as energy, health, and conflict resolution. Yet we still

Scholars from diverse fields of inquiry agree on the need to redesign institutions for governance of complex transboundary water systems to become more ‘adaptive’, and they assume that this will lead to a ‘desired end state.’ However, the exact features of the desired end state are often not clearly delineated, and the relationship between attributes of adaptive governance and the desired end state

Building on the policy debate about the effectiveness of the public sector in spurring environmental innovation, the present paper investigates whether and to what extent firms pursuing different approaches to environmental innovation differently respond to policy measures (among regulatory, technology-push and demand-pull instruments). Relying on data provided by the 2012 Italian Community Innovation

This article analyses the denialist narratives of the negative environmental impact of oil palm plantations on tropical peat by the media of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Specifically, we focus on media coverage of the 2016 International Peat Congress, where scientifically misleading claims that it is sustainable to develop oil palm plantations on tropical peatlands were made. We found that media

Strategic land use planning assumes a pivotal role in flood risk management. By using formal instruments, spatial planning can (i) legally secure areas for flood retention or other flood protection measures (hazard reduction) as well as (ii) regulate settlement development in hazard areas and ensure flood-adapted land uses (damage prevention). The interrelations between upstream and downstream riparian

What does a science of environmental conservation look like? Though we often see it as a contemporary problem, engineering the interface of science and decision-making bodies has been a question since the founding of ecology. This study traces the creation of new conservation initiatives via the repeated splintering of the Ecological Society of America since the early 1900s and compares these against

The past years have seen a rising number of initiatives to foster water-related innovations around the world. Many of such initiatives take the incubation approach to support individuals or entities with potential for developing marketable water innovations. Despite the growing research on incubation, the innovation processes of incubatees - which are generally intertwined with the incubation process

In the face of global environmental change, decision-makers need effective environmental assessments to shape policies and plans aiming at sustainable human development. In this paper, we propose a new approach to address the needs of Strategic Environmental Assessment. We develop a Limits-Oriented Adaptive framework that is useful not only to recognize and address existing SEA problems (its limits)

In different parts of the world, a variety of initiatives are being implemented to promote water innovation. This paper explores the role of virtual incubators in fostering water-related innovations in Africa, using the case of VIA Water, a Dutch programme that promotes water innovation in African cities. Virtual incubators operate and provide their services primarily online. The results of this study

The last decades have seen changes in the water innovation landscape in Africa, with many countries introducing innovative approaches to managing water resources and the provision of water services. However, little knowledge exists on how water innovators operate in this changing environment. The objective of this explorative study is to shed light on the dynamics of water innovation in African cities

Achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) was adopted by countries in 2015 as one of the targets of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As LDN is a relatively new concept there is an increasing need for evidence on the potential socio-economic and environmental benefits of LDN as well as how an enabling environment for implementing LDN measures can be developed. This paper summarises

Water diplomacy is regarded as a means to prevent conflict and to enhance peace through the cooperative management of transboundary water resources. There have been calls for water diplomacy to be given further attention, especially by foreign policy and security specialists, and to be extended to non-state actors through informal dialogue processes. The paper critically questions the qualitative changes

Climate change is one of the most challenging issues facing the world today, and it is important to have effective policies to address its impact. One critical factor in shaping climate policy is public response to climate change. In this study, we theoretically and empirically focus on examining the impacts of personal social capital and national carbon dependency on citizens’ response to climate

High water availability enhances agricultural performance and food security. However, many countries where water is abundant according to hydrological indicators face difficulties in the utilization of water in agriculture, being in a situation of economic water scarcity (EWS), due to lack of institutional and material means for water management and governance. EWS faces a stronger challenge of measurability

The study of international freshwater treaties’ joint mechanisms for treaty implementation has thus far given little attention to the value of professional expertise in the leadership of these institutions, most of which are structured as international commissions. Few such commissions actually require certain expertise as a condition of appointment to the commission, raising the question as to whether

Owing to their potentially wide-ranging adverse effects, invasive species are a growing global problem. The common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia var. elatior (L.) Desc) is one of the most important invasive plants, necessitating management because of its tendency to “spread.” Various studies and management strategies are being conducted based on the concept of “density” because of the increasing

Optimism about the contribution of city policies worldwide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is widespread. It is based, though, on partial and anecdotal studies rather than comprehensive system-wide estimates. Popular empirical indicators to support the importance of cities, such as consumption-based emissions within city borders, lack a policy connection. Here I undertake an initial assessment of

The last decade has witnessed rapid progress in energy cooperation between the countries of the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) sub-region. Cooperation has been bilateral, with each of the countries entering into separate energy development and trade agreement with India, broadly similar to the water sector where national governments engage bilaterally on transboundary cooperation and dispute

Requirements for substantial reductions in environmental pollution such as nitrogen (N) loading to aquatic environments, and in greenhouse gase (GHG) emissions impose challenges for agriculturally-intensive regions in Europe. Here we use afforestation to illustrate how high-spatial resolution data can be used to improve the efficiency of implementation of an environmental measure. Since afforestation

This study addresses climate-friendly behaviors in three different domains, namely, conservation behavior, social climate protection, and climate citizenship. We tested the effect of psycho-social, cognitive, and socio-demographic factors on different climate-friendly behaviors on a quota sample of Austrian citizens (n = 499). All types of factors investigated were found to influence at least one type

The Land Degradation Neutrality Initiative of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) encourages each of the 123 signatory countries to stabilise or reduce their extent of degraded land. Land degradation is assessed using the methods described in the Good Practice Guidance (GPG) document for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 15.3.1 (the proportion of land that is degraded over

Climate change forecasts predict impacts that will increasingly expose coastal residents to existential risks, necessitating aggressive adaptation. While the polarization of climate change attitudes in American politics represents a barrier to climate adaptation efforts, it is not well-understood how political ideology mediates how individuals connect the abstract concept of “climate change” to concrete

Despite the existence of a comprehensive set of environmental regulations, China’s environmental issues continue largely unabated and are increasingly leading to discontent among its citizens. Mirroring recent governance trends in China, the central government has increasingly taken a more hands-on-role to ensure the enforcement of environmental regulations by local government officials. One manifestation

The sustainability of the environmental management programs such as watershed intervention program relies on the understanding of the nexus of the community’s perception, participation, and livelihoods. However, there are little studies on the interactions of these very important parameters. This study examined the nexus of farmers’ perception, participation, livelihoods and their implication for sustaining

The state of the environment continues declining despite improved global responses towards environmental protection. This mismatch could be because government policymakers and bureaucrats tend to focus on the tangible and controllable aspects of interventions – such as resources and actions – rather than the consequences of these interventions. We test this assumption by classifying governance indicators

Smart energy monitors (SEMs), which enable householders to measure electricity usages of different appliances in real-time, have been widely deployed by utilities across many different countries. However, the actual electricity saving effects of smart information interventions via the SEM connected to the smart energy management system (SEMS) remain inconclusive, due to failures of the existing statistical

Participatory forestry needs to revisit the notion of what “participation” means rather than uncritically follow the technobureaucratic guidelines of baseline assessment and monitoring. In this study, we are concerned about materialism and idealism in the policy and practice of participatory mangrove rehabilitation in the Philippines. The analysis is based on the review of mangrove policies and a case

Although it is increasingly recognized that scientific knowledge about climate change needs to be framed and conveyed in ways that resonate with people’s livelihoods to motivate societal change, these insights are often neglected in discussions about science-policy interactions. Drawing on empirical studies from Norwegian renewable primary industries, this paper presents a novel conceptual framework

Soil degradation is one of the greatest threats to global civilization with claims that there may be as few as 60 years of harvests left globally. As such, the concept of soil health has gained increasing interest in recent years. However, despite years of research there is no universally agreed metric or metrics on which policy aimed at protecting or enhancing soil health can be based. Here, we argue

Crisis as a result of global environmental change, such as extreme floods, droughts, bushfires, and planetary health issues such as pandemic, is becoming more common, seriously diminishing infrastructure integrity and undermining resilience across many urban areas. The literature conceptualises crisis in terms of a special event of exogenous origin punctuating the evolutionary dynamics of prevailing

With the increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in industrial production, the risks and opportunities of these technologies for environmental sustainability as well as political awareness about these risks and opportunities become increasingly important. In this paper we analysed digital and industrial policies of four Sub-Saharan African countries (South Africa, Rwanda

Given the available scientific understanding regarding the environmental impacts of everyday behaviors, individuals should be both concerned and motivated to act in environmentally responsible ways. Yet, the connection between environmental awareness, concern, attitude, and behavior is neither direct nor clear. Various factors have been demonstrated to influence environmentally responsible behavior

The severity of environmental threats, especially climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, are well established, as is the urgent need for them to be addressed. These threats act both in isolation as well as synergistically to contribute to overall ‘environmental breakdown’. Debate exists around the most optimal governance and policy approaches to address these threats and, to date, little

Debate continues regarding which policy instrument should be used to ensure land, water, and environmental governance that promotes the sustainability of social-ecological systems (SESs). Policy instruments and Social Ecological Systems have played important roles in the theoretical development of natural resource governance systems. They, however, have been considered in isolation from one another

Real economies and societies are diverse. Applied economics responds to diversity by a variety in technologies, institutions, products, policies, for meeting the demands of differentiated actors. Nevertheless, neoclassical economics states that climate change can be regulated most efficiently by installing a global uniform carbon price. This position is based on many assumptions, such as full substitutability

The current status of drinking water networks in most African countries emphasizes the need for effective management methods for physical and financial operations. At the same time there are obstacles for implementing innovative technologies, as these bring operational and financial risks for water utilities, especially if it involves completely new platforms for the management of a utility’s infrastructure

The global urban population is increasing and in many urban areas this, combined with densification, create a strain on urban water management and availability of urban green space. Simultaneously, climate change leads to increased frequency and intensity of cloudbursts and hot spells. To counteract experienced problems, cities are increasingly working to improve urban green space through actively

Although green interventions, like nature-based solutions, contribute to more sustainable urban environments and provide ecosystem services to urban populations, some impacts are not well understood. This particularly applies to social impacts in the domain of environmental justice, including (green) gentrification. Gentrification refers to a process in which green urban renewal raises property prices

Effective management of invasive alien species (IAS) requires comprehensive stakeholder engagement and a clear understanding of how people interact with these species. Such interactions are particularly complex in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS), where local communities and their environment are highly inter-dependent. We reviewed the scientific literature to determine

Greenhouse gas removal (GGR) is increasingly seen as a key dimension of national and international climate policy. The need to deploy a portfolio of GGR technologies in order to decarbonise sectors with the ‘hardest-to-abate’ emissions, particularly to achieve net-zero emissions targets, has become increasingly evident in recent years. In May 2019, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) published a

The idea of decoupling “environmental bads” from “economic goods” has been proposed as a path towards sustainability by organizations such as the OECD and UN. Scientific consensus reports on environmental impacts (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions) and resource use give an indication of the kind of decoupling needed for ecological sustainability: global, absolute, fast-enough and long-enough. This goal

This paper interrogates the parallel goals of global environmental assessments (GEAs) to be both authoritative and meaningful sources of environmental expertise. It explores authority and meaning as distinct ‘organisational logics’ that guide the development of GEAs. Through the case of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the paper examines