An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Forest dieback due to climate change poses a risk to mountain forests throughout the world, and has severe consequences in terms of lost ecosystem services for forest stakeholders. This contribution aims to analyze how forest stakeholders perceive forest dieback, and the way in which they adapt to it. We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews in three mid-mountain case study areas in France, Germany

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is gaining ground as a novel, holistic approach to sustainable environmental management across developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, 30 countries have joined the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative to advance FLR goals. Although conceptually compelling, and despite efforts articulating initial implementation guidelines, divergent discourses and

We examine deforestation processes in Apuí, a deforestation hotspot in Brazil’s state of Amazonas and present processes of land-use change on this Amazonian development frontier. Settlement projects attract agents whose clearing reflects land accumulation and the economic importance of deforestation. We used a mixed-method approach in the Rio Juma Settlement to examine colonization and deforestation

Groundwater contributes substantially to the development of arid and semi-arid regions around the globe. The present study integrates groundwater quality and its suitability for drinking and irrigation around Alwar city of Rajasthan state, where agriculture is the major land use. The application for drinking was assessed by comparing the observed value with prescribed standards of WHO. Groundwater

Temporary migration and the resulting flow of fund in terms of remittance has been one of the major sources of financing in developing countries. However, little is known about the role of remittance receipt by households on the adoption of environmental-friendly practices in the agricultural production system. We use the three-stage least squares (3-SLS) regression method to analyze the data obtained

China’s portfolio of air-pollution control policy instruments has gradually broadened since the 1970s from regulatory instruments to include numerous market-based and voluntary policy instruments. We demonstrate this broadened portfolio of policy instruments for air-pollution control with a computer-assisted content analysis of 148 central-level policy documents from 1973 to 2016. We identify 20 types

Accumulation of heavy metals in soil is of concern to the agricultural production sector, because of the potential threat to food quality and quantity. Inoculation with plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR) has previously been shown to alleviate heavy metal stress but the mechanisms are unclear. Potential mechanisms by which inoculation with Bradyrhizobium japonicum CB1809 affected the legume soybean

Worldwide, >2 billion people (~1/3 world population), mostly living in economically stressed areas of Africa and South Asia, still do not have access to basic sanitation, and ~1 billion still practice open defecation. Water pollution due to open defecation may primarily be linked to economy, and other factors such as social and hygiene practices, land use and hydrogeological parameters could also have

Decision-support tools (DSTs) synthesize complex information to assist environmental managers in the decision-making process. Here, we review DSTs applied in the Baltic Sea area, to investigate how well the ecosystem approach is reflected in them, how different environmental problems are covered, and how well the tools meet the needs of the end users. The DSTs were evaluated based on (i) a set of performance

Environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) are considered key players for engendering good climate change governance to address both climate change and sustainable development. The participation of ENGOs in climate change governance occurs in a four-phase policy cycle. They include (1) identification of policy options, (2) policy formulation, (3) policy implementation, and (4) policy monitoring

Rapid industrialization and excessive human population growth may cause deterioration in marine water quality and biodiversity. Heavy metals are one of the most common pollutants in the seas and marine organisms, including demersal and pelagic fish, can accumulate them from the environment. Assessment of the ecological risk of heavy metals from fish has an important role in public health. In this study

The objectives of this study are to monitor the physicochemical properties of two freshwater lakes with different chemical characteristics and trophic status over a year (2019) and assess the bacterial diversity by a high-throughput sequencing method for a certain time. Carlson Trophic Index analysis revealed that, whereas the deep lake, Iznik Lake, (TSImean = 48.9) has mesotrophic characteristics

Water scarcity in Jordan is becoming more severe with time, which resulted in an indispensable need for economic innovative approaches to maximize the utilization of nonconventional water resources through reuse options. Within the framework of the current study, a novel vertical flow constructed wetland system was implemented for greywater treatment in four different rural areas in Jordan. In this

The analysis of 142 agricultural soil samples collected in organic farms across Poland with the intent to evaluate the level of DDT contamination resulted in more than 80% of the soils containing DDT. The ΣDDT (sum of all metabolites and isomers) concentration ranged between 0.005 and 0.383 mg/kg ΣDDT, with an average value of 0.064 mg/kg ΣDDT. However, the majority of plant samples collected from

Water governance occurs at multiple levels, from the local to the supra-national, which are often highly fragmented. The interconnected nature of water requires interactions among these multiple governance levels. Public participation may foster such interactions. Thus, many water management reforms involved decentralization and public participation worldwide over the last decades. Yet, it is not demonstrated

The green credit policy is an important green financial tool that can achieve the win–win scenario with economic development and environmental protection through the reasonable allocation of credit resources. Using the green credit guidelines (GCGs) in China as a quasi-natural experiment, this study explored the impacts of the green credit policy on the capital investment of energy-intensive enterprises

Micro-scale perspectives are seldom included in planned climate change adaptations, yet farmers’ perceptions can provide useful insights into livelihood impacts from interactions between climatic and other stressors. This research aims to understand how climate variability and other stressors are impacting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Azamgarh district, eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. Data

Despite the implementation of strict legal standards concerning nutrient loads within wastewater discharges in all European Union (EU) Member States it was not possible to achieve good ecological and chemical water status by 2015 in all EU countries. The main reasons for this situation are the imperfections of the legislation tools regarding the standardization of wastewater quality and the methodology

Private forest (PF) program has the potential to be one of the most efficient forest management programs in Nepal but it has not gained the momentum compared to the other forest management regimes. Considering this, this paper aims to portray policy provisions, existing institutional arrangements as well as landholder experiences and perceptions over the existing mechanisms of PF registration, management

Landscape and climate changes have the potential to create or exacerbate problems with stormwater management, high flows, and flooding. In New England, four plausible land-use scenarios were co-developed with stakeholders to give insight to the effects on ecosystem services of different trajectories of socio-economic connectedness and natural resource innovation. With respect to water, the service

As deadly and destructive wildfires become increasingly common in the western United States due to climate change, low-income households face particular difficulties recovering from these disasters. Despite this threat, surprisingly little empirical evidence exists about the exposure and vulnerability to wildfire hazards of residents of subsidized housing. This study focuses on the subsidized housing

Collaboration has taken centre stage in addressing complex environmental issues and yet several voids are evident in our understanding of it. A systematic mapping review was conducted to synthesize knowledge about the inner workings of collaboration (qualities, outcomes, and their relationship(s)) in environmental management and governance scholarship. Eighty-five scholarly works were included in the

Managers are increasingly being asked to integrate climate change adaptation into public land management. The literature discusses a range of adaptation approaches, including managing for resistance, resilience, and transformation; but many strategies have not yet been widely tested. This study employed in-depth interviews and scenario-based focus groups in the Upper Gunnison Basin in Colorado to learn

In recent years, the development of sewage treatment technologies has made many treatment options available in towns. Selecting the most appropriate alternative (MAA) can make the best use of existing resources to achieve the optimal effect, which has become a topical issue in academic circles. The Liao River basin in China is an important area for agricultural cultivation and animal husbandry, but

Estimating the generation of e-waste in governorates is critically needed for sustainable and environmentally sound e-waste management in Jordan. The main objectives of the present study are to quantify and evaluate the annual e-waste generation in all governorates in Jordan and disposal practices. The present study comprises the information of e-waste as classified by the European Union Directive

Economic analysis of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) typically focuses on identifying the quantity of water to add cost-effectively to natural rates of recharge. However, to the extent that MAR is successful, higher groundwater levels or at least slower depletion are likely to influence crop choice and groundwater pumping dynamics. Using a landscape-level model, we maximize farm net returns taking into

In this study, scale models of typical urban surfaces and two green infrastructures (concave grassland and porous pavement) were constructed, and two simulated rainfall intensities (low intensity was 0.3 mm/min with 25.4 mm depth, and high intensity was 0.6 mm/min with 42.0 mm) were utilized to investigate their runoff responses and the impacts of pervious surface positions and initial soil moisture

With growing demands on forests, there is a need to understand the drivers of managing the forest for diverse objectives, such as production, recreation, and climate adaptation. The aim of this study was to examine the knowledge and value basis of forest management behaviors, including different management strategies and management inactivity, among private forest owners in Sweden. Different dimensions

Monitoring tillage practices is important for explaining soil quality and yield trends, and their impact on environmental quality. However, a common problem in sustainable residue management is scarcity of accurate residue maps. Because predictive insights on soil quality dynamics across a spatial domain are vital, this entry explicates on a new remote sensing-based technique for assessing surface

Climate change adaptation capacity remains low among vulnerable communities in developing countries such as Vietnam. Vector-borne diseases as dengue fever are increasing as a result of changing weather patterns. This study aims to examine the impact of key psychological variables in the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Theory of Planned Behavior, an Extended Parallel Process Model and the Social Cognitive

This study sought to determine the factors influencing rice farmers’ adaptation to a slow-onset hazard such as saltwater inundation. The research is based on a survey conducted through personal interviews using Kobotool App consisting of 326 coastal rice farmers in Northern Mindanao, the Philippines and 258 rice farmers in two provinces in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. There were four levels of analyses

Climate-change impacts to Department of Defense (DoD) installations will challenge military mission and natural resource stewardship efforts by increasing vulnerability to flooding, drought, altered fire regimes, and invasive species. We developed biome classifications based on current climate for the coterminous United States using the Holdridge Life Zone system to assess potential change on DoD lands

Understanding climate variability in a winegrowing region is fundamental to understanding how its vineyards can adapt to climate change. For Uruguay, studying the vulnerability and adaptive responses of vineyards to climate change and climate variability is relevant due to its winegrowing region’s economic importance and cultural heritage. Winegrowers and technical advisors were interviewed to evaluate

Increased emphasis on efficiency improvements has brought the benefits of internal savings and improved service deliveries of water supplies to the developed countries. However, water supply services in developing countries often exhibit large inefficiencies making it difficult to expand coverage or improve supply services. A comparative assessment of efficiencies in the developed and developing countries

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Water management practices in tidal marshes of the San Francisco Bay Estuary, California are often aimed at increasing suitable habitat for threatened fish species and sport fishes. However, little is known about how best to manage habitat for other sensitive status species like the semiaquatic freshwater Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) that is declining throughout much of its range. Here

Although collaboration is vital in addressing global environmental sustainability challenges, research understanding on stakeholder engagement in climate-smart production innovation adoption and implementation, remains limited. In this paper, we advance knowledge about stakeholder collaboration by examining the roles played by stakeholders in scaling-up ecological sustainability innovations. Using

Public Natural Resource Management (NRM) agencies operate in complex social-ecological domains. These complexities proliferate unpredictably therefore investigating and supporting the ability of public agencies to respond effectively is increasingly important. However, understanding how public NRM agencies innovate and restructure to negotiate the range of particular complexities they face is an under

Geoconservation has been growing in importance within the environmental management context. The conservation of geological heritage is being more and more recognised as an essential issue in nature conservation. Inventories of geosites are considered basic steps in geoconservation strategies and constitute a tool to support management considering the sites’ values, use potential and risks of degradation

Control strategies for established populations of invasive alien species can be costly and complex endeavours, which are frequently unsuccessful. Therefore, rapid-reaction techniques that are capable of maximising efficacy whilst minimising environmental damage are urgently required. The Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea Müller, 1774), and the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha Pallas, 1771), are invaders

Forests are among the most species rich habitats and the way they are managed influences their capacity to protect biodiversity. To fulfill increasing wood demands in the future, planted and non-planted wood production will need to expand. While biodiversity assessments usually focus on the impacts of deforestation, the effects of wood harvest are mostly not considered, especially not in a spatially

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 in response to adverse environmental impacts caused by the expansion of oil palm production. It created voluntary standards to accelerate adoption of improved practices along the supply chain to ensure environmental benefits. However, the rate of adoption among smallholders of the practices RSPO recommends remains low. This study assessed

The importance of using evidence in decision-making is frequently highlighted in policy reports and scientific papers. However, subjective judgments of the reliability of environmental evidence vary widely, and large-scale systematic searches for evidence are only common for climate-related topics. In the medical field, evidence-based guidelines are routinely used to guide treatments. In the management

Projecting landscape impacts from energy development is essential to land management decisions. We forecast landscape alteration resulting from oil and gas well-pad construction across the economically important Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, USA, by projecting current landscape trends through 2050. We modeled three landscape-impact scenarios (low, medium, and high) using recent (2008–2017)

We used a modified version of the social cognitive career theory to examine demographic characteristics and personal and contextual career influences relating to career behaviors. A survey of 478 undergraduates revealed neutral to positive perceptions of EC careers across demographic characteristics with some variation in perceptions based on academic level. Minorities were more likely to anticipate

Voluntary private land conservation (PLC) is becoming an increasingly important complement to state protected areas around the world. PLC programs can serve as valuable strategies to increase biodiversity on agricultural lands, but their effectiveness depends on high participation rates. Amidst growing concerns regarding scalability and effectiveness of conservation strategies like national parks,

The pesticide use in Indian agriculture showed a declining trend in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since 2007, pesticide use gained an upward trend. To study the pesticide use pattern and identify pesticide hotspots, we collected data from a sample of 1201 apple, rice, vegetable, and cotton growers from the temperate Kashmir Valley, subtropical Jammu, and Punjab. Our study provided some interesting

Collision risk of soaring birds is partly associated with updrafts to which they are attracted. To identify the risk-enhancing landscape features, a micrositing tool was developed to model orographic and thermal updraft velocities from high-resolution remote sensing data. The tool was applied to the island of Hitra, and validated using GPS-tracked white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla). Resource

Anthropogenic alterations to landscapes have increased as the human population continues to rise, leading to detrimental changes in natural habitats. Ecological restoration assists in recovery by altering habitats to improve conditions and foster biodiversity. We examined land cover changes over time within a complex, dynamic region in the Midwest to assess the long-term effects of conservation. We

Parks and protected areas are complex, and managers often need integrated social–ecological science-based information that illuminates the dynamic interactions between the biophysical and social processes. However, modeling and determining social–ecological connections are difficult due to disciplinary paradigms, divergent research questions, and data sets representing different scales. During this

Planning for sea level rise (SLR) is a complex process that involves scientific uncertainty and local and regional political tradeoffs. As part of a 6-year transdisciplinary research project in the northern Gulf of Mexico, we conducted focus groups with coastal stakeholders (natural resource managers, community planners, and environmental communicators) to gain a better understanding of their planning

Excessive nutrient discharge to tropical island coastlines drives eutrophication and algal blooms with significant implications for reef ecosystem condition and provision of ecosystem services. Management actions to address nutrient pollution in coastal ecosystems include setting water-quality standards for surface waters discharging to the coast. However, these standards do not account for the effects

Modeling agriculture land suitability at a regional scale plays an important role in designing the best sustainable management systems. The aim of this study was to derive a land suitability map for wheat farming by combining the Geostatistics and analytic hierarchy (AHP)-Fuzzy algorithm in geographic information system (GIS) in calcareous and saline–sodic soils, southern Iran. The local expert’s opinions

Climate change is increasingly exerting pressure with intensified impacts in the short-, medium-, and long-term. Cities are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and it is recognized that they play a significant role in the European Strategy on adaptation to climate change. This study intends to develop a climate adaptation framework to identify effective measures that will be evaluated

Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) is a multipurpose, drought resistant, wild fruit tree, endemic to arid and semi-arid lands of Sub-Saharan Africa. Baobab populations have been showing a lack of regeneration, and therefore causes concern for the species survival. This study investigated the state, distribution and use of baobabs in an under-researched population in Kenya, to identify the potential for

Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) drilling has expanded rapidly across the United States, including in the Fayetteville Shale formation in north-central Arkansas where drilling began in 2004. As one of the oldest regions of UOG activity in the United States, this area has experienced significant land-use changes, specifically development of natural habitat and agricultural land for gas infrastructure

Farmers managing agroecological systems across sub-humid West Africa face a variety of challenges in meeting their needs. In the face of adverse conditions, farmers have successfully managed agroforestry parklands to create an ecological equilibrium. However, climate change presents a challenging and new disturbance to farmer livelihood strategies. Using a qualitative approach and a rural livelihood

The adaptive capacity (AC) of social systems to degradation of ecosystem services is defined as the response capacity of the system to a threat, such as changes in supply and delivery of ecosystem services (ES). In this paper, we propose an adaptive capacity composite indicator vis-a-vis the loss or degradation of ecosystem services that can be evaluated at household level in rural areas. For the estimation

Non-source nutrients (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorous) from agriculture have created a massive hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. This zone contains no oxygen and is devoid of life. US Department of Agriculture programs provide direct payments to farmers to encourage adoption of practices that reduce nutrient pollution. Paying farmers to change behavior, however, is expensive. Personal and social norms