We argue that solutions-based research must avoid treating climate change as a merely technical problem, recognizing instead that it is symptomatic of the history of European and North American colonialism. It must therefore be addressed by decolonizing the research process and transforming relations between scientific expertise and the knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples and of local communities. Partnership across diverse knowledge systems can be a path to transformative change only if those systems are respected in their entirety, as indivisible cultural wholes of knowledge, practices, values, and worldviews. This argument grounds our specific recommendations for governance at the local, national, and international scales. As concrete mechanisms to guide collaboration across knowledge systems, we propose a set of instruments based on the principles of consent, intellectual and cultural autonomy, and justice. We recommend these instruments as tools to ensure that collaborations across knowledge systems embody just partnerships in support of a decolonial transformation of relations between human communities and between humanity and the more-than-human world.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are recognized as widely available and cost-effective mechanisms for sequestering carbon and offsetting carbon emissions. Realistic NbS implementations for carbon neutrality need to be effective at the global level and also appropriate for the socio-economic and physical conditions prevailing at the local level. This paper presents a framework that can help stakeholders identify demands, locations, and types of NbS interventions that could maximize NbS benefits at the local scale. Key processes in the framework include (1) interpolating carbon emissions data at larger spatial scales to high-resolution cells, using land use and socio-economic data; (2) assessing NbS effects on carbon reduction and their location-related suitability, through qualitative literature review, and (3) spatially allocating and coupling multiple NbS interventions to land use cells. The system was tested in Stockholm, Sweden. The findings show that the urban center should be allocated with combinations of improving access to green spaces and streetscapes, while the rural and suburban areas should prioritize preserving and utilizing natural areas. Our proposed method framework can help planners better select target locations for intended risk/hazard-mitigating interventions.

Locally led adaptation (LLA) has recently gained importance against top-down planning practices that often exclude the lived realities and priorities of local communities and create injustices at the local level. The promise of LLA is that adaptation would be defined, prioritised, designed, monitored, and evaluated by local communities themselves, enabling a shift in power to local stakeholders, resulting in more effective adaptation interventions. Critical reflections on the intersections of power and justice in LLA are, however, lacking. This article offers a nuanced understanding of the power and justice considerations required to make LLA useful for local communities and institutions, and to resolve the tensions between LLA and other development priorities. It also contributes to a further refinement of LLA methodologies and practices to better realise its promises. Ultimately, we argue that the utility of the LLA framing in promoting climate justice and empowering local actors needs to be tested empirically.

UK and EU regulators are evaluating the potential health benefits of restricting the use of lead ammunition. Little information is available on exposure of pets to ammunition-derived dietary lead from petfood containing meat from wild-shot game animals. We found dogfood including wild-shot pheasant meat to be widely available in the UK. 77% of samples from three raw pheasant dogfood products exceeded the EU maximum residue level (MRL) for lead in animal feed, with mean concentrations approximately 245, 135 and 49 times above the MRL. Concentrations > MRL were also found in a dried food containing pheasant, but not in a processed food, nor in chicken-based products. Lead concentrations in raw pheasant dogfood considerably exceeded those in pheasant meat sold for human consumption, possibly because the dogfood mincing process further fragmented lead particles from shot. Dogs frequently consuming such high-lead food risk adverse health effects; this should be considered within decision-making processes about regulation.

Seawater intrusion is a growing pressure in coastal communities worldwide, putting millions of people at risk of excess salinity in drinking water. This study examines the impact of saline water on people's health and labor allocation as potential pathways towards chronic poverty. Using a transdisciplinary approach based on a coupled human-water system framework, we test these linkages combining field data on well water salinity levels and rich household survey data in coastal Tanzania. The results suggest that increased salinity levels lead to more time spent collecting drinking water and an increase in illnesses. Moreover, households in poorer villages with weaker public infrastructure have limited access to alternative sources of drinking water, making them more vulnerable to scarce potable water resources stemming from high salinity. To prevent chronic poverty, communities vulnerable to saline drinking water need better adaptation strategies as well as groundwater monitoring and management.

Infrastructure development cannot take place without gravel, which is scarce in the North American Arctic. Conditioning where development can occur, the commodity has become the target of Indigenous actors seeking to secure land and resource bases and their material futures, too. In Alaska, decades of litigation pitting Indigenous surface versus subsurface corporate landholders has contested gravel's legal location. In Canada, contrastingly, Inuvialuit land claims negotiators successfully secured access to granular resources. In both locales, legal processes have resulted in certain Indigenous actors’ accumulation of geologic power. Rooted in the subterranean, this power enables them to transform the surface of the Earth. Contributing to research on geologic power and political geology and drawing on fieldwork and a review of court cases, policy documents and reports, this article critiques how gravel has become an Arctic resource lucrative to local communities rather than global markets and a key source of Indigenous political and economic agency. Going forward, struggles over Indigenous rights may concern securing ownership over not only the land base, but the land column.

Sand plays an important role in the Arctic urban development as construction material and stable ground. Significance of its studies increases in face of permafrost degradation and coastal erosion and for understanding human capacities to restore natural landscapes after anthropogenic disturbances. This paper examines changing human interactions with sand in the city of Nadym, northwest of Siberia. The study utilizes an interdisciplinary approach which includes remote sensing and GIS analysis, field observations, and interviews with local residents and stakeholders. Analysis of spatial and social characteristics of sand demonstrates different roles of sand as part of the landscape, a resource, and as a mediator in urban and infrastructure development. Understanding the diversity of sand qualities, its uses, and perceptions is relevant for studies of landscape disturbances, resilience, vulnerability, and adaptive capacities of Arctic cities.

In the face of biodiversity loss, it is crucial to broaden the arguments for conservation of protected areas by acknowledging diverse values of nature. We systematically reviewed empirical studies to investigate tourists’ values of nature in protected areas over time and across regions. To do so, we explored (1) the main ecological and social characteristics of the case studies; (2) methodological approaches; and (3) value types. Based on the review of 152 articles, we found that economic valuation has received the most scientific attention, while socio-cultural valuation approaches have recently increased. Values were primarily elicited and analyzed quantitatively and in monetary metrics, although valuation methods and frameworks have diversified over the past two decades. However, considering the role of valuation methods and frameworks as value-articulating institutions, we suggest that future research on nature valuation also applies qualitative and non-monetary methods, elicits diverse values, and conducts plural valuation.

Oysters have socioeconomic and environmental importance globally and are currently threatened by microplastic pollution. Whether solutions (e.g., laws, policies, or best management practices) are needed to protect oysters from microplastic pollution is still in question given the complexity of the issue and the multitude of stakeholders involved. Minimal research has been done to examine the public’s view of the microplastic problem and, separately, few economic studies have examined non-monetary values for oysters. Here, we employed a discourse-based method (deliberative multicriteria evaluation methodology) to engage with oyster-relevant stakeholders in Massachusetts, USA, to evaluate how the stakeholders discussed and interacted with each other on the topic of ‘microplastics polluting oyster habitats’ using hypothetical scenarios. Our qualitative analysis indicated that participants discussed human welfare and non-human welfare aspects of oysters when considering what is threatened by microplastic pollution in oyster habitats. In all the workshops, an important theme emerged which is the role of oysters in supporting services (e.g., the concept that microplastic filtration or ingestion by oysters might impact the oysters’ role as eco-engineers). Decision-making is not a linear process, especially when complex pollutants (e.g., microplastics) are involved. Here, we learned that both environmental and social data are needed for the oyster stakeholders to make decisions, and discussion among stakeholders can highlight gaps in scientific knowledge. The results were then used to inform the development of a decision-making process for evaluating complex environmental issues, like microplastic pollution.

Increasing utilization of data, enabled by digitalization, constitutes a major driver toward circular economy but is not without potential paradoxical tensions. A two-round disaggregative Delphi study and analysis of the qualitative material generated in it explored these tensions. They were found to cohere around three themes: consumer concurrence, business transparency, and technology relevance. The first theme is connected with consumers’ behavior and their perceptions as to data’s value, the transparency one involves alignment of business interests and practices with data-driven developments, and the third pertains to the actual environmental impact of digital technologies used to initiate data-driven circular economy. Business decision-making should address both the positive and the negative effects, in both the short and long term. Insight as to these tensions supports discovering how businesses can successfully utilize data in their efforts promoting circular economy within the complex reality of dynamically changing business environments.

In China, rangeland fragmentation leads to the problems of anticommons, in terms of livestock production and ecological conditions. As the countermeasure, rangeland use right transfer has been encouraged by the governments recently, which aims to integrate the fragmented rangelands by lease. Can transfer overcome the problems of anticommons? We addressed this question through a case study in Inner Mongolia, by comparing livelihoods and ecological conditions between the households with lease-in pastures and those without practicing transfer. We found that though transfer could make the livelihoods of lease-in households with larger rangeland better-off in weather good years, but worse-off in drought years; and the over grazing was intensified on the transferred pastures. We concluded that the transfer may not be able to fundamentally overcome the problems of anticommons. We argued that spatial anticommons and right anticommons are interrelated to each other, rather than two juxtaposed types as defined by anticommons scholars.

In the 1980s the Soviet Academy of Sciences proposed to build a massive dam and hydroelectric station on the Lower Tunguska river in the Evenki Autonomous Okrug (now a municipal district of Krasnoyarsk Territory). This would have been the largest and most northerly hydroelectric station in the world. Plans for the project were abandoned with the collapse of the USSR. The plan was resuscitated twenty years later, only to be abandoned again. This essay explores themes of protest, anticipation, and deferral in the context of a highly marginalized Indigenous population. Moving between literary and media critique to social theory, we suggest that the effects of the dam proposals produce conditions for enduring feelings of indeterminacy.

The direct regulation of lead ammunition in North America and Europe has been mainly for hunting in wetlands. Little support among hunters and the ammunition makers exists for further regulation despite suitable lead substitutes and much education about the known risks to wildlife and human health from ingested lead. In the absence of personnel to detect use of lead ammunition and enforce regulations, hunter compliance is low. Identification of non-lead ammunition using existing electronic technology and an international protocol on the identification of non-lead rifle bullets is proposed to aid enforcement. An explicit definition of the chemical composition of lead substitutes is required in European Union legislation together with a more enforceable distinction between ‘possession during hunting’ and ‘ownership’ of lead ammunition. A more transdisciplinary regulatory approach to transitioning to non-lead ammunition is advised. It comprises widespread public health advisories, setting a maximum allowable lead level in commercial game meats in EU legislation, and public communication that emphasizes the benefits of non-lead ammunition use to all categories of wildlife and the public perception of hunting, whether in North America or Europe.

A new 5-year Common Agricultural Policy has been in place since January 2023. Like its predecessors, this new policy will fail to deliver significant climatic and environmental benefits. We show how the Green Architecture of the policy relying on the three instruments of conditionality, eco-schemes, and agri-environment and climate measures could have been used more consistently and effectively. Our proposals are based on core principles of public economics and fiscal federalism as well as on research results in agronomy and ecology. Conditionality criteria are the minimal requirements that every agricultural producer must meet. Farmers should be rewarded for efforts that go beyond these basic requirements through eco-schemes for global public goods complemented by agri-environment and climate measures centred on local public goods. Eco-schemes should cover the whole agricultural area by targeting permanent grasslands, crop diversification, and green cover and non-productive agro-ecological infrastructures. We discuss trade-offs that our proposals could generate.

There is an urgent need to understand and address the risks associated with a warming climate for ecosystems and societies in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. There are major gaps in our understanding of the complex effects of climate change—including extreme events, cascading impacts across ecosystems, and the underlying socioecological dynamics and feedbacks—all of which need collaborative efforts to be resolved. Here, we present results where climate scientists, ecologists, social scientists, and practitioners were asked to identify the most urgent research needs for understanding climate change impacts and to identify the actions for reducing future risks in catchment areas in the Norwegian High North, a region that encompasses both Arctic and sub-Arctic climates in northern Norway. From a list of 77 questions, our panel of 19 scientists and practitioners identified 15 research needs that should be urgently addressed. We particularly urge researchers to investigate cross-ecosystem impacts and the socioecological feedbacks that could amplify or reduce risks for society.

The detection of anthraquinone in tea leaves has raised concerns due to a potential health risk associated with this species. This led the European Union to impose a maximum residue limit (MRL) of 0.02 mg/kg for anthraquinone in dried tea leaves. As atmospheric contamination has been identified as one of the possible sources of anthraquinone residue, this study investigates the contamination resulting from the deposition of atmospheric anthraquinone using a global chemical transport model that accounts for the emission, atmospheric transport, chemical transformation, and deposition of anthraquinone on the surface. The largest contribution to the global atmospheric budget of anthraquinone is from residential combustion followed by the secondary formation from oxidation of anthracene. Simulations suggest that atmospheric anthraquinone deposition could be a substantial source of the anthraquinone found on tea leaves in several tea-producing regions, especially near highly industrialized and populated areas of southern and eastern Asia. The high level of anthraquinone deposition in these areas may result in residues in tea products exceeding the EU MRL. Additional contamination could also result from local tea production operations.

Modern hunting is an ambivalent practice, torn between leisure and labor. Nowhere are these conflicting dimensions better manifested than for wild boar—a simultaneous game and pest species in many countries. Here, we consider the sociological, political and cultural phenomenon of wild boar hunting from a change perspective, starting at its historical roots to future implications concerning the changing demographics, drivers, needs and practices of a modernizing hunting community. Using the case context of France, we present an approach to deconstructing each component of wild boar hunting firstly, and subsequently the external forces that change the nature of hunting. The objective of this manuscript is to discuss of the wild boar optimal harvesting to be applied in changing social and ecological environment. Findings show that the challenges facing wild boar management will likely intensify in the future, especially under the spotlight of a controversial public debate.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 regulates water quality in U.S. inland waters under a system of cooperative federalism in which states are delegated implementation and enforcement authority of CWA provisions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We leveraged heterogeneity in state implementation of the CWA to evaluate the efficacy of its nonpoint source provisions in reducing nutrient pollution, the leading cause of water quality impairment in U.S. inland waters. We used national survey data to estimate changes in nutrient concentrations over a decade and evaluated the effect of state-level policy implementation. We found no evidence to support an effect of (i) grant spending on nonpoint source pollution remediation, (ii) nutrient criteria development, or (iii) water quality monitoring intensity on 10-year trends in nutrient concentrations. These results suggest that the current federal policy paradigm for improving water quality is not creating desired outcomes.

Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination is a global concern requiring action at national scales. Scientific understanding and regulatory policies are underpinned by global extrapolation of Northern Hemisphere Hg data, despite historical, political, and socioeconomic differences between the hemispheres that impact Hg sources and sinks. In this paper, we explore the primary anthropogenic perturbations to Hg emission and mobilization processes that differ between hemispheres and synthesize current understanding of the implications for Hg cycling. In the Southern Hemisphere (SH), lower historical production of Hg and other metals implies lower present-day legacy emissions, but the extent of the difference remains uncertain. More use of fire and higher deforestation rates drive re-mobilization of terrestrial Hg, while also removing vegetation that would otherwise provide a sink for atmospheric Hg. Prevalent Hg use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining is a dominant source of Hg inputs to the environment in tropical regions. Meanwhile, coal-fired power stations continue to be a significant Hg emission source and industrial production of non-ferrous metals is a large and growing contributor. Major uncertainties remain, hindering scientific understanding and effective policy formulation, and we argue for an urgent need to prioritize research activities in under-sampled regions of the SH.