Anthropocene Science最新文献

Two major multilateral environmental agreements–the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)–were negotiated in 1992 to tackle the global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. However, the interlinkages between these two concerns were less recognized and structured which impaired the development of streamlined policies to tackle both simultaneously. Over the last nearly 20 years, increased scientific output on their interlinkages seems to have galvanized the world towards synergistic approaches aimed at transformation instead of business-as-usual effort. The Paris Climate Agreement to the UNFCCC characterizes this synergy by recognizing the importance of conservation and biodiversity protection and ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems. To understand to what extent, scientific output helped reach such synergistic decisions, we studied the temporal distribution of publications on the interlinkages between climate and biodiversity, vis-à-vis important decisions and approaches recognized by the UNFCCC and CBD. The research is based on scientometric meta-analysis of publications, assessing the trends, geographic distribution, key authors, journals, and funding organizations from 1992 to 2021. This information is simultaneously mapped for its significance for major decisions of the two conventions. The later part of the paper sheds light on the science-policy interface by taking cues from outputs of this research and recent workshops and meetings on climate- and biodiversity-related topics.

Coal is widely used as a thermal energy source and also as fuel for thermal power plants producing electricity. Thermal power plants (TPPs) have emerged as a major source of air, water, and soil pollution because of the presence of many toxic metals (As, Pb, Hg, Cr, etc.). Coal-fired power plants are major emitters of mercury to the atmosphere. Approximately, 30–80% of the total Hg content in coal is found in fly ash (FA) after the combustion process. Mercury (Hg), a potentially toxic element, has raised concerns for worldwide public health as it has the property to get bioaccumulated and biomagnified in the food chain. Aquatic ecosystems are an essential component of the global biogeochemical cycle of mercury, as inorganic mercury can be converted into toxic methylmercury. The biogeochemical cycle of mercury is complex, making it difficult to accurately assess the hazards to the environment and to human health. Importantly, several developing nations, like India and China, make large contributions to the supply, commerce, and anthropogenic emissions of mercury globally. India is one of the major emitters of anthropogenic mercury into the atmosphere due to its recent rapid economic growth, and forecasts indicate that it will continue to make a large contribution to global mercury emissions in the future. Considering the severity of the issue and growing risk of mercury pollution, this study attempts to understand, provide a synthesis of the mercury risk posed to India, and actions taken in accordance with the Minamata Convention to reduce mercury pollution.

The impact of land use changes, soil nutrient deterioration, indiscriminate use of agrochemicals, unpredictable weathers and global climate change with regard to agriculture productivity and food security is most challenging issues confronting mankind today worldwide. Abiotic and biotic ecological environmental drivers, such as soil salinity, drought, floods, soil pollutions, pathogens, insects and other annoying calamities, collectively affect agriculture production and environmental sustainability globally. Therefore, harnessing the plant–microbe interactions as a nature-based solution (NbS) could be a viable option for addressing agriculture sustainability for future generations. The soil rhizospheric microbiomes in association with crop plants can accelerate the plant growth and may enhance their resistance to various abiotic and biotic environmental drivers by producing bioactive plant growth promoting substances. Agriculturally important soil microflora can influence both the efficiency of nutrient availability to crop plants and they also regulate the interactions between plants and other harmful pathogens. Such interactions among plants and microbes may be beneficial to influence the physicochemical and microbiological properties of soils. Hence, it is important to recognize the best soil–plant microbiome dynamics-based management practices to attain a more sustainable and green agriculture for future food demand and security. This review describes the role of soil–plant microbiome dynamics as NbS and next-generation microbiome engineering in sustainable management of stress agriculture and global crop productivity.

The unnecessary flaring of natural gas impacts public and environmental health, contributes to climate change and wastes fuel resources. Though reducing flaring is an emergent global environmental governance priority, progress has been slow. We assess gas flaring policy in the critical case of Nigeria through multi-level governance (MLG) structure. Our analysis assesses policy coherence (leading to progress in reaching shared goals) and divergence (creating tension and undermining progress) amongst sectors and institutional structures across the supranational, federal, state and local government scales. A combined dataset of documents, stakeholder interviews and expert surveys is analysed using Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) and content analysis. We identify the principal actors involved, examine the extent of gas flaring awareness and policy coherence across multiple sectors/policy domains, and assess progress towards Nigeria’s national intended contribution and national policy on climate change mitigation. We find that policy coherence around gas flaring, including efforts towards climate change mitigation, has been slowed by political partisanship, poor governance, lack of regulatory compliance, and policy conflict between environmental protection and economic development priorities. Nigeria urgently requires inclusive involvement of stakeholder voices across multiple sectors and scales of local/regional government, the strengthening of federal institutions, a revaluation of economic aspirations through revenue diversification, and leadership that can temper the power of International Oil Companies (IOCs) to exploit the complexity of the MLG structure. These actions would help the government in improving environmental justice outcomes for flaring-affected communities.

Annual flood events lead to periodic changes in structural components within seasonal floodplain wetlands. Such change in structural components may determine the type and quantity of provisioning ecosystem services (ES) that offer resident communities opportunities for diverse livelihood activities. We elucidate this hypothesis using the case study of a seasonal floodplain wetland—Chatla—located in Assam, northeast India, by integrating spatially explicit data of structural components of the wetland with social-ecological information following standard methods. The structural components of Chatla during dry and wet seasons were mapped using LANDSAT 8 satellite data. The provisioning ES was quantified and the corresponding economic value was estimated through household- and market surveys. About 51% of Chatla remained inundated during the wet season, which served as a capture fishery source for the riparian communities. Only 6% of the wetland area retained water during the dry season, supporting culture fishery, while a substantial area was brought under paddy cultivation. Both fishery and paddy cultivation served as the major source of income for riparian households. In addition, various non-timber forest products (NTFPs) harvested from the wetland were used for subsistence during both seasons. The total annual value of provisioning ES in harvesting paddy, fish, NTFPs, and soil extraction was estimated as USD 387,487. Our study confirms that the change in structural components of the wetland driven by the annual flooding ensures the delivery of provisioning ES that facilitates livelihood sustainability. We suggest that national and international policies focus on the conservation and wise use of such seasonal wetlands to ensure a sustainable future for the wetland-dependent population in the tropics.

While the global community has long worked to ameliorate the livelihoods of people and promote environmental sustainability around the world, many social, economic, and environmental issues remain unsolved. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) sought to end poverty but ended with mixed results depending on the country. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are more ambitious, sought to address remaining problems and other issues extending beyond the scope of the MDGs by 2030. The SDGs cover a wide range of areas, from fulfilling basic needs to environmental sustainability, although their prioritization differs from person to person. It is critical to understand how people recognize the MDGs and prioritize SDGs in order to determine efficient means of achieving SDGs. Thus, this study assesses citizens’ perceptions and needs in Nigeria, illustrating gaps between official evaluations of goal progress and people’s thoughts about these global agendas. Economically speaking, Nigeria is the largest country in West Africa; still, it did not meet all of its MDG targets by 2015. This study found differences between the official report and people’s observations. People generally considered MDG 2 and MDG 6 to have been attained despite official evaluations asserting that these goals had made only weak progress. The study also found that people’s expectations are generally high on goals related to economic sustainability but low on goals related to environmental sustainability. Interestingly, it is found that the Nigerian government has the most concrete strategies related to social sustainability. The results suggest that the needs perceived by the government are distinct from those perceived by the Nigerian people. They also highlight the fact that the importance of environmental sustainability must be recognized by Nigerians if they are to meet their SDG targets by 2030. Of course, it is difficult for any countries facing social and economic issues to allocate significant resources to environmental sustainability, especially amid violent conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the symptoms of climate change. However, to get back on track in the years that remain and make significant progress toward environmental sustainability, it is important to heighten cooperation among ordinary people while obtaining a better understanding of their needs.

Given the current environmental crisis there have been multiple calls for a green recovery from COVID-19 which address environmental concerns and provide jobs in industries and communities economically damaged by the pandemic. Here, we holistically evaluate a range of recovery scenarios, evaluated on environmental and socio-economic equity metrics. Using a modified version of a Bayesian belief network, we show that economic stimuli across green sectors, including jobs in renewable energy, waste management, retrofitting of buildings, heat-pump installation and public transport can help economic growth, but will have limited environmental benefits. The inclusion of carbon taxes and ending fossil fuel subsidies, alongside investment in nature-based solutions and jobs in ecological conservation, can greatly increase the environmental gains as well as socio-economic equality. Additionally, jobs not associated with green industries, but with low carbon footprints, such as those in social care can further improve social equality with minimal negative environmental effects. However, in these latter scenarios involving taxation and ending fossil fuel subsidies, economic growth is reduced. We suggest a comprehensive green recovery and green new deal are needed, and we should reimagine economies, without the focus on economic growth.