Sustainability最新文献

Understanding environmental governance empowers researchers and practitioners alike to work towards solutions that improve both environmental and human well-being outcomes. Collaborative, iterative approaches to governance use bridging approaches such as translational ecology, boundary work, and ecosystem services. The US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development worked with a variety of collaborators to implement six multi-year coordinated case study research projects. The research projects were designed to support agency collaborators spanning different geographies, ecosystems, and environmental management decision contexts, and to demonstrate that different tools, approaches, and ecosystem service foci can enhance coastal and other water resource sustainability. To better understand the iterative and collaborative nature of the cases and collaborations, researchers conducted an analysis of the comparative case studies based on Williams' (2018) and Ostrom's (1994, 2009) frameworks. The team identified (1) who participated in the processes; (2) what the programs and goals were; (3) where programs worked and their resources; and (4) the resulting outcomes. We demonstrate that stakeholder participation and outcomes look different within different projects, and we conclude that relationships, focus on place, and common goals produce the most impactful results.

Smallholder vegetable farmers grow diverse crops for family use and surplus sales. These farming activities contribute to enhancing local food security and the economy, but the farmers face challenges like limited resources and climate vulnerability. These smallholder farmers are more susceptible to climate variability and therefore need effective adaptation strategies to mitigate the challenges. This study sought to determine the factors that influence the choice and level of adaptation strategies among smallholder vegetable farmers in KwaZulu Natal Province. Primary data utilized in this study were obtained from 200 participants that were selected through random sampling. The descriptive results indicated that the majority of the farmers experienced climate variability and employed carbon and water-smart agricultural practices. The study employed the Multivariate Probit Model and Count Data Model/GLM Correlation Test to analyze the adaptation strategies and the level of their implementation by the selected vegetable farmers. The first hurdle of the probit model results showed that education level and land size positively and significantly influence smallholder farmers' adaptation strategies, while marital status, household size, income source, soil type, membership of the association, and supply chain involvement had a significant and negative effect on adoption of adaptation strategies. The results from the second hurdle showed that household size, the total size of land used for vegetable production, sandy, silt, and loam soil had a significant and negative effect on the level of adaptation strategy used, whilst the total size of land owned had a positive and significant impact on the level of adaptation strategy used by the smallholder vegetable farmers. The study concludes that education level and total land size are associated with improved farmers' climate variability adaptative capacity. The vegetable farmers' ability to adapt to climate variability challenges was negatively influenced by factors like marital status, household size, and soil type negatively impacted these strategies. The study recommends that the government considerably supports the Climate Smart Agriculture initiatives, such as alternatives like hot houses, training, credit access, and sustainable practices to enhance farmers' resilience and national food security. These may include but are not limited to alternatives like hot houses, as well as addressing barriers through training, credit access, and sustainable practices to enhance farmers' resilience and national food security.

Extreme natural hazard events are increasing across the globe, compelling increased climate research on resiliency. Research concerning issues as integrative as climate change and natural hazard resiliency often requires complex methodologies to account for cumulative influences. Indicators can be used to parse complex data to assess the intersection of inputs and outcomes (i.e., cumulative impacts). The Climate Resilience Screening Index (CRSI) is a good example of an indicator framework as it integrates indicators and their associated metrics into five domains (e.g., natural environment, society, and risk), enabling the index to accommodate a variety of inputs in its assessment of resilience. Indicator research, however, is generally limited by the availability of pertinent data. Natural hazard data concerning exposure, loss, and risk are routinely collected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to create and update the National Risk Index (NRI), a composite index. The NRI can be disaggregated to obtain individual underlying metrics about natural hazard exposure. Quantifying natural hazard exposure requires extensive computation, with each hazard type requiring multiple modifying considerations, such as meteorological adjustments made by subject matter experts. Commonly available natural hazard exposure data, like that from FEMA, combines the spatial extent of historical natural hazard events and the determined value of the affected area. Exposure-related data were retrieved from the National Risk Index and used to create a new composite value to represent only the spatial extent of natural hazard events. Utilizing this new methodology to represent natural hazard exposure alleviates the burden of complex computation. It allows exposure data to be more expeditiously integrated into research and indices relating to natural hazards.

Due to the current and predicted increase in the global demand for water-energy-food (WEF) resources, as well as the inevitable linkages between the WEF sectors and sustainable development, the WEF nexus is rapidly being recognized as a method to effectively manage sustainable development. Many African countries still face challenges in terms of the demand for and accessibility of WEF resources. For this reason, a comparative study of two sites (Narok County and Vhembe District Municipality), which exhibit similar socio-economic, environmental, and technological circumstances, was undertaken. In the present study, we considered 218 questionnaire responses, which we analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (SEM) based on the WEF nexus constructs. This study is anchored on the null hypothesis (H0), whereby no interdependencies exist between the state of the climate and WEF resources, as constrained by sustainable development options. The results show that the proposed hypothesis does not hold, but rather, an alternative hypothesis (Ha)-there exist linkages between climate change and WEF resources-holds. This is demonstrated by the descriptive statistics indicating p values < 0.05 for both the t-test and the Bartlett test. Furthermore, analysis from the multi-regression, particularly for the model where we combined the sites, showed p values < 0.05 and higher adjusted r-squared values, which denoted a better fit. The communities in both study sites agree that the regions have experienced a scarcity of WEF resources due to climate change. The results show that climate change is an intrinsic part of the developmental options for the sustainable livelihood of both study sites, which aligns with the 2030 UN agenda on sustainable development goals targets. Moreover, the sustainable management of natural resources that are people- and planet-centric is crucial to climate change adaptation and mitigation, social justice, equity, and inclusion. The SEM results showed with significant confidence that the water, energy, and food sectors are closely interconnected; however, their impact on climate and sustainability is significantly different. Food has a direct positive impact on climate and sustainability, while both water and energy have an indirect negative impact. Moreover, the climate construct indicated a significant direct link to sustainability for all the relationships explored. This is particularly true because, in most underdeveloped countries, sustainable development and societal wellbeing heavily rely on goods and services derived from natural resources and the environment. This study contributes to the nexus modeling research field by introducing SEM as an innovative methodology over a single equation modeling framework in analyzing variables that have complex interrelationships, facilitating advanced WEF nexus resource governance.