Pub Date : 2025-10-31DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104263
Nusrat Molla , Ruchika Jaiswal , Jonathan Herman
Broad transformations in natural resource governance are needed to address environmental change and inequities. Current human-water systems models fall short in their ability to explore such transformations by overlooking changes to infrastructure and institutions and how they impact power dynamics and vulnerability among water users. Here, we introduce a complex systems approach to examine the viability of different transformation narratives for California’s San Joaquin Valley, and their implications for the power and vulnerability of different groups. Using interviews and focus groups with growers, advocacy groups, and rural residents, we develop and model governance scenarios based on these narratives. While most scenarios maintain or exacerbate existing disparities, we find a path towards equitable water governance involving a shift towards greater state oversight and community engagement in governance, and smaller-scale agriculture with more direct benefits to rural communities.
{"title":"Modeling narratives of water governance transformation","authors":"Nusrat Molla , Ruchika Jaiswal , Jonathan Herman","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104263","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104263","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Broad transformations in natural resource governance are needed to address environmental change and inequities. Current human-water systems models fall short in their ability to explore such transformations by overlooking changes to infrastructure and institutions and how they impact power dynamics and vulnerability among water users. Here, we introduce a complex systems approach to examine the viability of different transformation narratives for California’s San Joaquin Valley, and their implications for the power and vulnerability of different groups. Using interviews and focus groups with growers, advocacy groups, and rural residents, we develop and model governance scenarios based on these narratives. While most scenarios maintain or exacerbate existing disparities, we find a path towards equitable water governance involving a shift towards greater state oversight and community engagement in governance, and smaller-scale agriculture with more direct benefits to rural communities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 104263"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145414718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104252
Ellen Ruth Kujawa
Hurricane forecasts are critical for safeguarding lives and livelihoods, and their production and distribution raise important questions of fairness and justice. Although often regarded as objective and geographically consistent, forecasts' usefulness depends on the social and political contexts in which they are produced and applied. This paper examines the distributive justice of hurricane forecasts for Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, drawing on 30 elite interviews with meteorologists and emergency managers. Puerto Rico faces annual hurricane risk, and its vulnerability is compounded by islandness, infrastructural neglect, economic crisis, and political marginalization. While Puerto Rican decision-makers view forecasts as essential for disaster mitigation, they encounter significant challenges in applying forecasts designed for continental contexts and perceive - with some supporting evidence - that Puerto Rico receives inferior forecast information and institutional support compared to the continental United States. In addition to presenting expert perceptions of forecast utility, this paper applies a Rawlsian framework to interrogate the fairness of the current hurricane forecasting system, suggesting that forecast knowledge should preferentially benefit the most vulnerable. I argue that disparities in forecast access and application reflect deeper structures of unfairness and coloniality – an insidious companion to the more visible coloniality of Puerto Rico, and further proof that meteorological prediction is inherently political. This research, particularly salient in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, traces the connections between two bodies of knowledge: the entangled geographies of vulnerability, islandness, and coloniality; and the complex relationship between meteorology, justice, and political power.
{"title":"Forecasting justice: Hurricane knowledge, vulnerability, and meteorological fairness in Puerto Rico","authors":"Ellen Ruth Kujawa","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104252","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104252","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hurricane forecasts are critical for safeguarding lives and livelihoods, and their production and distribution raise important questions of fairness and justice. Although often regarded as objective and geographically consistent, forecasts' usefulness depends on the social and political contexts in which they are produced and applied. This paper examines the distributive justice of hurricane forecasts for Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, drawing on 30 elite interviews with meteorologists and emergency managers. Puerto Rico faces annual hurricane risk, and its vulnerability is compounded by islandness, infrastructural neglect, economic crisis, and political marginalization. While Puerto Rican decision-makers view forecasts as essential for disaster mitigation, they encounter significant challenges in applying forecasts designed for continental contexts and perceive - with some supporting evidence - that Puerto Rico receives inferior forecast information and institutional support compared to the continental United States. In addition to presenting expert perceptions of forecast utility, this paper applies a Rawlsian framework to interrogate the fairness of the current hurricane forecasting system, suggesting that forecast knowledge should preferentially benefit the most vulnerable. I argue that disparities in forecast access and application reflect deeper structures of unfairness and coloniality – an insidious companion to the more visible coloniality of Puerto Rico, and further proof that meteorological prediction is inherently political. This research, particularly salient in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, traces the connections between two bodies of knowledge: the entangled geographies of vulnerability, islandness, and coloniality; and the complex relationship between meteorology, justice, and political power.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 104252"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145414719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104266
Quang-Khai Ha , Sarah Tweed , Duc Huy Dang
Coastal megacities face compounded risks from land subsidence, sea-level rise, and groundwater over-extraction. Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam, exemplifies these challenges due to its low-lying terrain and long-term dependence on groundwater. This review explores the evolution of groundwater extraction practices, aquifer responses, and policy interventions in HCMC from the early 1990s to the early 2020 s. Drawing from multi-decadal monitoring records and a range of trend analysis techniques, including linear regression, the Mann–Kendall test, and Sen’s slope estimator, this review synthesizes evidence pointing to a gradual shift from unsustainable over-extraction toward early indications of groundwater recovery. Emerging information suggests that this transition is associated with several key developments, including the expansion of piped water infrastructure, the enactment of national and municipal water regulations, and targeted policy measures to regulate groundwater use. Reported estimates indicate a significant reduction in groundwater extraction volumes, from a peak of approximately 720,000 m³ /day in 2016 to around 145,000 m³ /day by 2022, accompanied by partial recovery in groundwater levels and potential deceleration of land subsidence in the most affected aquifers. These developments underscore broader lessons for integrated groundwater governance, particularly in rapidly growing and low-lying megacities. The case of HCMC illustrates the importance of aligning infrastructure investment with regulatory frameworks and highlights the potential benefits of adaptive water planning in the face of climate change and urban expansion. This review aims to provide a foundation for further interdisciplinary research and policy dialogue on sustainable groundwater management in vulnerable coastal regions.
{"title":"Groundwater depletion to recovery: Resilience strategies in Ho Chi Minh City under climate change and subsidence pressures","authors":"Quang-Khai Ha , Sarah Tweed , Duc Huy Dang","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104266","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104266","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Coastal megacities face compounded risks from land subsidence, sea-level rise, and groundwater over-extraction. Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam, exemplifies these challenges due to its low-lying terrain and long-term dependence on groundwater. This review explores the evolution of groundwater extraction practices, aquifer responses, and policy interventions in HCMC from the early 1990s to the early 2020 s. Drawing from multi-decadal monitoring records and a range of trend analysis techniques, including linear regression, the Mann–Kendall test, and Sen’s slope estimator, this review synthesizes evidence pointing to a gradual shift from unsustainable over-extraction toward early indications of groundwater recovery. Emerging information suggests that this transition is associated with several key developments, including the expansion of piped water infrastructure, the enactment of national and municipal water regulations, and targeted policy measures to regulate groundwater use. Reported estimates indicate a significant reduction in groundwater extraction volumes, from a peak of approximately 720,000 m³ /day in 2016 to around 145,000 m³ /day by 2022, accompanied by partial recovery in groundwater levels and potential deceleration of land subsidence in the most affected aquifers. These developments underscore broader lessons for integrated groundwater governance, particularly in rapidly growing and low-lying megacities. The case of HCMC illustrates the importance of aligning infrastructure investment with regulatory frameworks and highlights the potential benefits of adaptive water planning in the face of climate change and urban expansion. This review aims to provide a foundation for further interdisciplinary research and policy dialogue on sustainable groundwater management in vulnerable coastal regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 104266"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145414723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104261
Delia Paul, Benjamin S. Thompson, Megan Farrelly
Adaptive governance scholarship applies the concept of multiple-loop learning to analyse the depth of learning necessary for society to adequately address environmental challenges. However, multiple-loop learning is rarely used to explain negative or mixed governance outcomes. We do so here, by developing a framework that matches concepts of single-loop, double-loop, and triple-loop learning against three types of ‘governance actions’ by civil society actors. This framework is applied to evaluate civil society action on water insecurity in Malaysia, focussing on the depth and quality of learning involved. Our study, in an emerging economy, shows the presence and engagement of civil society actors in the governance of water security does not always guarantee opportunities for learning. Deeper levels of learning are likely to take place when: activities are planned with learning as an explicit objective; learning activities can be repeated and adapted; and civil society actors are embedded long-term in the communities and environments that they seek to assist. We highlight the social practice of ‘mudball throwing’ as an example of single-loop learning – investigating why it retains popularity despite mixed evidence of its effectiveness. We argue that mudball throwing is: a politically ‘safe’ activity that does not challenge existing institutions; a technically ‘simple’ activity seldom accompanied by scientific experimentation; and a logistically ‘easy’ activity that avoids the management complexity of working directly with local communities. Ultimately, learning in water resource governance will be inadequate in places where information sharing and data transparency on river health and sources of pollution are low.
{"title":"Expanding theories of learning for adaptive governance: Civil society action on water security and environmental pollution","authors":"Delia Paul, Benjamin S. Thompson, Megan Farrelly","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104261","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104261","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Adaptive governance scholarship applies the concept of multiple-loop learning to analyse the depth of learning necessary for society to adequately address environmental challenges. However, multiple-loop learning is rarely used to explain negative or mixed governance outcomes. We do so here, by developing a framework that matches concepts of single-loop, double-loop, and triple-loop learning against three types of ‘governance actions’ by civil society actors. This framework is applied to evaluate civil society action on water insecurity in Malaysia, focussing on the depth and quality of learning involved. Our study, in an emerging economy, shows the presence and engagement of civil society actors in the governance of water security does not always guarantee opportunities for learning. Deeper levels of learning are likely to take place when: activities are planned with learning as an explicit objective; learning activities can be repeated and adapted; and civil society actors are embedded long-term in the communities and environments that they seek to assist. We highlight the social practice of ‘mudball throwing’ as an example of single-loop learning – investigating why it retains popularity despite mixed evidence of its effectiveness. We argue that mudball throwing is: a politically ‘safe’ activity that does not challenge existing institutions; a technically ‘simple’ activity seldom accompanied by scientific experimentation; and a logistically ‘easy’ activity that avoids the management complexity of working directly with local communities. Ultimately, learning in water resource governance will be inadequate in places where information sharing and data transparency on river health and sources of pollution are low.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 104261"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145414717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-29DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104264
Shannon Kilmartin-Lynch, Clint J. Hansen
Sand is one of the most extracted natural resources globally, yet its environmental, cultural, and governance impacts remain underexplored. In Australia, increasing sand extraction for construction and manufacturing, driven by urban expansion and infrastructure development, is exerting profound pressures on Indigenous lands, waterways, and sacred landscapes. As First Peoples with connections across both Victoria and Queensland, we argue that these extractive activities are often carried out without adequate consultation, cultural assessment, or consent, perpetuating settler-colonial dispossession, reflecting gaps in legal frameworks that fail to recognise sand as a protected resource under Native Title or Indigenous land rights regimes.
We introduce the concept of sand sovereignty as a rights-based policy framework that addresses the environmental degradation, cultural dispossession, and governance failures associated with sand extraction. Through a review of emerging sustainable alternatives — including biochar-infused fines, recycled concrete aggregates, and carbon-sequestering materials — we highlight opportunities to close material loops and reduce environmental impacts. However, we argue that technical substitution alone is insufficient. A transformation in governance, centred on Indigenous custodianship, culturally safe consent processes, and benefit-sharing mechanisms, is essential for sustainable and just material transitions. Sand sovereignty provides a scalable model for reconfiguring infrastructure development in ways that simultaneously heal Country, protect ecosystem services, and uphold Indigenous rights.
{"title":"Sand Sovereignty and environmental justice: Indigenous governance, sustainable aggregates, and the transformation of land use in Australia","authors":"Shannon Kilmartin-Lynch, Clint J. Hansen","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104264","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104264","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sand is one of the most extracted natural resources globally, yet its environmental, cultural, and governance impacts remain underexplored. In Australia, increasing sand extraction for construction and manufacturing, driven by urban expansion and infrastructure development, is exerting profound pressures on Indigenous lands, waterways, and sacred landscapes. As First Peoples with connections across both Victoria and Queensland, we argue that these extractive activities are often carried out without adequate consultation, cultural assessment, or consent, perpetuating settler-colonial dispossession, reflecting gaps in legal frameworks that fail to recognise sand as a protected resource under Native Title or Indigenous land rights regimes.</div><div>We introduce the concept of sand sovereignty as a rights-based policy framework that addresses the environmental degradation, cultural dispossession, and governance failures associated with sand extraction. Through a review of emerging sustainable alternatives — including biochar-infused fines, recycled concrete aggregates, and carbon-sequestering materials — we highlight opportunities to close material loops and reduce environmental impacts. However, we argue that technical substitution alone is insufficient. A transformation in governance, centred on Indigenous custodianship, culturally safe consent processes, and benefit-sharing mechanisms, is essential for sustainable and just material transitions. Sand sovereignty provides a scalable model for reconfiguring infrastructure development in ways that simultaneously heal Country, protect ecosystem services, and uphold Indigenous rights.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 104264"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145414715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-29DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104265
Seied Mehdy Hashemy Shahdany , Dorsa Rahparast
A spatial risk assessment and management framework is proposed to diagnose surface water delivery failures in irrigation districts facing severe inflow shortages. The methodology focuses on assessing the vulnerability of the conventional and upgraded manual-based Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Risk probabilities were quantified using historical diversion inflow records through frequency-based classification, producing seven distinct inflow shortfall scenarios. Hydraulic and operation simulation model were developed to assess system vulnerability and consequences. An integrated consequence index, using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), combines adequacy, dependability, and efficiency for easy comparison. The Mahyar-Jarghuyeh Irrigation District in central Iran, comprising 659 farmer cooperatives and approximately 11,200 farmers, served as the case study. Comparative analysis revealed that under the most severe inflow shortfall, over 80 % of the district exhibited extreme vulnerability, and worse consequences in more than 90 % of the area, indicating widespread system failure. However, implementation of an upgraded manual-based SOP yielded resilience improvements, reducing extreme consequence zones by 22–34 % and delaying full system service disruption until inflow dropped below 60 %, compared to 50 % under the original SOP. The resulting spatial risk maps clearly identify high priority intervention zones, offering actionable insights for operational upgrading and drought preparedness. This framework, by integrating operational modeling, performance indices, and spatial assessment, provides a scalable and transferable decision support tool for advancing climate resilient water governance in irrigation sectors.
{"title":"Assessing and managing risks to strengthen the resilience of surface water delivery systems under drought in irrigation districts","authors":"Seied Mehdy Hashemy Shahdany , Dorsa Rahparast","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104265","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104265","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A spatial risk assessment and management framework is proposed to diagnose surface water delivery failures in irrigation districts facing severe inflow shortages. The methodology focuses on assessing the vulnerability of the conventional and upgraded manual-based Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Risk probabilities were quantified using historical diversion inflow records through frequency-based classification, producing seven distinct inflow shortfall scenarios. Hydraulic and operation simulation model were developed to assess system vulnerability and consequences. An integrated consequence index, using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), combines adequacy, dependability, and efficiency for easy comparison. The Mahyar-Jarghuyeh Irrigation District in central Iran, comprising 659 farmer cooperatives and approximately 11,200 farmers, served as the case study. Comparative analysis revealed that under the most severe inflow shortfall, over 80 % of the district exhibited extreme vulnerability, and worse consequences in more than 90 % of the area, indicating widespread system failure. However, implementation of an upgraded manual-based SOP yielded resilience improvements, reducing extreme consequence zones by 22–34 % and delaying full system service disruption until inflow dropped below 60 %, compared to 50 % under the original SOP. The resulting spatial risk maps clearly identify high priority intervention zones, offering actionable insights for operational upgrading and drought preparedness. This framework, by integrating operational modeling, performance indices, and spatial assessment, provides a scalable and transferable decision support tool for advancing climate resilient water governance in irrigation sectors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 104265"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145414721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The planning of nature-based solutions (NBS) has typically heavily relied on technology and ecological expertise. However, critics have shown the importance of considering social dynamics, especially a justice lens. To date, such analyses have largely failed to engage with or incorporate insights from decolonial work, particularly concerning the legacies of coloniality persistent through planning institutions, knowledges, and practices. The research question that guides this paper is: What does it mean to decolonise the planning of NBS? In this literature review, we analyse how the topic of decoloniality is treated with regard to the planning of nature, ecosystems, and biodiversity, and we bring these insights into NBS practice. We synthesise the literature around questions regarding narratives of nature, the treatment of situatedness, and imagining ways out of coloniality in the planning of NBS. Our review argues that a decolonial approach to the planning of NBS is needed to address the root causes of climate change and shift our ways of relating to human and non-human others to enable a transformative approach to the planning, design, and implementation of NBS.
{"title":"Towards a decolonial planning praxis for nature-based solutions: bridging inclusive planning of NBS in cities with decolonial thinking through a systematic literature review","authors":"Janneke Den Dekker-Arlain , Niki Frantzeskaki , Katinka Wijsman , Fernanda Rojas-Marchini","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104260","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104260","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The planning of nature-based solutions (NBS) has typically heavily relied on technology and ecological expertise. However, critics have shown the importance of considering social dynamics, especially a justice lens. To date, such analyses have largely failed to engage with or incorporate insights from decolonial work, particularly concerning the legacies of coloniality persistent through planning institutions, knowledges, and practices. The research question that guides this paper is: What does it mean to decolonise the planning of NBS? In this literature review, we analyse how the topic of decoloniality is treated with regard to the planning of nature, ecosystems, and biodiversity, and we bring these insights into NBS practice. We synthesise the literature around questions regarding narratives of nature, the treatment of situatedness, and imagining ways out of coloniality in the planning of NBS. Our review argues that a decolonial approach to the planning of NBS is needed to address the root causes of climate change and shift our ways of relating to human and non-human others to enable a transformative approach to the planning, design, and implementation of NBS.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 104260"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145414722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-28DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104259
Andrew David Tabas , Ian Pattison , Leo Peskett , Lindsay Beevers
Flooding is a significant global risk that is being exacerbated by land use change and climate change. Natural Flood Management (NFM) is a group of practices that can help mitigate flood risk by slowing the flow, decreasing runoff rates, and storing water, and it can be effective at a variety of scales. NFM implementation is inherently spatial, as it requires upscaling as well as overcoming upstream-downstream spatial disconnections. However, existing literature on the barriers and motivators of NFM discusses the concept of space inconsistently. We review articles on the barriers and motivators of NFM implementation (n = 30) and find that the most common barriers are related to policies, knowledge, and funding; and the most common motivators are related to co-benefits, flood mitigation, and supportive policies. We use a spatial framework to analyse the barriers and motivators of NFM, finding that measuring NFM’s effectiveness, encouraging upstream-downstream cooperation, and considering visual impact and sense of place are essential for NFM upscaling. More consistency is needed in spatial thinking to move from discussions of the barriers of NFM to successful catchment-scale implementation. A holistic spatial framework for NFM implementation, with links to existing implementation frameworks, is proposed to facilitate NFM upscaling.
{"title":"Spatial relationships matter: How a spatial lens can illuminate barriers and motivators of natural flood management","authors":"Andrew David Tabas , Ian Pattison , Leo Peskett , Lindsay Beevers","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104259","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104259","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Flooding is a significant global risk that is being exacerbated by land use change and climate change. Natural Flood Management (NFM) is a group of practices that can help mitigate flood risk by slowing the flow, decreasing runoff rates, and storing water, and it can be effective at a variety of scales. NFM implementation is inherently spatial, as it requires upscaling as well as overcoming upstream-downstream spatial disconnections. However, existing literature on the barriers and motivators of NFM discusses the concept of space inconsistently. We review articles on the barriers and motivators of NFM implementation (n = 30) and find that the most common barriers are related to policies, knowledge, and funding; and the most common motivators are related to co-benefits, flood mitigation, and supportive policies. We use a spatial framework to analyse the barriers and motivators of NFM, finding that measuring NFM’s effectiveness, encouraging upstream-downstream cooperation, and considering visual impact and sense of place are essential for NFM upscaling. More consistency is needed in spatial thinking to move from discussions of the barriers of NFM to successful catchment-scale implementation. A holistic spatial framework for NFM implementation, with links to existing implementation frameworks, is proposed to facilitate NFM upscaling.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 104259"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145414716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-27DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104251
Ramcilovic-Suominen Sabaheta
Multi-trans- and inter-disciplinarity, while important, cannot on their own ensure ontological and epistemic justice or facilitate transformations to justice, sustainability and thriving for all. We need to recognize, problematize, and eventually willfully and consciously let go of the harmful ontological and philosophical assumptions and myths underlying Western science and epistemology. The ontologies and philosophies inform and shape stories we tell, worldviews, values and beliefs we hold, which further shape our actions, habits and behaviours that we are caught in and reproduce. Thus ontological and philosophical views and asumptions inform and guide our day-to-day ways of living, existing, resisting, relating, caring, or not caring. Increasingly scholars of socioecological transformations recognize the importance of ontologies and philosophies in guiding our individual and collective responses to the metacrises, calling for ontological and relational shifts as key to socioecological transformations. This requires questioning, reflecting and deconstructing the harmful ontological bases of modern Western science and knowledge systems, which fine tune our lenses through which we see the world and act accordingly. I refer to this process as a ‘deep transformative Unlearning’. I frame it as a precondition for both, holding space for the existing invisiblized ontologies, epistemologies and worldviews, and for cultivating new ontological and philosophical emergences. As we start to question and let go, we take with us the wisdom of the old ways, while making space for the new ways to emerge. Unlearning harmful ontologies and associated worldviews, assumptions, and myths that uphold the Western science and the (neo)colonial-capitalist ideas-structures is a matter of justice, survival, and healing.
{"title":"Unlearning as resistance and justice: Toward healing and transforming","authors":"Ramcilovic-Suominen Sabaheta","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104251","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104251","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Multi-trans- and inter-disciplinarity, while important, cannot on their own ensure ontological and epistemic justice or facilitate transformations to justice, sustainability and thriving for all. We need to recognize, problematize, and eventually willfully and consciously let go of the harmful ontological and philosophical assumptions and myths underlying Western science and epistemology. The ontologies and philosophies inform and shape stories we tell, worldviews, values and beliefs we hold, which further shape our actions, habits and behaviours that we are caught in and reproduce. Thus ontological and philosophical views and asumptions inform and guide our day-to-day ways of living, existing, resisting, relating, caring, or not caring. Increasingly scholars of socioecological transformations recognize the importance of ontologies and philosophies in guiding our individual and collective responses to the metacrises, calling for ontological and relational shifts as key to socioecological transformations. This requires questioning, reflecting and deconstructing the harmful ontological bases of modern Western science and knowledge systems, which fine tune our lenses through which we see the world and act accordingly. I refer to this process as a ‘deep transformative Unlearning’. I frame it as a precondition for both, holding space for the existing invisiblized ontologies, epistemologies and worldviews, and for cultivating new ontological and philosophical emergences. As we start to question and let go, we take with us the wisdom of the old ways, while making space for the new ways to emerge. Unlearning harmful ontologies and associated worldviews, assumptions, and myths that uphold the Western science and the (neo)colonial-capitalist ideas-structures is a matter of justice, survival, and healing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 104251"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145369704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104250
Louise Lamers , Lina Cortés Gutiérrez
This article examines the strategies of campesino communities in Gran Sumapaz, Colombia, in resisting green grabbing as a form of ontological extractivism. It addresses two central questions: how green grabbing in Sumapaz constitutes ontological extractivism, and how campesinos defend their lifeworlds. Bridging scholarship on extractivism and social movements influenced by the ontological turn, the article shows how green grabbing initiatives—such as national parks, hydroelectric projects, and carbon credit schemes—not only appropriate land but also enact ontological violence by disrupting campesino ways of being and relating to their territory. Drawing on politico-ontological theory and De la Cadena and Escobar’s concept of pluriversal contact zones (2024), the article demonstrates that Gran Sumapaz is a site of struggle over existence and world-making. It highlights how campesino resistance—ranging from outright opposition to negotiation—is not solely economically motivated but seeks to defend their ontologies deeply entangled with the territory. In doing so, their resistance challenges dominant environmental policy, fostering the unlearning and undoing of common-sense policy logics—an essential step toward more plural and just socioecological transitions. By challenging binary framings in social movement literature that separate negotiation and opposition as distinct and group-specific strategies, the study shows how campesinos fluidly navigate both to safeguard their lifeworlds. The article makes use of ethnographic fieldwork, and concludes by emphasizing the need for sustainability practices that can truly host the otherness of the other, thereby avoiding onto-epistemic violence.
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