Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2025.100301
Dhanasree Jayaram, Cristina Yumie Aoki Inoue, Louis J. Kotzé, Ana Flávia Barros-Platiau, Verônica Korber Gonçalves, Annisa Triyanti, Timothy A. Balag'kutu
{"title":"Locating the ‘Global South’ in earth system governance: Editorial","authors":"Dhanasree Jayaram, Cristina Yumie Aoki Inoue, Louis J. Kotzé, Ana Flávia Barros-Platiau, Verônica Korber Gonçalves, Annisa Triyanti, Timothy A. Balag'kutu","doi":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100301","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100301","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":33685,"journal":{"name":"Earth System Governance","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100301"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145736573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2025.100303
Daya Raj Subedi , Qijing Liu , Dinesh Raj Bhuju , Prajal Pradhan
Ecosystem services have gained increasing policy relevance for their dual role in promoting biodiversity conservation and supporting human well-being. However, the integration of ecosystem services into conservation policies remains poorly understood. We examined how ecosystem services and disservices are incorporated into protected area policies in Nepal. A review of 111 laws and policies, supplemented by 19 expert interviews, was conducted. Our findings indicate gradual progress in integrating ecosystem services, both explicitly and implicitly, into conservation policies, with supporting and cultural services most frequently emphasized. In contrast, ecosystem disservices received minimal explicit recognition. Additionally, conservation policies increasingly align with corporate interests, often prioritizing commercial conservation initiatives over local community needs. Our Nepal case provides broader lessons for conservation policy and practice. Mainly, we highlight that ecosystem (dis)service integration is more robust when anchored in legally binding instruments, guided by pluralistic valuation approaches, and structured to protect indigenous and local communities.
{"title":"Ecosystem (dis)services matter for conservation policies: Insights from Nepal","authors":"Daya Raj Subedi , Qijing Liu , Dinesh Raj Bhuju , Prajal Pradhan","doi":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100303","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100303","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ecosystem services have gained increasing policy relevance for their dual role in promoting biodiversity conservation and supporting human well-being. However, the integration of ecosystem services into conservation policies remains poorly understood. We examined how ecosystem services and disservices are incorporated into protected area policies in Nepal. A review of 111 laws and policies, supplemented by 19 expert interviews, was conducted. Our findings indicate gradual progress in integrating ecosystem services, both explicitly and implicitly, into conservation policies, with supporting and cultural services most frequently emphasized. In contrast, ecosystem disservices received minimal explicit recognition. Additionally, conservation policies increasingly align with corporate interests, often prioritizing commercial conservation initiatives over local community needs. Our Nepal case provides broader lessons for conservation policy and practice. Mainly, we highlight that ecosystem (dis)service integration is more robust when anchored in legally binding instruments, guided by pluralistic valuation approaches, and structured to protect indigenous and local communities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33685,"journal":{"name":"Earth System Governance","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100303"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145623563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-06DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2025.100299
Nupur Chowdhury
Despite global efforts towards sustainability and conservation, as per the latest Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Report, biodiversity depletion has only hastened since the turn of the century and all species are facing an existential threat. Unremitting exploitation of nature by humans is the primary reason for this ongoing environmental catastrophe. Capitalist extractivism, supported by centralized apparatus of the state, has spectacularly failed in ensuring environmental sustainability. I suggest ecosystems republics as an alternate form of political and economic organization to address this challenge. There is an urgent need to reimagine and therefore reorganize nation-states into a series of ecosystem republics with the objective of ensuring their integrity and environmental sustainability. Drawing on Gandhian ideas of swaraj and ahimsa, I explore and elucidate on a decentralized governance model based on three fundamental principles—demarcating and safeguarding ecosystem integrity; ensuring that all interests critical of ecosystems integrity are voiced and secured through their operation as republics; and finally recognizing that ecosystems are sui generis entities necessarily requiring the recognition of subsidiarity.
{"title":"Ecosystems republics","authors":"Nupur Chowdhury","doi":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100299","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100299","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite global efforts towards sustainability and conservation, as per the latest Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Report, biodiversity depletion has only hastened since the turn of the century and all species are facing an existential threat. Unremitting exploitation of nature by humans is the primary reason for this ongoing environmental catastrophe. Capitalist extractivism, supported by centralized apparatus of the state, has spectacularly failed in ensuring environmental sustainability. I suggest <em>ecosystems republics</em> as an alternate form of political and economic organization to address this challenge. There is an urgent need to reimagine and therefore reorganize nation-states into a series of <em>ecosystem republics</em> with the objective of ensuring their integrity and environmental sustainability. Drawing on Gandhian ideas of <em>swaraj</em> and <em>ahimsa,</em> I explore and elucidate on a decentralized governance model based on three fundamental principles—demarcating and safeguarding ecosystem integrity; ensuring that all interests critical of ecosystems integrity are voiced and secured through their operation as republics; and finally recognizing that ecosystems are <em>sui generis</em> entities necessarily requiring the recognition of subsidiarity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33685,"journal":{"name":"Earth System Governance","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100299"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145465924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-02DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2025.100300
Thang Nam Do
The annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's Conference of Parties (COP) has long served as a keystone of global climate diplomacy. However, concerns are growing that its current format may be increasingly resource- and carbon-intensive, and could limit the meaningful participation of low-income groups. This Perspective proposes a hybrid reform to the COP cycle: biennial in-person summits alternating with virtual thematic sessions in intervening years. This reform would redirect financial and institutional resources toward more inclusive participation and frontline climate action, particularly in the Global South. It offers a timely opportunity to realign global climate diplomacy with efficiency and impact.
{"title":"Fund more, fly less: A hybrid meeting cycle for more effective and equitable climate governance","authors":"Thang Nam Do","doi":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100300","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100300","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's Conference of Parties (COP) has long served as a keystone of global climate diplomacy. However, concerns are growing that its current format may be increasingly resource- and carbon-intensive, and could limit the meaningful participation of low-income groups. This Perspective proposes a hybrid reform to the COP cycle: biennial in-person summits alternating with virtual thematic sessions in intervening years. This reform would redirect financial and institutional resources toward more inclusive participation and frontline climate action, particularly in the Global South. It offers a timely opportunity to realign global climate diplomacy with efficiency and impact.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33685,"journal":{"name":"Earth System Governance","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100300"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145465927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","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.esg.2025.100297
Kaiwen Zhang , Hongwei Hu , Yuanyuan Li , Rong Tan , Lu Yu
Effective governance of natural resources has become increasingly vital in the face of accelerating socio-ecological transformations. In recent decades, natural resource governance has undergone profound changes due to increasing resource scales, the involvement of diverse stakeholders, and the need to manage multiple resources in the context of urbanization, marketization, and climate change. Classic property rights frameworks, such as bundles of property rights and Ostrom's “resource system and resource unit” model, are often unable to manage the uncertainty, interdependence, and scale in transitioning socio-ecological systems. This paper introduces a layer recomposition framework that unpacks property rights by resource systems and ecosystem services, thus enabling these rights to be repackaged into modular regimes tailored to specific contexts. The framework facilitates the integration of multiple ecosystem services and supports the adaptive reorganization of governance structures. Furthermore, this framework emphasizes the importance of continuously localized property rules that are responsive to both socioeconomic conditions and ecological complexity. This study advances classical property rights theory by broadening the content of bundles of rights and introducing the concept of repacking to enable flexible, context-sensitive arrangements. Using a case study of local property rights reform in China, this research demonstrates the framework's capacity to govern complex resource systems and provide practical, localized solutions, thus offering a robust tool for rethinking natural resource governance in an era of rapid change and global interdependence. This study contributes to the evolution of property rights theory while offering actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners navigating the governance challenges of rapidly transforming socio-ecological systems.
{"title":"Unpacking and repacking bundles of rights: Modular property rights regime for natural resource governance under complexity","authors":"Kaiwen Zhang , Hongwei Hu , Yuanyuan Li , Rong Tan , Lu Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100297","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100297","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Effective governance of natural resources has become increasingly vital in the face of accelerating socio-ecological transformations. In recent decades, natural resource governance has undergone profound changes due to increasing resource scales, the involvement of diverse stakeholders, and the need to manage multiple resources in the context of urbanization, marketization, and climate change. Classic property rights frameworks, such as bundles of property rights and Ostrom's “resource system and resource unit” model, are often unable to manage the uncertainty, interdependence, and scale in transitioning socio-ecological systems. This paper introduces a layer recomposition framework that unpacks property rights by resource systems and ecosystem services, thus enabling these rights to be repackaged into modular regimes tailored to specific contexts. The framework facilitates the integration of multiple ecosystem services and supports the adaptive reorganization of governance structures. Furthermore, this framework emphasizes the importance of continuously localized property rules that are responsive to both socioeconomic conditions and ecological complexity. This study advances classical property rights theory by broadening the content of bundles of rights and introducing the concept of repacking to enable flexible, context-sensitive arrangements. Using a case study of local property rights reform in China, this research demonstrates the framework's capacity to govern complex resource systems and provide practical, localized solutions, thus offering a robust tool for rethinking natural resource governance in an era of rapid change and global interdependence. This study contributes to the evolution of property rights theory while offering actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners navigating the governance challenges of rapidly transforming socio-ecological systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33685,"journal":{"name":"Earth System Governance","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100297"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145415994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","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.esg.2025.100298
Avri Eitan , Shira Bukchin-Peles
Renewable energy, solar in particular, has become central to global decarbonization efforts. Yet its deployment often exposes tensions between centralized planning frameworks and localized realities, raising questions about how decision-making and legitimacy are negotiated in practice. This study examines the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as regulatory intermediaries in Israel's solar energy sector. Drawing on a qualitative case study, it analyzes how NGOs navigate institutional complexity and mediate across three key arenas: among regulators, between regulators and developers, and between regulators and communities. NGOs translate procedures, resolve institutional frictions, and amplify community voices, helping bridge fragmented governance domains. The study contributes to renewable energy governance literature by showing how NGOs coordinate implementation beyond official mechanisms, and to regulatory intermediation theory by highlighting how influence is exercised not through formal authority, but through credibility, procedural fluency, and embedded engagement across state, market, and society.
{"title":"Solar middle ground: NGOs as regulatory intermediaries in renewable energy governance","authors":"Avri Eitan , Shira Bukchin-Peles","doi":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100298","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100298","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Renewable energy, solar in particular, has become central to global decarbonization efforts. Yet its deployment often exposes tensions between centralized planning frameworks and localized realities, raising questions about how decision-making and legitimacy are negotiated in practice. This study examines the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as regulatory intermediaries in Israel's solar energy sector. Drawing on a qualitative case study, it analyzes how NGOs navigate institutional complexity and mediate across three key arenas: among regulators, between regulators and developers, and between regulators and communities. NGOs translate procedures, resolve institutional frictions, and amplify community voices, helping bridge fragmented governance domains. The study contributes to renewable energy governance literature by showing how NGOs coordinate implementation beyond official mechanisms, and to regulatory intermediation theory by highlighting how influence is exercised not through formal authority, but through credibility, procedural fluency, and embedded engagement across state, market, and society.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33685,"journal":{"name":"Earth System Governance","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100298"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145415993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-15DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2025.100295
Tatiana Degai , Maria Monakhova , Andrey Petrov , Victoria N. Sharakhmatova , Yulia Vasilieva
{"title":"Multi-level salmon governance and adaptation to institutional change in Indigenous fishing communities in Kamchatka, Russia","authors":"Tatiana Degai , Maria Monakhova , Andrey Petrov , Victoria N. Sharakhmatova , Yulia Vasilieva","doi":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100295","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100295","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":33685,"journal":{"name":"Earth System Governance","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100295"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145323877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-10DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2025.100293
Xue Ruo Ng, Shirin Malekpour, Rob Raven
Scholarly, there is growing interest in corporations transitioning towards adopting SDGs. However, there is still a gap in understanding how the SDGs influence business performance and operations. Identifying various conditions under which governance through goal setting might have been effective and accelerating the transition to sustainability is essential. This study explores these questions through a case study of how Malaysian corporations’ financial performance has been connected with SDG 13. The study examines whether and in what ways implementing and voluntarily disclosing SDG 13 related information is associated with corporate financial performance. The findings suggest that adopting and disclosing SDG 13 is linked to improved corporate financial performance. Voluntary disclosure of sustainable-related information allows shareholders and the public to gain insight into corporate sustainability transitions. This reduces the information asymmetry gap between businesses and potential investors, which may increase investors' confidence. The positive correlation could encourage corporations to adopt more SDG goals. Investors who perceive improvement in firm performance may in turn call for deeper engagement with additionals. The paper concludes that conditions such as voluntary disclosure appear to support the sustainability transition of corporate actors by being associated with better performance outcomes.
{"title":"Sustainability transitions in corporations: The influence of the sustainable development goals on corporate financial performance","authors":"Xue Ruo Ng, Shirin Malekpour, Rob Raven","doi":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100293","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100293","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Scholarly, there is growing interest in corporations transitioning towards adopting SDGs. However, there is still a gap in understanding how the SDGs influence business performance and operations. Identifying various conditions under which governance through goal setting might have been effective and accelerating the transition to sustainability is essential. This study explores these questions through a case study of how Malaysian corporations’ financial performance has been connected with SDG 13. The study examines whether and in what ways implementing and voluntarily disclosing SDG 13 related information is associated with corporate financial performance. The findings suggest that adopting and disclosing SDG 13 is linked to improved corporate financial performance. Voluntary disclosure of sustainable-related information allows shareholders and the public to gain insight into corporate sustainability transitions. This reduces the information asymmetry gap between businesses and potential investors, which may increase investors' confidence. The positive correlation could encourage corporations to adopt more SDG goals. Investors who perceive improvement in firm performance may in turn call for deeper engagement with additionals. The paper concludes that conditions such as voluntary disclosure appear to support the sustainability transition of corporate actors by being associated with better performance outcomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33685,"journal":{"name":"Earth System Governance","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100293"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145266565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-04DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2025.100294
Kristin Hällmark
Negative eco-emotions such as fear, anger, and anxiety are becoming increasingly widespread as the consequences of the ongoing climate crisis are getting progressively worse. Previous literature has warned that these emotions are best avoided in the public sphere, as they risk contributing to either depoliticization or divisive antagonism. In this article, I defend the political and democratic potential of eco-fear, eco-anger, and eco-anxiety. Using Chantal Mouffe's framework of agonistic politics as a lens, I examine how these emotions can be formulated to facilitate the formation of collective political identities and transform potentially destructive antagonism into democratic agonism. By bringing forward how these negative eco-emotions can enable politicization while avoiding destructive antagonism, this article contributes to the growing literature on eco-emotions and the literature on agonistic theory. Through a review of the existing literature on eco-emotions, I contend that fear can help to re-politicize environmental discourses when directed towards specific eco-political threats, such as technologies or political inaction. Anger, I argue, can strengthen collective identities through renewed agency and counter-hegemonic thinking, with “Lordean anger” mitigating some of its moralizing tendencies. Finally, I suggest that anxiety is most productive when tied to a sense of place and belonging, grounding political identities in our ecological interconnectedness.
{"title":"Beyond depoliticization and divisive antagonism: Rethinking fear, anger, and anxiety in environmental politics","authors":"Kristin Hällmark","doi":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100294","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esg.2025.100294","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Negative eco-emotions such as fear, anger, and anxiety are becoming increasingly widespread as the consequences of the ongoing climate crisis are getting progressively worse. Previous literature has warned that these emotions are best avoided in the public sphere, as they risk contributing to either depoliticization or divisive antagonism. In this article, I defend the political and democratic potential of eco-fear, eco-anger, and eco-anxiety. Using Chantal Mouffe's framework of agonistic politics as a lens, I examine how these emotions can be formulated to facilitate the formation of collective political identities and transform potentially destructive antagonism into democratic agonism. By bringing forward how these negative eco-emotions can enable politicization while avoiding destructive antagonism, this article contributes to the growing literature on eco-emotions and the literature on agonistic theory. Through a review of the existing literature on eco-emotions, I contend that fear can help to re-politicize environmental discourses when directed towards specific eco-political threats, such as technologies or political inaction. Anger, I argue, can strengthen collective identities through renewed agency and counter-hegemonic thinking, with “Lordean anger” mitigating some of its moralizing tendencies. Finally, I suggest that anxiety is most productive when tied to a sense of place and belonging, grounding political identities in our ecological interconnectedness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33685,"journal":{"name":"Earth System Governance","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100294"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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