Geo-Geography and Environment最新文献

Climate change intensifies existing inequities, disproportionately impacting marginalised populations, particularly in the Global South and Indigenous communities. This is maintained through inequitable global climate governance, policies and solutions. The paper argues that climate coloniality, the complex entanglements of colonial legacies with contemporary climate and ecological changes, operates through systemic knowledge-based marginalisation or epistemic injustice, serving as a key mechanism in the uneven production and distribution of climate harms. Beyond the more commonly discussed material dimensions of loss and damage, epistemic injustices arise from silencing critical voices and devaluing knowledge systems. The paper extends the scope of loss and damage debates by drawing attention to epistemic losses: the erasure of worldviews, ontologies and practices that are vital for just and sustainable climate futures. It critically examines the intersections of power, pedagogy and praxis in (re)producing epistemic injustices, while simultaneously revealing counter-narratives of refusal, resurgence and relationality. By engaging Indigenous and Global South scholarship, the paper underscores the need to decolonise knowledge systems that reproduce dominant climate narratives and heed the epistemological alternatives offered by land- and kinship-based knowledge systems. Advancing climate justice depends on confronting epistemic injustice as both a form of loss and a condition of possibility: centring Global South and Indigenous perspectives is essential for cultivating pluriversal, decolonial and just climate frameworks and futures.

In this paper, we introduce the concept of safewashing within the context of the hazardous aesthetic and the attractive view as a new lens through which to research issues relating to widespread, continuing urban property development in unsafe, hazard-prone locations. Recognising that many aesthetically attractive views can be simultaneously hazardous, we suggest that in the process of property development and marketing, unsafe locations may be masked through ‘washing out’ (i.e. overlooking or covering up) actual and/or potential risk in favour of driving urban growth, capital investment and profit. Underpinned by the concept of aesthetic common sense, we explore the commodification of the aesthetically appealing view and the safewashing of the reality of hazard and potential disaster. Questions are raised about how the practice of safewashing within the context of increasing human impacts and the financial costs of disasters may be challenged and addressed.

This article analyses the impact of the war in Ukraine on air quality and heating practices in Polish cities. In this case, it does not focus on the direct impact of military activities, but on various social and political decisions, as well as changes in social behaviour undertaken under the influence of the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. The authors defend the thesis that it is worth analysing air quality and heating practices in local communities not only in the context of local and national policies but also by referring to global and transnational factors. Based on focus group interviews with the residents of Wrocław, they prove that global events may have an impact on local air quality and apartment heating methods and be a catalyst for processes in various spheres of local and national public life: legal–political, economic, environmental–spatial, health and socio-practical. The article proposes a glocalisation perspective as an approach that can integrate local social and environmental conditions with global ecological challenges, while also highlighting the impact of global factors—economic, political, energy-related and military—on local trends, behaviours and policies in the context of environmental protection.

Small cities are the critical arena for urbanisation and economic growth around the world. The tailored and variegated approach is key to facilitating the development of small cities. Based on the theory of entrepreneurial urbanism, this study constructs a conceptual framework of ‘subject-economy-policy-culture-space’ and takes Zouping as a typical case to explore the potential path of development for small cities. This study finds that the development of Zouping is an unintentional approach of entrepreneurial urbanism; emphasising industrial development, urban marketing and technological innovation to drive economic transformation; shaping the regional cultural atmosphere of mercantilism; and reconstructing the urban space with industrial parks as a leading spatial driver. Further research shows that a multi-subject cooperative network between the local government, enterprises and society is the foundation, and the establishment of an entrepreneurial urban cultural atmosphere is a necessary condition for the development of small cities. The entrepreneurial actions of local governments are the decisive conditions for the development of small cities. This study provides a reference value for the development of small cities both in China and the Global South and contributes to enriching the theoretical system of global entrepreneurial urbanism through Chinese cases.

How does stakeholder participation in natural resource management change when conservation rules are grounded in near real-time data? Recent technological advances have increased the feasibility of the ‘dynamic management’ of natural resources, which promises to align the spatiotemporal scales of management with ecological variability and resource use. Drawing on Kelty's (2020) concept of ‘contributory autonomy’, this article offers a critical comparison of how participation is conceived of in the more established context of static conservation areas and planning versus the emergent field of dynamic management. A systematic review of the dynamic ocean management literature reveals a varied, but shallow engagement with the topic of stakeholder participation in that context. Whereas static management regimes are governed by relatively intuitive and contestable maps, dynamic management is governed by models and data flows. Overall, the decision-making stakeholder of participatory mapping processes under static management is displaced by the stakeholder conceived as an ‘end-user’ of a dynamic management product and consultant in its design. Yet, these shifts also open up potential points of contestation, which may pattern the future theory and practice of participation in dynamic management: counterdata, countermodelling and data chokepoints. Beyond the empirical focus on oceans, this article contributes to broader conversations about the political stakes of environmental data, and algorithmic and artificial intelligence-driven natural resource conservation by considering how possibilities for participation are foreclosed, enabled and reconstituted by new spatiotemporal and technological conditions.

This study explores how community gardens in Cape Town's marginalised Cape Flats area enact spatial justice through everyday practices. I draw on Henri Lefebvre's ideas on the social production of space, especially the spatial triad (space as perceived, conceived, lived), to unpack how physical, ideological and symbolic dimensions of space intersect in these urban gardens. The findings underscore how community gardeners physically transform otherwise neglected land into ‘perceived’ spaces of cultivation, asserting spatial agency despite insecure tenure and limited infrastructure (water access, soil quality). In terms of ‘conceived’ space, gardeners negotiate and subvert top-down planning logics by repurposing school grounds and municipal reserves. Finally, gardens as ‘lived’ space emerge as sites of cultural reclamation and social cohesion, where crops, seed exchanges and collective action sustain memory and identity in the face of apartheid's legacies. However, persistent challenges, such as tenure precarity, resource scarcity and competing land-use pressures, threaten each garden's longevity. These findings are based on semi-structured interviews with representatives of 34 community gardens and key state actors, supplemented by documentary analysis of planning and policy frameworks. Gardens function as urban oases of resistance and resilience. Addressing urban gardens in the largely overlooked Global South context fills a critical gap in urban justice scholarship. High-impact urban planning should aim to help community gardens secure land tenure, embed them in formal spatial frameworks and recognise their multifunctional role in enhancing food security, cultural preservation and equitable urban transformation.

The unique ecological conditions of the mangrove forests in the Rio Preguiças Estuary, Maranhão, Brazil, support a culturally isolated population of bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) and contribute to the livelihoods and economy of the local community. In this location, the capuchins survive solely within the mangrove forests, primarily feeding on the mangrove crab (Ucides cordatus), often using wooden tools to crack them open. These mangrove forests serve as fish nurseries and support economically valuable crustaceans, sustaining local food resources and a thriving fishery. Given the multifaceted role of these mangrove forests as a habitat for this unique capuchin population and as a resource for the local community, our study assesses these forests' past, present and projected future status. We conducted a multiscale land-use change analysis of the Rio Preguiças watershed and at the site of the isolated population of bearded capuchin monkeys. Using Sentinel imagery and high-resolution images collected from unoccupied aerial vehicles, we tracked land cover changes from 2017 to 2023 and projected mangrove forest changes 5 years into the future. Remote sensing and GIS techniques revealed substantial and significant mangrove loss at the culturally important Capuchin mangrove site and substantial and significant forest transitions across the broader watershed. Both regions showed reduced natural land cover and increased human-induced changes, which impacted the forests. Sand dune overwash in mangrove forests alters the mudflat dynamics, reshaping vegetation physiognomies within the mangroves and potentially leading to a decline in the crab population, a primary food source for capuchins and a source of protein and income for the local community. These findings underscore the need for conservation plans to ensure the long-term survival of the mangrove forests, the local fisheries-based livelihoods and the culturally unique isolated population of bearded capuchin monkeys at Morro do Boi.

As climate change makes the future of urban living appear increasingly daunting, many people and communities are already experiencing climate impacts. This paper highlights the disproportionate nature of climate change, from unequal historical responsibilities to unequal climate impacts that fall on the most vulnerable and unequal prospects that hinder people and countries from adapting to a changing climate now and in the future. Through an arts-based literature review, the paper demonstrates that climate change's effects and responses often reinforce existing inequalities, systematically pushing people, communities and entire countries into further vulnerability. Acknowledging that spatial processes play a critical role in creating, shaping and perpetuating inequalities and oppression, we advocate for spatial justice in climate action and offer eight principles to support spatial scholars and practitioners in adopting a critical perspective on climate change in urban contexts.

The purpose of this study was to examine the carbon stock potential of church forests and their contribution to climate change mitigation. A stratified systematic sampling approach was utilised, and data were gathered from 60 sample plots using sampling quadrats of 15 × 15 m for large trees, 10 × 10 m for shrubs and 5 × 5 m for grassland areas. The diameter at breast height of trees was measured at 1.3 m. The findings of this study revealed that in the semi-arid agroecological zone, church forests had a total mean aboveground, belowground and total carbon stock of 76.6 t ha⁻¹ (280.3 CO₂), 19.2 t ha⁻¹ (70.4 CO₂) and 95.8 t ha⁻¹ (350.8 CO₂), respectively. In the sub-humid agroecological zone, church forests had a total mean aboveground, belowground and total carbon density of 12.4 t ha⁻¹ (45.14 CO₂), 3.1 t ha⁻¹ (11.37 CO₂) and 15.5 t ha⁻¹ (56.51 CO₂). In the temperate highland agroecological zone, church forests had a total mean aboveground, belowground and total carbon stock of 11.2 t ha⁻¹ (40.73 CO₂), 2.8 t ha⁻¹ (10.27 CO₂) and 14.02 t ha⁻¹ (51.01 CO₂). The mean aboveground, belowground and total carbon stock for the three agroecological zones were 33.4, 8.3 and 41.8 t ha⁻¹, respectively. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA; F = 3.54, DF = 2, p < .033) indicated a significant difference in carbon stock between agroecological zones. These findings underscore the important role of local carbon sequestration in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, supporting regional forest management and land-use planning. They also demonstrate that indigenous conservation practices offer measurable environmental benefits, and that sacred natural sites can serve spiritual, ecological and climate-related functions simultaneously.

Effective river basin governance requires integrating diverse stakeholder knowledge and opinions to achieve sustainable environmental, economic and cultural outcomes. However, a measurable method for integrating these perspectives remains undeveloped. This study aims to assess the knowledge and opinions of spatially diverse stakeholders regarding the policy initiatives in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) from 2009 to 2021, focusing on the catchments with the misalignment between basin conditions and policy across environmental, economic and cultural dimensions. The analysis identifies significant misalignments in the Lower Murray, Barwon–Darling–Lower Darling, Gwydir and Murrumbidgee catchments, where economic priorities dominate basin conditions while environmental concerns are emphasised in policy development. Environmental advocacy and academic groups are the main drivers of reform, while agricultural stakeholders, Catchment Management Authorities and Indigenous groups present obstacles to progress. These groups require more focused engagement to facilitate governance shifts. The findings underscore the need for targeted consultation to better align policy and basin conditions.