Ambio最新文献

The academic discourse on rewilding has primarily focused on its ecological dimensions, yet rewilding initiatives also have the potential to combine ecological restoration with regional economic development and societal well-being. Using a discrete choice experiment, this study investigates public preferences and willingness to pay for rewilded landscapes in the Oder Delta and the underlying motivations that influence these preferences. The findings show a general willingness to support a holistic rewilding approach among the local population of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. However, the results also highlight heterogeneous preferences with respect to different aspects of rewilding as well as underlying motivations. By providing insights into local preferences for rewilded landscapes, this research contributes to informing local rewilding initiatives and overarching conservation policies. It emphasises the importance of navigating trade-offs and conflicts inherent in rewilding projects and land use while emphasising the need for further research on the determinants of preferences and willingness to pay.

The increasing complexity of socio-environmental vulnerabilities and inherent challenges have led scholars to study nonlinear systemic societal changes. Approaches to address these challenges range from adaptation to the predominant system, to the reconfiguration of the social and ecological life system. The study identifies the key characteristics, dynamics and contextual features of transformative initiatives and assesses their potential to challenge the dominant system. It also aims to review the studies of alternative non-capitalist experiences across a diverse geographic and cultural contexts. To achieve that purpose, a scoping review of empirical studies published since 2000 was conducted. The 88 cases analysed evidence practices rooted in cooperative and solidarity values. These practices include alternative approaches to production, consumption, and distribution, as well as the sharing of knowledge, experiences, and resources. The studies also point to the need to recreate and reorganise the commons, to change human and non-human interactions, and to achieve self-sufficiency.

Understanding food security level on a large scale is crucial for grasping global food security and issuing timely warnings about regional food systems risks. Current regional spatiotemporal distribution and multidimensional comparisons of global food security are insufficient. Therefore, this paper proposed a weighting technique combing the subjective AHP method with the objective CRITIC method, and developed a new composite index to measure food security multidimensionally. Using the food security composite index (FSCI), this study explored the spatiotemporal evolution of food security in different dimensions at both global and regional levels, based on panel data from 2001 to 2020. The variation of FSCI remained stable in the quantity dimension across all regions, with significant improvements in economic security observed in Europe and Latin America and Caribbean, and Asia showed an upward trend in resource dimension. Compared to the global average, Europe had a pronounced advantage, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa had a significant disadvantage.

Despite the importance of salient, credible, and legitimate climate information for climate action, studies demonstrate a persistent usability gap between the information provided and what users find relevant and useful. Drawing from scientific literature and our experiences working with a Swedish national climate service, we explore and reflect on challenges and barriers with climate services using an analytical framework of four pillars. Based on this, we provide four overarching recommendations (and fundamental needs): (i) Advancing data production and analysis, (ii) Establishing a climate service collaboration forum, (iii) Fostering active users, and (iv) Prioritising long-lasting funding. These recommendations are directed to policymakers and the climate service community to transition the production and use of climate information from short-term studies and initiatives to long-lasting processes. We argue that adopting these recommendations can support climate-resilient development through strengthening climate service infrastructure and enhancing capabilities and skills of the actors involved.

Concern has risen that current global warming and more frequent extreme events such as droughts and floods will increase conflict around the world. This concern has spurred both social science research on contemporary climate, peace, and conflict as well as research in the historical sciences on past climate, weather, warfare, and violence. This perspectives article compares these two fields of scholarship and examines how each may benefit the other. It finds significant convergences in methods and insights across contemporary and historical research as well as persistent patterns in causal pathways between climate and conflict. Contemporary climate, peace, and conflict (CPC) research may sharpen methods and causal models for historical researchers. Historical studies, particularly those informed by contemporary research, may elucidate deep origins and long-term effects of climate-related conflicts. For policymakers and the public, history offers comprehensible ways to make sense of complex and contingent linkages and to construct cogent narratives of the past as well as storylines for the future.

The marine environment is facing serious changes. This requires scientific understanding of the ocean's responses to pressures and management actions to provide the foundation for sustainable development. At the same time, the production of knowledge for a more sustainable world is undergoing rapid change with the uptake of citizen science as means of opening up science. While there is increasing interest in marine citizen science, it is also often conceived as lagging behind citizen science in other areas, such as biodiversity related citizen science on land. This paper analyses empirical evidence collected >1260 past and present marine citizen science initiatives, substantiating the pervasiveness of marine citizen science around the globe. In doing so, it provides the basis for a cumulative inventory of MArine Citizen Science Initiatives (MARCSI) that can inform and shape both the growing community of marine citizen science practitioners and the science of citizen science.

There is a gap in understanding how different policies affect climate vulnerability and risk development, yet increasingly response is added to the risk framework. We propose a conceptual framework that explains how response and other policies affect risk determinants and demonstrate the application of the framework using a synthesis of empirical literature on climate-related health risks and adaptation in cities. The analysis shows that most of the policies affecting vulnerability and exposure are outside climate interventions, i.e., current conceptualization of response. The inclusion of response and other policies in risk assessments has implications for adaptation research and practice.

Eutrophication of coastal areas is a global problem. A full-scale coastal remediation project was initiated in Björnöfjärden bay in the Stockholm archipelago in 2011. Measures to reduce external nutrient inputs from the surrounding catchment (15 km²) targeted agriculture, on-site wastewater treatment facilities, and horse keeping. The effects were evaluated at 22 water quality monitoring stations over 11 years (2012-2022) to determine temporal trends in nutrient concentrations, spatial correlations within and between monitored sub-catchments, and effects of individual mitigation measures at local and catchment scale. The effect of individual measures varied from no significant effect to significant nutrient decreases (21% reduction in dissolved P concentrations in one lime filter) or increases (11% higher concentrations in total P in one constructed wetland). However, few significant trends were detected at sub-catchment outlet stations. Tailored placement, design, dimensioning, and maintenance of implemented mitigation measures are needed to improve their nutrient retention effect.

Pastoral traditional knowledge is increasingly recognized for its inherent adaptability in addressing contemporary challenges and increasing the resilience of pastoral communities. To deepen our understanding of how this knowledge system demonstrates adaptive characteristics, we employ a functional lens to examine its dynamic nature in this systematic review. Our analysis, based on insights from 152 case studies worldwide, shows that this knowledge system has various domains and serves diverse functions, including ecological, economic, and socio-cultural functions, with further subfunctions. Ecologically, pastoral traditional knowledge predominantly enhances climate adaptation and resilience; economically, it helps maintain herd productivity and sustain livelihood support; and socio-culturally, it is crucial for preserving the cultural identity and heritage of pastoral communities. Furthermore, our findings highlight that each knowledge domain shows multifunctional characteristic. Our analysis also helps identify common functions across eight knowledge domains, each contributing to areas like sustainable resource management and climate adaptation, though to varying degrees.