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Despite widely existing consensus that nature-based solutions (NbS) provide competitive and sustainable alternatives for grey infrastructure in urban water management, the implementation of NbS is lagging behind current needs. This study explores if and how regulatory measures can promote NbS adoption on privately owned land. Policy document analysis of Finnish stormwater programmes gathers how NbS are considered at municipal-level, key informant interviews aim to identify bottlenecks in stormwater regulations, and building permit analysis evaluates whether policy instruments have increased NbS implementation on private land. Results reveal fragmented municipal regulations due to a lack of national consensus, leading to bottlenecks for implementation such as limited knowledge, commitment, and institutional coherence. While current regulations have increased solution diversity, widespread NbS implementation requires mandating and consistent regulations aligned with sustainability goals, improved understanding of NbS functionality, examples and education, national cooperation, and recognition of NbS as viable stormwater management options.

Cities increasingly hope to mobilize nature-based solutions in urban sustainability planning because of their wide-ranging ecosystem services. In this critical moment, where failure due to poor implementation could lead policymakers to turn away from nature-based solutions, we investigate the case of urban forestry and ask: how do strategic-level sustainability goals influences site-level decision-making? We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 urban foresters leading advanced programs at municipalities with adopted sustainability goals, framed as ecosystem services, across the US and Canada. Day-to-day, site-level decision-making focused on advancing a "more, bigger trees" paradigm with the justification that this would deliver increased ecosystem services in a general sense and thus contribute to city goals. Our analysis and results suggest that urban foresters are more guided by a shared sense of the greater purpose of their work to serve urban communities than city plans, which yields actions usually aligning but sometimes conflicting with specific strategic-level goals.

Prescribed burning is applied as a restoration tool to promote biodiversity in boreal forests. Common objectives include promoting multilayered pine forests, increasing deadwood, and generating fire-scars. However, the extent to which these objectives are achieved and how they relate to weather conditions and stand characteristics remains poorly understood. We surveyed 32 prescribed burns in Sweden to evaluate the outcomes of key conservation objectives and their relationship to weather conditions and stand characteristics. In addition, we compared weather patterns and seasonal timing between prescribed burns and wildfires. We found that conservation objectives were met with large variations between sites but were generally better achieved under drier weather conditions and at sites with higher proportion of spruce. Wildfires occurred under significantly drier conditions and later in the summer than prescribed burns. We conclude that optimizing prescribed burning as a restoration tool requires better alignment between conservation objectives, stand characteristics, and weather conditions.

Gender equality is a ubiquitous national goal, yet sectoral gender data gaps to support this goal persist. These gaps are both structural and sexist, concealing women's contributions and impeding actions that would strengthen livelihoods and economic development, food security, and environmental sustainability. The small-scale fisheries sector offers a cogent example of this phenomenon. Building on lessons from the Illuminating Hidden Harvests initiative, we identify systemic changes and specific indicators needed to fill these gaps. This requires multiple data streams, many of which come from outside fisheries agencies, e.g., government statistical or census organizations, sourced from responsible agencies across multiple areas-economy and environment, governance and support services, and health and nutrition. Closing gender data gaps requires making the policy case and working across agencies to create an enabling institutional environment. Only then can data reflect and respond to the lives of the ~ 500 million people who depend on small-scale fisheries.

Organised illegal and informal mining is growing globally, employing many unemployed youth, women, and children. In South Africa, rural communities see it as a means to reduce poverty and integrate into the economy. Despite numerous laws and regulations by the government and the Chamber of Mines to curb these practices due to their significant environmental implications and health risks the problems are escalating instead. Furthermore, while some levels of success have been achieved in addressing these menace, the efforts by the government through legislation have failed considerably in addressing the environmental challenges associated with these activities. This study uses qualitative methods comprising of interviews, field observations, and literature materials to explore the root causes of these activities and their threat to environmental sustainability. The findings reveal poverty and unemployment as primary drivers, while weak governance and law enforcement as underlying factors. The study calls for a shift from punitive policies to inclusive strategies that address social and economic needs, stressing on education, awareness, and public participation in environmental challenges associated with illegal mining.

With growing calls for people-centred and equitable approaches to regeneration and restoration, this review paper contributes to enhancing understanding of the role of communities in restoring landscapes across the world. Addressing the lack of clarity around tangible pathways for equitable and inclusive forms of landscape regeneration, we focus on exploring the practices and forms through which communities engage with landscape regeneration and restoration. We undertake a systematic review of an international selection of community-based landscape regeneration initiatives worldwide to better understand how communities engage with, manage and lead regeneration practices. We map landscape regeneration and restoration initiatives across international contexts based on four themes around community organisation, land ownership, engagement and land values. Borne out of this review, we propose an analytical framework for community-based landscape regeneration in order to support and mobilise more democratic and socially just approaches to ecological regeneration initiatives.

Conservation organizations face budget constraints and must prioritize land acquisitions carefully. Market responses to conservation actions can shift land prices and relocate development. We examine how variations in local land markets affect decisions about where to protect land. Using a protected area prioritization framework, we evaluated how spatial differences in market feedback influence the conservation return-on-investment (ROI) of acquisitions and the optimal distribution of acquisition budgets. Using simulations and parameters for southern Appalachian forests, we find that areas with elastic demand and inelastic supply yield higher conservation ROI. Our results indicate that failing to account for local market feedback can reduce conservation effectiveness, incurring opportunity costs of 7%. Only 49% of the optimal budget allocation matched when local feedback was considered versus not. These findings stress the importance of incorporating spatial market data into protected area planning to maximize ecological returns.

Plastic pollution is a global One Health crisis, yet research has focused largely on marine environments. The Amazon-the world's largest drainage basin and second most plastic-polluted river-has received limited scientific attention. This scoping review is the first to apply a systematic protocol (PRISMA-ScR) to assess plastic contamination across Amazonian ecosystems. We reviewed 52 peer-reviewed studies reporting plastic litter and fragments in terrestrial and aquatic environments of the biome. Most evidence concerns microplastics in Brazilian sites along the main Amazon River, with a focus on fish. However, plastics were also found in sediments, plants, and diverse fauna including birds, reptiles, and mammals. No studies reported nanoplastics. The contamination of key food and water sources poses a major One Health risk for traditional populations. We identify urgent research gaps-especially in non-fish fauna, tributaries, and other Amazonian countries-and highlight the need for targeted mitigation through waste management and education.