One Earth最新文献

Evidence-based science communication and additional policy interventions are urgently needed to address widespread per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) pollution. Messaging about PFASs should highlight exposure-reduction strategies and prioritize underserved communities. PFASs are not simply drinking-water pollutants; they are substances with myriad exposure pathways that require a systemic federal response.

As wildfires worsen across the globe, there is increased attention on the inequitable distribution of the risks to people. Pre-existing risks and vulnerabilities compound the risk to many populations. Those who bear the worst of these risks are usually underserved and ethnic/racial minority communities.

Marine euxinia can amplify phosphorous-limited marine productivity by recycling phosphorous from sediments, creating a feedback loop that increases marine oxygen consumption and ultimately leads to widespread oceanic anoxia. This phenomenon is potentially more dangerous when oxygen loss arises in coastal zones. Here, we present empirical evidence and show that this cascade was set off in the Cambrian Earth system. Carbon isotopes and Mo enrichments in well-dated sediment records from the Steptoean Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion (SPICE) event reveal a rapid decline over 130 ± 30 ka to persistently low Mo levels for 1.0 ± 0.2 Ma, followed by a slower recovery. Using dynamic models for the global biogeochemical cycles, we demonstrate that marine anoxia expanded globally through a self-cascading feedback mechanism. Importantly, we find that the benthic phosphorous flux likely scaled with sedimentation, and that chemocline shoaling into coastal areas likely triggered the SPICE event. We evaluate the risk of passing the tipping point for global-scale anoxia today.

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Social tipping points are promising levers for accelerating decarbonization progress. They describe how social, political, economic, or technological systems can move rapidly into a new state if positive feedback mechanisms are triggered. Analyzing the potential for social tipping requires the inherent complexity of social systems to be considered. Yet the growing social tipping literature is missing a practical framework that embeds conceptual and empirical aspects of complex feedback processes. In this perspective, we propose a dynamic systems approach that can contextualize conceptual social tipping mechanisms into practical interventions, and map the key feedback mechanisms underlying tipping dynamics across systems and scales. Our approach has three main components: a systems outlook involving interconnected feedback mechanisms; directed data collection for empirical evidence and monitoring tipping dynamics ; and global, integrated, descriptive modeling to project future dynamics and provide ex ante evidence for tipping interventions. We demonstrate how and why this approach should shape a broad agenda to strengthen the viability and effectiveness of social tipping research.

Dr. Lara Steil is the Fire Management Officer in the Forestry Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Prior to her position at FAO, she coordinated efforts at Brazil’s National Center for Wildfire Prevention and Suppression to promote national and international collaboration related to integrated fire management. Working for FAO, she has led the development of the Global Fire Management Hub since 2023. The views of Dr. Steil are hers only and do not necessarily reflect those of the FAO.

As the international community strives to conserve 30% of Earth’s lands and waters by 2030, the full extent of area-based conservation remains unclear. Official databases do not fully recognize and track the diversity of conservation-relevant governance systems, hindering conservation research, policy, planning, and action. Here, we describe and test an inclusive, empirically grounded approach to documenting area-based governance systems that potentially advance biodiversity conservation. Among Amazonian countries, we identify greater area coverage and diversity of conservation governance systems than official databases. We further illustrate the relevance of this approach using global examples of under-recognized conservation governance systems. Our findings highlight the need for an inclusive, empirically grounded inventory that reflects the full diversity of area-based conservation systems. We recommend researchers, governments, non-state actors, and donors to adopt similar inventories to increase feasibility, transparency, and inclusivity as a foundational component of global efforts to fulfill international commitments and create a nature-positive future.

Maintaining newly re-established forests is an important policy and challenge for ecosystem restoration and climate-change mitigation. However, a global assessment of canopy structure in regenerating forests under different management and whether they are developing toward that of intact forests is lacking, impeding the understanding of their roles in carbon cycling and biodiversity recovery. Here we present the first near-global assessment of regenerating forest canopy structure at a 1-km resolution and its progress toward attaining intact forest characteristics. We show that canopy structure in unmanaged naturally regenerating forests more closely resemble intact forests than managed naturally regenerating forests and planted forests, but they are more susceptible to climate and human stress. Meanwhile, managed naturally regenerating forests experience substantial re-clearance. Our findings underscore the high ecological recovery potential of naturally regenerating forests and call for urgent action to enhance socio-ecological conditions for their persistence, unlocking their potential in sustainable development.

Wildlife and zoonotic diseases are increasingly impacting human society, the food chain, and wildlife; therefore, proactive mitigation tools for predicting large-scale risk of the relevant pathogens are urgently needed. Birds and bats are large-scale disease reservoirs and transmitters. However, holistic understanding for which bird and bat species act as reservoirs for pathogens remains understudied. Here, we test the extent to which the features related to the mobile species and local climate identify reservoir hosts for the 18 most-sampled pathogens across Europe. Species with slower pace of life (i.e., larger bodied and longer lived), sedentary species, and forest species had high pathogen prevalence. Temperature was the most important predictor for pathogen prevalence, but its effects varied in different directions. Overall, host species traits and climatic gradients robustly predicted pathogen prevalence, especially for non-vector-transmitted pathogens. We offer a data-driven basis for developing targeted interventions to mitigate impacts of zoonotic diseases, particularly in the face of climate change.

As conservation initiatives expand in response to biodiversity loss, there remains limited understanding about what forms of governance and roles for different actors produce the best ecological outcomes. Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ (IPs’ and LCs’) roles extend beyond participation to more equitable governance based on relative control and recognition of their values and institutions, but the relationship with conservation outcomes remains unclear. We review 648 empirical studies to develop a typology of IP and LC roles in governance and, for a subsample of 170, analyze relationships with reported ecological outcomes. The findings reveal that more equitable governance, based on equal partnership or primary control for IPs and LCs, are associated with significantly more positive ecological outcomes. This carries important implications, including for actions toward the Global Biodiversity Framework targets, suggesting a need to elevate the role of IPs and LCs to conservation leaders while respecting their rights and customary institutions.