Environmental Management最新文献

Half of the world’s population currently lives in cities, leading to significant landscape transformations that affect freshwater ecosystems. These changes include increased imperviousness and water runoff, frequent municipal and industrial discharges, and the destruction of riparian corridors and floodplains, resulting in a consistent decline in biodiversity and ecosystem services, and posing new challenges for both environmental and human health. In the last decades, we observed an increase in water-related policies, echoing growing concern with water safety and freshwater ecosystems degradation. However, existing policies frequently fail to provide practical or efficient results or are insufficient. The present manuscript aims to highlight relevant international legislation and directives and to identify potential gaps that should be tackled to promote the protection of urban river and stream ecosystems as well as human health in cities. Despite the existence of EU norms that can protect the urban river and streams ecosystems in the European Union, such as the Water Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive, the Environmental Liability Directive and the Nature Restoration Regulation, or different agendas at a global level, the legislation is dispersed, subject to different interpretations and to conflicting interests in the city’s management. Therefore, urban freshwater ecosystems would benefit from the establishment of specific legislation that supports the action of municipal authorities, protecting their biodiversity and safeguarding adequate ecosystem functioning, the existence of floodplains, natural margins, and riparian forests, to guarantee a safe environment and improved well-being for the population of cities.

Understanding forest management impacts on understory vegetation and belowground processes is essential for sustainable forestry. This study employed a controlled and replicated field experiment to investigate how four forest management practices—three active practices (TTFM: removal of unwanted competitors of selected target trees; SBFM: optimization of forest spatial structure through selective thinning; SFCS: reduction of stand density via timber harvesting) and an unmanaged control (NT)—affect forest structure, light regimes, understory vegetation, soil nutrients, enzymes and examines their interrelationships. Current study was conducted in a natural oak forest within the Xiaolongshan Nature Reserve, Gansu Province, China, where the different management practices have been implemented since 2013. The design consisted of four randomly assigned replicate plots per treatment (16 plots in total). Within each plot, composite soil samples were collected from three depths (0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm) using a randomized five-point sampling method. Redundancy Analysis was employed to elucidate the key factors governing soil nutrient and enzyme activities. SBFM significantly enhanced soil acid phosphatase activity at 20–30 cm. Furthermore, both SBFM and TTFM reduced the available phosphorus content at 10–20 cm compared to the NT. Tree mingling, dominance, shrub Shannon diversity, and shrub and herb nitrogen and phosphorus content emerged as primary drivers of soil nutrient and enzyme dynamics. These findings demonstrate that SBFM enhances soil nutrient and enzyme processes. Forest structure-light coupling and understory vegetation jointly regulates soil nutrients and enzymes. This study provides guidance for improving forest management toward ecosystem sustainability.

Impacts of agriculture are commonly assessed using farm-level tools, especially when the primary objective is to provide environmental management advice on technology adoption and production practices. Among these tools, Ambitec-Agro, developed in 2003 based on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) framework, has been widely applied to evaluate the socioenvironmental performance of agricultural technologies in a cost-effective and efficient manner. In light of new international governance commitments related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this manuscript presents the updated version of Ambitec-Agro and its alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development focused on crop production. A qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory methodology was adopted, including the selection of relevant SDGs and the revision of the tool’s indicators through document analysis, expert consultation, and literature review. The original tool comprises 2 dimensions, 7 aspects, 27 criteria, and 148 indicators. The updated version maintains the original structure and core principles but includes 25 criteria and 139 indicators. A total of 66 indicators were revised: 18 were removed, 14 added, 2 reallocated across criteria, 22 modified, and 10 merged into 5. These revisions enhance the tool’s relevance, coherence, and applicability for evaluating agricultural technologies in the context of contemporary sustainability priorities.

The implementation of low-carbon consumption incentive strategies is necessary to promote low-carbon consumption in the context of carbon emission reduction. Using data from China, this paper investigates consumers’ preferences regarding low-carbon consumption incentive strategies through a choice experiment. The results demonstrate that consumers exhibit a strong demand for low-carbon consumption incentive strategies, and the relative importance of the strategy features is ranked as low-carbon certification, reward forms, low-carbon information, and sales channel. In terms of certification, consumers prefer government certification the most, followed by international and domestic third-party certifications. As for reward forms, material rewards are preferred over spiritual rewards. Concerning information, consumers prefer labels with richer information over concise labels. Additionally, a specialized sales channel is demanded by consumers. These findings provide valuable insights for improving low-carbon consumption incentive strategies.

The release of contaminants into the environment can occur from anthropogenic activities, such as oil extraction and transportation, mining, and industrial processes. Remediation associated with reducing contaminant concentrations, and restoration that improves animals and supporting habitat, are often needed to restore ecosystems to their pre-release, baseline condition. We demonstrated the application of Bayesian Decision Networks (BDNs) with two Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) case studies. We use a stylized case study of riparian restoration following the remediation of a mine-impacted site to evaluate proposed restoration actions aimed at restoring Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) populations to baseline conditions. We then use a settled NRDAR case with implemented restoration in the Upper Arkansas River (UAR, Colorado, USA) to demonstrate the application of BDNs to evaluate and forecast restoration effectiveness for Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) (i.e., restoration effectiveness assessment). The riparian restoration model showed differences in the effects of restoration actions on Song Sparrow populations, with the time to reach baseline generally reduced with increased restoration costs, indicating trade-offs between costs and expected recovery. The UAR model showed recovery of Brown Trout populations (i.e., uplift) in response to improved instream habitat restoration, along with forecasted improvements. While the BDNs we developed were specific to two case studies, the structure is adaptable to a diversity of sites, resources, and actions. We suggest that causal network modeling can provide restoration practitioners with a decision advisory tool useful for a wide range of projects.

The Indonesia Disaster Village Resilience (Destana) Program has five primary objectives, one of which is to systematically conduct disaster risk assessments. This objective involves evaluating hazards, vulnerabilities, capacities, and risks through the community’s participation for the benefit of those same communities. It has been integrated and formalized within local governance structures. Nevertheless, there is a notable lack of systematic research regarding the adoption and utilization of the standard in guiding and structuring community-driven disaster and climate risk assessments. This study is one of the first systematic efforts to adopt the ‘Destana Standard’ as a ‘formal resilience measure’ to assess risk and vulnerability at the village level. The research conducted surveyed 60 villages in the small but densely populated Ternate Island, Eastern Indonesia. The findings identify parameters that highlight strengths and weaknesses in building resilience among villages, such as access to basic services, disaster management systems, risk reduction actions, and emergency and recovery preparedness. The findings also indicate that the ‘Destana Standard’ can serve as an index to develop village resilience. The research contributes to highlighting gaps and opportunities for the village resilience measure and offers a reflection on how to complement existing risk assessment for improving village resilience and strengthening the capacity of local governments to deal with mitigation and adaptation effectively to achieve the target of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular the targets 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and 13 (climate action).

In Tanzania, ecosystem services such as water purification, flood regulation, fish habitats, and nutrient transport remain uncommodified, as they are viewed as public goods rather than tradable services, leading to overuse and water resource degradation. Consequently, the institutional arrangements for their commodification are poorly understood. This study investigates these aspects in the Lower Rufiji Sub-Basin, using data from 391 households selected through simple random sampling, along with insights from 22 key informants at the district and national levels. The findings indicate that the commodification of these services will require amendments to existing legislation, as current environmental legislations do not address their commodification. The study identified a range of organizations that could play key roles in the commodification process, with responsibilities spanning regulatory reforms, as well as in the design and implementation phases. Potential approaches for commodifying these services were identified, including the imposition of direct user charges or fees, tying of ecosystem service values into the market prices of goods such as water and fish, and the introduction of credit or quota systems. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the government (1) revise existing environmental legislations, (2) establish a robust institutional framework for commodifying these services that include actors at the community, district and national levels, and (3) adopt a mixed approach to commodification in order to accommodate households with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Moreover, as these services remain uncommodified even in regions beyond Tanzania, this study offers valuable insights for those seeking to develop similar frameworks.

Tesso Nilo National Park (TNNP), one of the protected areas (PAs) that is increasingly threatened due to changes in land use that have resulted in large-scale forest fragmentation. This study examines landscape dynamics in TNNP between 2004 to 2024, using advanced geospatial tools, analyzing changes in land cover (LC), and forest fragmentation patterns. Field data and interviews complement the spatial analysis. We found a dramatic decline in forest cover from 87.5% of the total area in 2004 to 32.84% in 2024, with a corresponding increase in agricultural land and bareland. Our results also showed a substantial increase in the number of forest patches and edges, indicating severe habitat disturbance and a reduction in the core area of the forest. The park’s human footprint reached 99.39% modified land, critically threatening the habitat of key species. While Indonesia’s palm oil moratorium and Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standard have been in place since 2011, weak enforcement and local livelihood dependencies continue to exacerbate fragmentation. We propose an integrated solution involving the restoration of priority connectivity corridors, implementing livelihood transition programs in buffer zones, and using satellite-based monitoring systems to strengthen law enforcement. These findings underscore the urgent need for integrated landscape management that combines strict core area protection with sustainable livelihood approaches.

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a highly invasive aquatic species that significantly impacts ecosystems and livelihoods, particularly in rural communities reliant on fisheries and agriculture. The study investigates the impact of water hyacinth proliferation on the livelihoods of communities in coastal Kerala, India, by utilizing the potential of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) for developing sustainable management strategies. Employing qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and PRA tools such as resource mapping and seasonal calendars, the research gathered data from farmers, fishermen, and community leaders to explore community-led intervention strategies for sustainable water hyacinth management. The findings reveal that water hyacinth proliferation disrupts water transportation, depletes fish stocks, increases agricultural labor costs, and degrades water quality, leading to biodiversity loss and hindering economic activities, particularly in agriculture and fishing. The study found that 85% of community members identified the impact on fisheries (reduced catch and income) as a primary concern, while 70% reported water transportation disruption due to dense hyacinth mats. Water quality degradation, including increased turbidity and reduced dissolved oxygen levels, was reported by 65% of respondents. The study demonstrates that the utilization of water hyacinth as biofertilizer resulted in a 20% increase in crop yield over a four-month trial period. These findings align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6, 8, 11, and 15 by promoting sustainable water management, economic growth, and ecosystem restoration.

Effective management of trade-offs among ecosystem services (ES) remains a persistent challenge in social-ecological research, particularly in data-scarce, semi-arid regions. This study integrates participatory social valuation with spatial analysis to identify key anthropogenic drivers influencing trade-offs among provisioning, regulating, and supporting ES. We assessed a range of services-including livestock capacity, fuelwood, pollination, water regulation, soil formation, and habitat provision-based on both ecological data and local community perceptions. Spatial mapping revealed uneven distributions of trade-offs across the landscape, highlighting spatial mismatches between ecological processes and social priorities. Path analysis showed that dirt roads, urbanization, and agricultural expansion differentially shape the nature and intensity of ES interactions (p < 0.001). By combining relative social values with ecological indicators, we quantified the weighted impact of human activities on ES dynamics. Our findings highlight the importance of place-based, community-coordinated management strategies to address trade-offs and promote equitable ecosystem governance in vulnerable dryland systems.