Socio-environmental conflicts associated with large-scale economic projects in Indigenous territories are well documented, but conflicts in coastal areas remain largely unexplored, despite the crucial differences between inland and coastal ecosystems. While the empirical literature about socio-environmental conflicts in Indigenous territories in coastal areas is growing, the role of financial institutions and corporations in these conflicts is often overlooked. This study addresses this gap by examining the financial institutions and corporations associated with more than 400 reported socio-environmental conflicts affecting Indigenous Peoples in coastal areas worldwide. Our results show that most financial institutions supporting projects linked to conflicts are based in West Europe and North America, with North American financial institutions linked to multiple projects. The energy sector accounts for the highest number of socio-environmental conflicts, particularly those involving corporations operating across continents. Many European and North American corporations operate mostly in Africa, but also globally. Corporations with overseas operations are associated with a higher intensity of conflicts. These findings highlight the need to scrutinize financial investments and corporate practices driving socio-environmental conflicts in coastal Indigenous territories, where human rights are often at risk. The lack of due diligence and accountability in applying environmental and social safeguards weakens protections for both ecosystems and Indigenous communities. Strengthening the enforcement of national and international laws on environmental sustainability, human rights and Indigenous rights is therefore essential for coastal development projects.
暂无摘要（点击查看详情）
Freshwater governance is a wicked problem, characterised by uncertainty, contested values, and complex socio-ecological interdependencies. This article analyses rights of nature frameworks in freshwater ecosystems through a Public Design perspective, arguing that they operate as legally transformative design interventions. Drawing on theories of wicked problems and multi-loop learning, it conceptualises rights of nature as emerging experimental institutional designs that redistribute agency across human and nonhuman actors reshaping how uncertainty and ambiguity are governed within freshwater governance. Through comparative analysis of cases from Aotearoa New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Nigeria, and Peru, the article shows how rights of nature initiatives reconfigure problem definitions, decision-making practices, and epistemic authority in freshwater governance. Rather than resolving complexity, these frameworks aim to institutionalise deliberation and learning under uncertainty. By situating rights of nature within Public Design theory, the article extends design scholarship into legal innovation and foregrounds law as a material for governing socio-ecological complexity.
After 1970s, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) concentrations peak in Baltic biota, concentrations started to decline following environmental legislation. However, in common guillemot eggs, this decline plateaued in 1990s, despite continued emissions reductions. Here, we test whether these contrasting trends can be explained by environmental and food web structural changes, including prey availability. Analysing temporal variation in the Central Baltic offshore fish community, including guillemot prey, we identified three structural phases: cod and herring dominance (1976-1986), sprat dominance (1987-2001), and stickleback population increase (2002-2021). We linked them with corresponding phases in PCDD/F trends: a steep decline (- 6.4% yr-1), a plateau (0.27% yr-1), and a slower decline (- 3.8% yr-1). Fish community structure shifts were driven by changes in temperature, salinity, zooplankton size, and fishing pressure. We concluded that climate- and human-driven structural changes in food webs cascaded through trophic levels, affecting PCDD/F concentrations in guillemot eggs.
Humans have relied on peatlands for millennia, but their exploitation through drainage-based agriculture, forestry, and peat extraction has led to their widespread degradation. Yet, peatlands play a crucial role in mitigating climate change, pollution, and biodiversity decline. To tackle these crises, humanity must, among other actions, conserve the remaining c. 431 million hectares of (near-) natural peatlands and rewet all c. 57 million hectares of degraded peatlands before 2050. This seemingly insurmountable challenge may elicit frustration, despair, and inaction. Here, we explore positive examples of peatland conservation, rewetting, and restoration to encourage and inspire peatland action worldwide. We highlight nine 'bright spots' in science, policy, society, conservation, rewetting, restoration, techniques, livelihoods, and markets. Common success factors include inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, the creation of positive narratives, and solution-oriented approaches. We conclude that action toward sustainable peatland management holds significant potential, for which the bright spots provide clear guidance.
Wildfire management is undergoing rapid transformation as data fusion, artificial intelligence, and participatory approaches are used to enhance ecosystem resilience and community safety. This paper presents the development of a concept of operations (ConOps) within the EU project SILVANUS, aimed at supporting design of an integrated, data-driven platform for wildfire management. The ConOps was developed using a methodology that combines systems engineering principles, standardized information management, and participatory stakeholder engagement across ten international pilot sites. Through iterative refinement, it captures the operational context and system requirements in pre-fire, active fire, and post-fire phases. The analysis identifies key limitations in existing wildfire management systems such as fragmented technologies, inconsistent data standards, limited interoperability, and weak institutional coordination. The proposed ConOps provides a structured and replicable framework to address these challenges. While the methodology effectively supports requirement definition and operational scenario development, real-world pilot testing remains necessary to assess implementation challenges.
Semi-natural grasslands and wooded pastures are biodiversity-rich but declining habitats that depend on continued management, mostly by farmers. In the EU, agri-environmental schemes (AESs) under the Common Agricultural Policy are key instruments for conserving these habitats. We examined how the design and implementation of the Finnish AES for semi-natural habitats align with EU restoration objectives and farmer decision-making and behaviour. To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to combine farmer survey data on motives and knowledge with evaluations of management performance, site characteristics, and payment design. Results show that the scheme provides significant additionality, but habitat management remains unprofitable or a low economic priority for most farmers, and weaknesses in payment design, contract management, and enforcement constrain targeting and restoration outcomes. We conclude that achieving EU restoration targets will require increasing the relative economic importance of habitat management, redesigning payments, and improving contract management and enforcement.
In its early years, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration has mobilized unprecedented global commitments. Yet, measuring restoration success remains contested, particularly in megadiverse countries where the absence of standardized indicators and assessment protocols often leads to subjective decisions by environmental agencies. Here, we present a core set of leading indicators developed through a pioneering Brazil-led science-policy collaboration between environmental agencies and research institutions. The indicators capture early vegetation recovery within four years and whether restoration trajectories are sustained or at risk of reversal. The initiative also establishes a framework that bridges science and policy to deliver practical monitoring tools. It offers a model for other megadiverse countries with complex governance, showing how simple, standardized indicators can translate restoration pledges into measurable results for the UN Decade.
The advancement of space exploration into an era of sample return missions from Mars, asteroids, and icy moons raises the potential for biological contamination either to or from Earth. We consider the possibility that extraterrestrial organisms introduced to Earth could behave analogously to invasive species by destabilizing ecosystems or interacting unpredictably with their new environment. There are myriad cases of microbial organisms rapidly adapting to novel extreme conditions, undermining the notion that extraterrestrial life (e.g., indigenous to Mars) would be unable to survive on Earth. The plausibility of encountering extraterrestrial life warrants stringent planetary protection measures grounded in biosafety and biosecurity principles. Due to its proximity, natural isolation, and apparent lack of a biosphere, the Moon can serve as a secure site for biocontainment of extraterrestrial samples. Building upon historical lessons from biological invasions, we argue that a lunar quarantine infrastructure should form the cornerstone of modern astrobiological risk mitigation strategies.
Bangladesh's coastal socio-ecological systems are increasingly threatened by climate hazards and human pressures, yet system-specific risk assessments remain limited. This study applies an adapted Global Delta Risk Index to evaluate risks across five systems, including irrigated agriculture, rain-fed agriculture, freshwater prawn farming, saltwater shrimp farming, and mangrove-dependent livelihoods. Using 48 quantitative and qualitative indicators, we employ a mixed-methods approach combining spatial datasets, socioeconomic statistics, interviews, and focus group discussions to construct composite indices of exposure, susceptibility, adaptive capacity, and ecosystem condition. Results show that mangrove-dependent systems exhibit the highest risk due to extreme hazard exposure, weak adaptive capacity, and ecosystem degradation, while shrimp-based systems show comparatively lower risk. All systems are affected by freshwater scarcity, salinity, and pollution. Findings highlight cross-system trade-offs and governance challenges. Co-developed stewardship strategies with stakeholders emphasize community empowerment, institutional strengthening, resilient agroecosystems, hybrid infrastructure, and integrated resource management.
Objective energy poverty-commonly defined using indicators such as the relationship between energy costs, income, and energy required for adequate living-has been widely studied, yet less is known about how subjective energy poverty shapes attitudes toward climate change mitigation measures. This study examines theoretical and empirical links between subjective energy poverty and support for climate measures, including fossil fuel taxation and two climate nudges. We argue that "leaving behind" harm arises from subjective energy poverty independently of objective conditions, whereas economic harms from climate nudges are more likely among individuals experiencing only objective energy poverty. Empirically, we analyze nationally representative Finnish survey data from 2023 (n = 5909) using ordered probit regression. Results show that higher subjective energy poverty is associated with lower support for climate measures. The findings highlight the importance of addressing energy poverty in designing and communicating climate policy.
The human holobiont concept-humans as symbiotic assemblages of a host and trillions of microbes-offers a compelling lens for understanding human-nature relationships. This study examined whether: (a) prior holobiont knowledge correlates with nature connectedness, (b) exposure to holobiont information influences nature connectedness and (c) people feel more or less connected to microbes than to other natural entities. Using a randomised, blinded online survey (n = 190), participants were assigned to a holobiont treatment group (n = 91) receiving multimedia information or a control group (n = 99) receiving neutral content. Nature connectedness was measured before and after exposure. Results showed that prior holobiont knowledge was associated with higher nature connectedness, and, strikingly, that exposure to holobiont information significantly increased nature connectedness scores. No differences were found across nature types. These findings suggest that framing humans as holobionts may strengthen psychological connections to nature, with implications for environmental psychology, education and well-being.
Semi-natural grasslands and wooded pastures are biodiversity-rich, declining habitats whose conservation depends largely on voluntary management by farmers. Their management is supported through agri-environment schemes. Effective scheme design benefits from trans- and interdisciplinary approaches integrating ecological goals with social constraints and human behaviour. This study tested a revealed-behaviour approach by modelling relative agri-environment contract feasibility across Finland using Maximum Entropy (Maxent) based on realised contract uptake and landscape predictors. The models reproduced spatial patterns of contract locations reflecting historical habitat distribution, land-use change, eligibility criteria, and joint decisions by landowners and farmers. Spatial associations and response curves identified structural constraints and opportunity patterns influencing uptake, providing a spatial layer to support ecological prioritisation and scheme design. Maintaining farm types capable of integrating grazing or mowing into routine operations appears critical where semi-natural habitats remain, while payment design should better reflect variation in management costs among farm types and sites.
With climate and biodiversity crises intensifying, integrated solutions are urgently needed. Rewilding offers a promising approach to ecosystem restoration and climate adaptation. However, challenges regarding land-use, societal conflicts and governance can hinder its implementation. This paper discusses the elements of transformative thinking that can support rewilding implementation and establishment as an innovative approach to ecological recovery. We draw on the lessons learned from over 30 years of rewilding in the Gelderse Poort, the Netherlands. The floodplains in this area have been transformed from a predominantly dry, agricultural landscape into a dynamic riverine nature landscape with a broader range of socio-economic services in a peri-urban area and densely populated region. We describe how a readiness to embrace uncertainty, supportive policies, dedicated champions and innovative funding partnerships were crucial for this rewilding project. We explore how these lessons can inform rewilding efforts in Europe to deliver both climate resilience and biodiversity benefits.
Existing nature-based solutions (NbS) typologies prioritize technical form, ecosystem function or spatial scale and treat governance as secondary, limiting their ability to explain variation in feasibility, coordination, persistence and scaling. We propose a governance-informed typology anchored in implementation leadership-defined as the actor or coalition in which constitutive levers (decision authority, resource control and stewardship responsibility) converge at institutional stabilization. Operationalized through four analytical levers and applied to 35 urban NbS cases, the framework identifies five recurring governance archetypes: state-led, market-led, co-led, community-led and citizen-led. Leadership type is best inferred from the alignment of constitutive levers rather than from initiation. The typology complements existing classifications by demonstrating that seemingly similar interventions diverge substantially in governance structure and enabling conditions, with direct implications for policy instrument fit and plausible scaling pathways. As an analytical lens, it supports comparative learning and anticipates institutional constraints when scaling NbS across heterogeneous urban contexts.
Water banking offers a transformative solution to freshwater scarcity, but stakeholder involvement is essential for success. Responsible Innovation (RI) and Value Sensitive Design (VSD) include stakeholders in design but both exhibit methodological flaws. This study addressed these limitations by performing an exploratory synthesis of the two approaches within an empirical case in the Dutch Southwestern Delta. First, a systematic literature review produced values inventories for water and water banking; then, a stakeholder workshop used an RI-VSD approach to validate the inventories. The validation highlighted several missing values, such as fit for use and broad prosperity. Stakeholders also emphasised that values are dynamic, influenced by water availability, technology development, and regional specifics such as flood history. Using an RI-VSD approach resulted in a thorough and validated values inventory, contributing to the limited empirical evidence available and forming the basis for inclusive design of a water bank to manage freshwater scarcity.
Natural disturbances are fundamental in shaping forest ecosystems, yet management decisions in production forests can aggravate or mitigate their impacts. Understanding the interplay between forest adaptation strategies and susceptibility to damage is important for sustainable forest management. Here, we review the scientific literature to explore the relationship between natural disturbances and the impact of forest adaptation strategies on the forest susceptibility to damage. To do so we reviewed seven different adaptation strategies (mixed-species stands, shorter rotations, longer rotations, few or no thinnings, logging residue removal, prescribed burning and uneven-aged forestry), and how they affect forest susceptibility to damage by ten different disturbances. Each of the strategies offers opportunities to improve the forest's resilience to damage in different ways and against specific disturbances. A combination of these strategies may have a greater impact on reducing forest susceptibility to damage. The review informs the development of adaptation strategies considering relevant forest characteristics coupled to natural disturbances.
Enteric organs display the intrinsic ability to generate slow-wave potentials, rhythmic electrochemical events regulating gastrointestinal motility. In mammals, slow waves arise from the pacemaker activity of interstitial cells of Cajal, which, by recruiting visceral muscles, ultimately lead to peristalsis, a movement pattern conserved across species. Here, we identify a motility program in Drosophila distinct from peristalsis that generates strong whip-like midgut contractions. This activity, here named superstalsis, is associated with specific physiological conditions and involves longitudinal visceral muscle activation. We find that both peristalsis and superstalsis involve TMEM16 family members, with peristalsis relying on myogenic activity mediated by Subdued, the Drosophila ortholog of ANO1/TMEM16A, whereas superstalsis depends on a separate non-neuronal pathway. As fasting and bacterial infections cause specific changes in the intestinal motility profiles in vivo, we propose that the gut can autonomously alter the peristalsis/superstalsis balance to efficiently respond to diverse pathological and homeostatic events.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, especially Semaglutide (SMG), have revolutionized the management of diabetes and obesity, yet its clinical application is hindered by challenges in oral bioavailability and patient adherence to injectable formulations. Transdermal delivery offers a promising alternative, and this study explores dissolving microneedle (DMN) technology for SMG administration. PETOX is a water-soluble polymer utilized for the fabrication of dissolving microneedles and unique stabilization of SMG by incorporating L-arginine. Our study presents the first comprehensive investigation of L-arginine as an excipient in dissolving microneedles to enhance peptide integrity and stability. This study focuses on the development and characterization of DMN arrays formulated with a polymeric blend of hyaluronic acid, PETOX, and L-arginine, designed for the transdermal delivery of SMG. The SMG loaded microneedles (SMG-DMNs) exhibit robust mechanical strength (3.47 N/needle; fracture force), excellent Parafilm M® insertion (> 50% at 450 μm depth), and drug release over 12 h. Extensive SMG-DMNs characterization include ex-vivo porcine skin insertion, scanning electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, and unique agarose-based dissolution model showed effective optimization of polymeric matrix for SMG, ensuring better insertion capabilities. The florescence imaging verified efficient transdermal deposition and penetration of dye suggesting potential transdermal delivery of SMG upon insertion. While the DMN approach addresses key barriers such as low oral bioavailability, injection-related discomfort and patient compliance; challenges persist regarding loss of therapeutic activity and stability of peptide. Nevertheless, DMN technology presents a promising, patient-friendly alternative for peptide therapeutics, with the potential to significantly improve outcomes in T2DM and obesity management.
Effective management of marine ecosystems requires understanding linkages between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. While key species have been identified in many marine systems, the functions provided by different habitats have not been comprehensively synthesised in the region, limiting the ability to identify key habitats. Here, we assess the current state of knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem functions associated with benthic and pelagic habitat types in the northern Baltic Sea. Drawing on literature, data and expert assessments, we evaluated 49 habitat types, identifying 750 habitat type-function linkages. Of these, 35% were supported by Baltic Sea literature and 29% by expert opinion, while one-third remained unassessed due to data gaps. Our findings highlight key habitat types with high functional importance and reveal major knowledge gaps and research biases across habitats. This synthesis provides a science-based foundation for marine spatial planning, ecosystem service assessment, and sustainable management of northern Baltic Sea biodiversity.