Communities living in areas of extraction often find ways to overcome or resist destructive legacies, but researchers lack a deep understanding of the mechanisms by which this is done. This article helps to address this gap by employing the theoretical framework of a sacrifice zone to a case study of Yellowknife, Canada and nearby mining projects. By analyzing a combination of interview and site visit data, we find that sacrificial logic diffuses across human systems, even as environmental harms are remediated, because land and people are inseparable. The three consequences of sacrifice we highlight in our case study are the failure to sign a land and governance treaty, insufficient funds for social causes, and uncertain economic futures. In response, local residents engage in land-based and collaborative activities, constructing a future pathway for community development that focuses attention on healing human-land relationships.

Gauging the resilience of coexistence landscapes requires a thorough understanding of the modalities, benefits and vulnerabilities of human–wildlife interactions in shared spaces. We sought to investigate how the endangered Asiatic wild dogs (‘dholes’ Cuon alpinus) share space with people in the tea-dominated agroforests of India’s Western Ghats. We assess spatial ecology (population-level space-use patterns and pack-level microhabitat associations) and diet profiles to gauge the extent to which dholes’ ecological requirements are conducive for cohabitation with people. The Western Ghats’ tea agroforests support a thriving population of dholes, subsisting on the diverse and abundant wild prey species. Despite proximity to people and high livestock densities, we found no evidence for dhole attacks on humans, and very low reliance on domestic animals as prey. These benign––positive interactions offer opportunities for preserving near-intact food-webs in commodity agriculture lands to supplement biodiversity conservation beyond designated Protected Areas, particularly across South and Southeast Asia.

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.

Understanding context-specific drivers and mechanisms of human-wildlife interactions is crucial to designing effective conservation strategies. Community-based data provides valuable insights for adaptive management efforts aimed at fostering coexistence in shared landscapes. This study analyzed 611 reports of grey wolves and brown bears recorded by rural communities in the Carpathians (Poland). Bears and wolves were recorded in 6% and 12% of all built-up areas within the study region, respectively. These species exploited anthropogenic food resources (53% of all reports), interacting with pets, livestock, and wild animals found within human settlements. The probability of carnivore reports increased with the number of previous observations and was influenced by prior successful food acquisition. The observed pattern highlights the importance of habituation and food conditioning for effective management of carnivores in human-dominated landscapes. Engaging local communities in monitoring carnivore presence can facilitate early conflict detection, providing a foundation for effective coexistence strategies.

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.

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. Graphical abstract

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.

The environment is often the silent victim of war, but environmental degradation resulting from war is poorly understood. Since the environmental legacy of war can last decades or centuries, environmental peacebuilding and reconstruction efforts must consider the impacts of war on the environment. In the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict, far-reaching and severe environmental damage has been documented. Three key environmental considerations for Gaza are discussed: (I) environmental pollution, (II) habitat degradation and (III) habitat fragmentation. Based on the environmental issues highlighted, recommendations regarding post-war reconstruction efforts are presented.

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 ...

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 recei...

Amid growing concerns over sustainable development failures, scholars are exploring the ‘regenerative paradigm’ as a pathway for systemic change; yet, its paradigmatic foundations remain underexamined...

This paper explores the obstacles to implementing climate change policies, emphasizing the interplay of economic, social, and political factors. Important barriers are the non-enforceability of intern...

This study investigates how the seven core resilience principles are integrated into assessments of forest system resilience to natural or human-induced disturbances across engineering, ecological, an...

Forest restoration faces financial constraints due to land opportunity costs and delayed returns from ecosystem services and timber production. A socially fair bioeconomy of non-timber products from n...

Amid the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the EU’s Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR), which aims to restore degraded areas in the coming decades, post-mining sites must be integrated into biod...

Rewilding deliberately forges new relationships within complex socio-ecological systems. Yet, many rewilding initiatives proceed without fully considering the multitude of relationships at play. In th...

While there is growing understanding of the impact of urbanisation on nature access and nature connection, little is known about this pattern across the rural-urban gradient. Through a nationally-repr...

Rewetting drained peatland forests restores pristine ecosystem functions, improves peatland ecological status, and has been considered to mitigate climate change. We quantified climate impact of rewet...

The establishment of marine protected areas with high levels of compliance is a cornerstone of global marine conservation. Previous studies highlight the importance of psycho-social mechanisms (e.g. a...

Nature connection and its relationships with stewardship vary across social and environmental contexts. Through a nationally representative survey in Australia, this study examined engagement in four ...

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are promising initiatives for climate change adaptation, mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Given the finite human and financial resources for NbS, identifying opti...

Interdisciplinary research is essential to address the complex environmental challenges faced by social-ecological systems (SES). However, it is often hindered by difficulties in integrating diverse k...

This systematic review of 353 studies evaluates the knowledge on foraging by humans, situating it in the wider context of human ecology. We highlight the strengths and weaknesses, and the micro (indiv...

Ecological grief and anxiety are valid and potentially adaptive responses to climate change, but research on effective interventions for coping with these emotions remains limited. In this article, we...