Natural forest growth does not decrease water yield and forest responses to human disturbances and management interventions vary with ecosystem complexity, according to a global meta-analysis that includes 496 watersheds and spans 25 years.

Over much of Africa, the potential for groundwater pumping with the help of photovoltaic energy is constrained by aquifer conditions, and not irradiance, according to continent-wide simulations to map the performance of photovoltaic water pumping systems.

Greenhouse-gas emissions from the sanitation-service chain in Kampala may represent more than half of the total city-level emissions according to a whole-system analysis.

Collaboration, diversity and interdisciplinarity have increased in the Australian river management industry but more community participation and adaptive management is needed, according to a structured review and topic modelling of content from the 1996-2021 national stream management conferences.

Large ensemble simulations project an intensification of the South Atlantic subtropical gyre with reduced water supply to the North Atlantic due to a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and changes in atmospheric forcing.

Lagrangian model simulations successfully reconstruct vertical carbon dioxide profiles obtained by high resolution aircraft measurements during the Asian summer monsoon in a region of rapid upward transport of surface pollutants to altitude, allowing better pollutant source attribution.

Black carbon mass concentrations in the Arctic are a factor of four higher in spring than in summer, but with near constant inter-seasonal particle distribution shape, according to vertically resolved aircraft observations between 2009 and 2017.

Multi-millennial hyperthermal events, such as the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum, are more likely to occur when the baseline temperature is higher, according to an application of extreme value theory to Cenozoic foraminifera proxy records

Increasing crop functional richness in rotations can support grain yields more than species diversity in many environments, suggest grain yield data from 32 long-term experiments across Europe and North America.

The human tragedy caused by the earthquake doublet on 6 February 2023 in Turkey and Syria is difficult to comprehend. While earthquake scientists are trying to understand this seismic event, its catastrophic impact highlights heightened risk in the entire region.

Whether diets will evolve through social interventions to move closer to sustainable agriculture is being investigated in a growing and promising area of research.

Careful management of deforested Amazonian land cannot replace, but must complement, efforts to preserve the rainforest. Sustainable agricultural practices that promote diverse uses can help minimise impacts on climate and environment.

A mechanistic and predictive hierarchical model explains observed organic carbon burial efficiencies and degradation kinetics, and reveals that upper and lower limits of organic matter activation energies are key to predicting organic matter preservation and degradation rates.

The South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation initiative began as a grassroots effort to study the South Atlantic Ocean and its impact on climate. This Comment discusses how, in striving towards this goal, it has also become a platform for the empowerment of women and international scientists.

For all peer reviewed articles submitted from 23^rd January 2023, we will publish the editor decision letters, reviewer reports and author responses, together with the published paper. Reviewers can choose to remain anonymous or reveal their identity.