Research articles

Phosphorous is limited in many tropical soils. This study finds that, despite such limitation, sub-Saharan Africa is on track to nearly doubling productivity on smallholder farms while some regions will require almost 40% more phosphorous applied between 2015 and 2030.

A long-term analysis of payments to reduce grazing on a threatened ecosystem in Ecuador shows that, despite intermittence of the programme and the resulting uncertainty, grazing behaviour among households diminished consistently

Soil fungi can form beneficial associations with plant roots. This study finds that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can increase crop uptake of nitrogen derived from common trees in African smallholder maize fields, sustainably enhancing these agroecosystems.

Avoiding catastrophic climate change requires that we avoid losing key natural carbon reserves. This study maps such irrecoverable carbon globally and finds a third of the remaining managed by Indigenous peoples and local communities and nearly a quarter in protected areas.

Historical dynamics show that no country has achieved minimum social thresholds within biophysical boundaries between 1992 and 2015, and a projection indicates that no country is on the path to achieve them.

A cost–benefit analysis of land restoration in the African Great Green Wall shows that, under a range of assumptions, the investment makes economic sense at a regional level, despite the differences across countries and biomes.

Perovskite solar cells are an emerging energy technology but their sustainability is jeopardized by the presence of Pb. Here the authors introduce on-device layers that could capture over 99.9% of leaked Pb.

China’s coasts have become more populous and urbanized. This study finds a rebound in the area of coastal wetlands, reflecting recent conservation and restoration, with large losses between 1984 and 2011 followed by increases in saltmarsh area and stabilization of tidal flats.

Ecosystems that provide fresh water for cities also impact sediment flows, flood mitigation and hydropower provision. This Article looks at over 300 cities globally to gauge the interactions of natural ecosystems with built infrastructure.

The world’s coasts are increasingly covered with built structures, such as piers and seawalls. This study finds that coastal infrastructure has replaced more than half of the coastline associated with 30 urban centres and forecasts future hotspots using New Zealand as a case study.

Meeting China’s growing demand for food, especially for livestock products, will have huge environmental impacts domestically and globally. This study finds large increases in land, water, fertilizer and greenhouse gas emissions that vary based on openness of trade.

The possibility of a huge oil spill off the coast of Yemen, already in crisis, is increasingly likely. This study projects the likely spill extent and impacts to public health, food, water and air.

Access to green space has been a critical, and contentious, issue for neighbourhood inequality and health outcomes. This Analysis looks at how the COVID-19 pandemic interacts with availability of nature for urban residents.

Delaying climate mitigation requires large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in the second half of this century, with possible adverse effects. Under scenarios with no dependence on CDR technologies, this study examines the short- and long-term implications of climate mitigation for land-use and food systems.

Growing demand for food is confronting constraints to its sustainable production. This study finds that intercropping increases grain yields and their stability and that yield benefits increase over time.

Proper management to mitigate and avoid algal blooms in drinking water is dependent on expertise. This study surveyed water managers across the United States to assess how knowledge is formed and disseminated, or how it is not.

Carbon pricing can alter income distribution. With a focus on Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, this study compares four types of carbon pricing schemes and finds substantial variation in distributional effects across policy designs and countries.

Large-scale tree planting programmes have been implemented or planned for areas around the world suffering from deforestation, but this study presents evidence that such efforts may not necessarily deliver the desired environmental and economic outcomes.

Static maps are key tools for assessing ecosystem services. This study shows that hotspots of three boreal-forest services—wood production, bilberry production and topsoil carbon storage—can vary widely over just ten years, suggesting the value of dynamic tools to manage dynamic landscapes.

A mapping study covering over 50 years finds that landslide risk is much higher in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, due to more recent deforestation and more people living in more susceptible areas, than in similar landscapes in neighbouring countries.