Volume 3 Issue 8, August 2020

The current definition of desertification excludes hyper-arid zones given their lack of economic activity. However, the 101 million people living there, ongoing land degradation associated with the use of groundwater for intensive agriculture and climate-change-induced aridity call for a revision of this definition.

Pushpam Kumar, Chief Environmental Economist at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), talks to Nature Sustainability about the need to focus on wealth to achieve sustainability.

In a world of increasingly integrated supply chains, disasters have impacts far from where they hit. A new paper looks at how tropical-cyclone impacts propagate across cities, showing that indirect impacts become large for the most-destructive storms.

Policies and discussion regarding sustainable goals has overlooked inland fisheries despite its importance for both food security and livelihoods. This Perspective looks at synergies between SDGs in regards to this critical food and economic service.

The ocean genome is the genetic material present in marine biodiversity. While technological advances are enabling exploration, conservation and innovation of this resource, the associated capacities are inequitably distributed among countries.

Transforming the energy system to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2100 is vital to fight climate change. This target can be achieved in California, USA, by 2050—alongside air quality benefits especially in disadvantaged communities—by using bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration.

Hazards affect more than the area originally hit. This study finds cities distant from cyclones may still be vulnerable to secondary impacts through their trade networks.

The long-term impacts on mortality risks of exposure to disasters have not been analysed. Using data from Indonesia collected before and after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, this study examines the effects of the disaster on mortality risks of survivors over the subsequent ten years.

A framed common-pool resource game analysis in the Brazilian Amazon shows that participatory initiatives are associated with cooperative behaviour and intrinsic motivations for tree conservation.

While many regions are striving to reduce water consumption, this Article examines the side effects and downstream impacts on wastewater quality for human and ecosystem health.

Photovoltaic panel conversion generates heat that reduces the energy efficiency and lifetime of the panel. A photovoltaic panel cooling strategy by a sorption-based atmospheric water harvester is shown to improve the productivity of electricity generation with important sustainability advantages.

While political interference with science is not new, this analysis of Australia’s largest coal mine being approved despite and over the objections of scientific managers provides a thorough case study in how environmental considerations are being ignored.

An analysis reveals only 17 out of 65 financiers require biodiversity impact mitigation measures, and overall the initiative falls short of international best practices

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) can reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) but it needs additional power that increases water use for plant cooling. This study models the impacts of retrofitting CFPPs with CCS on water resources globally and finds areas at risk of water scarcity.