Volume 6 Issue 8, August 2023

Paul Akiwumi, director of the Africa, least developed countries and special programmes division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, explains the present challenges of the low-carbon transition to sustainable development in the world’s most vulnerable developing countries.

Involving locals in marine conservation and management has been promoted to improve livelihoods and marine life. A study shows how community-based initiatives can be designed appropriately to generate desired social, economic and ecological outcomes.

Curbside recycling is costly and performs poorly on expected environmental and economic outcomes. This raises the question of whether curbside recycling should endure or be eliminated to allow alternative services to flourish.

Urban water crises are an increasingly pressing challenge. A study now shows how unsustainable behaviour fostered by social inequalities undermines water access and, if unaddressed, may lead to increased vulnerability in the long term.

Adopting ‘climate-smart’ agricultural practices that increase the amount of carbon stored in soils can make an important contribution to climate change mitigation. But if crop productivity suffers as a result, other farmers may compensate by expanding cropland elsewhere, which could offset some carbon savings.

Conservation basic income provides a model that could improve the well-being of people and nature, but more research is needed on the environmental efficacy and social equitability.

Understanding how community-based initiatives work is crucial for effective environmental management, but robust evaluations of these efforts are rare. A study of a national network of locally managed marine areas in Fiji shows that, aside from an improvement in marine governance, there have been few tangible conservation outcomes.

Biocrusts are crucial for soil health and sustainability in arid lands; however, human activities are degrading these biocrusts. This study explores the use of solar farms for a low-cost, low-impact and high-capacity approach to regenerate biocrusts. This technique could be used to expand current soil restoration approaches to regional scales.

Pb leakage from damaged perovskite solar cells exposed to water is minimized by applying a TiO₂ sponge to sequester Pb ions. The sponge can be deposited on ready-to-use devices using a scalable and solvent-free process. As TiO₂ is already used in perovskite solar cells, this approach promises environmental benefits without substantial investment costs.

Providing a basic income to individuals living in areas important for global biodiversity is one way to support conservation. Our calculation shows how the gross cost can vary, depending on prioritization, eligibility and payment scenarios, and will support discussions about the implementation of basic income as a global conservation policy.

The concept of resilience, once meaning the ability to ‘bounce back’ to the status quo, now refers to the capacity to live and develop with change. A mismatch between the latest science of resilience and the talk of resilience recovery after COVID-19 requires resilience thinking to be aligned with sustainable development.

Understanding how community-based initiatives work is crucial for effective environmental management, but causal evaluations of these efforts are rare. This study presents a national-scale evaluation of a locally managed network of marine areas in Fiji and examines whether the expected mechanisms deliver conservation outcomes.

Rising costs have recently reduced local governments’ efforts to collect recyclables from households, but this study shows that kerb-side recycling should be reconsidered as it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and be a very cost-effective climate change mitigation strategy.

Urban water crises, due to droughts and unsustainable water consumption, are becoming increasingly recurrent in metropolitan cities. This study shows the role of social inequalities in such crises, revealing the implications of water overconsumption by privileged social groups and individuals.

Domestic strategies to increase carbon stocks in agricultural soils can lead to spillover effects in countries with less stringent policies. Thinking beyond domestic policy alone is needed for effective sustainable and climate-smart agriculture.

By reconstructing the number of farms on Earth over 1969–2013, this study shows that under current development trajectories, the number of farms globally will probably halve by the end of the twenty-first century, with a doubling of the average farm size.

Arid soils are currently under substantial anthropogenic stress and are globally degrading. Co-operating photovoltaic plants with biocrust nurseries has potential to restore soil health alongside renewable energy production.

Plastic pollution forms a major global challenge to the ecosystem. Here the authors show a binuclear catalyst that could degrade various polyesters in an effective and scalable way, providing a promising technological solution to the challenge.

The presence of toxic lead enables high photoconversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells but poses environmental and human health concerns. Here the authors address the issues by introducing a cost-effective TiO₂ absorption layer through a scalable process.

Laundry detergents usually contain chemicals that are problematic to the environment. The authors introduce a polymer nanofilm that renders fabrics and many more materials stain resistant and detergent free.

A global analysis of income inequality and flood disasters in middle- and high-income countries between 1990 and 2018 shows that unequal countries tend to suffer higher flood fatalities.

China’s power generation is still based on a centrally planned operation (CPO) as market reforms are slow. This study finds that continuing to rely on the CPO has led to the accumulation of substantial greenhouse gas emissions, and reveals the underlying mechanisms driving emissions.

Increasing the reach of biodiversity conservation requires addressing the material needs of individuals and communities in and around protected areas. This analysis provides a comprehensive global projection for a conservation basic income.