Bibliography

711 publications found

• Why efforts to address India’s ‘just transition’ should support nature-based solutions

  Majumdar, A. et al. Energy Research & Social Science (2023). Perspective.
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629623000816

  Abstract

  Transformation towards low carbon development needs action to transform our economy and energy simultaneously. India has taken several noble aims for continuing to increase renewable energy since an efficient energy transition will help to mitigate climate change. Socio-economic consequences like a considerable loss of livelihood will also occur. The ‘just transition’ concept emphasises delivering the transition fairly to high carbon concentrated workers’ communities’ livelihood and fossil fuel-based economy towards the regenerative economy and addressing inequality and poverty issues. While nature-based solutions are initiatives taken to restore, protect, and sustainably manage nature to tackle societal problems such as changing climate, challenges originating from urban expansion and livelihood support. There is a substantial research gap on why efforts to address just transition should support nature-based solutions (NbS). This research paper tries to offer a detailed perspective regarding the possibilities of delivering just transition and relate it to nature-based solutions based on available literature and various examples worldwide.

  Not applicableClimate change mitigationHuman well-being & development

• Co-building trust in urban nature: Learning from participatory design and construction of Nature-Based Solutions in informal settlements in East Africa

  Diep, L. et al. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities (2023). Original Research.
  https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2022.927723/full

  Abstract

  While the amount of research on NBS is growing rapidly, there is a lack of evidence on community experiences of NBS design and implementation, particularly from low-income and informal settlements of African cities. This article adds new empirical evidence in this space through grounded analysis of NBS “niche” projects co-developed by intermediary organizations and communities in five sites across three settlements in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Findings are organized around four established NBS knowledge gaps: (1) NBS-society relations; (2) Design; (3) Implementation; (4) Effectiveness. We find that across the five studied sites, residents’ perceptions and valuation of urban nature has changed through processes of co-design and co-implementation, enabling community ownership of projects, and hence playing a crucial role in NBS effectiveness over time. The integration of gray components into green infrastructure to create hybrid systems has proven necessary to meet physical constraints and communities’ urgent needs such as flood mitigation. However, maintenance responsibilities and cost burdens are persisting issues that highlight the complex reality of NBS development in informal settlements. The cases highlight key considerations for actors involved in NBS development to support the replication, scaling up and institutionalization of NBS. These include the need to: (i) develop forms of engagement that align with co-production values; (ii) capture communities’ own valuation of and motivations with NBS development for integration into design; (iii) elaborate technical guidance for hybrid green-gray infrastructure systems that can be constructed with communities; and (iv) help define and establish structures for maintenance responsibilities (especially governmental vs. civil society) that will enhance the environmental stewardship of public spaces.

  Community-based adaptationClimate change adaptationDisaster risk reductionOther

• Combining socioeconomic and biophysical data to identify people-centric restoration opportunities

  Choksi, P. et al. npj Biodiversity (2023). Original Research.
  https://www.nature.com/articles/s44185-023-00012-8

  Abstract

  Designing restoration projects requires integrating socio-economic and cultural needs of local stakeholders for enduring and just outcomes. Using India as a case study, we demonstrate a people-centric approach to help policymakers translate global restoration prioritization studies for application to a country-specific context and to identify different socio-environmental conditions restoration programs could consider when siting projects. Focusing, in particular, on poverty quantified by living standards and land tenure, we find that of the 579 districts considered here, 116 of the poorest districts have high biophysical restoration potential (upper 50th percentile of both factors). In most districts, the predominant land tenure is private, indicating an opportunity to focus on agri-pastoral restoration over carbon and forest-based restoration projects.

  Ecological restorationEcosystem healthHuman well-being & development

• The Triple Challenge: synergies, trade-offs and integrated responses for climate, biodiversity, and human wellbeing goals

  Baldwin-Cantello, W. et al. Climate Policy (2023). Original Research.
  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2023.2175637

  Abstract

  Humankind faces a Triple Challenge: averting dangerous climate change, reversing biodiversity loss, and supporting the wellbeing of a growing population. Action to address each of these issues is inherently dependent on action to address the others. Local, national, and international policy goals on climate change, biological diversity, and human wellbeing have been set. Current implementation measures are insufficient to meet these goals, but the Triple Challenge can still be met if governments, corporations, and other stakeholders take a holistic perspective on management of land and waters. To inform this effort, we identify a set of priority policy responses drawn from recent international assessments that, whilst not being the only potential solutions, can form the core of such a holistic approach. We do this through an iterative process using three methodological approaches: (i) structured literature review; (ii) deliberative expert analysis; and (iii) wider consultation, before synthesizing into this paper. Context-appropriate implementation of responses will be needed to capitalize on potential policy synergies and to ensure that unavoidable trade-offs between management of land and waters for climate mitigation, biodiversity restoration, and human wellbeing outcomes are made explicit. We also set out four approaches to managing trade-offs that can promote fair and just transitions: (1) social and economic policy pivoting towards ‘inclusive wealth’; (2) more integrated policymaking across the three areas; (3) ‘Triple Challenge dialogues’ among state and non-state actors; and (4) a new research portfolio to underpin (1), (2), and (3).

  Nature-based solutions in generalClimate change adaptationClimate change mitigationDisaster risk reductionEcosystem healthFood and water securityHuman well-being & development

• The carbon sink of secondary and degraded humid tropical forests

  Heinrich, V. et al. Nature (2023). Original Research.
  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05679-w

  Abstract

  The globally important carbon sink of intact, old-growth tropical humid forests is declining because of climate change, deforestation and degradation from fire and logging1,2,3. Recovering tropical secondary and degraded forests now cover about 10% of the tropical forest area4, but how much carbon they accumulate remains uncertain. Here we quantify the aboveground carbon (AGC) sink of recovering forests across three main continuous tropical humid regions: the Amazon, Borneo and Central Africa5,6. On the basis of satellite data products4,7, our analysis encompasses the heterogeneous spatial and temporal patterns of growth in degraded and secondary forests, influenced by key environmental and anthropogenic drivers. In the first 20 years of recovery, regrowth rates in Borneo were up to 45% and 58% higher than in Central Africa and the Amazon, respectively. This is due to variables such as temperature, water deficit and disturbance regimes. We find that regrowing degraded and secondary forests accumulated 107 Tg C year−1 (90–130 Tg C year−1) between 1984 and 2018, counterbalancing 26% (21–34%) of carbon emissions from humid tropical forest loss during the same period. Protecting old-growth forests is therefore a priority. Furthermore, we estimate that conserving recovering degraded and secondary forests can have a feasible future carbon sink potential of 53 Tg C year−1 (44–62 Tg C year−1) across the main tropical regions studied.

  Ecosystem-based mitigationClimate change mitigationForest

• No relationship between biodiversity and forest carbon sink across the subtropical Brazilian Atlantic Forest

  Bordin, K. et al. Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation (2023). Original Research.
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2530064423000068?via%3Dihub

  Abstract

  The Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF) is a global biodiversity hotspot, but its carbon sink capacity, especially in the subtropical portion, is poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between biodiversity measures (i.e., taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity) and net carbon change across subtropical BAF, testing whether there is a win–win situation in the conservation of biodiversity and carbon sink capacity across forests of distinct ages. We obtained the net carbon change from 55 permanent plots, from early successional to old-growth forests, by combining the carbon gains and losses across two censuses. We found that subtropical BAF are on average acting as a carbon sink, but carbon gains and losses varied a lot across plots, especially within late successional/old-growth forests. The carbon sink was consistent across different forest ages, and we did not find a relationship between biodiversity and net carbon change in subtropical BAF. Therefore, conservation programs should aim at both targets in order to maximize the protection of biodiversity and carbon capture across the secondary and old-growth subtropical BAF, especially in a scenario of global changes.

  Not applicableClimate change mitigationForest

• Cooling cities through urban green infrastructure: a health impact assessment of European cities

  Iungman, T. et al. The Lancet (2023). Original Research.
  https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)02585-5/fulltext#%20

  Abstract

  Background
  High ambient temperatures are associated with many health effects, including premature mortality. The combination of global warming due to climate change and the expansion of the global built environment mean that the intensification of urban heat islands (UHIs) is expected, accompanied by adverse effects on population health. Urban green infrastructure can reduce local temperatures. We aimed to estimate the mortality burden that could be attributed to UHIs and the mortality burden that would be prevented by increasing urban tree coverage in 93 European cities.

  Methods
  We did a quantitative health impact assessment for summer (June 1–Aug 31), 2015, of the effect of UHIs on all-cause mortality for adults aged 20 years or older in 93 European cities. We also estimated the temperature reductions that would result from increasing tree coverage to 30% for each city and estimated the number of deaths that could be potentially prevented as a result. We did all analyses at a high-resolution grid-cell level (250 × 250 m). We propagated uncertainties in input analyses by using Monte Carlo simulations to obtain point estimates and 95% CIs. We also did sensitivity analyses to test the robustness of our estimates.

  Findings
  The population-weighted mean city temperature increase due to UHI effects was 1·5°C (SD 0·5; range 0·5–3·0). Overall, 6700 (95% CI 5254–8162) premature deaths could be attributable to the effects of UHIs (corresponding to around 4·33% [95% CI 3·37–5·28] of all summer deaths). We estimated that increasing tree coverage to 30% would cool cities by a mean of 0·4°C (SD 0·2; range 0·0–1·3). We also estimated that 2644 (95% CI 2444–2824) premature deaths could be prevented by increasing city tree coverage to 30%, corresponding to 1·84% (1·69–1·97) of all summer deaths.

  Interpretation:
  Our results showed the deleterious effects of UHIs on mortality and highlighted the health benefits of increasing tree coverage to cool urban environments, which would also result in more sustainable and climate-resilient cities.

  Infrastructure-related approachesHuman well-being & development

• Paying for green: A scoping review of alternative financing models for nature-based solutions

  den Heijer, C. & Coppens, T. Journal of Environmental Management (2023). Review.
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030147972300542X

  Abstract

  Nature-based solutions (NBS) are widely regarded as cost-effective responses to climate change and environmental degradation that also provide numerous co-benefits. However, despite significant policy attention, NBS plans often fail to materialize due to public budget shortfalls. Alongside traditional public finance, the international debate increasingly urges the mobilization of private capital for NBS through alternative financing (AF) techniques. In this scoping review, we examine the literature on a) the AF models connected to NBS and b) the drivers and barriers associated with these AF models in terms of their financial technicity and their embeddedness in the political, economic, social, technological, legal/institutional, and environmental/spatial (“PESTLE”) context. Although many models are discussed, the results indicate that none can be considered full substitutes for traditional public finance. Barriers and drivers converge around seven overarching tensions: new revenue and risk distribution vs. uncertainty, budgetary and legal pressure vs. political willingness and risk aversion, market demand vs. market failures, private sector engagement vs. social acceptance and risks, legal and institutional conduciveness vs. inertia, and upscaling potential vs. environmental risks and land use. Future research should focus on a) how to further integrate NBS monitoring, quantification, valuation, and monetization into AF models, b) systemic and empirical approaches to improve the understanding of the applicability and transferability of AF models, and c) an exploration of the potential qualities and social risks of AF models in NBS governance arrangements.

  Not applicableClimate change adaptationClimate change mitigation

• Trophic rewilding can expand natural climate solutions

  Schmitz, O. et al. Nature Climate Change (2023). Original Research.
  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01631-6

  Abstract

  Natural climate solutions are being advanced to arrest climate warming by protecting and enhancing carbon capture and storage in plants, soils and sediments in ecosystems. These solutions are viewed as having the ancillary benefit of protecting habitats and landscapes to conserve animal species diversity. However, this reasoning undervalues the role animals play in controlling the carbon cycle. We present scientific evidence showing that protecting and restoring wild animals and their functional roles can enhance natural carbon capture and storage. We call for new thinking that includes the restoration and conservation of wild animals and their ecosystem roles as a key component of natural climate solutions that can enhance the ability to prevent climate warming beyond 1.5 °C.

  Ecological restorationEcosystem-based managementClimate change mitigation

• Rewilding soil-disturbing vertebrates to rehabilitate degraded landscapes: benefits and risks

  Eldridge, D. & Soliveres, S. Biology Letters (2023). Review.
  https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0544

  Abstract

  Soil-disturbing animals are common globally and play important roles in creating and maintaining healthy functional soils and landscapes. Yet many of these animals are threatened or locally extinct due to habitat loss, predation by non-native animals or poaching and poisoning. Some reintroduction and rewilding programmes have as their core aims to increase animal populations and reinstate processes that have been lost due to their extirpation. Here we use a meta-analytical approach to review the effects of soil-disturbing vertebrates on ecosystem processes, and advance the argument that they can be used to rehabilitate degraded ecosystems by altering mainly composition and function, but with fewer positive effects on structure. We describe four examples where the loss or reintroduction of soil-disturbing vertebrates leads to ecosystem state changes and highlight the role of spatial scale, covarying management changes, and species co-occurrence in modulating their effects. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using soil-disturbing vertebrates over mechanized engineering approaches such as pitting and furrowing, considering some advantages to include more self-sustainable and heterogeneous disturbances, creation of new habitats and added recreational values. Finally, we identify key knowledge gaps in our understanding of the use of soil-disturbing vertebrates for rehabilitating degraded ecosystems.

  Ecological restorationEcosystem health

• Trait diversity shapes the carbon cycle

  Sobral, M. et al. Trends in Ecology & Evolution (2023). Original Research.
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534723000617

  Abstract

  Trait evolution is shaped by carbon economics at the organismal level. Here, we expand this idea to the ecosystem level and show how the trait diversity of ecological communities influences the carbon cycle. Systematic shifts in trait diversity will likely trigger changes in the carbon cycle.

  Ecosystem-based mitigationClimate change mitigation

• Quantifying the recarbonization of post-agricultural landscapes

  Bell, S. et al. Nature Communications (2023). Communication.
  nature.com/articles/s41467-023-37907-w

  Abstract

  Despite worldwide prevalence, post-agricultural landscapes remain one of the least constrained human-induced land carbon sinks. To appraise their role in rebuilding the planet’s natural carbon stocks through ecosystem restoration, we need to better understand their spatial and temporal legacies.

  In provisioning human civilization with food, fuel, and fiber for millennia, agriculture has drastically depleted terrestrial carbon stocks at the expense of natural ecosystems. Our challenge today is to use more sustainable practices to recapture some of the 116 Pg of soil organic carbon (SOC) lost since agriculture began, while simultaneously ensuring global food security1,2. That being said, the cessation of agriculture altogether is still the most efficient way to increase carbon stocks and restore ecosystems in tandem and at large scales.

  Consider the vast expanses of forests that regrew over the 60 Mha of cropland abandoned following the collapse of the Soviet Union3. It has been called the world’s largest human-made carbon sink attributed to a single event;4 a title challenged by the climatic consequences of the ‘Great Dying in the Americas’ and its 56 Mha abandoned following the arrival of Europeans5. At more practical scales, intentional efforts to restore agricultural land such as the Grain-for-Green program in China and the Conservation Reserve Program in the USA have demonstrated that carbon sequestration is far from being the only advantage6,7. Ecological co-benefits include reduced soil erosion and water run-off, reduced flooding and drought, and improved soil health, water quality, and biodiversity indicators.

  These post-agricultural landscapes (PALs) often signify the return of ecosystem properties, such as carbon, towards pre-disturbance states or new equilibria through secondary succession. Whether planned or unplanned, they appear in every agricultural region of the world and they can drawdown carbon with or without human involvement. If commitments to halt gross forest area loss by 2030 succeed, recarbonizing PALs will play a key role in reversing global land use change from being a net carbon source to a net sink8.

  Unfortunately, PALs are insufficiently represented in terrestrial carbon models, both spatially (as a poorly mapped land cover class) and temporally (as uncertain carbon sinks). This hinders our ability to monitor, quantify, and leverage them strategically. We discuss here some of the reasons behind these issues and what can be done to address them so that we can properly evaluate the role of PALs.

  Nature-based agricultural systemsClimate change mitigation

• Overcoming the coupled climate and biodiversity crises and their societal impacts

  Pörtner, H.-O. et al. Science (2023). Review.
  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4881#tab-contributors

  Abstract

  Humanity is facing major social and ecological impacts from climate change and biodiversity loss. These two crises are intertwined, with common causes and effects on one another. Pörtner et al. review the results of a joint meeting of members of the International Panels on Climate Change and Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. They discuss the connections between biodiversity loss and climate change and propose potential solutions for addressing them as interconnected problems. Drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, protection of multiuse landscapes and seascapes, and policies for providing equitable access to natural resources can help to ensure future ecological function and human well-being. —BEL

  Not applicableClimate change adaptationClimate change mitigationDisaster risk reductionEcosystem healthFood and water securityHuman well-being & development

• Incorporating human dimensions is associated with better wildlife translocation outcomes

  Serota, M.W., Barker, K.J., Gigliotti, L.C. et al. Nature Communications volume 14, Article number: 2119 (2023). Systematic Review.
  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37534-5

  Abstract

  Wildlife translocations are increasingly used to combat declining biodiversity worldwide. Successful translocation often hinges on coexistence between humans and wildlife, yet not all translocation efforts explicitly include human dimensions (e.g., economic incentives, education programs, and conflict reduction assistance). To evaluate the prevalence and associated outcomes of including human dimensions as objectives when planning translocations, we analyze 305 case studies from the IUCN’s Global Re-Introduction Perspectives Series. We find that fewer than half of all projects included human dimension objectives (42%), but that projects including human dimension objectives were associated with improved wildlife population outcomes (i.e., higher probability of survival, reproduction, or population growth). Translocation efforts were more likely to include human dimension objectives if they involved mammals, species with a history of local human conflict, and local stakeholders. Our findings underscore the importance of incorporating objectives related to human dimensions in translocation planning efforts to improve conservation success.

  Ecological restorationHuman well-being & development

• Natural Capital Markets: What farmers and policymakers need to know

  Lyon & Burnett Food Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) (2023). Review.
  https://cdn2.assets-servd.host/ffcc-uk/production/assets/downloads/Natural-Capital-report-April-2023.pdf

  Abstract

  Farmers are facing a volatile and uncertain future. From changes to the Common
  Agriculture Policy, post Brexit, to the impacts of climate change and a nature crisis,
  let alone the turbulent geopolitics affecting global food markets – all of these are
  having a substantial impact on the farming operating context.

  The introduction of ELMs in England and [their own sustainable land management
  schemes] in Wales and Scotland and Northern Ireland is having far reaching
  effects on many farmers’ balance sheets. The shift towards payments for
  the provision and management of ‘public goods’ – those ecosystem services
  that are not normally paid for in the marketplace – have the potential to make
  a positive impact on the climate and nature crisis. But these environmental
  land management schemes do not fill the gap left by CAP; and it is no surprise
  therefore that farmers are now starting to look closely at the emerging
  ‘natural capital’ markets.

  Natural resource managementClimate change mitigation

• Credit credibility threatens forests

  Balmford, et al. Science Vol 380, Issue 6644 (2023). Review.
  https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh3426

  Abstract

  Old growth forests continue to decline.

  Forest landscape restorationClimate change adaptationClimate change mitigationForest