| 1. |
- Abel, Christin, et al.
(författare)
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The human–environment nexus and vegetation–rainfall sensitivity in tropical drylands
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 4, s. 25-32
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Global climate change is projected to lead to an increase in both the areal extent and degree of aridity in the world’s drylands. At the same time, the majority of drylands are located in developing countries where high population densities and rapid population growth place additional pressure on the ecosystem. Thus, drylands are particularly vulnerable to environmental changes and large-scale environmental degradation. However, little is known about the long-term functional response of vegetation to such changes induced by the interplay of complex human–environmental interactions. Here we use time series of satellite data to show how vegetation productivity in relation to water availability, which is a major aspect of vegetation functioning in tropical drylands, has changed over the past two decades. In total, one-third of tropical dryland ecosystems show significant (P < 0.05) changes in vegetation–rainfall sensitivity with pronounced differences between regions and continents. We identify population as the main driver of negative changes, especially for developing countries. This is contrasted by positive changes in vegetation–rainfall sensitivity in richer countries, probably resulting from favourable climatic conditions and/or caused by an intensification and expansion of human land management. Our results highlight geographic and economic differences in the relationship between vegetation–rainfall sensitivity and associated drivers in tropical drylands, marking an important step towards the identification, understanding and mitigation of potential negative effects from a changing world on ecosystems and human well-being.
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| 2. |
- Alexander, Steven M., et al.
(författare)
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Qualitative data sharing and synthesis for sustainability science
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 3:2, s. 81-88
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Opportunities, challenges and recommended targeted actions to accelerate qualitative data sharing to address complex socio-environmental problems Socio-environmental synthesis as a research approach contributes to broader sustainability policy and practice by reusing data from disparate disciplines in innovative ways. Synthesizing diverse data sources and types of evidence can help to better conceptualize, investigate and address increasingly complex socio-environmental problems. However, sharing qualitative data for re-use remains uncommon when compared to sharing quantitative data. We argue that qualitative data present untapped opportunities for sustainability science, and discuss practical pathways to facilitate and realize the benefits from sharing and reusing qualitative data. However, these opportunities and benefits are also hindered by practical, ethical and epistemological challenges. To address these challenges and accelerate qualitative data sharing, we outline enabling conditions and suggest actions for researchers, institutions, funders, data repository managers and publishers.
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| 3. |
- Bai, Xuemei, et al.
(författare)
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Translating Earth system boundaries for cities and businesses
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - 2398-9629. ; 7, s. 108-119
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Operating within safe and just Earth system boundaries requires mobilizing key actors across scale to set targets and take actions accordingly. Robust, transparent and fair cross-scale translation methods are essential to help navigate through the multiple steps of scientific and normative judgements in translation, with clear awareness of associated assumptions, bias and uncertainties. Here, through literature review and expert elicitation, we identify commonly used sharing approaches, illustrate ten principles of translation and present a protocol involving key building blocks and control steps in translation. We pay particular attention to businesses and cities, two understudied but critical actors to bring on board.
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| 4. |
- Bain, P. G., et al.
(författare)
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Public views of the Sustainable Development Goals across countries
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 2:9, s. 819-825
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The United Nation's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer an extensive framework for coordinating and shaping government policies, and for engaging the public with sustainability. Public understanding of the SDGs and sustainability can influence this engagement, as people are more likely to accept and share information consistent with their own understanding. We identify public understandings of SDGs through mental maps of how people relate the SDGs to environmental, social and economic sustainability. Using responses from 12 developed/developing countries (n = 2,134), we identified four mental maps that varied mainly on two dimensions, which diverged from some expert models. Some people's mental maps identified tension between achieving environmental versus social sustainability, whereas for others the tension was between economic sustainability and the other two sustainability elements. Some people related different SDGs to each element of sustainability, whereas others saw all SDGs as targeting the same sustainability element(s). These findings highlight opportunities and challenges to engage the public with sustainability more effectively, especially with wide-ranging initiatives such as a Green New Deal. We observed cultural differences but we also identified a dominant mental map across countries that could serve as a default model for communicating sustainability internationally.
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| 5. |
- Barnes, Paul W., et al.
(författare)
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Ozone depletion, ultraviolet radiation, climate change and prospects for a sustainable future
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 2:7, s. 569-579
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2019, Springer Nature Limited. Changes in stratospheric ozone and climate over the past 40-plus years have altered the solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation conditions at the Earth’s surface. Ozone depletion has also contributed to climate change across the Southern Hemisphere. These changes are interacting in complex ways to affect human health, food and water security, and ecosystem services. Many adverse effects of high UV exposure have been avoided thanks to the Montreal Protocol with its Amendments and Adjustments, which have effectively controlled the production and use of ozone-depleting substances. This international treaty has also played an important role in mitigating climate change. Climate change is modifying UV exposure and affecting how people and ecosystems respond to UV; these effects will become more pronounced in the future. The interactions between stratospheric ozone, climate and UV radiation will therefore shift over time; however, the Montreal Protocol will continue to have far-reaching benefits for human well-being and environmental sustainability.
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| 6. |
- Berndes, Göran, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Land sector impacts of early climate action
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 4:12, s. 1021-1022
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 7. |
- Biermann, Frank, et al.
(författare)
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Scientific evidence on the political impact of the Sustainable Development Goals
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Nature. - 2398-9629. ; 5:9, s. 795-800
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In 2015, the United Nations agreed on 17 Sustainable Development Goals as the central normative framework for sustainable development worldwide. The effectiveness of governing by such broad global goals, however, remains uncertain, and we lack comprehensive meta-studies that assess the political impact of the goals across countries and globally. We present here condensed evidence from an analysis of over 3,000 scientific studies on the Sustainable Development Goals published between 2016 and April 2021. Our findings suggests that the goals have had some political impact on institutions and policies, from local to global governance. This impact has been largely discursive, affecting the way actors understand and communicate about sustainable development. More profound normative and institutional impact, from legislative action to changing resource allocation, remains rare. We conclude that the scientific evidence suggests only limited transformative political impact of the Sustainable Development Goals thus far.
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| 8. |
- Bikkina, Srinivas, et al.
(författare)
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Air quality in megacity Delhi affected by countryside biomass burning
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 2:3, s. 200-205
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- South Asian megacities are strong sources of regional air pollution. Delhi is a key hotspot of health-and climate-impacting black carbon (BC) emissions, affecting environmental sustainability in densely populated northern India. Effective mitigation of BC impact is hampered by highly uncertain emission source estimates. Here, we use dual-carbon isotope fingerprints (delta C-13/Delta C-14) of BC to constrain the seasonal source variability in Delhi. These measurements show that lower BC concentrations in summer are predominantly from fossil fuel sources (similar to 83%). However, large-scale open burning of post-harvest crop residue/wood in nearby rural regions is contributing to severe haze pollution in Delhi during winter and autumn (similar to 42 +/- 17%). Hence, the common conception that megacities affect their surroundings is here amended or seasonally reversed. Therefore, to combat the severe air pollution problems in Delhi and the environmental quality of northern India, current urban efforts need to be complemented with countryside regional mitigation.
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| 9. |
- Blasiak, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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The ocean genome and future prospects for conservation and equity
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 3, s. 588-596
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Life has evolved in the ocean for 3.7 billion years, resulting in a rich 'ocean genome', the ensemble of genetic material present in all marine biodiversity, including both the physical genes and the information they encode. Rapid advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics have enabled exploration of the ocean genome and are informing innovative approaches to conservation and a growing number of commercial biotechnology applications. However, the capacity to undertake genomic research and to access and use sequence data is inequitably distributed among countries, highlighting an urgent need to build capacity, promote inclusive innovation and increase access to affordable technologies. 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.
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| 10. |
- Blicharska, Malgorzata, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Biodiversity’s contributions to sustainable development
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2398-9629. ; 2, s. 1083-1093
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- International concern to develop sustainably challenges us to act upon the inherent links between our economy, society and environment, and is leading to increasing acknowledgement of biodiversity's importance. This Review discusses the breadth of ways in which biodiversity can support sustainable development. It uses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a basis for exploring scientific evidence of the benefits delivered by biodiversity. It focuses on papers that provide examples of how biodiversity components (that is, ecosystems, species and genes) directly deliver benefits that may contribute to the achievement of individual SDGs. It also considers how biodiversity's direct contributions to fulfilling some SDGs may indirectly support the achievement of other SDGs to which biodiversity does not contribute directly. How the attributes (for example, diversity, abundance or composition) of biodiversity components influence the benefits delivered is also presented, where described by the papers reviewed. While acknowledging potential negative impacts and trade-offs between different benefits, the study concludes that biodiversity may contribute to fulfilment of all SDGs.
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