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The Anthropocene is a contested notion yet has taken hold as a term to describe the current state of global human-induced environmental changes, including biodiversity loss and climate change. Despite this fact, in the New South Wales Kindergarten to Year 10 Geography syllabus, ‘the Anthropocene’ is not explicitly mentioned. When a syllabus avoids engaging with such a key environmental concept, and this is combined with a high proportion of geography being taught by non-specialist teachers, missed opportunities emerge. This Thinking Space paper showcases how an academic geographer, post-graduate students, and a geography education academic in New South Wales collaborated to mitigate an absence of ‘the Anthropocene’ in syllabus content. We bring visibility to invisible content around ‘the Anthropocene’ by examining syllabus content and working through possible solutions. In doing so, we argue that the Anthropocene is explicitly absent yet implicitly present. We hope that this paper provides some pathways for teachers who may choose to include an important, yet seemingly absent, area of geographical content. It is also a call to foster collaborative opportunities between Geographers and Geography educators to support content development amongst school-based teachers of Geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'The Greenhouse Effect and Nature Reserves' by Robert Peters and Joan Darling, published in the journal Bioscience more than 30 years ago, was a ground-breaking synthesis. Drawing on paleoecology, community ecology and biogeography, the review laid out many concepts about species vulnerability to climate change that have become central tenets of research on climate change adaptation in natural ecosystems. Remarkably, the paper also provided a clear and logical framework for flexible, forward-thinking and interventionist management action, including recommendations about the design of protected areas, and the need for species translocation to reduce extinction risk. Reflecting on the legacy of this paper, it is clear that the uptake of such approaches over the intervening decades has been extremely slow, representing many lost opportunities to reduce species vulnerability to rapid environmental change. This paper is a tribute to the prescience of Peters and Darling, and a call to revisit their farsighted advice to meet conservation challenges that continue to accelerate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confronted with the significant challenges of global climate change and environmental deterioration, the pursuit of carbon emission peaks and the realization of carbon neutrality have become a collective goal for countries worldwide. As an exemplary combustion technology noted for its efficiency and environmental friendliness, the circulating fluidized bed (CFB) is instrumental in curbing the release of carbon dioxide alongside other deleterious gases. The technology is pivotal in promoting the clean and efficient use of coal, simultaneously expediting the global shift towards a sustainable, green, and low-carbon future. This study employs a bibliometric analysis, a social network analysis, and information visualization techniques to delve into the evolution of CFB technology, leveraging the Web of Science database (SCI-EXPANDED and CPCI-S) and the Derwent Innovations Index (DII). Through a meticulous examination of academic papers and patent literature related to CFB technology, this research unveils the developmental trajectory and trends of CFB technology, providing a scientific foundation and reference for strategic technology planning and focused research in key areas. The findings indicate that, while there is a downward trend in the global publication of academic papers on CFB technology, the number of patent applications continues to grow steadily. CFB technology has achieved significant advancements in enhancing combustion efficiency, environmental protection, energy utilization, and waste management, and is progressing towards a direction of diversification and greater efficiency. Moving forward, the development of CFB technology should concentrate on pivotal areas such as material science, fluid dynamics simulation, environmental impact assessment, system integration, and intelligentization, to foster ongoing innovation and a broad application of the technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific drilling in polar regions plays a crucial role in obtaining ice cores and using them to understand climate change and to study the dynamics of polar ice sheets and their impact on global environmental changes (sea level, ocean current cycle, atmospheric circulation, etc.). Mechanical rotary cutting is a widely used drilling method that drives the cutter to rotate to cut and drill through ice layers. It is necessary to conduct in-depth research on the brittle fracture behavior of ice and mechanical model and to analyze the factors and specific mechanisms (cutter's angle, rotation speed of the drill bit, and cutting depth) affecting cutting force for the rational design of ice core drill systems, improving the efficiency of ice core drilling and ensuring the drilling process runs smoothly. Therefore, in this paper, the process of ice cutting was observed, the fracture mechanics characteristics of the ice cutting process were analyzed, the formation process of ice chips was divided into three stages, and a mathematical model for the cutting force was established based on the observation results. The paper describes the damage conditions of ice failure and points out the factors and specific laws influencing cutting force. Furthermore, the cutting force generated under various experimental conditions was tested. Based on specified real-time variation curves of cutting force, the characteristics of cutting force were analyzed during the cutting and drilling process. Based on comparison to results of the average cutting force, the influence mechanism of various parameters acting on the cutting force was obtained. This proves the correctness of the mathematical model of the cutting force and provides a theoretical reference for the calculation of the cutting force during ice cutting and drilling in polar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current epoch in fisheries science has been driven by continual advances in laboratory techniques and increasingly sophisticated approaches to analysing datasets. We now have the scientific knowledge and tools to proactively identify obstacles to the sustainable management of marine resources. However, in addition to technological advances, there are predicted global environmental changes, each with inherent implications for fisheries. The 2023 symposium of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles called for "open and constructive knowledge exchange between scientists, stakeholders, managers and policymakers" (https://fsbi.org.uk/symposium-2023/), a nexus of collaborative groups best placed to identify issues and solutions. Arguably, the Centre of Environment, Aquaculture and Fisheries Science (Cefas) and their Scientific Advice for Fisheries Management (SAFM) Team sit at the centre of such a network. SAFM regularly engages with managers and stakeholders, undertakes scientific research, provides fisheries advice to the UK government, and are leading experts within the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). As such, this paper is an opinion piece, linked to individual authors specialisms, that aims to highlight emerging issues affecting fisheries and suggest where research efforts could be focused that contribute to sustainable fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convergent environmental crises have triggered scholarly attention towards the question of how great powers understand and engage with the environment, given their role as systemic actors within the international order. Environmental great powers – those that can employ both positive and negative powers to advance or block environmental cooperation – are typically limited to those who have the capability to influence environmental issues, and the responsibility to do so legitimately. Using a constructivist lens, this paper extends this analysis to the role of middle powers, who can influence environmental issues through their support for international cooperation, backed by their actions. We focus on Australia, an oft-cited middle power known for supporting the international rules-based order. By examining Australia's record on two current, interlinked environmental crises, climate change and biodiversity, we show that although it provides legal support for environmental cooperation, it also engages in, and conceals, significant political obstruction to meeting its obligations. Given the need for all states to address the surpassing of safe limits of planetary boundaries, and for its contribution to the destruction of systems upon which humanity depends, we argue that Australia might be deemed an ecocidal middle power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen is one of the most abundant chemical elements on the Earth and plays an important role in global environmental change. Leading Earth system models include coupled carbon and nitrogen cycle modules of varying complexity, but the INM RAS climate model family has not yet included an explicit N-cycle description. This paper presents a parameterization of the terrestrial N-cycle based on a simplification of the JULES-CN model, adapted for coupled use with the INM-CM land C-cycle module. Numerical simulations were carried out with a standalone carbon cycle model with nitrogen feedback disabled and enabled versions for the period 1850–2100. The simulated global pools show good agreement with results of other models with an implemented N-cycle. Taking into account the N-limitation of the C-cycle, the modelled dynamics of total carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems from 1850 to the mid-20th century is specified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 1. Food packaging waste is one of the main contributors to global environmental changes. • 2. Quality of recycled packaging materials is a threat to circular economy. • 3. Recycling method selection depends on the composition and nature of recyclate. • 4. Quality of recycled materials can be evaluated by using analytical methods. • 5. Migration analysis should be done to evaluate recycled material safety. Food packaging waste significantly impacts global environmental changes, prompting the adoption of a green circular economy approach. Recycling packaging waste is a critical element of this strategy. However, it faces challenges related to the quality of recycled materials and concerns about their safety. Thus, this review aimed to highlight different analytical methods alone or in combination to evaluate the quality of the recycled material. Furthermore, the safety and health aspects related to the migration of contaminants and their relevant regulations have also been discussed. An important parameter while selecting an appropriate recycling method is the composition and nature of the recyclate, for instance, HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene), PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), and PP (Polypropylene) materials can be recycled using mechanical and chemical recycling, however, PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) and PS (Polystyrene) present challenges during mechanical recycling due to lower molecular weight and complex compositions, thus are often downcycled into lower-grade products. Still, recycled papers can be more problematic than recycled plastics due to the nature of the materials and the impact of recycling. The literature review suggested that three quality properties i.e., presence of low molecular weight compounds, degree of degradation, and composition should be analyzed by using different spectroscopic, thermo-mechanical, and chromatographic techniques to obtain a detailed understanding of recycled material quality. Furthermore, recycling should be done in such a way that the migration of contaminants should be lower than the migratory limits set by the relevant authorities to avoid any toxicological effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the neo-institutional theoretical framework, numerous studies have underscored the pivotal role of international non-governmental organizations (EINGOs) in driving global environmental changes. This paper delves into the varying effects of world society connections on air pollution across distinct pollution levels, challenging the assumption that the efforts of EINGOs uniformly reduce air pollution across the world. Using unconditional quantile regression (UQR) analysis, I examine the role of EINGOs in shaping ambient particulate matter pollution across different pollution quantiles from a sample of 158 countries between 1990 and 2015. The findings from this analysis indicate that the impact of world society ties is significant in nations with moderately low (20th and 30th) and moderately high (70th and 80th) levels of air pollution, with no effect in the middle and extreme ends of the pollution spectrum. These results suggest the overestimation of INGOs' ameliorative effects when applied globally. Identifying areas where EINGOs are effective allows for the development of targeted strategies tailored to the unique pollution challenges of different countries. By demonstrating that the impact of EINGOs on air pollution is heterogeneous and not equivalent across all nations, this study contributes to the ongoing debate surrounding their effectiveness on real-world environmental effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functioning of Mediterranean coastal waters is deeply affected not only by global environmental changes (e.g., global warming, climate change) but also by improvements in sewage treatment as required by the European Water Framework Directive. These changes affect nutrient concentrations and cycling, and primary production. The present paper presents the time series analysis (2005–2020) of stable isotope ratios (hereafter δ13C and δ15N), elemental (C and N), and biochemical compositions (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) within the 300–500 µm zooplankton size fraction from bimonthly monitoring samples (0–55 m) collected in the Bay of Marseille (NW-Mediterranean Sea). The zooplankton seasonality was mostly related with the dynamic of proxies of phytoplankton biomass and nutrients in the system. In spring, protein content and energy increased and δ15N of zooplankton decreased; in late spring, lipid and carbohydrate content peaked; and in late summer, δ13C increased. At the interannual scale, major changes in the zooplankton biochemical and isotopic composition have occurred since 2009. Lipid content decreased while protein and stable isotope ratios increased. These shifts were concomitant with changes in the nutrient concentrations, nutrient stoichiometry, and particulate organic matter concentrations. The changes in biochemical composition led to an increase of energy content from 2011, but the total quantity of energy available to higher trophic positions remained stable because of a reduction in biomass. The variations of the zooplankton stable isotopes and biochemical compositions can be indicative of changes in individual biochemistry (energy allocation) and/or in the zooplankton community (changes in relative abundance of lipid-rich vs protein-rich species). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This invited commentary paper discusses the concept of elevated antibiotic resistance genes as a global change factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning to question is essential for determining pathways of conservation and development in southwestern Amazonia during a time of rapid global environmental change. Teaching such an approach in graduate science programs in regional universities can be done using play-acting and simulation exercises. Multiple working hypotheses help students learn to question their own research results and expert witnesses. The method of successive approximations enables students to question the results of complex calculations, such as estimates of forest biomass. Balloons and rolls of toilet paper provide means of questioning two-dimensional representations of a three-dimensional Earth and the value of pi. Generation of systematic errors can illustrate the pitfalls of blind acceptance of data. While learning to question is essential, it is insufficient by itself; students must also learn how to be solutionologists in order to satisfy societal demands for solutions to environmental problems. A little irreverence can be an excellent didactic tool for helping students develop the skills necessary to lead conservation and development efforts in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades qualitative researchers have used grounded theory methodologies in their investigations. Although the grounded theory literature is extensive, less well documented are qualitative studies which incorporate complementary grounded theory approaches into their designs; or studies that validate the use of grounded theory strategies for applied research projects. This paper seeks to add to both margins of the grounded theory literature. First, it provides a detailed methodological account of how constructivist grounded theory and grounded theory situational analysis were used in a Ph.D. study exploring how ecologically concerned networks understand community resilience and respond to current and anticipated challenges of the Anthropocene, the idea that humans are now the primary influencers of global environmental changes. This account is based on a constructivist grounded theory analysis of nine interviews with Europeans active in the Transition Network at the community or regional level; and a grounded theory situational analysis of the network’s written discourse based on twenty-two English-language texts produced by prominent Transitioners, such as founders, headquarters staff, or national hub teams. Furthermore, while the wider Ph.D. study focused on theory building, analysis activities yielded practical insights into addressing real world problems, such as creating and sustaining collective action at the local level. Hence, the paper also discusses a framework that neighborhoods, towns, or other types of communities could adapt for their own collective purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compensatory growth represents the ability of plants to counteract the negative consequences of herbivore damage, contributing to the sustainable development of agriculture. Minor changes in compensatory growth due to environmental changes may significantly impact the structure and functionality of ecosystems, especially for agriculture in a semiarid region. However, there is a lack of systematic quantitative summaries and reviews on compensatory growth mechanisms, especially regarding how they might respond to global environmental changes (e.g. climate warming, drought, nutrient variation, and elevated CO2). This paper summarizes the types of physio-ecological responses of plant compensatory growth to defoliation and their characteristics through a systematic review of existing literature. The review shows that damaged plants that undergo variations in morphological and physiological traits, such as enhanced photosynthesis, increased branching, and altered biomass allocation, may mitigate injury or produce overcompensatory growth. Moderate disturbance and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus infection rates are beneficial for overcompensation. I further discuss how plant compensatory growth is affected by global change factors, concluding that adequate nutrients and water supply are crucial factors influencing overcompensation. This summary can advance our understanding of the response patterns and mechanisms underlying plant compensatory growth, which is vital for gaining insight into the regenerative capacity of plants and promoting sustainable agricultural development under global environmental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights from the article: The Journal of Spatial Science makes an annual award for B Best Research and Review Paper b published in the Journal over the previous 12 months. Mustafa Naem Hamoodi, Robert Corner & Ashraf Dewan (2019) I Thermophysical behaviour of LULC surfaces and their effect on the urban thermal environment i , Journal of Spatial Science, 64:1, 111-130, DOI: 10.1080/14498596.2017.1386598 The Editorial Board and Taylor & Francis Group are pleased to support this award for the authors - Mustafa Naem Hamoodi, Robert Corner and Ashraf Dewan.

The long-standing development pattern dominated by international circulation makes China face the risk of "low-end lock-in" and "being decoupling". In addition, the current global climate change and environmental crisis are becoming increasingly severe, coupled with the COVID-19 impact. Chinese enterprises must actively build a green development system for domestic industries in a mutually reinforcing manner in the context of the domestic general circulation, in order to adapt to the new dual circulation environment as soon as possible. This paper analyzes the specific coupling and coordination relationship between the two systems based on the relevant data of China's three major industries from 2008–2014 using Index DEA, entropy value method, gray correlation analysis and coupling coordination model. The results of the study show that: the two systems of dual circulation pattern and industrial green development have a strong correlation and basically present a coupling relationship, but within the industry, there is a problem of the collapse of the tertiary industry. In terms of the type of coupling, the domestic and international circulation in general gradually present the green development leading state, except for the primary industrial segment of the international circulation. On the whole, the coupling quality of the two systems needs to be further improved. Based on this, this paper puts forward the following suggestions: (1) coordinate the internal and external development of the industry; (2) take innovation as the driving force to promote the green transformation of industries; (3) take green sharing as the goal to strengthen the policy orientation of green development; (4) take the opportunity of mutual promotion of dual circulation to stabilize the steady state of green development coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the exponential expansion of human activities, humanity has become the driving force of global environmental change. The consequent global sustainability crisis has been described as a result of a uniquely human form of adaptability and niche construction. In this paper, we introduce the concept of social-ecological niche construction focusing on biophysical interactions and outcomes. We use it to address destructive processes and to discuss potential regenerative ones as ways to overcome them. From a niche construction point of view, the increasing disconnections between human activities and environmental feedbacks appear as a success story in the history of human–nature coevolution because they enable humans to expand activities virtually without being limited by environmental constraints. However, it is still poorly understood how suppressed environmental feedbacks affect future generations and other species, or which lock-ins and self-destructive dynamics may unfold in the long-term. This is crucial as the observed escape from natural selection requires growing energy input and represents a temporal deferral rather than an actual liberation from material limitations. Relying on our proposal, we conclude that, instead of further taming nature, there is need to explore the potential of how to tame socio-metabolic growth and impact in niche construction processes. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a 30-year data series produced by the SRN ("Suivi Régional des Nutriments" in French; Regional Nutrients Monitoring Programme) network managed by Ifremer. Since 1992, the SRN network has been analysing phytoplankton species and measuring physicochemical (temperature, salinity, oxygen, suspended matter, nutrients) and biological (chlorophyll a , phytoplankton abundance) parameters at 10 different stations distributed along three different transects located in the eastern English Channel and the Southern Bight of the North Sea. This geographic coverage allows for the study of three distinct ecosystems, i.e. three transects (estuary, coastal region under freshwater influence, and coastal region), as well as the investigation of coastal to offshore water gradients. The SRN collects a maximum of 184 samples per year (3687 samples spread over 10 stations during the studied period) and detects up to 291 taxa, including harmful algal bloom species (HABs), with a bi-weekly to monthly sampling frequency (depending on the location and the season). The objectives of this monitoring programme are to assess the influence of continental inputs on the marine environment and their implications for possible eutrophication processes. It also aims to estimate the effectiveness of development and management policies in the marine coastal zone by providing information on trends and/or shifts in pressure, state, and impact variables. The regular acquisition of data allows the establishment of long-term monitoring of the evolution of coastal water quality as well as the observation of the consequences of large-scale alterations mainly driven by climate change and modifications that are more related to local/regional anthropogenic activities. This paper provides an overview of the main characteristics of SRN data (descriptive statistics and data series main patterns) as well as an analysis of temporal trends and shifts. We also propose to the data user a specific numerical tool available as an R package to optimize the data pre-processing and processing steps. Users will then have easy access to statistics, trends, and anomalies as proposed in this paper. The main results of several research projects based on SRN data and dealing with hydrology, phytoplankton blooms, HABs, phenology, and niches are also highlighted, providing the readers with examples of what can be done with such a data set. We hope that this synthesis will also save data users time by allowing them to jump right into a deeper analysis based on previous conclusions and perspectives or to investigate new scientific key challenges. These data should also be used at a wider geographical scale, combined with other data sources, to define more global patterns of environmental changes in a moving world subject to strong anthropogenic pressures. Data can also be used by the remote sensing (ocean colour observation) and modelling communities to calibrate or validate products in this complex and vital coastal region. The SRN data set is publicly available: 10.17882/50832 (SRN – Regional Observation and Monitoring program for Phytoplankton and Hydrology in the eastern English Channel, 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne and spaceborne platforms are the primary data sources for large-scale forest mapping, but visual interpretation for individual species determination is labor-intensive. Hence, various studies focusing on forests have investigated the benefits of multiple sensors for automated tree species classification. However, transferable deep learning approaches for large-scale applications are still lacking. This gap motivated us to create a novel dataset for tree species classification in central Europe based on multi-sensor data from aerial, Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery. In this paper, we introduce the TreeSatAI Benchmark Archive, which contains labels of 20 European tree species (i.e., 15 tree genera) derived from forest administration data of the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany. We propose models and guidelines for the application of the latest machine learning techniques for the task of tree species classification with multi-label data. Finally, we provide various benchmark experiments showcasing the information which can be derived from the different sensors including artificial neural networks and tree-based machine learning methods. We found that residual neural networks (ResNet) perform sufficiently well with weighted precision scores up to 79 % only by using the RGB bands of aerial imagery. This result indicates that the spatial content present within the 0.2 m resolution data is very informative for tree species classification. With the incorporation of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery, performance improved marginally. However, the sole use of Sentinel-2 still allows for weighted precision scores of up to 74 % using either multi-layer perceptron (MLP) or Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) models. Since the dataset is derived from real-world reference data, it contains high class imbalances. We found that this dataset attribute negatively affects the models' performances for many of the underrepresented classes (i.e., scarce tree species). However, the class-wise precision of the best-performing late fusion model still reached values ranging from 54 % (Acer) to 88 % (Pinus). Based on our results, we conclude that deep learning techniques using aerial imagery could considerably support forestry administration in the provision of large-scale tree species maps at a very high resolution to plan for challenges driven by global environmental change. The original dataset used in this paper is shared via Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6598390 ,). For citation of the dataset, we refer to this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Soil Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture (ENASAS) arises in response to the increasing need to organize, coordinate and strengthen the implementation of actions oriented to the sustainable management of Mexico's agricultural soils. The measures recommended in this paper allow the conservation and maintenance of soils' essential functions for agriculture, food security and population well‐being. The health and quality of agricultural soils are under constant pressure from several factors, mainly anthropogenic. One of ENASAS's objectives is to identify and stop the causes involved in land degradation processes using a systemic approach. From this perspective, the participation of various actors in sustainable soil management allows the integration of different systems, practices, techniques and knowledge that promotes awareness among the entire population about the importance of soil resources. On the other hand, given current limitations on the availability of information necessary to support decision‐making and evaluate the result of the actions implemented, ENASAS promotes the generation of tools that provide reliable and updated data regarding Mexico's agricultural soils. In the same sense, this strategy encourages the development of scientific and technological research and the transfer of knowledge that meets the needs of farmers, particularly those who carry out their activities on a smaller scale. This perspective describes ENASAS as a multi‐institutional initiative that will support sustainable soil management practices across the country's agricultural systems of Mexico and contribute to the adaptation and mitigation of global environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small island developing states (SIDS) are highly dependent on coastal marine resources. Artisanal fishers in SIDS currently face multiple stressors related to global environmental change. Considering Mauritius (South Western Indian Ocean) as a case study, this paper characterizes artisanal fishers in SIDS and assesses their perception of global change using the Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) approach. A semi-structured survey method was used to interview 247 fishers from all around the country. Artisanal fishers used multiple fishing areas and gears, with half of the fishers using Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). Six main groups of fishers were identified according to their fishing strategies, which reflected different target species in their reported catches. The majority of fishers reported lower fish abundances and fewer species now compared to 10 to 15 years ago. All groups of fishers observed environmental change over the same period. Such ecological knowledge highlights the exposure of fishers to stressors induced by environmental change. The characterization of the groups of fishers and their fishing strategies will be useful to better evaluate adaptation strategies and support management measures to face global environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2009, the United Nations programme on Harmony with Nature has sought a new philosophy of global environmental governance known as Earth jurisprudence. This paper examines how Harmony with Nature has advanced Earth jurisprudence to unite Indigenous legal traditions, rights of nature, and mounting evidence from Earth system science regarding anthropogenic forcing on the planet. It does so through a policy analysis of annual UN reports, resolutions, and dialogues with international experts. Situating Harmony with Nature in the broader intellectual heritage of Earth jurisprudence and contemporary efforts to address anthropogenic forcing on the Earth system in the Anthropocene, I argue that Harmony with Nature operates at the juncture of two powerful ways of ordering relations, knowledge, and obligation: kin and system. The critical analysis shows how a new geography of global environmental governance has been produced within the constraints of the UN precisely by scaling Indigenous kinship to the planetary diagnoses made by system‐based planetary sciences. The resulting form of Earth jurisprudence in Harmony with Nature holds important, cautionary lessons both for understanding how Indigenous legal traditions are made to comport with UN sustainable development programmes and for contemporary efforts to transform governance to meet the pressing demands of global environmental change. For over a decade, the UN's Harmony with Nature programme has pursued a new philosophy for global governance known as Earth jurisprudence. Earth jurisprudence seeks to align Indigenous legal traditions, rights of nature, and a systems‐view of law. This paper critically examines the conceptual basis and policy development of Earth jurisprudence within the Harmony with Nature programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience thinking is a common component in the planning and implementation of interventions in humanitarian activities, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and food security. Attention to the concept of livelihood resilience specifically has grown in these sectors in order to improve households' resilience to the impacts of climate change and other shocks. However, resilience is difficult to empirically measure and commonly-used approaches are top-down, expert-driven, and suffer from measurement-bias. To address these issues, in this paper we explore the contributions of geographers to this research, critique top-down objective measurements of resilience, highlight the benefits of employing subjective conceptualizations of resilience, and outline methods for measuring subjective resilience with participatory methods. By drawing from both objective and subjective methods of analysis we can expand upon the normative questions of "resilience of what, to what, and for whom" to include "resilience as defined and measured by whom" in future research and policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector faces multiple challenges linked to increased climate uncertainty, causing severe shocks including increased frequency of extreme weather events, new pest and disease risks, soil degradation, and pre and postharvest food losses. This situation is further exacerbated by geopolitical instability and volatility in energy prices impacting on fertiliser supplies and production costs. Net zero strategies are vital to achieve both food security and address negative environmental impacts. This perspective paper reviews and assesses the most viable options (actions) to achieve net zero with a focus on the arable/livestock and protected cropping sectors in the UK. The methodology was based on a synthesis of relevant literature, coupled with expert opinions using the holistic PESTLE (Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) approach to categorise actions, leading to formulation of a roadmap to achieve net zero. The PESTLE analysis indicated that there are technically and economically viable actions available which need to be prioritised depending on the ease of their implementation within the two crop sectors investigated. These actions include (i) policy changes that are better aligned to net zero; (ii) circular economy approaches; (iii) connectivity and accessibility of information; (iv) increased resilience to shocks; (v) changing diets, nutrition and lifestyles; (vi) target setting and attainment; and (vii) farm economics and livelihoods. The outputs can be used by stakeholders and decision makers to inform policy and drive meaningful changes in global food and environmental security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global land cover (GLC) information with fine spatial resolution is a fundamental data input for studies on biogeochemical cycles of the Earth system and global climate change. Although there are several public GLC products with 30 m resolution, considerable inconsistencies were found among them, especially in fragmented regions and transition zones, which brings great uncertainties to various application tasks. In this paper, we developed an improved global land cover map in 2015 with 30 m resolution (GLC-2015) by fusing multiple existing land cover (LC) products based on the Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence (DSET). Firstly, we used more than 160 000 global point-based samples to locally evaluate the reliability of the input products for each land cover class within each 4 ∘ × 4 ∘ geographical grid for the establishment of the basic probability assignment (BPA) function. Then, Dempster's rule of combination was used for each 30 m pixel to derive the combined probability mass of each possible land cover class from all the candidate maps. Finally, each pixel was determined with a land cover class based on a decision rule. Through this fusing process, each pixel is expected to be assigned the land cover class that contributes to achieving a higher accuracy. We assessed our product separately with 34 711 global point-based samples and 201 global patch-based samples. Results show that the GLC-2015 map achieved the highest mapping performance globally, continentally, and ecoregionally compared with the existing 30 m GLC maps, with an overall accuracy of 79.5 % (83.6 %) and a kappa coefficient of 0.757 (0.566) against the point-based (patch-based) validation samples. Additionally, we found that the GLC-2015 map showed substantial outperformance in the areas of inconsistency, with an accuracy improvement of 19.3 %–28.0 % in areas of moderate inconsistency and 27.5 %–29.7 % in areas of high inconsistency. Hopefully, this improved GLC-2015 product can be applied to reduce uncertainties in the research on global environmental changes, ecosystem service assessments, and hazard damage evaluations. The GLC-2015 map developed in this study is available at 10.6084/m9.figshare.22358143.v2 (Li et al., 2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quadruped robot has a strong motion performance and broad application prospects in practical applications. However, during the movement of the quadruped robot, it is easy to be affected by external disturbance and environmental changes, which makes it unable to achieve the ideal effect movement. Therefore, it is very important for the quadruped robot to adjust actively according to its own state detection. This paper proposes an active state adjustment control method based on its own state, which can realize disturbance recovery and active environment adaptation. Firstly, the controller is designed according to the physical model of the quadruped robot, and the foot forces are optimized using the quadratic program (QP) method. Then, the disturbance compensation method based on dynamic analysis is studied and combined with the controller itself. At the same time, according to the law of biological movement, the movement process of the quadruped robot is actively adjusted according to the different movement environment, so that it can adapt to various complex environments. Finally, it is verified in a simulation environment and quadruped robot prototype. The results show that the quadruped robot has a strong active disturbance recovery ability and active environment adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As our planet faces more frequent and severe environmental threats due to climate change (including threats to biodiversity), environmental justice will be essential to ensure that the costs and burdens of combating these threats are shared equally, borne by all people worldwide in a fair and equitable manner. If the past is any indicator, however, environmental problems—and their "solutions"—disproportionately affect poor communities and communities of color, including Indigenous communities. Despite these past injustices, Indigenous lands, which make up only 20 percent of the Earth's territory, contain 80 percent of the world's remaining biodiversity—evidence that Indigenous peoples are among the most effective stewards of the environment. A primary reason for this remarkable statistic is the use and practice of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge; ecological wisdom which has been passed down for generations and has been shown to strengthen community resilience in response to the multiple stressors of global environmental change. While the United States government has been slow to acknowledge the value of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, it has recently begun to incorporate that knowledge into environmental policy in response to the worldwide climate crisis. Continuing the integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge into government environmental policy will ensure that such policies will be more effective at the federal, state, and local levels and more equitable in their application. Western scientists, government officials, and global leaders need to build trusting and co-equal relationships with Indigenous communities by actively listening to all cultures and respecting the many kinds of knowledge systems required to conserve the natural world and all living beings. This paper will address how incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into U.S. policy would help safeguard the environment from further biodiversity loss and other ecological destruction, and advance environmental justice to ensure the fair treatment of all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clues of climate change on the Alashan Plateau since the last glacial period (40 ka) are important for revealing the mechanism of desertification of middle-latitude deserts in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). Studies are still rare for the understanding of the specific relationship of climate changes between the Alashan Plateau and the global. Based on a systematic and comparative analysis of the existing research in China and the international academic community, this paper reviews the environmental evolution history of the Alashan Plateau since the last glacial period from the records of paleo-environment and geomorphological characteristics in different deserts of the plateau (e.g., Badanjilin, Tenggeli, and Wulanbuhe). From about 40 ka to the end of the last glacial maximum, the climate on the plateau was wetter than it is today, and to the end of the Pleistocene, the climate was generally dry and the aeolian activities were enhanced. However, the climate was arid during the whole last glacial period in the Wulanbuhe Desert, evidently different from the overall pattern of the plateau. The Tenggeli Desert was characterized by an arid climate in the early Holocene. The most controversial events for the Alashan Plateau are the drought events in the middle Holocene in the Badanjilin Desert. The role and impact of the westerlies and the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) systems on the climate change of the desert and even the whole plateau is a vexed question that brings different views in different periods. There is still a lack of definite evidence representing the events of global environmental change that occurred on the plateau during the discussed period. The distinctive morphology of dune mountains and the distribution of sand dunes are mutually indicative of the direction and energy of wind systems on the plateau. It is suggested that appropriate wind energy is the significant key to the desertification in these middle-latitude deserts on the plateau. From a global-scale review of climate change, the desertification of the modern-scale sandy desert landscapes on the Alashan Plateau is generally related to the global glacial period and the cold and dry climate during the past 40 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One was the Planetary Boundaries framework, introduced by Johan Rockström and colleagues in 2009, which aims to provide a natural-science based framework for describing a Holocene-like state of the Earth System and the intrinsic boundaries of the Earth System that should not be transgressed if such a stable state is to be maintained (Rockström et al. [10]). Introducing the Anthropocene: The human epoch: This article belongs to Ambio's 50th Anniversary Collection. The other is the polycentric governance systems approach introduced by the late Elinor Ostrom ([9]), which, in the context of the S et al. paper, was proposed as a more appropriate governance system for the Anthropocene than the present governance systems that are driving us deeper towards a planetary crisis. The SCM paper foreshadowed the debate on the start date for the Anthropocene, which became prominent from 2009 with the formation then of the Anthropocene Working Group to explore the Anthropocene as a potential new interval in the Geologic Time Scale (AWG [1]). [Extracted from the article]

Environmental and climate change education remains on the margins of education and climate change policy. This paper draws on Foucauldian theoretical resources to examine England's climate change education policy landscape and understand the causes of this marginalisation. Informed by policy historiography, we examine key events and shifts in climate change, education and environmental education since the turn of the millennium. Using policy archaeology, we 'excavate' the contemporary policy landscape and identify that: i) policy is lacking; ii) responding to the climate crisis is overlooked in education; iii) pro-environmental ambition is absent; and, iv) economic values dominate. In a global context where activists have called for 'more!' climate change education, the analyses reveal the complexity of the problem. A 'web of conditions' governing climate change education policy is illuminated. Foucault-informed analytical tools offer insights on how this web may be rebuilt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, global environmental changes have been taking place with increasing intensity and dynamics. Global environmental problems are an important part of the complex of global problems that are becoming an increasingly discussed topic. The aim of the paper is to analyze the causes of global environmental problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne and spaceborne platforms are the primary data sources for large-scale forest mapping, but visual interpretation for individual species determination is labour-intensive. Hence, various studies focusing on forests have investigated the benefits of multiple sensors for automated tree species classification. However, transferable deep learning approaches for large-scale applications are still lacking. This gap motivated us to create a novel dataset for tree species classification in Central Europe based on multi-sensor data from aerial, Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery. In this paper, we introduce the TreeSatAI Benchmark Archive, which contains labels of 20 European tree species (i.e., 15 tree genera) derived from forest administration data of the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany. We propose models and guidelines for the application of the latest machine learning techniques for the task of tree species classification with multi-label data. Finally, we provide various benchmark experiments showcasing the information which can be derived from the different sensors including artificial neural networks and tree-based machine learning methods. We found that residual neural networks (ResNet) perform sufficiently well with weighted precision scores up to 79 % only by using the RGB bands of aerial imagery. This result indicates that the spatial content present within the 0.2 m resolution data is very informative for tree species classification. With the incorporation of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery, performance improved marginally. However, the sole use of Sentinel-2 still allows for weighted precision scores of up to 74 % using either multi-layer perceptron (MLP) or Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) models. Since the dataset is derived from real-world reference data, it contains high class imbalances. We found that this dataset attribute negatively affects the models' performances for many of the underrepresented classes (i.e., scarce tree species). However, the class-wise precision of the best performing late fusion model still reached values ranging from 54 % (Acer) to 88 % (Pinus). Based on our results, we conclude that deep learning techniques using aerial imagery could considerably support forestry administration in the provision of large-scale tree species maps at a very high resolution to plan for challenges driven by global environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest biomass is an important influencing factor in the study of global environmental and climate change, and plays an important role in the study of the carbon cycle. It is important to estimate forest biomass in a region quickly and accurately. In order to explore the biomass research method at the single-wood scale in the urban forestry demonstration base of Northeast Forestry University (NEFU), the biomass estimation model of the same tree species in the target sample site was obtained, and the above-ground biomass of the target tree species was obtained. In this paper, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was used to acquire remote sensing images of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica in the modeling and validation sample plots in the urban forestry demonstration base of NEFU. The UAV remote sensing images were pre-processed and the diameter at breast height (DBH) of all Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica in the modeling and validation plots (Plot1 and Plot2) was measured. The images were segmented and crown information was extracted. The eCognition software was used to extract the information from the remote sensing images and to automatically segment and classify the single tree crowns. The information was imported into ArcGIS software and the crown area of all the Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica was counted. The above-ground biomass of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica in the sample plots was estimated. Combined with the measured DBH data, the model was fitted to the Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica data in the sample plots, and an optimal model of crown areaDBH was fitted. With the help of the empirical model of DBH - biomass, the above-ground biomass of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica was derived. The results showed that the above-ground biomass of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica in the target sample plots can be effectively estimated by using UAV remote sensing technology and the fitted optimal model. The total biomass of the modeling plot1 was 6 315 kg and the validation plot2 was 5 802 kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global land cover (GLC) information with fine spatial resolution is a fundamental data input for studies on biogeochemical cycles of the Earth system and global climate change. Although there are several public GLC products with 30 m resolution, considerable inconsistencies were found among them especially in fragmented regions and transition zones, which brings great uncertainties to various application tasks. In this paper, we developed an improved global land cover map in 2015 with 30 m resolution (GLC-2015) by fusing multiple existing land cover products based on the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence (DSET). Firstly, we used more than 160,000 global point-based samples to locally evaluated the reliability of the input GLC products for each LC class within each 4°×4° geographical grid for the establishment of the basic probability assignment (BPA) function. Then, the Dempster's rule of combination was used for each 30 m pixel to derive the combined probability mass of each possible land cover class from all the candidate maps. Finally, each pixel was determined with a land cover class based on a decision rule. Through this fusing process, each pixel is expected to be assigned with the land cover class that contributes to achieve a higher accuracy. We assessed our product separately with 34,987 global point-based samples and 144 global patch-based samples. Results show that, the GLC-2015 map achieved the highest mapping performance globally, continentally, and eco-regionally compared with the existing 30 m GLC maps, with an overall accuracy of 76.0% (83.8%) and a kappa coefficient of 0.715 (0.548) against the point-based (patch-based) validation samples. Additionally, we found that the GLC-2015 map showed substantial outperformance in the areas of inconsistency, with an accuracy improvement of 17.6%-23.2% in areas of moderate inconsistency, and 21.0%-27 25.2% in areas of high inconsistency. Hopefully, this improved GLC-2015 product can be applied to reduce uncertainties in the research on global environmental changes, ecosystem service assessments, and hazard damage evaluations, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of Australian climate scientists in advancing the state of knowledge about the causes and mechanisms of climatic change and variability in the Southern Hemisphere during the 1970 and 1980s. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses the methods and insights of environmental history and the history of science to analyse archival and published data pertaining to research on atmospheric pollution, the Southern Oscillation and the regional impacts of climate change. Findings: Australia's geopolitical position, political interests and environmental sensitivities encouraged Australian scientists and policymakers to take a leading role in the Southern Hemisphere in the study of global environmental change. Originality/value: This article builds on critiques of the ways in which planetary and global knowledge and governance disguise the local and situated scientific and material processes that construct, sustain and configure them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: biological control; coccinellidae; Harmonia axyridis; IGP; invasive species; ladybirds EN biological control coccinellidae Harmonia axyridis IGP invasive species ladybirds 249 252 4 05/10/22 20220601 NES 220601 INTRODUCTION The spatial range of many species is shifting dramatically over time in response to environmental change (MacLean & Beissinger, 2017). Indeed, the paper by Brown et al. (2011) makes very limited reference to biological control, whilst Soares et al. (2008) do not once claim that I H. axyridis i , or other non-native ladybird species, lower the biological control potential of the ladybird guild. 5 Brown, P.M.J. & Roy, H.E. (2018) Native ladybird decline caused by the invasive harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis: evidence from a long-term field study. (2016) The influence of exotic lady beetle (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) establishment on the species composition of the native lady beetle community in Missouri. [Extracted from the article]

Introduces a series of articles regarding the impact of the mass extinction of rare and exotic species on global environment and evolution, published in the 1999 issue "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences."

William G. ('Bill') Chaloner FRS (1928–2016) was one of the world's leading palaeobotanists and palynologists. He developed a love of natural science at school which led to a penchant for palaeobotany at university. Bill graduated in 1950 from the University of Reading, and remained there for his PhD, supervised by Tom Harris, on the spores of Carboniferous lycopods. After completing his PhD in 1953, Bill undertook a postdoctoral fellowship in the USA. He returned to the UK and, in 1956, began a long and distinguished academic career at four colleges of the University of London. His first position was at University College London, where he continued to work on Paleozoic palaeobotany and palynology. His 1958 paper on the effects of fluctuating sea levels on Carboniferous pollen-spore assemblages proved highly influential. Bill moved to a Chair at Birkbeck College in 1972, began to use the scanning electron microscope and was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society in 1976. He is the only pre-Quaternary palynologist to have been given the latter honour. In 1979, Bill was appointed to the Chair of Botany at Bedford College where he began to apply plant fossil evidence to general scientific problems. He began to work on arthropod–plant interactions, fossil charcoal and growth rings in wood. Bill was awarded the Medal for Scientific Excellence by the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists in 1984. Bedford College and Royal Holloway College merged in 1985, and Bill moved to the amalgamated institution. Bill continued to investigate very diverse topics, and added the analysis of leaf stomata, global environmental change and molecular palaeontology to his portfolio. Following retirement in 1994, Bill continued his research and teaching at Royal Holloway, University of London. His final paper was published in 2016, bringing to an end a research career of 66 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates the significance of the palimpsest as a conceptual and representational tool to analyze urban transformations over time. Focusing on urbanization in Mumbai, India, this paper examines the growth of the service sector through the re-shaping of an urban periphery. Based on qualitative field-based research for ten months in 2015–16, I examine how Malad, formerly a periphery dotted with fishing villages became a service sector hub, and an area epitomizing Mumbai's urban modernization. Through a series of collages, I illustrate changes in Malad's urban morphology resulting from a long history of colonial and postcolonial land transactions that facilitated infill and land reclamation, and their acceleration since the 1990s. The layers of the palimpsest make visible the environmental and livelihood damage in the form of toxicity, reduced fish availability and loss of other environmental resources, otherwise absent in the dominant narrative surrounding Malad's transformation. Through the palimpsest, embodied environmental associations of livelihood and loss are uneasily juxtaposed with narrower neoliberal conceptions of sustainability that frame service sector development. I show how the palimpsest as an analytic can represent the power nexus embroiled in transforming urban environments with repercussions on urban ecological systems and erase embodied associations of indigenous communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the interactive effects of soil temperature (Tsoil) and nutrient supply on the responses of growth and biomass of white birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) to atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]), seedlings were grown under two [CO2] (360 and 720 µmol·mol–1), three Tsoil (5, 15, and 25 °C initially, increased to 7, 17, and 27 °C one month later), and three nutrient regimes (Low: N–P–K = 4:1.8:3.3 mg·L–1; Intermediate: N–P–K = 80:35:66 mg·L–1; and High: N–P–K = 160:70:132 mg·L–1) for 4 months. Low Tsoil reduced leaf and total biomass at high nutrient supply and root biomass at intermediate and high nutrient supply. There were significant three-factor interactive effects on root collar diameter (RCD), stem biomass, and leaf mass ratio. Low Tsoil reduced RCD at high nutrient supply and stem biomass at intermediate and high nutrient supply in elevated [CO2] while intermediate and high Tsoil enhanced them. Values of leaf mass ratio were lowest at low Tsoil and low nutrient supply in elevated [CO2]. The effect of Tsoil was generally insignificant at low nutrient supply, but the responses of growth and biomass remained significantly higher under high than low nutrient supply at all Tsoil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Irish Iron Age is a relatively enigmatic period, a time of profound societal and environmental change, and while our understanding has been greatly expanded over the last few decades, the nuances of life at the time remain ambiguous. Recent excavations at Carroweighter, Co. Roscommon, have revealed intriguing and rare evidence for contrasting burial practices dating to the latter centuries of the first millennium BC. The archaeological remains represent the cremation burial of a seemingly important local individual placed in the centre of a large enclosure and the mutilated unburnt body of a non-local male dumped in the open ditch of the same site. While not contemporary, the timing of the latter burial appears to have occurred within living memory of the cremation, suggesting that this monument retained significance for the community and was deliberately selected for this event. Analysis of multi-isotope data suggests that the man in the ditch arrived in this locale during his older childhood, having spent his formative years in a much colder climate than western Ireland. His consequence was such that at the time of his death he was afforded the privilege of burial at an ancestral burial monument, but the mode of his ignominious deposition indicates a dramatic reduction in social status, and perhaps reflects enactment of a punitive code for an unknown transgression. This paper presents the results of multidisciplinary analyses (including osteological, isotopic, artefactual, environmental and radiocarbon-dating evidence) undertaken to investigate the identity of the two individuals buried at Carroweighter and poses some tentative interpretation of their respective treatment in death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molluscs are remarkably diverse and are found across nearly all ecosystems, meaning that members of this ancient animal phylum provide a powerful means to study genomic-phenotype connections in a climate change framework. Recent advances in genomic sequencing technologies and genome assembly approaches finally allow the relatively cheap and tractable assembly of high-quality mollusc genome resources. After a brief review of these issues and advances, we use a case-study approach to provide some concrete examples of phenotypic plasticity and genomic adaptation in molluscs in response to environmental factors expected to be influenced by climate change. Our goal is to use molluscs as a "common currency" to demonstrate how organismal and evolutionary biologists can use natural systems to make phenotype-genotype connections in the context of changing environments. In parallel, we emphasize the critical need to collaborate and integrate findings across taxa and disciplines in order to use new data and information to advance our understanding of mollusc biology in the context of global environmental change. We end with a brief synthetic summary of the papers inspired by the 2021 SICB Symposium "Genomic Perspectives in Comparative Physiology of Molluscs: Integration across Disciplines". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wireless sensor networks, dynamic environmental changes may lead to the distribution of some sensors becoming very dense, which leads to the waste of communication resources in distributed estimation. In this paper, it is proposed that Event‐triggered distributed dynamic adaptive‐neighbour selection LMS (ET‐dyANDLMS) algorithm can effectively solve the problems mentioned above. On the one hand, the network communication resources are reduced by the adaptive‐neighbour selection. On the other hand, the network data redundancy is reduced by the event‐trigger mechanism. From a theoretical point of view, the algorithm converges stably in mean meaning and mean square meaning, and the communication cost is reduced compared with other distributed algorithms. The theoretical analysis results verified by experimental simulation demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late Pliocene is considered the key period of transition to the Quaternary glaciations. In this paper, we present pollen records from the PL02 borehole of the Yinchuan Basin, which is located in Northwest China and has a favourable sedimentary environment for the 3.04–2.88 Ma period, to explore changes in palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate. The results showed that the vegetation in the basin was dominated by typical steppe from 3.04 to 3.01 Ma, indicating that the climate was warm and humid; from 3.01 to 2.93 Ma, the vegetation was dominated by desert steppe, and the climate gradually became drier; after 2.97 Ma, the degree of drought intensified; and from 2.93 to 2.88 Ma, the vegetation was dominated by typical steppe, and the climate became relatively humid. At approximately 2.93 Ma, the percentage and concentration of pollen from broadleaved trees and the Artemisia to Chenopodiaceae (A/C) ratio increased rapidly, indicating that the climate had suddenly become humid, which may have been related to the strengthening of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) caused by the final closure of the Panama Seaway. At approximately 2.90 Ma, broadleaved pollen decreased rapidly, suggesting that the climate rapidly became cold, which may indicate the onset and expansion of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. We suggest that climate change in the Yinchuan Basin is closely related to global environmental changes and has global characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades climate change has been gaining importance in international scientific and political debates. However, the social sciences, especially in Latin America, have only lately become interested in the subject and their approach is still vague. Scientific understanding of global environmental change and the process of designing public policies to face them are characterized by their complexity as well as by epistemic and normative uncertainties. This makes it necessary to problematize the way in which research efforts understand 'the social' of climate change. How do 'the climate' and 'the social' interpenetrate as scientific objects? What does the resulting field look like? Is the combination capable of promoting reflexivity and collaboration on the issue, or does it merely become dispersed with diffuse boundaries? Our paper seeks to answer these and other related questions using Chile as a case study and examining peer-reviewed scientific research on the topic. By combining in-depth qualitative content analysis of each paper with a statistical meta-analysis, we were able to: characterize the key content and forms of such literature; identify divisions and patterns within it; and, discuss some factors and trends that may help explain these. We conclude that the literature displays two competing trends: while it is inclined to become fragmented beyond the scope of the 'mitigation' black box, it also tends to cluster along the lines of methodological distinctions traditionally contested within the social sciences. This, in turn, highlights the persistence of disciplinary divisions within an allegedly interdisciplinary field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of landscape degradation interprets the process in landscape ecological sense, i.e. the degradation of one landscape forming factor leads to the degradation of the whole landscape. The consequence is a persistent decline in land productivity and in the provision of other ecosystem services. Global environmental change is driven mainly by human influence in the Anthropocene with an exponentially growing significance in time. Global environmental processes are very much interrelated. Because of population growth more food, fibre, clean water, energy etc. will be needed and there are two ways to achieve this, either to gain new areas for cultivation by changing present land use or to intensify cultivation in the areas with the best conditions for cultivation. Deforestation and forest degradation are dealt with in detail in the paper. The introduction of soil degradation processes follows the system given in the EEA Environmental Assessment Report (2003). The effect of landscape degradation on ecosystem services is well explained by the fact that approximately 20 per cent of the Earth's vegetated surface shows persistent declining trends in productivity, mainly as a result of land/water use and management practices (UNCCD 2017). Landscape degradation processes of Hungary are discussed in the paper, including sheet, gully and wind erosion, soil sealing, salinization, physical degradation, landslides, desertification. An estimation of the aesthetical value of the landscape is provided as well concluding that the surface of the country represents a relatively high aesthetical value. The main conclusion is that Hungarian landscapes are well maintained and they belong to the most precious European landscapes. It should be added that all degradation processes represent important environmental problems to be combatted on the basis of a well-established policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a paper about the speed and intensity with which new and intensive human land use in a semi-arid environment can bring about large-scale environmental change. In particular, this paper pinpoints how and why it was that the Yellow River shifted from a long-term condition of relative stability to a later state of frequent floods and course changes in the eleventh century. It is possible to trace the environmental history of this dramatic and sudden change of state with precision and confidence. Historical sources that record the dates and characteristics of flood events downstream align well with those that note the locations and dates of human activity upstream. More important, each aligns well not only with one another, but also with information from environmental science: sediment cores that preserve soil and pollen evidence for the timing and processes of systematic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This themed section is aimed at presenting different contributes on climatic-environmental migration. With this paper we set out to provide an introduction of the subject: this includes a general review of relevant publications and a brief analysis of global scenarios. The second part of the paper gives a general interpretation of the issue, using a historical-social procedural method, of the global ecology of migrations. The ecological approach is based on the need to integrate the geographical and the historical aspects of the subject, and to consider both local and global dimensions. The authors examine the subject of climatic-environmental migration up to the present day, demonstrating the complex relations between environmental and geopolitical issues as determiners of migratorial phenomena. An analysis of the relations between climatic-environmental migration and urban dynamics draws the reader's attention to certain problematic areas and potential vicious circles, most notably the problem of urban gigantism, especially in river delta areas, in African and Asiatic cities. We conclude with an introduction of the five papers of the theme section. One is on the effects of environmental change on migration in the future, and possible policy responses and the other one is on environmental racism and migrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how daily changes in the physical environment intersect and connect with people's everyday lives, routines and practices in the Maldives. Day‐to‐day life is often regarded as mundane and ordinary, and therefore not particularly worthy of study. As this paper argues, however, the everyday is central to understanding how environmental change occurs and how people respond to it. Much recent work has challenged the ontological separation of the human and non‐human, yet approaches to examining environment–everyday connections have, to date, been largely unidirectional, focusing on either how the environment impacts on human practices or is impacted by them. Using the notion of the everyday, this paper explores how "impacting on" and "impacted by" are entangled, ongoing cyclical processes that unfold daily. It draws on a series of innovative methodologies conducted with island‐base communities to examine three key changes in the physical environment that are taking place in the context of the recent and rapid development of tourism on inhabited islands: sand excavation and erosion, the appearance and removal of rubbish and debris, and the expansion of the built environment. The paper reveals the significance of these day‐to‐day changes and the ways in which they are accommodated by, and incorporated into, the spatial and temporal dimensions of people's daily practices. It concludes by suggesting that an appreciation of the everyday can contribute to new understandings of human/non‐human entanglements. This paper explores how daily changes in the physical environment intersect and connect with people's everyday lives, routines and practices in the Maldives. It examines three keys changes in the physical environment that are taking place in the context of the recent and rapid development of tourism on inhabited islands: sand excavation and erosion, the appearance and removal of rubbish and debris, and the expansion of the built environment. The paper reveals the significance of these day‐to‐day changes and the ways in which they are accommodated by, and incorporated into, the spatial and temporal dimensions of people's daily practices. It concludes by suggesting that an appreciation of the everyday can contribute to new understandings of human/non‐human entanglements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]