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Abstract Indonesia accounts for more than one third of the world's tropical peatlands. Much of the peatland in Indonesia has been deforested and drained, meaning it is more susceptible to fires, especially during drought and El Niño events. Fires are most common in Riau (Sumatra) and Central Kalimantan (Borneo) and lead to poor regional air quality. Measurements of air pollutant concentrations are sparse in both regions contributing to large uncertainties in both fire emissions and air quality degradation. We deployed a network of 13 low‐cost PM2.5 sensors across urban and rural locations in Central Kalimantan and measured indoor and outdoor PM2.5 concentrations during the onset of an El Niño dry season in 2023. During the dry season (September 1st to October 31st), mean outdoor PM2.5 concentrations were 136 μg m−3, with fires contributing 90 μg m−3 to concentrations. Median indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratios were 1.01 in rural areas, considerably higher than those reported during wildfires in other regions of the world (e.g., USA), indicating housing stock in the region provides little protection from outdoor PM2.5. We combined WRF‐Chem simulated PM2.5 concentrations with the median fire‐derived I/O ratio and questionnaire results pertaining to participants' time spent I/O to estimate 1.62 million people in Central Kalimantan were exposed to unhealthy, very unhealthy and dangerous air quality (>55.4 μg m−3) during the dry season. Our work provides new information on the exposure of people in Central Kalimantan to smoke from fires and highlights the need for action to help reduce peatland fires.

The emergence of palm oil as the world's most produced and consumed vegetable oil has prompted various policy initiatives to help govern the industry in a sustainable manner. These initiatives include transnational sustainable certification schemes, such as the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and national level sustainability standards, such as Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil. To date, attempts to find consensus on sustainable policy and processes has been characterised by tension and disagreement. Most notably, stakeholders participating in policy dialogue from producing countries are unsatisfied with the outcomes of transnational palm oil governance. Tension stems from observations that sustainability is understood differently in the palm oil producing countries of the Global South compared with Northern consumption markets. To understand the different framings of palm oil and potential governance solutions, we investigate media coverage of palm oil sustainability in two different countries: the Netherlands – the largest importer of palm oil in Europe – and Malaysia – the second largest exporter of palm oil in the world after Indonesia. From a sample of 397 Malaysian and Dutch newspaper articles between 2000 and 2015, we employ framing analysis to examine the similarities and differences in media representations of palm oil sustainability. Our findings reveal considerable differences in the way palm oil sustainability is framed in the two countries. Malaysian media frame palm oil as a sustainable industry yet underpinned by a distrust towards transnational sustainability governance (e.g. RSPO) and a perception of unfair treatment towards producing countries by the West. Conversely, Dutch media frame the West as proud consumers of palm oil, who are driving up sustainability standards through NGO scrutiny and participation in transnational processes. We argue that a comparative analysis of media frames offers instructive insights for understanding processes of transnational sustainability governance. In particular, we posit that reconciling policy tensions between North and South palm oil stakeholders could be achieved by highlighting the differences in sustainability framings at different points in the value chain to identify contestation and consensus.

This article discusses Cradle to Cradle (C2C) and circular economy designs including three key principles of C2C production as well as the so-called 9-R hierarchy of priorities in circular economy production. This article examines student assignments that apply these circular and C2C principles to the detergent brand Method, the refillable drinking bottle Dopper, and the packaging of Burger King. Product improvements identified by students include expanding transparency of the “invisible” aspects of production, such as the types of materials and energy used for packaging and transport, or the potential for take-back and repair. In the student analysis, it appears that the supposedly circular or C2C products have their shortcomings, especially when it comes to the first R of the 9-R hierarchy – Refuse or avoid making or buying new products. The larger lesson from these case studies is that the buzzword circularity might not be delivering on its promise of absolute decoupling of resource consumption from economic activity. Students are recommended to engage with tools, concepts, and approaches, such as critical thinking and degrowth strategies to provide insight into sustainable transformations for society.

The rise of palm oil as the world's most consumed vegetable oil has coincided with exponential growth in palm oil research activity. Bibliometric analysis of research outputs reveals a distinct imbalance in the type of research being undertaken, notably a disproportionate focus on biofuel and engineering topics. Recognizing the expansion of oil palm agriculture across the tropics and the increasing awareness of environmental, social, and economic impacts, we seek to reorientate the existing research agenda toward one that addresses the most fundamental and urgent questions defined by the palm oil stakeholder community. Following consultation with 659 stakeholders from 38 countries, including palm oil growers, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and researchers, the highest priority research questions were identified within 13 themes. The resulting 279 questions, including 26 ranked as top priority, reveal a diversity of environmental and social research challenges facing the industry, ranging from the ecological and ecosystem impacts of production, to the livelihoods of plantation workers and smallholder communities. Analysis of the knowledge type produced from these questions underscores a clear need for fundamental science programmes, and studies that involve the consultation of non-academic stakeholders to develop “transformative” solutions to the oil palm sector. Stakeholders were most aligned in their choice of priority questions across the themes of policy and certification related themes, and differed the most in environmental feedback, technology and smallholder related themes. Our recommendations include improved regional academic leadership and coordination, greater engagement with private and public stakeholders in Africa, and Central and South America, and enhanced collaborative efforts with researchers in the major consuming countries of India and China.

In the past decade, a small but growing body of research has drawn attention to the environmental concerns of rising greenhouse gas emissions associated with the consumption and production of food; this is an issue of increasing importance in Southeast Asia where rapid population growth is leading to year-on-year increases in food demand. To date, countries in Southeast Asia have shown little interest in addressing greenhouse gas emissions across the whole life cycle of food—production, processing, transportation, retailing, consumption, and final disposal—despite a growing awareness of climate change andits effects. This paper serves as a starting point to explore the relatively under-researched topic of greenhouse gas emission trends and the production and consumption of food in Southeast Asia, with particular focus on the Malaysian food sector. Previous research documenting greenhouse gas emissions from specific food products and components in the food supply chain has been used to determine the likely greenhouse gas ‘hotspots’ in Malaysia. The paper concludes by recommending the development of an overarching framework for Sustainable Food Systems in Malaysia and identifies specific areas of research to support this framework.