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Summary: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the character of academic conferences has changed. Formerly, conferences required the physical presence of their members and audiences. However, travel restrictions due to the pandemic caused a shift in the traditional conference format, thus resulting in the rise of online conferences after 2020. In 2021 and 2022, the journal "Diversity" similarly organized online conferences. The well-attended online conference in March of 2021 attracted a wide range of speakers on biodiversity, ecology and evolution, as well as on 17 publications from this Special Issue. The publications cover several timely aspects of biodiversity, such as the importance of invasive species, the ecology of urbanization, the effects of drought on wildlife in Southern Africa, the results of human activities on insect, mammal, bird, reptile and amphibia populations, and the genetic diversity of animal breeds, microbiomes and planktonic organisms. Additionally, taxonomic and biosystematic topics are also covered in several SI publications.

Summary: The correct management of territory and its planning based on scientific criteria in the face of the anthropogenic impacts of human activities is one of the main challenges in the 21st century. This publication includes some of the latest advancements in environmental planning and spatial analysis related to the ecological management of territory from a multidisciplinary perspective. The research papers from different researchers, scholars and experts in this field included in this collection were published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health after undergoing a rigorous anonymous peer review process.

Summary: This paper discusses large-scale technologies, which are proposed as emergency solutions for avoiding catastrophic climate change. Their use is highly controversial, notably because of risks of large-scale environmental damage and the danger of distracting from other climate policies. Some of these technologies are known as geoengineering or climate engineering. This paper examines stratospheric aerosol injection, ocean fertilisation, and artificial islands as case studies. As the analysis of the rules of international law relevant to these three technologies shows, international law takes on different and partly conflicting roles towards such technologies. Nonetheless, a strong precautionary legal core opposing risky technological endeavours can be identified. However, there is a danger of this precautionary stance of international law being diluted by research and new regulation that make emergency technologies appear as viable policy options. International law does not currently safeguard against the promise of such technologies distracting from mitigation and adaptation. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Vahabzadeh Foundation for financially supporting the publication of best works by young researchers of the Graduate Institute, giving a priority to those who have been awarded academic prizes for their master's dissertations.

Summary: This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue titled "Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Urban Cultural Heritage" hosted at the Atmosphere journal. This topic has been chosen in light of cities' ever-growing role and immense potential in the climate adaptation and mitigation discourse and the particular challenges regarding urban heritage making and conservation. It is critical to recognise the complex set of factors governing the physical, social and political future of urban heritage in cityscapes in constant transformation and in an era of planetary urbanisation. The 10 papers (seven research papers, two reviews and one opinion piece) that comprise the issue give a broad cross-section of the issues pertinent to this important topic - accounts on practices and conceptual/methodological improvements in energy retrofit and reuse, risk mapping, urban planning, climate vulnerability assessment, and community engagement by 38 authors from seven countries are used to delineate the implications of current and likely future climates on heritage materials and systems, knowledge and practice gaps, as well as steps that need to be taken to ensure both their safeguarding and their valorisation to achieve climate resiliency.

Summary: Within the framework of tourism companies and tourist destinations, the question of sustainability is gaining importance. Tourists are increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability criteria, awarding greater value to sustainable destinations. Sustainability refers to a wide range of aspects related to climate change, the economic organization of tourism, social values or questions, job creation, and the necessary protection of the culture of destinations and the environment. Therefore, there is a need for studies that consider these aspects in order to achieve the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Fundamental to this is discovering to what degree tourism companies and destinations approach these questions in the strategies they use to deal with problems stemming from their attempts to be more sustainable. Conceptual papers and empirical research on the economic, social, cultural, and environmental aspects related to tourism companies and destinations are welcome. Studies that analyze how these questions and the concept of sustainability are included in tourism companies and destinations are necessary in these modern times. This book was established for these reasons, dedicated to examining sustainability in tourism. The papers included in this Special Issue can help us to determine the new directions being addressed in the research on sustainability tourism.

Summary: This book is a collection of all papers published in the Special Issue "Coastal Vulnerability and Mitigation Strategies: From Monitoring to Applied Research". The main focus is to provide the state-of-the-art and recent research updates on sustainable management strategies for protecting vulnerable coastal areas. Based on 28 contributions from authors representing 17 different countries (Australia, China, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, UK, USA), an ensemble of interdisciplinary articles has been collected, emphasizing the importance of tackling technical and scientific problems at different scales and from different point of views.

Summary: The concept of resilience has arisen as a "new way of thinking", becoming a response to both the causes and effects of ongoing global challenges. As it strongly stresses cities' transformative potential, resilience's final purpose is to prevent and manage unforeseen events and improve communities' environmental and social quality. Although the resilience theory has been investigated in depth, several methodological challenges remain, mainly related to the concept's practical sphere. As a matter of fact, resilience is commonly criticised for being too ambiguous and empty of meaning. At the same time, turning resilience into practice is not easy to do. This will arguably be one of the most impactful global issues for future research on resilience. The Special Issue "Bridging the Gap: The Measure of Urban Resilience" falls under this heading, and it seeks to synthesise state-of-the-art knowledge of theories and practices on measuring resilience. The Special Issue collected 11 papers that address the following questions: "What are the theoretical perspectives of measuring urban resilience? What are the existing methods for measuring urban resilience? What are the main features that a technique for measuring urban resilience needs to have? What is the role of measuring urban resilience in operationalising cities' ability to adapt, recover and benefit from shocks?"

Summary: Natural World Heritage sites, such as the Serengeti, or Natural and Cultural Heritage sites, such as the Historic Centre of Rome, have the common feature of being a treasured resource of global importance. The 1121 properties on the World Heritage (WH) list have permanent recognized value for humankind. Most of those >1000 locations are at some risk from changes in climate. Globally, scholars and managers seek to understand current and future climatic stresses, mitigation and adaptation opportunities. There is a strong need for the "So What?" in World Heritage studies. The invited papers in this volume address natural, cultural and mixed WH sites, and each offers a fresh perspective on assessing the degree of risk from changing climate and guidance on acting to mitigate and adapt to climate changes to provide new awareness and tools to improve their state of conservation for the future.

Summary: This book is a compilation of original research articles that apply a variety of techniques to identify and evaluate water resource management policies. These papers cover a wide range of topics and methodologies applied across the world, from a local to a continental scope. They illustrate open challenges in water resource management, such as the quantitative assessment of policy impacts, trade-off analyses, understanding the water-energy-food-environment nexus, collaborative model development, stakeholder engagement, formalizing social interactions, or improving the theoretical understanding of complex adaptive systems. Therefore, this book is a representation of research areas that have emerged from the origins of water resource systems analysis, seeking to improve the way in which water policy is formulated and implemented.

Summary: This open access book offers a selection of research papers and case studies presented at the 3rd international conference "Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions", held in December 2019 in Bolzano, Italy, and explores the concept of smart and sustainable planning, including top contributions from academics, policy makers, consultants and other professionals. Innovation processes such as co-design and co-creation help establish collaborations that engage with stakeholders in a trustworthy and transparent environment while answering the need for new value propositions. The importance of an integrated, holistic approach is widely recognized to break down silos in local government, in particular, when aimed at achieving a better integration of climate-energy planning. Despite the ongoing urbanization and polarization processes, new synergies between urban and rural areas emerge, linking development opportunities to intrinsic cultural, natural and man-made landscape values. The increasing availability of big, real-time urban data and advanced ICT facilitates frequent assessment and continuous monitoring of performances, while allowing fine-tuning as needed. This is valid not only for individual projects but also on a wider scale. In addition, and circling back to the first point, (big) urban data and ICT can be of enormous help in facilitating engagement and co-creation by raising awareness and by providing insight into the local consequences of specific plans. However, this potential is not yet fully exploited in standard processes and procedures, which can therefore lack the agility and flexibility to keep up with the pulse of the city and dynamics of society. The book provides a multi-disciplinary outlook based on experience to orient the reader in the giant galaxy of smart and sustainable planning, support the transposition of research into practice, scale up visionary approaches and design groundbreaking planning policies and tools.

Summary: Geothermal energy is a renewable, sustainable, and ecologically friendly resource of energy that can be captured with shallow or deep installations, or a combination of both-alone or integrated with other technologies. It can then be employed for a variety of purposes, for example, electricity generation, space heating and cooling, agriculture, and aquaculture. Given the nature/features of this green energy resource-such as being a local, climate-independent, potentially constant, robust, generally available, resilient, almost greenhouse gas-free, and long-lived energy source-geothermal solutions can and should make a more prominent contribution to the future global energy supply mix, in addition to helping lessen humanity's environmental footprint and enabling it to attain its sustainable development goals. This Special Issue, "New Trends in Enhanced, Hybrid and Integrated Geothermal Systems", addresses existing knowledge gaps and aids advance deployment of geothermal energy globally. It consists of eight peer-reviewed papers that cover a range of subjects and applications related to geothermal energy.

Summary: This book is a hard copy of the editorial and all the papers in a Special Issue of the peer-reviewed open access journal 'Water' on the theme 'Managed Aquifer Recharge for Water Resilience'. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is the purposeful recharge of water to aquifers for subsequent recovery or environmental benefit. MAR is increasingly used to make water supplies resilient to drought, climate change and deteriorating water quality, and to protect ecosystems from declining groundwater levels. Global MAR has grown exponentially to 10 cu.km/year and will increase ten-fold within a few decades. Well informed hydrogeologists, engineers and water quality scientists are needed to ensure that this investment is effective in meeting increasingly pressing needs. This compilation contains lessons from many examples of existing projects, including several national and continental summaries. It also addresses the elements essential for identifying and advancing projects such as mapping aquifer suitability and opportunities, policy matters, operational issues, and some innovations in MAR methods and monitoring. This collection exemplifies the state of progress in the science and practice of MAR and is intended to be useful, at least to water managers, water utilities, agricultural water users and urban planners, to facilitate water resilience through new MAR projects.

Summary: Energy transitions and environmental sustainability does not occur overnight as it may take years of policy debates both from within domestic jurisdictions and from international organisations. It often requires energy saving technology innovations to drive appropriate investment decisions that can then allow energy transition to occur. There is no one global solution. Countries progress in their energy transition goals by taking small steps as demonstrated in this special issue, "Energy Transition and Environmental Sustainability". This Special Issue provides thirteen interesting papers showing examples of projects undertaken or challenges encountered in various countries, such as: Legal reforms for energy transition in Taiwan and Japan; Transition towards solar PV in South Korea; Transition to electricity driven buses in Central Europe; Vehicle transition and the development of electric car production in the United States, the European Union and Japan; Cooling solutions for buildings in Pakistan; Projects in Ecuador to replace fossil fuel use with Hydropower; The Role of Electrification in the Decarbonization of Central-Western Europe; Energy technology innovation through the application of new technologies in oil resource development; Wastewater treatment challenges in Poland; Increased climate change litigation facing Australian Energy Companies; Renewable energy solution to a Childcare facility in Tokyo; and Canadian policies to support renewable gas production from organic waste. This Special Issue provides global perspectives and uncertainties on energy transition and will appeal to all levels of readers.