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Cities located in the Arctic often have extreme geographic and environmental contexts and unique sociopolitical and economic trajectories that, when combined with amplified effects of climate change in the region, impact future sustainable development. Well-recognized and standardized sustainable development indicator (SDI) frameworks such as ISO 37120 or UN-Habitat City Prosperity Index are often used to compare data across cities globally using comprehensive sets of indicators. While such indexes help characterize progress toward development and guide short- and long-term decision-making, they often lack relevance to specific contexts or characterize future visions of urban growth. To evaluate the extent of these deficiencies and to provide a comparative analysis of approaches to sustainable urban growth in the Arctic, this paper analyzes city planning documents for five northern cities - Anchorage (USA), Utqiagvik (USA), Reyjavik (ISL), Iqaluit, (CAN), Whitehorse, (CAN) - for goals, targets, and indicators and compare these to thematic areas and indicators defined by ISO 37120:2018 Sustainable Cities and Communities. The results confirm that although international SDI frameworks may be useful for comparative analysis of cities across diverse regions, they exclude important local factors that influence goal-oriented urban sustainability planning strategies employed in the Arctic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-civilization, as a civilizational discourse led by China, implies the next stage of civilization after industrial civilization, the essence of which is to respect, conform to, and protect nature. Although the international community is paying more attention to eco-civilization, the existing literature still lacks a systematic discussion of which theories and practices underpin the construction of eco-civilization. Due to the ambiguity of eco-civilization, some even criticize it as being a form of purely partisan politics in China. By systematically reviewing its theoretical pillars, practical actions, and major achievements, this perspective paper argues that China's eco-civilization is not a partisan politics, but rather a legitimate, imperative pathway to global sustainable development rooted in complementary theory and practice, i.e., theories guide practices, and practices enrich theories. We highlight that the theoretical basis and practical actions of eco-civilization constitute a continual improvement process that permits diverse viewpoints and understanding, and any action exploring how to achieve a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature is consistent with the values of eco-civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge co-production has become part of an evolution of participatory and transdisciplinary research approaches that are increasingly important for achieving sustainability. To effectively involve the most appropriate stakeholders there is a need for engagement and increasing prominence of stakeholders in environmental management and governance processes. The paper aims at developing and testing a methodology for stratifying stakeholders by (i) classifying organisations involved in coastal and ocean governance by their agency, and (ii) grouping them into organisational archetypes for representation and selection in research processes. Agency was measured by the three dimensions of scale, resources, and power. Each dimension was further elaborated as a set of indicators. The methodology is applied in the context of a research project set in Algoa Bay, South Africa. The stratification of organisations enabled the research team to gain a better understanding of the stakeholder landscape of organisational agency, and thus identify the most relevant stakeholder with which to engage. The use of a hierarchical cluster analysis identified five organisational archetypes in relation to ocean and coastal governance in Algoa Bay. The methodology used in this study proposes an informed and intentional approach to create the conditions under which the co-production of and participation in research processes can take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability certificates are increasingly used as tools for shaping bioeconomic production processes and trade. However, their specific effects are subjected to debate. A multitude of certificate schemes and standards are currently in use, defining and measuring sustainability in the bioeconomy in highly varying ways. Different representations of environmental effects, resulting from the use of different standards or scientific methods in certification, can have very real implications for how, where and to which degree bioeconomic production can be conducted and the environment will be conserved. Further, the implications for bioeconomic production practices and management embedded in the environmental knowledge employed in bioeconomic sustainability certificates will produce different winners and losers, and privilege some societal or individual concerns at the expense of others. In this way, sustainability certificates share some characteristics with other standards and policy tools that embody political contingencies, but are presented and often understood as objective and neutral. The paper argues that the politics of environmental knowledge involved in these processes warrant more awareness, scrutiny and explicit consideration from decision makers, policy developers and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inherited system features and challenges that can hinder urban planning initiatives must be taken into consideration before a path towards a sustainable future can be established. By putting the lock-in effect under scrutiny, it is possible to gain valuable insight to emphasize positive lock-ins and to prevent maladaptation and unsustainable solutions. This paper aims to review the current trends of urban studies regarding sustainability, resilience, and the lock-in effect, focusing on both hot topics and mutual integration by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR protocol) and analyzing the top-cited articles on these topics from 2015 to 2021 in the Web of Science database. Based on the revised literature, the potential lock-ins of climate-friendly and sustainable urban development are not adequately discussed. Moreover, while urban sustainability and resilience are often treated as overlapping areas, there is a lack of publications that carefully examine their interlinked long-term perspectives for any hindering effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides reflections on transdisciplinary knowledge coproduction and experimentation processes from sustainability researcher perspectives. It centers on a 5-year period of collaborative research with small- and medium-sized enterprises in an Urban Living Lab in the Swedish craft beer sector. Nine reflections cover a variety of issues and potentials encountered during numerous interactions with societal partners, and are structured by three levels: organizational, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Based on the reflections, authors then propose a set of seven considerations and recommendations for how to more effectively collaborate in such transdisciplinary constellations. The recommendations apply across the three levels, and describe an approach to collaborative research that asks the researcher to be open, transparent, self-aware and intentional, reflective and reflexive, and both adaptive and flexible. Furthermore, they aim to create soft structures to facilitate understanding and mutual learning, such as designating "organizational champions", as well as to embed collaborative reflections into recurring meetings with partners to maintain trust and capture sustainability knock-on opportunities as they arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper also catalyzed the establishment of the "International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems" (CHANS-Net) to promote and facilitate communications and collaborations between a diverse community of CHANS scholars. The CHANS paper was preceded by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment[1] and crystallization of sustainability science and resilience concepts, for example, and the CHANS paper brought these ideas together and helped link these communities. CHANS-Net has also supported many young scholars (e.g., CHANS Fellows) from all over the globe to attend, present, network, collaborate, and learn from senior scholars at the various events. All three concepts are often used interchangeably, although formally the latter two are subsets of CHANS because CHANS includes not only social dimensions but also many other human dimensions (e.g., economic, cultural) that are not emphasized in the term of "social-ecological systems". [Extracted from the article]

The transition towards a circular bioeconomy (CBE) in the European Union is not without contestation. In particular, research has highlighted potential trade-offs of the large-scale production of bio-resources, for instance with environmental quality goals. To date, however, it remains underexplored in the CBE literature how controversies develop throughout a transition process. To address this gap, this paper explores where controversies are situated in a transition, how they change throughout, and how they influence the transition process. First, we suggest that controversies can be situated on and between different system layers within a transition. Second, we offer an explanation of how controversies evolve, as actors confirm, integrate, disintegrate and polarize underlying storylines. Third, these controversies can have both productive and unproductive outcomes while they unfold throughout a transition. We illustrate this understanding with the example of biorefineries as CBE key technology and discuss a research agenda on controversies in sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expansion of aquaculture in the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve (SBR) is irreversibly replacing agricultural land and the drivers of this change are disputed. Based on in-depth interviews with 67 aquaculture farmers, this paper characterizes major aquaculture types in the SBR, their impacts, and identifies drivers of conversion from agricultural land. Aquaculture types included traditional, improved-traditional, modified-extensive, and semi-intensive systems. Extensive capture of wild shrimp larvae is environmentally harmful but constitutes an important livelihood. Semi-intensive aquaculture of exotic shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) has much higher unit-area profitability than other types but involves greater financial risk. Profitability is the main driver for the transition from agriculture, but environmental factors such as lowered crop yields and cyclone impacts also contributed. Many conversions from agriculture to aquaculture are illegal according to the stakeholders. Existing legislation, if enforced, could halt the loss of agriculture, while the promotion of improved-traditional aquaculture could reduce the demand for wild seed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City action is critical to achieving global visions for sustainability such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, SDG 'localisation' is complex procedure, with divergent outcomes depending on context and diverse city processes. This paper considers the operational challenges faced by city actors in taking on the SDGs, and subsequent implications for initiating local (and global) sustainability transitions. We analyse emergent approaches to SDG localisation within the Asia–Pacific, using a policy analysis framework (transition management) to assess transformation potential. We find that SDG localisation can influence urban sustainability, but effective implementation requires sufficient data, resourcing, and guidance—which are not readily, nor equally available to all city governments. City-to-city peer learning can accelerate SDG uptake, but realising the transformative ambition set out by the SDGs will require an approach to localisation that clearly demonstrates why and how any city government can and should engage with global sustainability frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-based solutions (NBS) were introduced as integrated, multifunctional and multi-beneficial solutions to a wide array of socio-ecological challenges. Although principles for a common understanding and implementation of NBS were already developed on a landscape scale, specific principles are needed with regard to an application in urban areas. Urban areas come with particular challenges including (i) spatial conflicts with urban system nestedness, (ii) specific urban biodiversity, fragmentation and altered environments, (iii) value plurality, multi-actor interdependencies and environmental injustices, (iv) path-dependencies with cultural and planning legacies and (v) a potential misconception of cities as being artificial landscapes disconnected from nature. Given these challenges, in this perspective paper, we build upon and integrate knowledge from the most recent academic work on NBS in urban areas and introduce five distinct, integrated principles for urban NBS design, planning and implementation. Our five principles should help to transcend governance gaps and advance the scientific discourse of urban NBS towards a more effective and sustainable urban development. To contribute to resilient urban futures, the design, planning, policy and governance of NBS should (1) consider the need for a systemic understanding, (2) contribute to benefiting people and biodiversity, (3) contribute to inclusive solutions for the long-term, (4) consider context conditions and (5) foster communication and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain social–ecological systems (SES) are often rich in biological and cultural diversity with sustained human–nature interactions. Many mountain SES are experiencing rapid environmental and socio-economic change, demanding viable action for conservation to sustain ecosystem services for the benefit of their communities. This paper is a synthesis of 71 case studies of mountain-specific SES, submitted to the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) that identifies major drivers of change, associated impacts, and response strategies. We find that overexploitation, land use change, demographic change, and the regional economy are the most prevalent drivers of change in the IPSI mountain SES, leading to negative consequences for biodiversity, livelihoods, indigenous knowledge, and culture. To counter these challenges in the study SES, stakeholders from the public, private, and civil society sectors have been implementing diverse legal, behavioral, cognitive, technological, and economic response strategies, often with strong community participation. We outline the lessons learned from the IPSI case studies to show how community-based approaches can contribute meaningfully to the sustainable management of mountain landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities can set in motion sustainability transitions through experimentation and innovation. To invest in and mainstream solutions that contribute to urban transformation agendas, urban planners needs to understand which innovations have transformational potential as well as how these innovations can accelerate sustainability transitions. In order to explore this, existing frameworks of transformative capacity provide the guidance, but they are generic, abstract, and challenging to apply for urban planning. As part of our effort to develop a more operational version of the transformative capacity framework by Wolfram (2016), we conducted a systematic scoping review of the academic literature to determine the characteristics of people-based and nature-based low-carbon innovations that constitutes their transformative capacity. After reviewing 65 records, we identified dimensions indicating each of the transformative capacity components through analysis and synthesis. Besides contributing to the science–policy interface through a knowledge synthesis on low-carbon people-based and nature-based innovations, this paper examines bridging frameworks to inform urban planners in developing practical solutions and actionable elements for low-carbon urban futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the future, the world is expected to rely increasingly on renewable biomass resources for food, fodder, fibre and fuel. The sustainability of this transition to bioeconomy for our water systems depends to a large extent on how we manage our land resources. Changes in land use together with climate change will affect water quantity and quality, which again will have implications for the ecosystem services provided by water resources. These are the main topics of this Ambio special issue on "Environmental effects of a green bio-economy". This paper offers a summary of the eleven papers included in this issue and, at the same time, outlines an approach to quantify and mitigate the impacts of bioeconomy on water resources and their ecosystem services, with indications of useful tools and knowledge needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acceptance by, and cooperation with relevant stakeholders in developing new sustainability initiatives when they are generally perceived as positive, is one of the keys for successful implementation of such new sustainability initiatives later on. It is remarkable, however, that ample literature exists about involving stakeholders in research projects focusing on problems with diverging views (controversy) around facts and values (wicked problems), but there is very little literature addressing whether and how to involve relevant stakeholders in case of initiatives where diverging norms and values do not play a (substantial) role, like in sustainability assessment for a future seaweed industry. This perspectives paper addresses that gap, and explores how to design such sustainability assessment, illustrated by how stakeholder interaction influenced the assessment and its results for a future seaweed industry in Sweden, followed by a discussion whether and how a similar approach may benefit sustainability assessment of other non-wicked sustainability initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triggered by such claims, we decided to investigate the fast expanding aquaculture industry, which resulted in the 1989 I Ambio i paper 'The role of ecosystems for a sustainable development of aquaculture' (Folke and Kautsky [5]). We proposed that sustainability leadership by such Keystone Actors could result in cascading effects throughout the entire seafood industry and possible enable a much needed transition towards improved management of marine living resources and ecosystems (Österblom et al. [19]; Jouffray et al. [13]). For the first time, the initiative connects the global seafood business to science, connects wild capture fisheries to aquaculture, and connects European and North American companies to Asian companies. Aquaculture and ocean stewardship: This article belongs to Ambio's 50th Anniversary Collection. [Extracted from the article]

The sustainability of large dams has been questioned on several grounds. One aspect that has been less explored is that the development of dams and reservoirs often enables agricultural expansion and urban growth, which in turn increase water consumption. As such, dam development influences, while being influenced by, the spatial and temporal distribution of both supply and demand of water resources. In this paper, we explore the interplay between large dams, patterns of population growth and agricultural expansion in the United States over the past two centuries. Based on a large-scale analysis of spatial and temporal trends, we identify three distinct phases, in which different processes dominated the interplay. Then, we focus on agricultural water use in the Southwest region (Arizona, California and Nevada) and explore chicken-and-egg dynamics where water supply partly meets and partly fuels water demand. Lastly, we show that the legacy of dams in the United States consists of a lock-in condition characterized by high levels of water consumption, especially in the Southwest, which leads to severe water crises and groundwater overexploitation when droughts occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2 Andersson E, Barthel S, Borgström S, Colding J, Elmqvist T, Folke C, Gren Å. Reconnecting cities to the biosphere: Stewardship of green infrastructure and urban ecosystem services. Chronologically first of the anniversary collection papers, Folke et al. ([6]) took a regional-global approach to urbanization and demonstrated how cities are part of the global biosphere and dependent upon the life-supporting functions and services generated by ecosystems. Enlivening our cities: Towards urban sustainability and resilience: This article belongs to Ambio's 50th Anniversary Collection. [Extracted from the article]

In this perspective, we present how three initial landmark papers on urban sustainability research contributed to the larger sustainability science scholarship and paved the way for the continued development of urban sustainability research. Based on this, we propose three conceptual innovation pathways to trace the progression of urban sustainability science: First, urban sustainability from a system's perspective, meaning that urban sustainability requires integrative solutions to work in the tripled social-ecological-technological system setting. Second, urban sustainability from a (people and place) relational perspective, meaning urban sustainability is a contested and dynamic social-ecological contract of cities. As a governance mission, urban sustainability requires evidence from research that can inform coordinated action to bridge people, places, meanings, visions and ecosystems. Third, urban sustainability from a transformative science perspective, meaning that for urban sustainability to be achieved and progressed, deep transformations are required in systems, relations, policies and governance approaches. Our proposal for the future of urban sustainability science centres on emphasizing the relevance and policy applicability of systems' thinking, value and place thinking and transitions/transformations thinking as fundamental to how knowledge is co-produced by research science, policy and society and becomes actionable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calls for a reconnection to nature and the biosphere have been growing louder over the last decades. Cultural landscapes are rapidly changing, posing a threat to ecosystems and biodiversity, but also to human–nature connections. Human–nature connectedness may be a potential lever to shift the unsustainable trajectory that we are currently proceeding, but is also negatively influenced by it. To concretize the call for a reconnection to nature, we used the leverage points perspective on five empirical case studies with focus on human–nature connectedness. Based on the synthesis of our yearlong work, in this perspective paper, we propose four leverage points to foster a sustainability transformation: (1) maintain and enhance the structural diversity of landscapes, (2) maintain and enhance economically and ecologically sustainable small-scale agriculture, (3) strengthen sense of place and (4) strengthen sense of agency in actors. Intervening in these leverage points could be effective to foster human–nature connectedness and ultimately contribute towards a sustainable trajectory. We further argue that the interconnection between leverage points is equally important as their systemic depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of coalbed methane (CBM)-produced water is a crucial part of the water–energy nexus, especially as CBM is projected to play a key role as a bridge fuel in major economies. In this paper, we consider one management technique, i.e., desalination of CBM-produced water to generate potable water. We discuss a confluence of geographic, sociotechnical, regulatory, and other circumstances that could make this concept viable for select coal-bearing regions. Having said that, for maximizing benefits, it is prudent to take a synergistic view targeting multiple objectives (water access, health, environmental impacts, and ease of waste management). Thus, we make design recommendations and suggest a system-evaluation framework for making sustainable decisions related to produced-to-potable water systems. For instance, a key question is whether such systems should be centralized or decentralized—and this paper highlights crucial tradeoffs that are present in both the cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academics, policymakers, and practitioners have long considered peace and sustainability to be fundamentally linked. However, despite the increased attention paid toward the intersection of peace and sustainability, there is still limited knowledge on the nature of their linkages. To advance the current understanding on the peace–sustainability nexus and inform an integrated research agenda, this paper employs a scientometric analysis of literature to identify publication trends, thematic clusters, and knowledge gaps. Analyzing the publications according to the types of peace, the pillars of positive peace, the dimensions of sustainability, and the SDGs further reveals weak engagement among academic disciplines and across the SDGs. The results of this analysis emphasize the need for future research to focus on underexamined subjects, geographic regions, and sectors to bolster the linkages between peace and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe has a wealth of community forest arrangements. This paper aims to transcend the diversity of locally specific terms and forms, to highlight the value of considering them inclusively. Building on methods to make sense of diversity, we use reflexive grounded inquiry in fifteen cases in Italy, Scotland, Slovenia and Sweden. Within four dimensions (forest, community, relationships between them, and relationships with wider society), we identify 43 subdimensions to describe them collectively. Our approach shows how European arrangements contribute to wider discourses of collective natural resource management. Both tradition and innovation in Europe inform options for environmental governance. Arrangements challenge the distinction between 'communities of place' and 'communities of interest', with implications for social and environmental justice. They exemplify multilevel environmental governance through both vertical and horizontal connections. Emerging from long histories of political and environmental pressures, they have a role in enhancing society's connection with nature and adaptive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relational thinking has recently gained increasing prominence across academic disciplines in an attempt to understand complex phenomena in terms of constitutive processes and relations. Interdisciplinary fields of study, such as science and technology studies (STS), the environmental humanities, and the posthumanities, for example, have started to reformulate academic understanding of nature-cultures based on relational thinking. Although the sustainability crisis serves as a contemporary backdrop and in fact calls for such innovative forms of interdisciplinary scholarship, the field of sustainability research has not yet tapped into the rich possibilities offered by relational thinking. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to identify relational approaches to ontology, epistemology, and ethics which are relevant to sustainability research. More specifically, we analyze how relational approaches have been understood and conceptualized across a broad range of disciplines and contexts relevant to sustainability to identify and harness connections and contributions for future sustainability-related work. Our results highlight common themes and patterns across relational approaches, helping to identify and characterize a relational paradigm within sustainability research. On this basis, we conclude with a call to action for sustainability researchers to co-develop a research agenda for advancing this relational paradigm within sustainability research, practice, and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Denmark was the first European country to completely ban lead shot for hunting and target shooting. This paper reviews the process behind this phase-out to document its history, successes, and pitfalls, and to make the Danish experiences accessible for the benefit of other countries, authorities, and stakeholders who face nature management challenges implementing similar change. A review of the content of magazines published by the three hunters' organizations during the 1978–1992 transition period was carried out, to assess the general discourse and identify the primary concerns and attitudes during the phase-out of lead shot for hunting in Denmark. Hunters were initially negative towards the change. Resistance was driven by concern about the quality, safety issues, and expensive cost of non-toxic alternatives, compounded by lack of organizational leadership and tensions between stakeholders. As a result of the widening appreciation of the environmental effects of dispersed lead shot and the introduction of new generations of alternative shot types, hunter attitudes became positive and constructive. Change need not pose an obstruction to continued hunting opportunity. On the contrary, it is believed that the value from the enhancement of the public image of hunters resulting from the reduction in the environmental dispersal of a recognized contaminant is of paramount importance for the long-term political sustainability of hunting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses empirical material gathered with young adults in New Zealand to examine a potential sustainability transition-in-practice. It draws from two frameworks; the actor-centred Energy Cultures Framework to explore mobility behaviours, and the multi-level perspective (MLP) to situate behaviour change within the socio-technical transitions literature. The MLP has traditionally been used to analyse historical transitions (e.g. from the horse and cart to the motor vehicle), but in this paper, it is used to explore an on-going change trend; the emergent mobilities of young adults who appear to be aspiring for different types of mobility. A series of mobility trends are described, which emerged from a programme of qualitative interviews ( n = 51). The material culture, norms and practices that constitute these trends are articulated. These are then considered through the lens of the MLP. The evidence points to emergent trends of multimodality that, if leveraged upon and supported, could contribute to a systemic sustainability transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this special issue is to offer a room for interdisciplinary and engaged research in global environmental change (GEC), where gender plays a key role in building resilience and adaptation pathways. In this editorial paper, we explain the background setting, key questions and core approaches of gender and feminist research in vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to GEC. Highlighting the interlinkages between gender and GEC, we introduce the main contributions of the collection of 11 papers in this special issue. Nine empirical papers from around the globe allow to understand how gendered diversity in knowledge, institutions and everyday practices matters in producing barriers and options for achieving resilience and adaptive capacity in societies. Additionally, two papers contribute to the theoretical debate through a systematic review and an insight on the relevance of intersectional framings within GEC research and development programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New agricultural technologies bring multiple impacts which are hard to predict. Two changes taking place in Indian agriculture are a transition from bullocks to tractors and an associated replacement of manure with synthetic fertilisers. This paper uses primary data to model social, environmental and economic impacts of these transitions in South India. It compares ploughing by bullocks or tractors and the provision of nitrogen from manure or synthetic urea for irrigated rice from the greenhouse gas (GHG), economic and labour perspective. Tractors plough nine times faster than bullocks, use substantially less labour, with no significant difference in GHG emissions. Tractors are twice as costly as bullocks yet remain more popular to hire. The GHG emissions from manure-N paddy are 30 % higher than for urea-N, largely due to the organic matter in manure driving methane emissions. Labour use is significantly higher for manure, and the gender balance is more equal. Manure is substantially more expensive as a source of nutrients compared to synthetic nutrients, yet remains popular when available. This paper demonstrates the need to take a broad approach to analysing the sustainability impacts of new technologies, as trade-offs between different metrics are common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a perspective we find lacking in the general discussion on urban transformative capacity, as well as the discourse on children's environmental experiences and their participation in urban planning processes. Children contribute to the building of urban transformative capacity in several ways. Firstly, they contribute with new perspectives on the environment that broaden existing perspectives on human–environment relations in urban planning. Secondly, children's participation in planning processes challenges existing power relations through the creation of new adult–child relationships which in turn transform relations between adults and other actors and agencies. Thirdly, their participation requires changes in planning practices and the establishment of new routines in order to plan cities which meet the needs of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional Land Management (FLM) is proposed as an integrator for sustainability policies and assesses the functional capacity of the soil and land to deliver primary productivity, water purification and regulation, carbon cycling and storage, habitat for biodiversity and recycling of nutrients. This paper presents the catchment challenge as a method to bridge the gap between science, stakeholders and policy for the effective management of soils to deliver these functions. Two challenges were completed by a wide range of stakeholders focused around a physical catchment model—(1) to design an optimised catchment based on soil function targets, (2) identify gaps to implementation of the proposed design. In challenge 1, a high level of consensus between different stakeholders emerged on soil and management measures to be implemented to achieve soil function targets. Key gaps including knowledge, a mix of market and voluntary incentives and mandatory measures were identified in challenge 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development aims at addressing economic, social, and environmental concerns, but the current lack of responsive environmental governance hinders progress. Short-term economic development has led to limited actions, unsustainable resource management, and degraded ecosystems. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may continue to fall short of achieving significant progress without a better understanding of how ecosystems contribute to achieving sustainability for all people. Ecosystem governance is an approach that integrates the social and ecological components for improved sustainability and includes principles such as adaptive ecosystem co-management, subsidiarity, and telecoupling framework, as well as principles of democracy and accountability. We explain the importance of ecosystem governance in achieving the SDGs, and suggest some ways to ensure that ecosystem services are meaningfully considered. This paper reflects on how integration of these approaches into policies can enhance the current agenda of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of global sustainable development goals subject to planetary boundaries will mostly be determined by cities as they drive cultures, economies, material use, and waste generation. Locally relevant, applied and quantitative methodologies are critical to capture the complexity of urban infrastructure systems, global inter-connections, and to monitor local and global progress toward sustainability. An urban monitoring (and communications) tool is presented here illustrating that a city-based approach to sustainable development is possible. Following efforts to define and quantify safe planetary boundaries in areas such as climate change, biosphere integrity, and freshwater use, this paper modifies the methodology to propose boundaries from a city's perspective. Socio-economic boundaries, or targets, largely derived from the Sustainable Development Goals are added to bio-physical boundaries. Issues such as data availability, city priorities, and ease of implementation are considered. The framework is trialed for Toronto, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, and Dakar, as well as aggregated for the world's larger cities. The methodology provides an important tool for cities to play a more fulsome and active role in global sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world's power systems are facing a structural change including liberalization of markets and integration of renewable energy sources. This paper describes the challenges that lie ahead in this process and points out avenues for overcoming different problems at different scopes, ranging from individual homes to international super-grids. We apply energy system models at those different scopes and find a trade-off between technical and social complexity. Small-scale systems would require technological breakthroughs, especially for storage, but individual agents can and do already start to build and operate such systems. In contrast, large-scale systems could potentially be more efficient from a techno-economic point of view. However, new political frameworks are required that enable long-term cooperation among sovereign entities through mutual trust. Which scope first achieves its breakthrough is not clear yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of societal transformation in response to environmental change has become established, yet little consensus exists regarding the conceptual basis of transformation. This paper aims to provide structure to the dialog on transformation, and to reflect on the challenges of social research in this area. Concepts of transformation are identified through a literature review, and examined using four analytical criteria. It is found that the term 'transformation' is frequently used merely as a metaphor. When transformation is not used as a metaphor, eight concepts are most frequently employed. They differ with respect to (i) system conceptualization, (ii) notions of social consciousness (deliberate/emergent), and (iii) outcome (prescriptive/descriptive). Problem-based research tends to adopt concepts of deliberate transformation with prescriptive outcome, while concepts of emergent transformation with no prescriptive outcome tend to inform descriptive-analytical research. Dialog around the complementarities of different concepts and their empirical testing are priorities for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hill station is a town or city situated in mountain regions in the tropics founded during the western colonization in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Hill stations have moderate temperatures, and are known for their relatively good natural environments, which generate valuable ecosystem services that benefit the local population. However, rapid urbanization threatens the sustainability of these areas. This study evaluates the sustainability of the urbanization process of Baguio City, a hill station city in Southeast Asia and the summer capital of the Philippines, by determining the relationship between its velocity of urbanization and velocity of urban sustainability based upon various perspectives. From an equal weight perspective (of the triple bottom line of sustainability components, namely environmental, social, and economic) and a pro-economic perspective, the results revealed that the urbanization of Baguio City has been moving toward a 'sustainable urbanization.' However, from the environmental and eco-sustainable human development perspectives, the results indicated that it has been moving toward an 'unsustainable urbanization.' The paper discusses the implications of the findings for the planning of sustainable development for Baguio City, including some critical challenges in sustainability assessment and the applicability of the framework used for future sustainability assessments of the other hill stations in Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the effect of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the level of fish intake in China in comparison with the rest of the world. We also analyse the origin and destination of China’s seafood products in order to understand the main patterns during the last decades. The results show that in the 1961–2011 period the rate of growth of the GDP in China doubled that of other developing regions, while the daily fish intake of China increased fourfold, making China the largest fish consumer in the world. Given the size and scale of China’s role in production, consumption, and global transformation of seafood markets, China is shaping a new era of industrialization in the history of the fishing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the effect of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the level of fish intake in China in comparison with the rest of the world. We also analyse the origin and destination of China’s seafood products in order to understand the main patterns during the last decades. The results show that in the 1961–2011 period the rate of growth of the GDP in China doubled that of other developing regions, while the daily fish intake of China increased fourfold, making China the largest fish consumer in the world. Given the size and scale of China’s role in production, consumption, and global transformation of seafood markets, China is shaping a new era of industrialization in the history of the fishing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species extinction and gene erosion are still widespread in spite ofnumerous national and international efforts and conventions. It is now clear that only through symbiotic partnerships between local communities and civil society organizations, industrial enterprises, and government and academic institutions that we can implement effectivelythe triple goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity, namely conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits. This paper describes the approach adopted by the author and his colleaguesin India to promote a community-led integrated gene management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]