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Many nations are struggling to reduce deforestation, despite having extensive environmental protection laws in place and commitments to international agreements that address the biodiversity and climate crises. We developed a novel framework to quantify the extent to which contemporary deforestation is being captured under national and subnational laws. We then applied this framework to northern Australia as a case study, a development and deforestation hotspot with ecosystems of global significance. First, deforestation may be compliant under all relevant legislation, either through assessment and approval or because of exemptions in the legislation. Second, deforestation may be compliant under at least one relevant law, but not all. Third, there may be no evidence of deforestation assessment or exemption from assessment, despite their apparent requirement, which could mean the deforestation is potentially noncompliant. Finally, deforestation may occur in an area or under circumstances that are beyond the intended scope of any relevant legislation. All deforestation that we analyzed was hypothetically covered by one or more laws. However, 65% of deforestation was potentially noncompliant with at least one law. Because multiple laws could be relevant to a given clearing event, the majority of clearing was still compliant with at least one law, but of these events, only a small proportion was explicitly approved (19%). The remaining were permitted under various exemptions. Of all the legislation we analyzed, most of the exempt clearing occurred under one subnational law and most potentially noncompliant clearing occurred under one national law. Our results showed that even a nation with a suite of mature environmental protection laws is falling well short of achieving international commitments regarding deforestation. Our framework can be used to pinpoint the pathways of policy change required for nations to align local laws with these international accords. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our planet is facing increasing challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, poverty, and many other problems closely linked to a deteriorating environment. Meanwhile, one of our most important assets, rangers working in protected and conserved areas responsible for managing large tracts of the planet's lands and waters, are often underutilized, underrecognized and underequipped. They are generally left out of the debate about conservation and sustainable development policy, despite being central to the success of those policies. This paper outlines the need for global leaders across multiple sectors to recognize the profession of rangers as essential planetary health workers and to position rangers more effectively within global conservation and environmental policy mechanisms. It introduces the challenges facing rangers, the emerging diversity of roles within the ranger profession and the important contribution of rangers to conservation and sustainable development. It presents policy and implementation avenues to improve recognition and professionalization of rangers as key executors of conservation and development policy, particularly considering the recent Global Biodiversity Framework ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris Agreement lays out the objective of keeping global warming below 2 °C. The goal can be achieved by increasing both the share of renewables in the energy mix and energy efficiency. Such action entails a transformation of the energy sector, which, given its linkages with the rest of the economy, will have a knock‐on effect on other sectors. Using scenarios based on a multiregional input–output database, this article explores the economy‐wide and worldwide employment impact of such a transition. Findings suggest that by 2030 most economies will experience net job creation and reallocation across industries. Job creation is driven by the construction, manufacturing and renewables sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper introduces the special issue of the British Journal of Management on ‘Scaling Sustainability: Regulation and Resilience in Managerial Responses to Climate Change’, providing an overview of the key issues in scaling sustainability, comprising an analysis of the six papers in the special issue. We discuss the complex relationship between micro, meso and macro scales, in the context of organizations’, managers’ and consumers’ complicity in the creation and intensification of climate‐changing conditions. In networking multiple sites into a ‘global’ scale, managers and organizations can lose sight of the situated, localized nature of the position from which they perform the global. We conclude that a key factor in the capacity and speed at which local actions can be scaled up is the connection of sustainability‐related activities by intermediary organizations that can generate resonance between multiple sites through association or alliance, rather than imposing a single logic. Thus, more resilient approaches, which acknowledge the significance of the interconnection between scales, are required to effectively scale sustainability strategies upwards or downwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The absence of boreal forests from global policy agendas on sustainable development and climate change mitigation represents a massive missed opportunity for environmental protection. The boreal zone contains some of the world's largest pools of terrestrial carbon that, if not safeguarded from a conversion to a net source of greenhouse gases, could seriously exacerbate global climate change. At the same time, boreal countries have a strong tradition of forest management-expertise that could be effectively leveraged toward global and national carbon mitigation targets and sustainable development. Current obstacles against such contributions include weak incentives for carbon sequestration and a reluctance to embrace change by forest managers and policy makers. We discuss possible solutions to overcome these obstacles, including the improvement of ineffective incentives, the development of alternative forest management strategies, and the need to maintain ecosystem resilience through the pursuit of policy and management options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It appears that news media and some pro-environmental organizations have the tendency to accentuate or even exaggerate the damage caused by climate change. This article provides a rationale for this tendency by using a modified International Environmental Agreement (IEA) model with asymmetric information. We find that the information manipulation has an instrumental value, as it ex post induces more countries to participate in an IEA, which will eventually enhance global welfare. From the ex ante perspective, however, the impact that manipulating information has on the level of participation in an IEA and on welfare is ambiguous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northern Australia's globally significant savannas and rivers face major threats, from cattle to weeds to land clearing to climate change. In the face of imperatives and pressures such as reducing carbon emissions, nature conservation, alleviating Indigenous disadvantage, the resources boom and global food security, how should development be managed to protect its globally significant ecosystems? Nine planks in a ‘Sustainable Northern Australia’ agenda are proposed: (i) enhance investment in mitigating pervasive landscape threats; (ii) strengthen support for Indigenous Caring for Country activities and incorporation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge into land management; (iii) align and strengthen invasive species control and management; (iv) facilitate new economic development pathways focused on sustainability; (v) build climate resilience by maintaining and enhancing landscape-scale connectivity; (vi) protect free-flowing rivers from dams and major water resource development; (vii) establish and effectively manage a large interconnected network of protected areas; (viii) develop cooperative governance arrangements; and (ix) enhance knowledge generation and research and monitoring capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the social effects of policies that deal with climate change. He states that the policies for climate change are considered challenges by the international community. It is believed that greenhouse gas emissions will continue to deteriorate the state of the environment if no actions will be made for it. There will be permanent effects on the lives of the people like increases in global temperatures, rising sea levels, deterioration of soil quality, and shortage supply of water. Furthermore, economy will also be affected especially in developing countries. Many studies have concentrated on the role of environmental policies to the economy.

The article presents news items on environmental issues. Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington have discovered a way to recognize severe rain on snow weather events using satellite readings of natural microwave radiation from Earth. A survey from the climate change department of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has found that 68% of purchases at all levels of government in Sweden are made using clear environmental guidelines or requirements.

The article discusses the role of ecologists in the policy arena on global issues such as climate change, biodiversity conservation, and pollution. Over the past decade, ecologists have made their presence felt in various environmental issues with the help of groups such as the International Panel for Climate Change, National Academy of Science, and national ecosystem assessments. It is informed that the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program gives training to scientists so that they can become effective communicators to policy makers and to the public.

The author reflects on the various desperate proposals in response to climate issues. She refers to the growing geo-engineering ideas that are more dangerous which deprives international cooperation for the common good. She emphasize the importance of cooperation in solving climate issues. She cites what Scott Barrett hopes for a positive change, such as the need to focus on mitigation technologies and U.S. needs to become a multilateral climate leader.

The article reports that three top Australian climate scientists fear that their expert opinion would reflect badly on the Australian Government's fossil-fuel friendly greenhouse policies. Graeme Pearman, a former CSIRO atmospheric division director, said he fell out with his superiors after joining the Australian Climate Group, which supports carbon trading. Pearman's superiors told him not to say anything that would indicate his disagreement with government policy, and inspired him to resign after speaking out on the dangers of climate change. Barney Foran, CSIRO biofuels expert said that he was asked not to discuss ethanol by the department of the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard. Barrie Pittock, also of CSIRO, said that he received request to remove sensitive information about the impact of climate change from a government publication. The claims were denied by CSIRO executives and the Government.