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The circular economy concept has grown in popularity in recent decades as a potential method to offset the waste produced by the linear economy model. In this study, the authors proposed an update to the ReSOLVE framework that includes social impacts and uses decision variables based on the ECOGRAI methodology to facilitate a system‐wide analysis to support sustainable decision‐making. After the updated framework was outlined, it was employed in a theoretical case study to evaluate the current state of the poultry industry and determine hotspots where circular economy metrics could be implemented to benefit affected stakeholders. While the poultry sector was used as a case study, the proposed framework can be applied with modified indicators in other agricultural sectors. This work demonstrated that decision makers can improve the agriculture sector's high social and environmental impact by applying a framework that integrates ReSOLVE circular economy principles and social impact assessment methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food insecurity is a prominent social determinant of health. There is evidence of increasing food insecurity in high‐income countries amid inflationary pressures. Yet, we know relatively little about the strategies that people employ to manage food insecurity nor how the severity of food insecurity affects the use of these strategies. Accordingly, this study of a nonprobability convenience online panel sample of 1284 adults in Tasmania assessed food insecurity and the strategies undertaken to manage rising costs of living. Structural equation modelling of 51 financial management actions revealed five strategies: reducing food quantity and quality, reducing housing and transport costs, drawing on assets, savings and credit, reducing insurance costs and reducing discretionary expenditure. Generalised linear regression modelling demonstrated that the use of coping strategies increased significantly with each categorical increase in food insecurity for each strategy except reducing insurance costs, in which increases became significant at moderate food insecurity. Overall, the results suggest that those experiencing food insecurity are also sacrificing in other areas, which is likely to have immediate and longer‐term effects on health, social and financial wellbeing. Opportunities to mitigate these consequences, including strengthening of social safety nets, nutrition programmes and structural investment to ensure universal access to food, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rewilding is an increasingly common conservation approach, aiming to restore ecosystem processes and minimise human intervention. Rewilding has the potential to profoundly change landscapes and people–nature relations. These issues prompt an ongoing debate about how and if rewilding should be done.Farmers are key stakeholders in this debate; they stand to be both affected by and influence the trajectory of rewilding initiatives developing in the United Kingdom and globally. Despite this, a comprehensive understanding of farmers' perceptions towards rewilding is lacking.Here, we focus on how members of the farming community in England perceive common rewilding scenarios (beaver release, farm‐level rewilding and landscape‐scale rewilding), and how these perceptions shape farmers' attitudinal support for rewilding practices.Using thematic analysis of semi‐structured interviews with 36 farmers and farming representatives, we show that the diversity of famers' attitudes can be understood through the prism of perceptions on five core issues: (a) the perceived need for restoration action, (b) the ecological effectiveness of rewilding, (c) rewilding's compatibility with ensuring food security, (d) rewilding's compatibility with rural lifestyles, livelihoods and economies and (e) multidimensional justice of rewilding initiatives. These issues are rooted in collective farming values, and farmers' perceptions of these issues are influenced by mental models, perceived social impacts and perceived ecological outcomes of rewilding initiatives. Diverse perceptions result in a range of attitudes, from enthusiastic support to strong opposition to different rewilding practices.We argue that the scope to increase support for rewilding varies depending on the type of underlying negative perceptions. Where the negative perceptions are based on objectively verifiable causal beliefs (mental models), opponents' minds may be changed through the provision of positive experiences, social learning, and adhering to good governance principles. However, where negative perceptions are based on values, for example, a preference for traditional rural landscapes, they are unlikely to change easily. Pursuing rewilding ambitions that clash with the values of local farmers may risk social conflicts, but accommodating these values too much may compromise rewilding's own goals. Rewilding initiatives will need dialogue and social engagement to navigate their path around this tension. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern slavery is used to describe forms of coercive labor exploitation that affect more than 40 million persons globally. Such practices are difficult to identify given they exist in the informal economy, and involve vulnerable individuals. Addressing modern slavery by organizations requires awareness of its context and complexities. While corporations have increasingly sought to manage modern slavery risk in their supply chains, their understanding of what modern slavery is and what should be managed remains limited. We argue a key problem with firms' efforts to manage modern slavery risk is that it is a psychologically distant concept for them. We apply construal level theory to explore how organizations' psychological distance from modern slavery risk affects their management of risk. We interviewed purchasing executives at 41 global organizations in Australia, Finland, and the U.S and identified four approaches to managing modern slavery risk at different levels of psychological distance. We also identified that conflicts between organizations' approaches to risk and what they identify in their operating environment, precedes important construal shifts that help to improve organizational understanding of labor‐related risk. We highlight ways that organizations' understanding of modern slavery risk plays a role in their governance of such risk in supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of selected social impacts as a result of the COVID‐19 epidemic is focused on an interdisciplinary approach in the Czech Republic in dealing with this crisis situation. The virus first appeared in early December 2019 in China, and on 1 March, the first positive person in the Czech Republic was confirmed. The Ministry of Health and subsequently the Government of the Czech Republic took relatively strict epidemiological measures in connection with the development of the epidemic in China, subsequently in individual countries of the European Union and in other countries throughout the world. In order to effectively implement epidemiological measures, the Government declared a state of emergency for the Czech Republic due to health threats in connection with the proof of occurrence of coronavirus SARS CoV‐2 from 14.00 on 12 March 2020 for 30 days. The state of emergency was then extended until 17 May 2020. The aim of the article is to investigate the emerging solutions and impacts of the COVID‐19 epidemic on selected spheres of society in the Czech Republic in the period from March to April 2020, focusing on specific procedures in the South Bohemian Region. As part of the epidemiological measures, it was necessary to address the situation of socially disadvantaged groups, such as the homeless or those ordered out due to domestic violence. The case study examined the provision of care for homeless people and those ordered out due to domestic violence who were diagnosed with COVID‐19 and were not hospitalised or quarantined. In practice, crisis management tools in conjunction with epidemiological approaches have proven to be effective and usable. The examples show that, despite the complexity of the situation, regional and local governments have found a way to implement the necessary measures to mitigate the impact on local society and the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic, management authorities of numerous Protected Areas (PAs) had to discourage visitors from accessing them in order to reduce the virus transmission rate and protect local communities. This resulted in social–ecological impacts and added another layer of complexity to managing PAs. This paper presents the results of a survey in Snowdonia National Park capturing the views of over 700 local residents on the impacts of COVID‐19 restrictions and possible scenarios and tools for managing tourist numbers. Lower visitor numbers were seen in a broadly positive way by a significant number of respondents while benefit sharing issues from tourism also emerged. Most preferred options to manage overcrowding were restricting access to certain paths, the development of mobile applications to alert people to overcrowding and reporting irresponsible behavior. Our findings are useful for PA managers and local communities currently developing post‐COVID‐19 recovery strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International institutions are calling for a transition towards more sustainable systems of production and consumption. In this transition, sustainable innovations are expected to play an ever‐increasing role. In particular, the production of innovative bio‐based products—products wholly or partly derived from biological materials or from innovative production processes and/or innovative biomass such as food waste or forest residuals—will be part of this process. However, the sustainability of such products must be assured along their entire life cycle and across the three dimensions mentioned above. Against this background, our study aimed at identifying a social impact framework tailored to bio‐based products. It employed a two‐step methodological framework encompassing (a) identification of the relevant social impact categories, subcategories, and indicators and (b) validation of these factors, according to participatory stakeholder involvement. The validation exercise enabled us to consider a restricted number of social indicators so as to reduce the amount of data needed for assessing and decreasing related costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the environmental and economic impacts of drought have been widely studied, few large‐scale studies have examined the broader social impacts of drought. To fill this knowledge gap, the Australian Institute of Family Studies undertook the Regional and Rural Families Survey in 2007, when a significant part of Australia was experiencing a severe drought. This paper analyses that survey to measure the extent to which drought affects a range of economic, health and social outcomes. Drought is found to have a substantial negative economic and health impact on farmers and others employed in the agricultural sector. There is some evidence that groups that are not employed in agriculture are adversely affected, with a widespread loss of services in drought‐affected areas and some marginal labour market groups (e.g. carers) experiencing poor employment outcomes in a drought‐affected local economy. Policymakers need to take these impacts into account in designing effective responses to future droughts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments, businesses, and lenders worldwide are adopting an objective of no net loss (NNL) of biodiversity that is often partly achieved through biodiversity offsetting within a hierarchy of mitigation actions. Offsets aim to balance residual losses of biodiversity caused by development in one location with commensurate gains at another. Although ecological challenges to achieve NNL are debated, the associated gains and losses for local stakeholders have received less attention. International best practice calls for offsets to make people no worse off than before implementation of the project, but there is a lack of clarity concerning how to achieve this with regard to people's use and nonuse values for biodiversity, especially given the inevitable trade‐offs when compensating biodiversity losses with gains elsewhere. This is particularly challenging for countries where poor people depend on natural resources. Badly planned offsets can exacerbate poverty, and development and offset impacts can vary across spatial‐temporal scales and by location, gender, and livelihood. We conceptualize the no‐worse‐off principle in the context of NNL of biodiversity, by exploring for whom and how the principle can be achieved. Changes in the spatial and temporal distribution of biodiversity‐related social impacts of a development and its associated offset can lead to social inequity and negatively impact people's well‐being. The level of aggregation (regional, village, interest group, household, and individual) at which these social impacts are measured and balanced can again exacerbate inequity in a system. We propose that a determination that people are no worse off, and preferably better off, after a development and biodiversity offset project than they were before the project should be based on the perceptions of project‐affected people (assessed at an appropriate level of aggregation); that their well‐being associated with biodiversity losses and gains should be at least as good as it was before the project; and that this level of well‐being should be maintained throughout the project life cycle. Employing this principle could help ensure people are no worse off as a result of interventions to achieve biodiversity NNL. Article impact statement: That people are no worse off after development and biodiversity offsetting should be based on affected people's perceptions and maintained well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Abstract: Academic research on dams' social impacts traditionally focuses on ex‐post resettlement impacts. We explore a specific subset of ex‐ante resettlement impacts in this paper: ‘Damocles projects’, whose implementation is still uncertain. Our case study is Thailand's Kaeng Suea Ten Dam whose implementation has been uncertain for 36 years. We find the cultural life of the communities studied has been significantly shaped by the looming construction of the dam. Furthermore, most villagers report extreme anxiety induced by the threat of the project. As a consequence, many have postponed private investments. The government has also withheld public infrastructure investments, further hampering the villages' economic development. Our research highlights the negative impacts induced by projects whose implementation is still uncertain. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the social implications of ethanol expansion in Brazil. The evolution of the labor market in sugarcane production in the country is analyzed together with its regional patterns of expansion, to illustrate how changes in the recent expansion are modifying the traditional pattern of labor demand in the activity. At the same time, the distributional effects of sugarcane expansion, as well as it's impacts on food security and land use change was approached with the aid of general equilibrium simulation models. The analysis shows that both the average earnings and the average years of schooling in sugarcane production are actually higher than in general agriculture in Brazil, and that this is linked to the growing increase in production in the Southeast and Central-West. Sugarcane production in these regions is more capital intensive and has a much higher productivity than in other traditional regions in Northeast Brazil. The study concludes that the expansion in sugarcane production according to actual patterns does not have a negative effect on poverty, and has only minor impacts on food prices and deforestation. The increase in the regional economic imbalances within the country appears to be the problem that requires attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a place and people undergoing rapid transition using some of the preliminary findings from two years of ongoing ethnographic field work. Through exploring what ethnographic evidence is revealing concerning the impacts of Marcellus shale gas development in Bradford County, in Northeastern Pennsylvania, I illustrate the ways that rapid social and economic change processes are impacting daily lives and community dynamics in one traditionally agricultural and rural place. I provide a broad overview of the social history and current social dynamics in order to understand the significance of the short-term changes agricultural landowners and other local residents have witnessed and experienced. I discuss some of the most significant short-term changes in quality of life as seen by a small group of agricultural landowners, in relation to the cultural significance of place, home, and family, and what this tells us about the sociocultural and psychological impacts of rapid energy development. Finally, I comment on what my ethnographic data show so far with regard to the short- and long-term individual and collective impacts being experienced in this one community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a popular conservation strategy, but their impacts on human welfare are poorly understood. To inform future research and policy decisions, we reviewed the scientific literature to assess MPA impacts on five indicators of human welfare: food security, resource rights, employment, community organization, and income. Following MPA establishment, food security generally remained stable or increased in older and smaller MPAs. The ability of most fishing groups to govern MPA resources changed. Increased resource rights were positively correlated with MPA zoning and compliance with MPA regulations. Small sample sizes precluded statistical tests of the impacts of MPAs on employment, community organization, and income. Our results demonstrate that MPAs shape the social well-being and political power of fishing communities; impacts (positive and negative) vary within and among social groups; and social impacts are correlated with some-but not all-commonly hypothesized explanatory factors. Accordingly, MPAs may represent a viable strategy for enhancing food security and empowering local communities, but current practices negatively affect at least a minority of fishers. To inform policy making, further research must better document and explain variation in the positive and negative social impacts of MPAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physical, economic, and sociocultural displacement of local peoples from protected areas generates intense discussion among scholars and policy makers. To foster greater precision and clarity in these discussions, we used a conceptual framework from the political economy literature to examine different forms of human displacement from protected areas. Using marine protected areas (MPAs) to ground our analysis, we characterized the 5 types of property rights that are reallocated (lost, secured, and gained) through the establishment of protected areas. All forms of MPA “displacement” involve reallocation of property rights, but the specific types and bundles of rights lost, secured, and gained dramatically shape the magnitude, extent, and equity of MPA impacts—positive and negative—on governance, economic well-being, health, education, social capital, and culture. The impacts of reallocating rights to MPA resources vary within and among social groups, inducing changes in society, in patterns of resource use, and in the environment. To create more environmentally sustainable and socially just conservation practice, a critical next step in conservation social science research is to document and explain variation in the social impacts of protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the support of host communities is a precondition for a sustainable industry, regional social impact studies are a crucial input to tourism planning and decision-making. This study assessed the social impacts of tourism in a rural region of Australia where tourism is an important sector of the economy. As well as providing data to aid regional tourism planning, this study identifies differences in personal and community-wide impacts; advances understanding of the factors that influence residents' perceptions of tourism impacts; and assesses the degree to which tourism activity associated with protected areas contributes to the identified social impacts. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Wild mammals have a long history of association with the human food chain, with some being the source for domesticated animals and others being considered traditionally as game species. Wild mammals are of negligible importance in terms of overall energy flows in agricultural ecosystems in Britain, but some wild mammals can have detrimental effects on the human food chain through predation, competition and disease transmission. 2. Understanding these ecological processes at the level of populations and individuals can assist with devising appropriate management strategies to reduce human–wildlife conflict over limited resources. There remains a dearth of reliable information on the economic impacts of wild mammals on human food production, although the available quantified evidence suggests that the impacts are generally minor and localized, and are far outweighed by the wider public benefits associated with wild mammals. 3. Greater public awareness of environmental and animal welfare issues, together with changes to rural communities resulting from human population movements, are changing the social landscape of interactions between people and wild mammals in the British countryside, and leading to an increase in more ambivalent attitudes towards wild mammals than has typically been the case in the past. 4. Reform of agricultural policy is placing greater emphasis on the management of the land for biodiversity and environmental protection. While the benefits deriving from many previous agri-environment schemes have been mixed, there is increasing evidence that an emphasis on targeted and coordinated management at the landscape scale can enhance success. This type of approach is essential if some of the major threats facing declining wild mammal populations, such as population fragmentation, are to be overcome. 5. There is an increasing divergence between regulation of agricultural ecosystems for food production and disease minimization and regulation of the land for biodiversity production via agri-environment schemes. The resolution of these tensions at the policy level will have major implications for future interactions between wild mammals and the human food chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to assess the association between different anterior occlusal traits and the presence of condition-specific sociodental impacts on the quality of life attributed to malocclusion. For that, 1,318 15–16-yr-old adolescents were randomly selected from children attending all secondary schools in Bauru, Brazil. Participants were first interviewed and then dentally examined. Condition-specific impacts (CSI) attributed to malocclusion were calculated using the Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (OIDP index). Nine anterior occlusal traits were evaluated: maxillary and mandibular overjet; openbite and overbite; centreline deviation; dental crowding and spacing; and maxillary and mandibular irregularity. Statistical associations were tested using binary logistic regression analysis. The prevalence of CSI attributed to malocclusions was 21.2%. Of the nine occlusal traits evaluated, maxillary and mandibular overjet, centreline deviation, dental spacing, openbite, and maxillary irregularity were, in that order, directly associated with the presence of CSI attributed to malocclusion. No interaction term was identified. This study, designed to overcome the limitations found in the existing literature, supports the idea that malocclusion can affect social interaction and psychosocial wellbeing. Different anterior occlusal traits affected the quality of life differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether childhood familial conditions are associated with the social impact of adult oral health and to investigate the role of psychosocial attributes as potential mechanisms by which risk might be conveyed from childhood to adulthood. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, self-report data were obtained from a representative sample of adults in Australia with a telephonic interview and a self-completed questionnaire. The dependent variable was the sum of impacts on the short-form Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14). Childhood familial conditions included socioeconomic position assessed by paternal occupation group, family structure and quality of rearing. Current adult sense of control, perceived stress and satisfaction with life were assessed with standard scales and social support was evaluated with four items. Results: Data were obtained for 3678 dentate adults aged 18–91 years. In bivariate analysis controlling for sex, age and household income in adulthood, parenting style was significantly associated with OHIP-14 scores ( anova, P < 0.001). Adults who were reared supportively had more favourable scores on all four current psychosocial attributes ( anova, P < 0.001). All four psychosocial attributes were associated with summed OHIP scores in the expected directions ( anova, P < 0.001). In the multiple regression, parental rearing style was significantly associated with social impact after adjusting for sex, age and household income in adulthood, but was no longer significant in the presence of the psychosocial factors. Conclusion: The importance of parental rearing to adult oral health may be mediated through the quality and nature of psychosocial attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters often affect the most vulnerable countries/communities around the world. However, within the same countries/communities, the impact of natural disasters is far greater on disadvantaged populations. We investigate how wildfires affect asthma prevalence in different populations across California. Our results indicate that although there is no discernible relationship between wildfires and asthma prevalence for California's population as a whole, wildfires and asthma prevalence in Black and senior populations have a strong relationship. We believe there is an urgent need to make high‐resolution health‐related data publicly available for in‐depth analyses of climate change impacts on society and disadvantage communities Key Points: The impact of natural disasters is greater on disadvantaged and vulnerable populations with respect to the overall populationThere is a need to make high‐resolution health‐related data publicly available for in‐depth analyses of climate change impacts on society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local support is important for the longevity of conservation initiatives. The literature suggests that perceptions of ecological effectiveness, social impacts, and good governance will influence levels of local support for conservation. This paper examines these relationships using data from a survey of small‐scale fishermen in 11 marine protected areas from six countries in the Mediterranean Sea. The survey queried small‐scale fishermen regarding perceptions and support for conservation. We constructed composite scores for three categories of perceptions—ecological effectiveness, social impacts, and good governance—and tested the relationship with levels of support using ordinal regression models. While all three factors were positively correlated with support for conservation, perceptions of good governance and social impacts were stronger predictors of increasing support. These findings suggest that employing good governance processes and managing social impacts may be more important than ecological effectiveness for maintaining local support for conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]