Globally, shifting cultivation is known to be an important driver of tropical deforestation. However, we argue that it can be sustainably managed if the environmental boundary conditions, laid by the traditional customs and practices, are fully respected. We narrate an empirical study from the Zunheboto district of Nagaland, India, where we...
This document was prepared in response to decision IPBES-7/1, in which the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) approved a scoping process, for consideration at its eighth session, for a thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health. The...
The lack of strategic planning in stormwater management has made rapidly urbanizing
cities more vulnerable to urban water issues than in the past. Low infiltration rates, increase in
peak river discharge, and recurrence of urban floods and waterlogging are clear signs of unplanned
rapid urbanization. As with many other low to middle-income...
One third of the world’s population reside in water-stressed areas, and as the socio-economic impacts of climate change intensify, coastal ecosystems are particularly vulnerable. Over the last few decades, researchers and policymakers have been looking at the existing water demand–resource relationship to predict future trends and prioritize better...
The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is the third coronavirus this century to threaten human health, killing more than two million people globally. Like previous coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is suspected to have wildlife origins and was possibly transmitted to humans via wet markets selling bushmeat (aka harvested wild meat). Thus, an interdisciplinary...
Widespread urban expansion around the world, combined with rapid demographic and
climatic changes, has resulted in serious pollution issues in many coastal water bodies. To help
formulate coastal management strategies to mitigate the impacts of these extreme changes (e.g.,
local land-use or climate change adaptation policies), research...
There has been renewed interest in the challenges and implications of zoonotic diseases due to the recent global COVID-19 pandemic. In the 'Anthropocene', or age dominated by humans, we have seen a devastating impact on intact and wild ecosystems, and an increase in human managed ecosystems. Based on a literature review, this chapter argues that...
The whole world has been on intermittent lockdowns due to the present COVID-19 pandemic. The industrial deacceleration caused by the pandemic has affected everyone without distinction of wealth, religion, or nationality. Also, the pandemic has evidenced how socio-environmental processes have been altered or accentuated, relieving the environment...
Water scarcity, together with the projected impacts of water stress worldwide, has led
to a rapid increase in research on measuring water security. However, water security has been
conceptualized under different perspectives, including various aspects and dimensions. Since public
health is also an integral part of water security, it is necessary...
Five years after the SDGs were adopted and just when the United Nations called for realising the Decade of Action, the COVID-19 pandemic halted the progress of the SDGs and even reversed some of the achievements that the world made over years. With most countries struggling to overcome the pandemic and revive the economy, losing the focus on the...
