Current commitments in nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are insufficient to remain within the 2-degree climate change limit agreed to in the Paris Agreement. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that lifestyle changes are now necessary to stay within the limit. We reviewed a range of NDCs and national climate change...
This special Issue gives a holistic picture of opportunities and challenges for managing the urban water environment in terms of quality or quantity in a sustainable manner. It provides valuable information about sustainable water resource management in the urban landscape, which is very much useful for policy-makers, decision-makers, local...
Since 2015, the international policy community has started to agree on international agreements with ambitious middle-term and long-term goals, highly relevant to sustainable consumption and production (SCP) such as those seen in the Paris Agreement, SDGs, and the plastic-related agreements at the G7 and G20 processes. Along with this trend, there...
Biodiversity knowledge is communicated by scientists to policymakers at the biodiversity “science-policy interface” (SPI). Although the biodiversity SPI is the subject of a growing body of literature, gaps in our understanding include the efficacy of mechanisms to bridge the interface, the quality of information exchanged between science and policy...
Under the era of Paris Agreement and SDGs, agenda for sustainability has shifted from regulation to designing fundamental changes in socio-technical system towards decarbonized and circular society. This shift would largely depend on taking advantage of emerging forces in socio-technical system. This includes new business models, drivers of wealth...
“Jefoure” refers to a traditional grass-covered road with households settled on both sides in the Gurage socio-ecological production landscape in Ethiopia. We assess Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) on Jefoure roads for sustainable management. Data were collected using survey tools and orthophoto images, and they were systematically analyzed...
Traditional agroforestry systems across South Asia have historically supported millions of smallholding farmers. Since 2007 agroforestry has received attention in global climate discussions for its carbon sink potential. Agroforestry plays a defining role in offsetting greenhouse gases, providing sustainable livelihoods, localizing Sustainable...
Urban and rural areas often meet their water demands from a shared stock of finite water resources. Against the changing climate, the rising water demands in fast-growing urban areas are leading to increasing water-use conflicts with the co-dependent rural areas. Although poor water governance is frequently cited as the key reason for such urban...
Urban and rural areas within a regional space are closely linked through a variety of linkages including the flow of people. The increasing pace of development transformations with discrete planning of urban and rural areas has raised serious concerns for achieving coordinated development at the regional level. In that regard, the concept of...
The recognition of the urgent need for more sustainable lifestyles dates from the late 20th century, originating in concerns about resource depletion and climate change. Research and policy measures have evolved since then, paying increasing attention to systemic change over individual behaviour. However, as individual behavioural change is...