Springer Nature

This is the Editorial of the first IGES-initiated Special Feature of the Sustainability Science journal. This Special Feature on Just and Sustainable Transitions in Net-Zero Asia aims to highlight how researchers, policymakers, and practitioners across Asia are applying just transition thinking to address pressing environmental challenges, climate...

Home food production and sharing (home consumption) make up a local community-based food system that has become a custom closely tied to people’s daily life and culture across Japan. In this study, nationwide questionnaire surveys were conducted in 2015 and 2021 to investigate the status and trends of non-commercial home food consumption in Japan...

Envisioning positive scenarios that recognize the multiple values of nature is fundamental for designing transformative changes in local socio-ecological systems. This study developed a protocol with three specifications for operationalizing the Nature Futures Framework (NFF) in a landscape scenario analysis using a multi-objective optimization...

In this study, we propose a method for downscaling ecological footprint (EF) and biocapacity (BC) to a 1-km square resolution for a spatially flexible analysis of environmental burden balance. To conduct EF downscaling (by land type and consumption category) for all terrestrial areas of Japan, the grid population was multiplied by the scaled EF per...

Even though the mosaic of different land-use/land-cover types has long contributed to the resilience of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes in Ethiopia, recent data indicate that their sustainability is under threat. This study aims to evaluate landscape resilience by adopting a set of indicators for enhancing sustainability in the...

The sound management of healthcare waste (HCW) has been receiving increasing global attention, now even more so given the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic. Uncontrolled fluctuations in generation quantities, the composition of HCW as well as the significant impacts it poses on public health and the environment require a more dynamic and cohesive...

Landscape products link to low-input practices and traditional ecological knowledge, and have multiple functions supporting human well-being and sustainability. Here we explore seven landscape products worldwide to identify these multiple functions in the context of food commodification and landscape sustainability. We show that a landscape...

During the twentieth century, the growth of global water consumption was twice the population growth and at this juncture, many comprehensive policy agendas focused on increasing the limited availability of freshwater to meet ever-growing and competing demands. Hence sustainable water consumption has become a primary concern of the building...

This chapter contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the island socio-ecological system by a synthesis of the state and trend of, and the drivers of changes in ecosystems and their services, focusing on mangroves in Ishigaki Island. The current extent of mangroves on the Island is limited to small patches along a few river estuaries, which...

This study’s objective is to examine how ASEAN countries reported their environment-related policies for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs), and a dataset of their environmental policies was developed. This is a necessary first step in analyzing the reasons for insufficient progress on the...