Search

Achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) requires a context‐specific understanding of how actions to achieve one goal interact with others. We analyzed statistical data, and conducted online surveys and interviews with conservation professionals to understand how terrestrial conservation goals (SDG 15: Life on land) influence and are influenced by other goals in Nepal. Our findings suggest that SDG 15 synergized with economic growth (SDG 8), gender equality (SDG 5), water access (SDG 6), sustainable production and consumption (SDG 12), and climate action (SDG 13), but traded off with food security (SDG 2), energy access (SDG 7), poverty alleviation (SDG 1), and infrastructure development (SDG 9). Increased multi‐sectoral collaboration between conservation and development stakeholders is urgently needed to address the negative impacts of other goals on SDG 15. Additionally, conservation measures in Nepal can benefit from being more people‐focused, participatory, and contextualized to mitigate negative impacts on socioeconomic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Valuation research has received less attention in the transboundary Far Eastern Himalaya. • This is a systematic review of valuation research to understand what ecosystem services are valued. • We investigated how ecosystem services values relate to conservation and development decisions. • Most methods estimated economic value and a few discussed biophysical and sociocultural values. • We recommend integrated valuation to specify regional and global values of transboundary landscape. There has been an increasing focus on the valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in global research, which has improved our understanding of how nature benefits humanity and what actions can help sustain ecosystem services. This, however, is not true for the transboundary Far Eastern Himalaya – a landscape shared by China, India, and Myanmar – even though the three countries have a significant amount of research on ecosystem services valuation. We conducted a systematic review of ecosystem services valuation research in these three countries to: i) understand what ecosystem services have been valued, ii) what valuation methods and tools have been used, and iii) how valuation studies have been linked with conservation and development decision making. In our analysis of 195 peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2021, we found a progressive trend in valuation research, especially in China. About 77% of the literature focused on economic valuation of ecosystem services related to recreation, water regulation, provisions from forest ecosystems, and carbon sequestration, while 13% focused on biophysical and socio-cultural valuation. Given that the environmental degradation and economic development challenges in the landscapes are governed by diverse stakeholder values and perspectives, we recommend that valuation exercises consider a full range of ecosystem services covering both tangible and intangible values. More importantly, we propose that valuation of ecosystem services that are a shared priority, or those of global and regional value, could strengthen regional cooperation among countries in the Far Eastern Himalayan Landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the environmental sustainability of food consumption in Thailand, India, China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia by using a life cycle assessment. These five Asian countries were selected according to the differences in surface area, population density, GDP, and food consumption patterns. The data were obtained from Food and Agriculture Organization food balance sheets, Ecoinvent 3.4 and Agri-footprint 4.0 databases, and scientific publications. The environmental impact categories chosen were global warming, terrestrial acidification, eutrophication, eco-toxicity, human toxicity, and fossil resource scarcity. The impact assessment was carried out by using the ReCiPe2006 v1.1 method. Based on the analysis, the highest environmental impacts for all categories (except eutrophication) were from the food consumption in China, followed by the consumption in Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and India. The major contributors to these impacts were meat, cereals, and animal products. Meat was the highest contributor in all countries except India, because of low meat consumption in India. A calorie intake analysis was also conducted, which showed reductions in environmental impacts by shifting towards calorie-adequate and non-environmentally intensive diets in Thailand, China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Therefore, a reduction in the consumption of meat, cereals, and animal products could therefore enhance the environmental sustainability of food consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]