Search

Ecolabeled paper towels are manufactured using post-consumer recycled material and sold in markets using a recycle logo. Environmentally conscious consumers purchase these paper towels and thereby contribute to improving environmental quality. In this paper, we estimate the implicit value placed by consumers on ecolabeled paper towels using a hedonic price function and conduct an expenditure analysis using Heckman's selection model. Using the data set from the Internet-based grocery stores called as Peapod we find that some consumers recognize ecolabels on paper towels and place a substantial, positive price premium on them. The expenditure analysis indicates that for the preferred functional form, the demand for ecolabeled paper towels is inelastic for environmentally conscious consumers. The simulated results from the selection model indicate that a small subsidy for ecolabeled paper towels will not substantially change consumers' purchase decisions.

An examination of the relative breakdown rates of unused toilet paper, facial tissues and tampons was undertaken in nine different environments typical of Tasmanian natural areas. Bags of the paper products (toilet paper, facial tissues, tampons) were buried for periods of 6, 12 and 24 months at depths of 5 and 15 cm. A nutrient solution simulating human body wastes was added to half of the samples, to test the hypothesis that the addition of nutrients would enhance the breakdown of paper products buried in the soil. Mean annual rainfall was the most important measured variable determining mean breakdown in the nutrient addition treatment between sites, with high rainfall sites (mean annual rainfall of greater than 650 mm) recording less decayed products than the drier sites (mean annual rainfall of 500-650 mm). Temperature and soil organic content were important influences on the breakdown of the unfertilised products. Toilet paper and tissues decayed more readily than tampons. Nutrient addition enhanced decay for all products across all sites. Depth of burial was not important in determining the degree to which products decayed. In alpine environments, burial under rocks at the surface did not increase the speed of decay of any product. The Western Alpine site, typical of alpine sites in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, showed very little decay over the two-year period, even for nutrient enhanced products. Management prescriptions should be amended to dissuade people from depositing human toilet waste in the extreme (montane to alpine) environments in western Tasmania. Tampons should continue to be carried out as currently prescribed.

This paper discusses the relationship between environmental and economic performance and the influence of corporate strategies with regard to sustainability and the environment. After formulating a theoretical model, results are reported from an empirical analysis of the European paper manufacturing industry. New data are used to test hypotheses derived from the theoretical model, using environmental performance indices representing different corporate environmental strategy orientations. In particular, an emissions-based index largely reflecting end-of-pipe strategies and an inputs-based index reflecting integrated pollution prevention are distinguished. For the emissions-based index, a predominantly negative relationship between environmental and economic performance is found, whereas for the inputs-based index no significant link is found. This is consistent with the theoretical model, which predicts the possibility of different relationships. The results also show that for firms with pollution prevention-oriented corporate environmental strategies, the relationship between environmental and economic performance is more positive, thus making improvements in corporate sustainability more likely. Based on this last insight, managerial implications of this are discussed with regard to strategy choices, investment decisions and operations management.

Changes in material use, energy use and emissions profiles of industry are the result of complex interrelationships among a multitude of technological and economic drivers. To better understand and guide such changes requires that attention is paid to the time-varying consequences that technology and economic influences have on an industry's choice of inputs and its associated (desired and undesired) outputs. This paper lays out an approach to improving our understanding of the dynamics of large industrial systems. The approach combines engineering and econometric analysis with a detailed representation of an industry's capital stock structure. A transparent dynamic computer modeling approach is chosen to integrate information from these analyses in ways that foster participation of stakeholders from industry and government agencies in all stages of the modeling process-from problem definition and determination of system boundaries to generation of scenarios and interpretation of results. Three case studies of industrial energy use in the USA are presented-one each for the iron and steel, pulp and paper, and ethylene industry. Dynamic models of these industries are described and then used to investigate alternative carbon emissions and investment-led policies. A comparison of results clearly points towards two key issues: the need for industry specific policy approaches in order to effectively influence industrial energy use, fuel mix and carbon emissions, and the need for longer time horizons than have typically been chosen for the analysis of industrial responses to climate change policies.

This paper presents a hierarchic framework for environmentally conscious design. The framework integrates both product designers and stakeholders to evaluate not only the product features but also its environmental burden. In evaluating the product's burden, a life cycle assessment of the product is conducted through input-output analysis so that a comprehensive inventory of the product's actions and reactions to the environment could be documented. The analytic hierarchy procedure (AHP) is used to develop priority indices for customer requirements to highlight key features that must be present in the product. Subsequently, the quality function deployment is used to match design requirements to customer requirements. A cost-effective design plan is then finally developed. This framework adopts a systemic approach and ensures that environmentally conscious products are designed and manufactured.

This paper introduces a collection of four articles describing the San Luis Basin Sustainability Metrics Project. The Project developed a methodology for evaluating regional sustainability. This introduction provides the necessary background information for the project, description of the region, overview of the methods, and summary of the results. Although there are a multitude of scientifically based sustainability metrics, many are data intensive, difficult to calculate, and fail to capture all aspects of a system. We wanted to see if we could develop an approach that decision-makers could use to understand if their system was moving toward or away from sustainability. The goal was to produce a scientifically defensible, but straightforward and inexpensive methodology to measure and monitor environmental quality within a regional system. We initiated an interdisciplinary pilot project in the San Luis Basin, south-central Colorado, to test the methodology. The objectives were: 1) determine the applicability of using existing datasets to estimate metrics of sustainability at a regional scale; 2) calculate metrics through time from 1980 to 2005; and 3) compare and contrast the results to determine if the system was moving toward or away from sustainability. The sustainability metrics, chosen to represent major components of the system, were: 1) Ecological Footprint to capture the impact and human burden on the system; 2) Green Net Regional Product to represent economic welfare; 3) Emergy to capture the quality-normalized flow of energy through the system; and 4) Fisher information to capture the overall dynamic order and to look for possible regime changes. The methodology, data, and results of each metric are presented in the remaining four papers of the special collection. Based on the results of each metric and our criteria for understanding the sustainability trends, we find that the San Luis Basin is moving away from sustainability. Although we understand there are strengths and limitations of the methodology, we argue that each metric identifies changes to major components of the system., (Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Solid waste management (SWM) is one of the most challenging issues faced by developing countries that suffer from serious pollution problems caused by the generation of large waste quantities. This paper presents the case study of SWM in the Nablus district - Palestine. Surveys for household residents' and SWM program operators, field investigations, on-site waste measurements and characterizations were conducted. Per capita waste generation rates varied between different localities although trends were similar. Overall, the majority of waste was organic (65.1% by weight), suggesting a strong resource recovery potential in terms of animal feed or compost. Recyclable waste (plastic, paper and card) made up 16.7% by weight the waste composition suggesting an incentive to introduce source separation. Household attitudes complemented the waste characterization study, revealing the main problems faced. SWM operators quoted on the current status, highlighting problems with disposing in unsanitary landfills, ineffective solid waste fees system, increasing solid waste quantities and lacking equipment and experienced personnel. To enhance sustainable SWM, public awareness, funding, expertise, equipment and facilities and other provisions currently lacking or inappropriate must be provided., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The lack of landfill capacity, forthcoming EU waste disposal and landfill management legislation and the use of non-renewable and energy intensive natural resources for the end-treatment of old landfills increase pressures to develop new landfill management methods. This paper considers a method for the end-management of old landfills in Finland, which is based on the utilization of forest and paper industry waste flows, wastes from paper recycling (de-inking) and wastes from forest industry energy production. Fibre clay wastes from paper mills, de-inking sludges from de-inking of recovered waste paper and incineration ash from forest industry power plants serve to substitute the use of natural clay for the building of landfill structures for closed landfills. Arguably, this method is preferable to existing practices of natural clay use for landfill building, because it (1) substitutes non-renewable natural clay, (2) consumes less energy and generates less CO2 emissions than the use of natural clay, and (3) eliminates considerable amounts of wastes from paper production, paper consumption and from forest industry energy production. Some difficulties in the application of the method are considered and the waste flow utilization is incorporated into a local forest industry recycling network.

Overfishing is one of the main impacts on the marine environment and multiple-use Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) could be a useful tool to conserve biodiversity and promote sustainable resource exploitation. However, ensuring a high level of protection on the ground is a difficult task. This work contributes to the analysis of the causes at the root of MPAs' ineffectiveness by examining the management of Paracentrotus lividus fishery in an Italian MPA, employing a multidisciplinary approach built on biological and socio-economic competences. This sea urchin species has a determinant ecological role in structuring infralittoral benthic assemblages and is the most exploited echinoid in Europe. From 2010 to 2018, underwater sampling was conducted over 39 monitoring sites to define P. lividus spatial and temporal trends. Declared catches and semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders were used to define the socio-economical context, underline existing conflicts among them, as well as to trace the historical evolution of sea urchin fishery. The results show that the management of sea urchin fishery is not sustainable, primarily because of the stakeholders' non-compliance with the rules. P. lividus stock is progressively declining (-73% in 9 years), showing no difference between MPA (0.5 ± 0.15 ind./m 2 ) and control sites (0.3 ± 0.04 ind./m 2 ). Moreover, fishermen dominate the social arena while scientists, civil society and local press have little relevance. Additionally, the untruthfulness of catch declarations was proved, the IUU fishery is relevant and the black market is hiding the actual economic value. This work offers management solutions that may be useful in other areas that show similar compliance issues., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Semi-public areas of residential spaces have become a topic of growing research interest, particularly in relation to the availability of welcoming spaces for different groups of residents and the potential to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis on residents' quality of life. In this context, determining residents' willingness to green their immediate space is an important and interesting aspect, still unrecognized in research. Designing it collaboratively enhances its social acceptance and sustainability. Our study aims to optimize blue-green interventions in semi-public spaces, i.e. the tenement courtyards, which are neglected grey spaces, so that people are not only satisfied with the solutions, but also willing to take responsibility for them. The study focuses on residents of tenements located in the historic center of Łódź (central Poland), a post-industrial city facing numerous spatial, social, and environmental problems. To ensure that the study was inclusive (involving a wide range of participants) and comprehensive (covering the issue thoroughly), we chose three research methods: workshops with deliberative elements, unstructured interviews, and a survey. Our findings suggest that the idea of establishing blue-green courtyards was not ingrained in the residents' awareness. The study found that while residents generally support blue-green infrastructure, their preference shifts towards low-maintenance, unobtrusive greenery due to the priority given to parking cars and personal comfort in tenement courtyards. Blue solutions are often rejected due to concerns about safety and well-being. In addition, lack of community cohesion and social trust limits enthusiasm for shared spaces or blue-green interventions, with many residents preferring utilitarian functions. To overcome these barriers, a key strategy would be a comprehensive civic and environmental education campaign to raise perception of the benefits of introducing blue-green courtyards and to involve residents in co-design., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Given the substantial effects of agricultural practices on the environment, this paper introduces a novel stakeholder-based framework for assessing the ecosystem services (ESs) provided by agricultural areas. Ecosystem services include essential functions such as water supply, food production, carbon storage, soil erosion control, and habitat support. In addition to ESs, water footprint is also taken into account to evaluate the impacts of agricultural activities on water resources. Some of the mentioned ESs are assessed using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Then, by extending and combining the Conflict Resolution Model with the Composition of Probabilistic Preferences (CRMCPP) method and the leader-follower game (LFG), while considering the hierarchical structure of decision-makers, the best scenario for enhancing the ESs is selected. The Zarrinehroud River Basin (ZRB) in Iran has been chosen as a case study to evaluate the performance of the proposed framework, as this basin is vital for supplying water to Lake Urmia, the largest hypersaline lake in the Middle East. In this paper, 16 Water and Environmental Resources Management (WERM) scenarios have been defined according to the Urmia Lake Restoration National Committee (ULRNC) projects. Then, the mentioned ESs have been evaluated under different WERM scenarios. Ultimately, by utilizing the CRMCPP-LFG method and taking into account the hierarchical structure of decision-makers, we can identify the optimal WERM scenario. The criteria for making this decision include various factors, such as ecosystem services and the costs involved in implementing the WERM scenarios. In the selected scenario, the average water inflow into Lake Urmia is projected to rise to 1329 million cubic meters per year, which is 6.3% more than the average inflow in the current condition. Key initiatives in this scenario include reducing cultivated areas, altering irrigation methods, changing crop patterns, and incorporating water-efficient plant species., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In an era characterized by growing environmental concerns and the urgent call for climate action, the role of green finance in addressing ecological sustainability has become a subject of paramount importance. Owing to this need, the current study examines the nonlinear relationship between green finance and environmental sustainability in 51 developing countries from 2000 to 2022. We employ various advanced panel estimation techniques, including Driscoll-Kraay standard errors (D-K), Feasible generalized least squares (FGLS), Generalized linear model (GLM), and System GMM to examine the long-run impact of this association. The results are further validated using a unique bootstrap quantile approach as a robustness check. We find a nonlinear inverted U-shaped relationship between green finance and environmental sustainability. We extend our analysis to lower-income and lower-middle-income countries and see that this nexus is stronger in middle-income countries than lower-income ones. Our findings also confirm the green finance based-EKC across the sub-samples of lower- and lower-middle-income countries. We also document that this nonlinear relationship is weak during the COVID-19 pandemic. This underscores the complexity of the investigated nexus, emphasizing the need for tailored strategies to foster a sustainable environment in developing economies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The research presented in this manuscript is solely the result of the authors' academic investigation and is not influenced by any financial or commercial entities. All funding sources, if any, have been acknowledged in the manuscript, and the authors have adhered to the ethical guidelines of the Journal of Environmental Management throughout the research and publication process., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Research on changes in cryosphere services is crucial for the responsible management of cryospheric resources and for fostering sustainable development in Social-Ecological Systems (SESs) impacted by the cryosphere. While previous research has primarily focused on quantifying cryospheric change through Cryosphere Service Value (CSV), the impact of cryosphere service change on Social-Ecological Systems Resilience (SESR) remains unclear. This study considers the Qilian Mountains as a cryosphere system and assesses the changes in its service value from 2000 to 2020. It also establishes a framework to analyze the spatial-temporal variations in resilience within the Qilian Mountains Area in China (QMAC) and investigates the impact of changes in cryosphere services on SESR. The findings indicate that (1) the CSV exhibited a decreasing trend followed by an increase from 2000 to 2020, with minor increases observed in the three northern inland river basins and substantial increases in other areas; (2) the resilience in QMAC improved consistently, establishing a spatial pattern characterized by higher resilience in the west and lower resilience in the east, as well as higher resilience in the north and lower resilience in the south; (3) the effects of changes in cryosphere services on SESR demonstrate significant spatial-temporal patterns, the decline in climate regulation service has a notably negative impact on ecological resilience, while the increase in value from aesthetic appreciation and tourism service positively boosts economic resilience; and (4) changes in cryosphere services affect social resilience by influencing residents' livelihoods, with more pronounced effects on SESs in areas with high land use intensity. This research provides a research avenue for examining how cryosphere service change impacts SESR and offers practical experience for promoting the stability of SESs and developing sustainable development policies in regions affected by the global high-mountain cryosphere amid climate change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Greenways serve as important carriers for leisure and recreational activities in urban areas, and the visual landscape quality is a crucial consideration in greenway construction. Scientific and reasonable evaluation of visual landscape quality is significant for planning, construction, and management of greenway systems. This study focuses on the greenways in the Chengdu Urban Ecological Zone. Utilizing image segmentation technology, we constructed an image-based evaluation index system, and innovatively introduced color harmonization and visual entropy to better evaluate dynamic visual landscapes. Based on the Perceived Sensory Dimensions framework, this system is designed to assess the dynamic visual landscape quality, incorporating the dimensions of harmonization, richness, and distinctiveness. The following research findings are obtained: 1) The greenway landscape is complex and diverse. Creating an evaluation system for dynamic visual quality helps assess the landscapes' natural and cultural aspects in a multidimensional, quantitative, and objective way; 2) There are spatial variations in the visual landscape quality of the greenways in the Chengdu Urban Ecological Zone. By dividing the greenways into evaluation units with characteristic parks as nodes, it is found that high-value sections of visual landscape quality are distributed in the southeast part, while low-value sections are distributed in the southwest, and #17 has the highest visual landscape quality at 0.62; 3) The different land cover types on either side of the greenway show a coordinating or inhibiting effect on visual landscape quality. Ecological lands showed a coordinating effect on visual landscape quality, agricultural lands showed a suppressing effect on visual landscape quality, and construction lands showed a coordinating effect on characteristics. The proposed method for analyzing visual landscape quality can support the planning, construction, and management of regional greenway systems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Owing to rapid urbanization, coastal regions worldwide are experiencing immense resource and environmental stress. Ecological restoration is vital for maintaining and sustainably developing coastal regions. This study proposed a method for delineating priority areas for ecological restoration based on the social-ecological systems (SES) theory. First, an analytical model was established based on three dimensions: ecosystem function, social system pressure, and SES evolution, for analyzing the social and natural systems of coastal regions. Second, based on the modes of land-sea interaction relevant to ecological restoration, auxiliary marine factors were incorporated to aid the delineation of priority areas for ecological restoration. A case study was conducted on the Dapeng New District of Shenzhen City to validate our method. The marine areas of the Dapeng New District have significantly poorer ecosystem function than its terrestrial areas because of the natural geography of this area and human activities. A total of 43.4% of marine areas require artificially assisted ecological restoration, and inland areas 1.5 km from the shoreline are significant for ecological conservation and restoration. Additionally, estuaries and artificial shorelines should be the focus of ecological restoration work in the study area. This case study proved the efficacy of our method. The findings will serve as a reference for the planning and implementation of ecological restoration plans in coastal regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Yanhe Watershed, emblematic of the loess hilly-gully landscape and ecological fragility in China's Loess Plateau, has experienced significant soil erosion and extensive soil-water conservation measures. To elucidate sediment dynamics and identify influencing factors in this region from 1960 to 2020, a novel multidimensional multiscale complexity analysis (MMCA) method was developed, based on entropy and complexity perspectives. This method integrated the refined composite multiscale fuzzy entropy (RCMFE) with multidimensional complexity analysis, offering a nuanced evaluation of sediment complexity and its implications for water resource management and ecological restoration. The findings revealed two distinct stages of sediment complexity variations: 1971-1988 and 2000-present. During the first period, the operation of the Wangyao Reservoir predominantly influenced sediment dynamics, initially reducing sediment complexity through sediment interception but later increasing it during discharge phases, particularly at larger scales. After 2002, extensive vegetation restoration efforts significantly reduced sediment complexity but raised concerns about long-term ecosystem resilience. Over the past decade, urbanization and climate change have exacerbated sediment instability, especially over semi-annual scales. This study advocates for management strategies that prioritize ecosystem sustainability and address the challenges posed by climate change and urbanization, facilitating improved soil and water conservation efforts in the Yanhe Watershed and similar regions in the Loess Plateau., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

United Nation Sustainable Development Goal 15.3 make a note of growing significance of management and restoration strategies for degraded land, and advocating globally for collaborative frameworks of innovative applied research and policy. Present study, quantified the impacts of the staggered contour trenching (SCT) technology in conjunction with silvi-pasture production system on regulating and provisioning ecosystem services of degraded mini-watersheds. Impacts of the SCT on hydrologic regulating ecosystem services were quantified by employing the paired watershed approach. Concept of watersheds with and without treatments was employed for computing non-hydrologic regulating and provisioning ecosystem services of the SCT in conjunction with silvi-pasture system. Results of analyses revealed that the SCT density of 505 trenches ha -1 had the highest reduction in the hydrologic regulating services namely, mean annual runoff event, runoff amount and soil loss, which were 35.5, 63.3, and 3.73%, respectively followed by 378, and 186 trenches ha -1 . The highest improvement in the effective rainfall (9.9%) and effective rainfall efficiency (15.0%) was also with 505 trenches ha -1 . The SCT density of 505 trenches ha -1 had retained silt 23.1 and 1.2 times higher than that of 378 and 186 trenches ha -1 . The values of the post-treatment non-hydrologic regulating services of 505 trenches ha -1 were many folds higher compare to other trenching densities. Improvement in the non-hydrologic regulating services of the available -nitrogen, -potash and -potassium, and soil organic carbon values of the post-treatment of 505 trenches ha -1 were 36.7, 44.2, 25.8, and 25.0% than their pre-treatment values, respectively. Provisioning ecosystem services in term of the yields of the wood biomass of the Acacia nilotica and the Cenchrus ciliaris were the highest with 505 trenches ha -1 than the control (no trench) by 166.2 and 21.5%, respectively. Study indicated that 505 trenches ha -1 SCT density in the silvi-pasture production system was the best practices in conserving and maintaining the degraded land ecosystem services. These findings would be very supportive to the policy makers and degraded land managers for reclaiming and improving the sustainability and ecosystem functioning of the degraded land ecosystem for achieving the SDG 5.3 and maintaining the land degradation neutrality., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and tradable green certificate (TGC) systems are mandatory institutional change that promote the renewable energy development and improve the environment in China. Their implementation will cause collective action issues among market entities. Collective action of participating in TGC trading is crucial for transaction success and the effectiveness of system implementation. This paper takes the collective action of heterogeneous market entities participating in TGC trading as the starting point. This paper simulates the strategy selection and group behavior evolution of different market entities under multiple scenarios, and analyzes collective action's evolutionary path and equilibrium results under different group combination environments. It explores the success rate of TGC trading under different heterogeneous entities combinations through an evolutionary game model, revealing the reasons for low liquidity of China's TGC market. The results show that: (1) Heterogeneity is an important factor affecting the success of TGC collective action. (2) When TGC suppliers and demanders are egoists, collective actions appear in multiple equilibria. As egoists decrease, the probability of market entities participating in collective actions increases, and TGC transactions are more successful. (3) Altruists can shorten the time for collective action to achieve equilibrium and reduce the possibility of multiple equilibria. (4) TGC suppliers play a greater guiding role in the transaction. When TGC suppliers are altruists, the probability of TGC demanders participating in collective action tends to 1. Conversely, TGC transaction success rate is 50%., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There is no conflict of interest between the authors., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The main stream of the Tarim River is a crucial part of China's ecological security strategy within the "two screens and three belts" framework, serving the "northern sand control belt" and the ecological civilization corridor. Evaluating and understanding desertification dynamics and driving factors is essential for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and promoting ecological civilization. This study, based on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, quantified the desertification process of the Tarim River's main stream from 1990 to 2020 using Landsat series satellite imagery from Google Earth Engine. Additionally, we employed panel data models to analyze the driving roles of climate change, socio-economic factors, and policies in desertification.Results indicate that between 1990 and 2020, desertification in the main stream of the Tarim River initially intensified, with 15% of the area experiencing desertification between 1990 and 2000. However, this trend was subsequently reversed, with only 0.6% of the area undergoing desertification over the 30-year period. Extensive economic development (-37.2%) and population growth (-48.7%) were the predominant factors exacerbating desertification in the initial period (1990-2000), whereas positive policies (55.3%) were the key to reversing desertification in the main stream of the Tarim River over the past 30 years.We also explored whether policies necessarily play a positive role in combating and preventing desertification. Based on this, we suggest actively engaging in interdisciplinary research and linking research outcomes with practical situations to formulate scientifically sound policies and measures for desertification prevention and control., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Human Footprint (HFP) and Habitat Quality (HQ) are critical factors influencing the species' distribution, yet their relation to biodiversity, particularly in mountainous regions, still remains inadequately understood. This study aims to identify the primary factor that affects the biodiversity by comparing the impact of the HFP and HQ on the species' richness of Cetartiodactyla in the Kunlun-Pamir Plateau and four protected areas: The Pamir Plateau Wetland Nature Reserve, Taxkorgan Wildlife Nature Reserve, Middle Kunlun Nature Reserve and Arjinshan Nature Reserve through multi-source satellite remote sensing product data. By integrating satellite data with the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST)HQ model and utilizing residual and linear regression analysis, we found that: (1) The Wildness Area (WA) predominantly underwent a transition to a Highly Modified Area (HMA) and Intact Area (IA), with a notable 12.02% rise in stable regions, while 58.51% rather experienced a negligible decrease. (2) From 1985 to 2020, the Kunlun-Pamir Plateau has seen increases in the forestland, water, cropland and shrubland, alongside declines in bare land and grassland, denoting considerable land cover changes. (3) The HQ degradation was significant, with 79.81% of the area showing degradation compared to a 10.65% improvement, varying across the nature reserves. (4) The species richness of Cetartiodactyla was better explained by HQ than by HFP on the Kunlun-Pamir Plateau (52.99% vs. 47.01%), as well as in the Arjinshan Nature Reserve (81.57%) and Middle Kunlun Nature Reserve (56.41%). In contrast, HFP was more explanatory in the Pamir Plateau Wetland Nature Reserve (88.89%) and the Taxkorgan Wildlife Nature Reserve (54.55%). Prioritizing the restoration of degraded habitats areas of the Kunlun Pamir Plateau could enhance Cetartiodactyla species richness. These findings provide valuable insights for the biodiversity management and conservation strategies in the mountainous regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Ecosystem services (ESs) are essential for human well-being and are relevant to the region's sustainable development. Most studies have emphasized the importance of high ecosystem services areas for entire regions. However, some locations with particular contributions to a region's ecosystem services are still overlooked. Using the InVEST model, this study analyzed three ESs: annual water yield (WY), carbon storage (CS), and soil conservation (SC) in the farmland of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China (HHHP) from 2005 to 2019. Combining climate regulation (NDVI) and food production (FP), this research calculated the city level of the diversity of ecosystem services supply (alpha-multifunctionality) and the unique contribution to the region in each city (beta-multifunctionality) from 2005 to 2019. The alpha-multifunctionality combines the number of ecosystem services and their supplies of ecosystem services. At the same time, the beta-multifunctionality assesses the average dissimilarity between the city and all other cities within that region. Furthermore, this study used Spearman correlation and self-organizing map (SOM) to analyze the relationships between these five ecosystem services and identify ecosystem service bundles. Finally, this study used random forests to analyze drivers of ecosystem service multifunctionality. Our results showed that food production in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain increased significantly by 37.20% over time, annual water yield decreased significantly by 29.59%, and climate regulation decreased significantly by 6.09%. This may be because the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain mainly shifted from monoculture to crop rotation, and the increase in crops required more irrigation, which led to a significant decline in water yield. Furthermore, the area of grain crops in the HHHP was reduced in 2019 compared to 2005, which explains the significant decline in climate regulation. SOM found that cities with a higher beta-multifunctionality were mainly concentrated in the northern and southwest parts of HHHP. Bundles with a high alpha-multifunctionality were mainly in the southern and southeast parts of the HHHP. In addition, this research showed that farmers' per capita disposable income was the most important driver of ecosystem service multifunctionality, followed by annual average precipitation and temperature. In conclusion, this study suggests that policymakers should strengthen the protection of some high ecological value but low economic value farmlands, which are crucial for regional ecological security. Meanwhile, policymakers should introduce strict ecological protection policies for farmland to reduce the decline of ecological services caused by farmers' pursuit of economic income., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

In recent decades, there has been an increased emphasis on, and application of, collaborative and adaptive forms of environmental governance as a means to address complex social-ecological problems that cannot be achieved alone and support sustainable resource management. However, the majority of research in the collaborative governance and adaptability arena has relied on individual or small-n case studies. This has led to a multitude of definitions, indicators, and indices, which limits our ability to make inferences across cases and contexts. Relatedly, most research lacks formal tests of assumptions related to the dimensional structure and validity of constructs thought to represent collaborative dynamics and adaptability. There is a need for systematic and cross-case assessments situated within robust statistical frameworks to further our understanding of the forces and factors that cultivate collaborative governance and adaptability. We developed and administered a standardized survey assessment, grounded in the theory and practice of collaborative governance and adaptability, to fifteen collaborative projects funded under the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) in the United States. We then used confirmatory factor analysis to test the dimensional structure, reliability, and validity of our theoretically and empirically grounded measures. Results indicate the components of collaborative governance and adaptability comprise six dimensions - principled engagement, shared motivation, leadership, resources, knowledge and learning, and institutional arrangements. As expected, several dimensions were significantly related, and the pattern of inter-factor relationships aligned with theoretical and empirical assumptions. We also found that the six dimensions represent statistically reliable, valid, and distinct measures that may be used to evaluate collaborative governance and adaptability. While our focus was on the CFLRP, the assessment can be adapted in other collaborative environmental governance contexts and used as a foundation for addressing key research gaps, including relating collaborative environmental governance processes to social-ecological outcomes and collaborative adaptation and resilience through time. This is a critical line of work given the increased emphasis and reliance on long-term collaborative arrangements to achieve sustainability goals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Human activities related to land use and land cover (LULC) conversion have been the primary factor driving changes to mangrove distribution over recent decades. In order to quantify the anthropogenic influences associated with LULC changes on mangroves in the Vietnamese Southern Coast (VSC), we investigated the variations and trends in mangrove distribution between 1988 and 2023. We used a time-series of Landsat spectral indices from Google Earth Engine and applied hot spot analysis and machine learning algorithms to analyse mangrove variations and LULC classification, respectively. Our findings revealed that over the past 36 years, approximately half of the mangrove area has been lost due to LULC conversions. The most significant losses in mangrove cover occurred during the 1998-2011 period, with a decline of 46.79% in total area (an average of 3.6% per annum). The rate of mangrove deforestation more than halved to 17.49% (1.5% per annum) in the period between from 2011 to 2023. We attribute the reduction in mangrove loss to conservation efforts and natural regeneration processes. The emerging hot spot analysis indicated that the most significant restoration of new mangrove areas occurred between 1988 and 1998, totalling 1795 ha (1.4%), while the highest rate of mangrove deforestation was observed between 1998 and 2011, amounting to 2249 ha (2.0%). The primary causes of these variations in mangrove distribution were the conversion of mangrove areas to shrimp farming (38.91%), followed by other agricultural land use (5.82%) and the expansion of impervious surfaces (3.34%). In contrast, a result of enhanced conservation efforts and natural regeneration was associated with a 17.91% of mangrove area gain in the 2011-2023 period. Despite the regeneration potential of mangroves, our study highlighted the ongoing need to manage and protect mangrove forests to facilitate their expansion in the VSC. The analytical approach adopted in this study is applicable to other coastal areas when assessing changes in mangroves and land use practices., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Ecosystems are crucial for providing essential services, supporting ecological conservation, and promoting sustainable development on both regional and global scales. However, robust methodologies and comprehensive frameworks for assessing ecosystem sustainability are still lacking. This study presents an integrated framework that incorporates both diversity and stability in evaluating ecosystem sustainability. Our methodology involves a multi-step process: first, we select and integrate landscape metrics to quantify ecosystem diversity; second, we establish an ecological network and apply a robustness model to assess ecosystem stability; finally, we delineate zones of ecosystem sustainability based on the combined assessments of diversity and stability. Our findings reveal that (1) from 1995 to 2020, ecosystem diversity significantly increased within the urban agglomeration around Hangzhou Bay (UAHB), with notable regional patterns, particularly in Huzhou, Jiaxing, and Ningbo. (2) The structure and connectivity of the ecological network have markedly improved, with network robustness in 2020 surpassing that of 1995, indicating enhanced ecosystem stability. (3) Five distinct ecological zones were identified-high sustainability protected areas, ecosystem stability improving areas, low sustainability fragile areas, ecosystem diversity improving areas, and moderate sustainability transition areas-each accompanied by specific management strategies. This research offers theoretical insights and practical guidance for ecological protection and restoration, advancing sustainable ecosystem development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An emerging body of literature connects the well-known Varieties of Capitalism framework (and its variants) with the propensity of nations to move away from hydrocarbons. Our study extends this work by exploring how macro-level institutional configurations matter for public expectations towards corporate environmental sustainability practices. By linking survey data of public-as-stakeholders to institutional systems encompassing 16 countries (N = 7156), we use multi-level modelling to test the explanatory power of a theoretically well-refined recent construct, namely, the Varieties of Institutional Systems - and discover significant variations associated with public expectations across different institutional systems. The findings, however, defy the notion of a clear distinction between mature and emerging markets or that mature institutional systems consistently hold firms to higher environmental standards. Rather surprisingly and counter-intuitively, we find that public-as-stakeholders from State-Led institutional systems had the highest expectations towards corporate environmental sustainability practices. We outline some of the major theoretical and policy implications of our research findings., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Sustainable development goals and rising sustainability concerns push stakeholders and society to demand organizations adopt innovative practices that can contribute to business sustainability. This study aims to provide a systematic review through comprehensive bibliometric analysis of almost 1st quarter of the 21st century. The main focus is on how green human resource management practices promote and have a relationship with environmental performance, which is a significant part of sustainability. The authors systematically reviewed 242 top-tier articles from Scopus and Web of Science databases by following the "preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses" methodology. A significant relationship began in 2015 and gained popularity after COVID-19. The studies suggest that management should embrace the most demanding green human resource management practices, such as green competence building, motivation enhancement, and employee involvement, for better environmental performance. So, organizations can help acquire and retain committed and eco-friendly employees whose ecological values and objectives are compatible with the organization. The study also provides insight into the role of green human resource management practices in fostering eco-friendly behaviour of employees that, in turn, influence environmental performance. Most authors used the theory of ability-motivation-opportunity, a supporting mechanism for how organizations protect the environment through adopting green human resource management practices. In the future, corporate environmental responsibility, environmental regulations intensity, pro-environmental behaviour, and green work-life balance are suggested mechanisms to enhance environmental performance through green human resource management practices., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

There has been an increase in recognition of the benefits of employing nature-based coastal protection strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change (e.g., increased storminess, sea-level rise). To enable broader use of nature-based methods, coastal managers and policymakers need to consider the placement and social acceptance of any methods considered. Most published spatial planning models for nature-based coastal protection currently do not utilise social data during site selection. We conducted a public survey of 452 respondents from Singapore, a highly urbanised coastal city-state, to assess Singaporean's perceptions of climate change impacts on coastal areas and their support of nature-based coastal protection. We also assessed the respondents willingness to accept trade-offs for the prioritisation of nature-based coastal protection and subsequently spatially mapped them. The results showed a high awareness of the potential impacts of climate change on coastal areas. Nature-based coastal protection was highly supported as the associated benefits, such as protection of wildlife and their habitats and climate change reduction, were aligned with public values of coastal areas. However, nature-based coastal protection may not be prioritised over human-made structures due to the perception that they are less effective, and respondents may not be willing to undergo 1) replacement of their favourite coastal area, 2) increased taxes, and 3) relocation, for their prioritisation. Through spatially mapping the relevant trade-offs, we found that only 11.1% of coastal areas had moderate or high likelihood of social barriers to nature-based coastal protection, highlighting their potential in Singapore. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating social factors in government land use planning decisions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

A common problem in resource management concerns the offer of incentives to individuals and organizations to encourage their participation in conservation practices. For underlying acceptance rates that are not known initially, a structured process of annually offering different incentives and recording responses can guide decisions about the number of incentives to offer through time. We examined a dynamic model that includes combinations of different incentives that are offered to farmers each year, with the objective of strengthening participation in agricultural conservation. We considered 3 approaches for identifying incentive acceptance rates that measure participation, including an arbitrary rate assignment independent of incentive data; iterative averaging based on annual offers and acceptances; and Bayesian updating of expected acceptance rates with beta distributed rates and a binomial data distribution. We performed a proof-of-concept simulation that evaluated different strategies that utilize the estimated rates to offer incentives through time. The strategies we evaluated included matching offers to prior year acceptance rate estimates, possibly weighted by their precision; offering only the incentive with the largest estimated acceptance rate each year; and equally allocating offers among the incentives. We evaluated scenarios for non-stationarity in the underlying acceptance rates and considered alternatives for using offer data to deal with non-stationarity. Results indicated that the trajectory of future offers is marginally affected by variance weighting, and there is a strong influence of non-stationarity. Truncating data with a negative rate change accentuates the decline in an offer trajectory, whereas truncation with a positive rate change dampens the trajectory increase. We found that the way one handles variation in estimating acceptance rates, in particular non-stationarity, can have a substantial effect on the management of incentives, especially in the short term. The results can be generalized to allow for multiple changes in underlying rates over a project time horizon. We highlight the strong similarities between our framing of the incentives problem and the more general context of sequential experimentation, with its opportunity to improve conservation through adaptive learning., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Inland navigation is one of the most sustainable transport alternatives to help decarbonise the world economy. However, the likely impacts of intensifying inland navigation on freshwater ecosystems are difficult to predict. A global map of knowledge that considers both abiotic and biotic responses to increasing shipping traffic and developing infrastructures is lacking. Deriving general evidence-based assessments is challenging, because most studies on inland navigation impacts are merely descriptive and either consist of local case studies, or address single navigation stressors or specific taxa only. We conducted a systematic mapping of the published literature (1908-2021) to provide a global synthesis of the effects of inland navigation on the biotic and abiotic components of freshwater ecosystems. We show that only half of the reported navigation-related impacts were statistically tested. Navigation itself (vessel operation) had mainly negative effects on native taxa (57%), followed by waterway management (40%), and navigation infrastructures (35%). Navigation has direct negative impacts caused by physical disturbances such as vessel-induced waves, and indirect impacts that facilitate the spread of aquatic invasive species, and altering the abiotic habitat conditions. Thirty percent of the tested relationships showed non-significant impacts on the biotic environment, while in 10% of cases impacts were context-dependent. We identified the main gaps of knowledge, namely (i) impacts of waterway management on communities, (ii) underlying processes of navigation impacts on river ecosystems; and (iii) interactions between multiple navigation factors and cascading effects on multi-taxa responses. These future research directions should improve the diagnosis, mitigate the negative impacts of navigation on rivers and provide guidelines for improving navigated river management., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Effective regulation of land-use activities in steepland areas is crucial to protect downstream ecologies and human life as intense rainfall disturbances become more frequent globally. In Aotearoa New Zealand extensive synchronous clear-cutting of Pinus radiata monocultures on steep convergent landforms, and associated earthworks, causes ongoing accelerated erosion, excessive sedimentation, and debris-laden landslides after adverse weather events. This study examines the implementation of national forestry regulations established in 2018, which also enable regional councils to create more stringent rules to protect aquatic ecosystems. All sixteen councils were surveyed in 2021 and 2022 for stringency in planning provisions; and four regions seriously affected by Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 were resurveyed in 2024. The cyclone caused loss of human life and calamitous damage to housing, infrastructure, and productive land uses from floods exacerbated by clearcut logging debris. All councils had administratively adopted the national regulations into their existing freshwater and coastal resource management plans. Twelve councils retained existing rules that conflicted with the regulations, but these rules do not protect all regionally significant aquatic ecosystems nor minimise landslide risks. No council, except Gisborne, had instigated the expensive and lengthy statutory resource management plan change process, nor taken a 'strategic and principled' approach to develop more stringent regulations, such as tougher restrictions on clear-cutting, earthworks, and replanting on steep erosion-prone convergent landforms to protect aquatic ecosystems and vulnerable communities. The government did tighten the management of logging debris after the cyclone, but the national regulations remain ineffective in addressing clear-cut practices maladaptive to intense rainfall and continue to permit replanting on convergent landforms. The regulations need urgent amendment to require councils to develop and implement a strategic and principled approach to stringency to better protect aquatic ecosystems, human life, economic livelihoods, and public infrastructure. Water quality monitoring is also currently inadequate, as no council systematically monitors the effects of forestry activities on sedimentation rates, which inhibits the ability to compare across and between regions. Foresters are not required to monitor water quality, which also stymies assessments of compliance and policy effectiveness. Councils regularly monitor rivers, lakes, and estuaries, but rarely the effects of individual land uses. This means that sediment or other contaminants cannot be parsed to different land use activities, undermining attempts to set catchment limits. It can also take decades at current monitoring levels to defensibly show any water quality improvements after changes to land use regulations. The current environmental limits approach of setting individual water quality attribute targets is highly unlikely to drive changes to maladaptive and ecologically degrading land uses. A new environmental management approach is needed that prohibits or effectively constrains hazardous and adverse activities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Spatially differentiated conservation effort for natural resources is critical to achieving a balance between protection and development in national parks. However, the extent of priority conservation areas for plants that integrate multispecies and multifaceted values is unclear. Here, we selected fine-resolution environmental variables with stronger impacts on wild plant survival to spatialize the distribution of all modeling-eligible species using species distribution models in Three-River-Source National Park, China. These were then combined with in situ conservation results for insufficient data species to identify priority conservation areas (PCAs) in terms of diversity, ecological and economic values, respectively. We analyzed the spatial characteristics of the priority conservation areas and searched for conservation gaps not covered by national nature reserves. The results showed that this study obtained more precise results on the spatial distribution of species by improving environmental variables and upgrading the spatial resolution. In Three-River-Source National Park, the species richness of wild plants showed a decreasing trend from southeast to northwest. There were significant differences in the spatial distribution of the priority conservation areas identified based on the three values, which was the basis for the spatially differentiated conservation and development of wild plant resources. In addition, the priority conservation areas obtained based on ecological value found Top17% priority conservation areas in the Hoh Xil Natural Reserve, which could not be revealed based on diversity or economic value. These results highlight the urgency of implementing multispecies and multifaceted values studies in national parks. In the future, studying conflicts between wildlife priority conservation areas and human activities, and expanding to national parks on a global scale, will be the focus that this study will continue to explore., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Matching the supply and demand of related ecosystem services can be an effective way to realize long-term sustainable management of the food-energy-water nexus (FEW Nexus) in drylands. However, few studies have focused on the matching of supply and demand for ecosystem services associated with advancing the sustainability of FEW-Nexus, there is limited research in this domain, which lacks systematic and quantitative analysis of the relationship between them and FEW Nexus sustainability. Here, this research takes the West Liaohe River Basin in the arid region of China as a case study. Based on a localized FEW Nexus sustainability evaluation index system, the FEW Nexus sustainability and the supply-demand matching characteristics of the corresponding ecosystem services in the West Liaohe River Basin from 2005 to 2015 were assessed. The relationship between them was analyzed quantitatively through the methods of coupling coordination degree and geographical detector. The results showed a synergistic improvement in both FEW Nexus sustainability and the supply-demand situation of combined ecosystem services. The supply of food production and water yield were able to meet their demands adequately from 2005 to 2015, with a strengthening surplus, leading to an overall surplus and gradual improvement in the integrated ecosystem services. This surplus synergistically promoted the process of FEW Nexus sustainability. The results of the geographical detector indicate that the supply-demand ratio of carbon sequestration was the main factor influencing FEW Nexus sustainability. Areas with higher FEW Nexus sustainability tended to have larger deficits in carbon sequestration, which was more evident in areas with high levels of urbanization. Therefore, the key to enhancing FEW Nexus sustainability in the basin is to balance the supply of and demand for carbon sequestration services. Overall, the present study not only provides a basis for strengthening the management of the supply-demand of ecosystem services associated with FEW to achieve regional sustainable development, but also offers insights into how the growing demand for the FEW Nexus is exerting pressure on the balance between supply and demand of related ecosystem services., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Vegetation restoration measures have been increasingly employed to alleviate rocky desertification in karst ecosystems. However, the comprehensive effects of these interventions on soil properties and soil organic carbon (SOC) remain poorly understood. Herein, we gathered 644 paired observations from 68 studies and conducted a meta-analysis to quantify the performance of different vegetation restoration measures including moss (MS), grassland (GL), cash crop (CP), shrub (SH), and secondary forest (SF) through soil properties and SOC. Our results demonstrated significant effects of MS, GL, CP, SH, and SF on soil biotic and abiotic factors, each with distinct response characteristics. Particularly, MS significantly enhanced all soil properties (excluding a slight decrease in soil pH by 10.8%). Moreover, MS, GL, CP, SH, and SF could elevate SOC by 32.1%, 17.6%, 24.9%, 59.2%, and 48.7% respectively. Utilizing random forest and linear regression models, we identified primary drivers for SOC in MS, GL, CP, SH, and SF as soil moisture content, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, soil microbial phosphorus, total nitrogen, and β-1,4-glucosidase, respectively. This meta-analysis underlined the varied effects of vegetation restoration measures on soil properties and advocates for restoration measures that prioritize plant productivity and reduce soil temperature during the karst rocky desertification restoration process. Additionally, this study underscores the pivotal role of vegetation rehabilitation in environmental conservation and carbon sequestration of ecologically vulnerable regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

This study probes into the biodiversity disclosure practices of mining firms in Africa, the determinants and the evidence of convergence using information economics analysis. Data was sourced from 21 mining firms covering the period 2006 to 2019 operating in Morocco and South Africa with various mine sites owned in other countries like Ghana. Using a combination of panel-corrected standard errors regression, logistic regression and the test of beta and sigma-convergence, the study found that there is a moderate level of biodiversity disclosure across African mining firms and there is both beta and sigma-convergence. The study found that board size enhances disclosures on all biodiversity indicators, viz, biodiversity disclosure index, 304-1 (proximity of sites to biodiversity hotspots) being the most disclosed, followed by 304-3 (habitats protected or restored), 304-4 (IUCN Red List Species) and 304-2 (impact of activities on biodiversity). Generally, board size drives biodiversity disclosures but board independence does not. Additionally, the membership of the United Nations Global Compact, a multistakeholder initiative significantly affects every disclosure indicator. Financial leverage drives the disclosure of 3 indicators. Other factors like firm size, multinational enterprise status, profitability, cross-listing, human capital development, and gross domestic product were explored. The results of the analyses are relevant for practitioners, policymakers, regulators and academics alike., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Achieving natural resource utilization efficiency (NRUE) is a critical objective in addressing the pressing challenges of climate change and the risks associated with the finite availability of mineral resources. Enhancing NRUE can mitigate environmental impacts and support sustainable development for future generations. In this context, green innovation emerges as a pivotal driver of environmental sustainability and resource conservation. However, its potential role in advancing the NRUE has not been fully explored. To fill this gap, this study conducts an empirical analysis of 268 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2022, examining the impact of green innovation on NRUE. This study also incorporates the mediating role of environmental regulations in shaping this impact. The findings demonstrate that green innovation significantly enhances NRUE, primarily by facilitating industrial structural upgrading and reducing resource dependence. Additionally, environmental regulations strengthen the positive effects of green innovation, further amplifying its contribution to NRUE. Moreover, geographical location and differences in resource endowments among cities lead to variations in the effectiveness of green innovation on NRUE. These findings underscore the complex interplay between green technological progress, proactive government policies, and NRUE, offering valuable insights for policymakers and researchers alike., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Improving the connectivity of ecological networks (ENs) is a proven strategy for biological conservation. However, without a clear understanding of animal movement, research on ENs may not provide a sufficient reference for maintaining biodiversity. To address this gap, we embraced central concepts of movement ecology and conducted a study in the Qilian Mountains. The predictability and seasonality of environmental conditions were combined to identify ecological sources with rich temporal niches and improve the informed preference character of resistance surface. Then, we constructed ENs with six dispersal thresholds. Further, integrating modularity and circuit theory, we pinpointed priority areas for restoration within the ENs. Our findings indicated that the eastern part of the Qilian Mountains showed higher biodiversity suitability, with terrain being the primary factor limiting dispersal. Additionally, comparative analyses demonstrate that the new method for measuring biodiversity from the perspective of temporal niche is reliable and better aligns with the needs of biodiversity conservation. In light of emerging challenges within the study area, where apex predators seriously suppress the populations of some smaller predators, we propose a novel conservation idea that emphasizes the strategic retention and removal of barriers to maintain biological balance. This study enriches methodologies for biodiversity measurement, provides forward-looking conservation strategies, and offers practical contributions toward mitigating biodiversity loss., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) dynamics provide a crucial role in the monitoring, planning, and management of resources. They also offer valuable information for developing strategies to balance conservation efforts, resolve conflicts between different land uses, and address pressures from growth. The present study focuses on the assessment of LULC dynamics, their forecasting, and their changes for Prayagraj city (including its surroundings) of India. Using long-term spatiotemporal Landsat datasets (1988-2018), we have explored the interlinkages between the change dynamics and human population pressure to explore the impact of agriculture and urbanization on the city landscape. Future growth prediction is carried out by incorporating Cellular Automaton (CA) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models. Six exploratory layers (viz., roads, educational institutes, railway transition, slope, river, and restricted area) are used in the learning process to determine LULC change (1997-2008) simulation. The validation of real and predicted LULC is carried out for 2018, where the correctness percentage and kappa value are found to be 90.29% and 0.87, respectively. Then, the ANN- Multilayer perceptron (MLP) and CA model are applied to predict LULC-2028 using the same trained transition probabilities. Results show that Built-land has grown highly by 10.03%, whereas Agriculture land and Forest land have significantly decreased by 13.43% and 3.03%, respectively, from 1988 to 2018. The predicted LULC of 2028 reveals that Built-land will keep growing by 2.83% during 2018-2028 at the cost of Agriculture land and Forest land, especially in northern, south-western and southern region, including city's inner sphere. United Nations' human population projection reveals that the city is expected to reach a population of 1.625 million by 2028. This indicates that tremendous pressure will be placed on land resources, particularly on agricultural, barren, and forested areas. To address this alarming scenario, it is imperative to delineate future development areas, ensuring better urban planning for the environmental sustainability and economic prosperity of Prayagraj city., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Forest management is at the crossroads of economic, environmental, and social goals, often requiring strategic trade-offs. As global demands surge, it's vital to employ management strategies fostering multifunctional landscapes, enabling ecosystem integrity while procuring resources. Historically, the boreal forest in Fennoscandia has been intensively managed for timber, causing environmental shifts and conflicts with biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation policies. Application of current management practices while increasing harvests are a threat to both biodiversity and carbon stocks. To explore this issue, we quantify the cost-efficiency of two forest management regimes: rotation forestry (RF) and continuous cover forestry (CCF), considering specific forest attributes like soil type (mineral and peat soils), site type (fertility classes) and tree stand age, which have been underexplored in previous research. We simulated 45,559 forest stands for 100 years in Northern boreal forests of Finland. We proposed two straightforward cost-efficiency indices (CEI) to evaluate the performance of these management regimes, specifically focusing on their impact on economic output, biodiversity conservation (measured as a biodiversity index for six forest vertebrates, including five bird species and one mammal) and carbon stock. Our findings suggest that continuous cover forestry holds the potential to deliver more cost-efficient ecosystem services and maintain greater biodiversity compared to rotation forestry approaches. Continuous cover forestry, however, is not optimal for all at management units, which calls for alternative management options depending on the stand characteristics. The cost-efficiency indices performance of rotation forestry and continuous cover forestry depend on the characteristics of the initial stand which is largely determined by the previous management of the stand. Our results contribute to guiding forest management towards enhanced sustainability and ecological balance. The great variation in stand characteristics suggest a need for diverse management strategies to create multifunctional landscapes. Our proposed cost-efficiency indices could serve as practical tools for decision-making., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) denotes the aggregate value of ecosystem services (ESs) supplied by all ecosystem types within an accounting area for a given accounting period in monetary units and represents one of the multiple types of measures of ES values. The value of each ES is typically calculated by multiplying the ES's quantity by the ES's unit value that may be reflected by various proxies, such as market price, replacement cost, and avoided damage cost. As an economic, ecological, or environmental indicator, GEP should be calculated based on certain standards, allowing for comparison over time and across regions. While many standards, including which ESs to account for and what proxies for ESs' values to use, should be unified to improve the comparability of GEP, this standardization does not mean a single GEP accounting system is sufficient to achieve multiple goals. Instead, at least two accounting systems with different applicability and levels of sophistication are needed. (1) To assess environmental status, ecosystems' capacities to provide ESs, and the performance of environmental governance, there should be a simplified system that accounts for both realized ESs (actually received by humans) and potential ESs (beyond actual humans demands) and adopts a nationwide unified constant unit value of each ES. (2) To assess ESs' actual contributions to socioeconomic development and human well-being, there should be a more sophisticated system that accounts for realized ESs only and adopts a dynamic unit value of each ES. This dynamic unit value should be adjusted to fit local socioeconomic and ecological contexts, consider the tipping point or threshold in each ES's quantity, and reflect the diminishment or increment in the marginal utility of each ES., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The author declares that there are no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Diverse types of saline coastal wetlands contribute significantly to global biodiversity, carbon stocks, and ecosystem functions. Opportunities to incentivise coastal wetland restoration from carbon markets is growing across the world. However, little is known of the economic feasibility of blue carbon restoration across different regions, or the quantities of ecological and social co-benefits that accompany restoration. We explored the opportunities for tidal restoration of coastal wetlands for blue carbon projects in three regions across Australia. We identified biophysically suitable potential restoration sites for mangroves, saltmarshes and supratidal forests, estimated their carbon abatement over 25 years, and undertook a cost-benefit analysis under the carbon market. Potential co-benefits of restoration sites for biodiversity, fisheries, water quality and coastal protection were measured to identify economically feasible sites that maximise the provision of co-benefits. Cultural benefits were identified as the potential for leadership and collaboration by Traditional Custodians at sites. We found that the extent of restoration opportunities varied among regions, with variation in tidal range, extent of agricultural land-use, and the type of hydrological modifications influencing carbon abatement forecasts. The presence of threatened species in hydrologically modified wetlands reduced the amount of land available for restoration, however the restoration of remaining areas could produce rich ecological and cultural benefits. A high carbon price was needed to make blue carbon restoration profitable on land used for beef production. We found sites where carbon credits can be bundled with co-benefits to possibly attain higher carbon prices. Traditional Custodians were interested in leading blue carbon projects, however the opportunity is dependent on Native Title rights. Through comparison of case studies, we developed a regional approach to identify coastal wetland restoration sites for blue carbon and co-benefits that can incorporate local knowledge and data availability, engage with Traditional Custodians, and adapt to the unique characteristics of regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Valerie Hagger reports financial support was provided by National Environmental Science Program. Renee Rossini reports financial support was provided by National Environmental Science Program. Phoebe Stewart-Sinclair reports financial support was provided by National Environmental Science Program. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Forest restoration is a vital nature-based solution for mitigating climate change and land degradation. To ensure restoration effectiveness, the costs and benefits of alternative restoration strategies (i.e., active restoration vs. natural regeneration) need to be evaluated. Existing studies generally focus on maximum restoration potential, neglecting the recovery potential achievable through natural regeneration processes, leading to incomplete understanding of the true benefits and doubts about the necessity of active restoration. In this study, we introduce a multi-stage framework incorporating both restoration and regeneration potential into prioritized planning for ecosystem restoration. We used the vegetated landscape of Hong Kong (covering 728 km 2 ) as our study system due to its comprehensive fine-resolution data and unique history of vegetation recovery, making it an ideal candidate to demonstrate the importance of this concept and inspire further research. We analyzed vegetation recovery status (i.e., recovering, degrading, and stable) over the past decade based on the canopy height data derived from multi-temporal airborne LiDAR. We assessed natural regeneration potential and maximum restoration potential separately, producing spatially-explicit predictions. Our results show that 44.9% of Hong Kong's vegetated area has showed evidence of recovery, but remaining gains through natural regeneration are limited, constituting around 4% of what could be attained through active restoration. We further estimated restoration priority by maximizing the restoration gain. When prioritizing 5% of degraded areas, the increment in canopy height could be up to 10.9%. Collectively, our findings highlight the importance of integrating both restoration and regeneration potential into restoration planning. The proposed framework can aid policymakers and land managers in optimizing forest restoration options and promoting the protection and recovery of fragile ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Jin Wu reports financial support was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China. Jin Wu reports financial support was provided by HKU Seed Fund for Basic Research. Jin Wu reports financial support was provided by Hong Kong Research Grant Council Collaborative Research Fund. Jin Wu reports financial support was provided by The Hung Wing Physical Science Research Fund 2021-22. Jin Wu reports financial support was provided by The Innovation and Technology Fund (funding support to State Key Laboratories in Hong Kong of Agrobiotechnology) of the HKSAR, China. Calvin K. F. Lee reports financial support was provided by the HKU 45th Round PDF Scheme. Ying Ki Law reports financial support was provided by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR Government. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Global climate change has necessitated the implementation of green infrastructure that is resilient in a manner of sustainable development. The current understanding of green infrastructure resilience is hindered by the divergence of generic properties and performance in adapting to uncertain disturbances. This study develops an operational methodology that integrates structural and functional properties of green infrastructure, and their connections to shape the general resilience. A further empirical study is conducted in the context of Shenzhen City, where the effectiveness of resilient connections is correlated with the distribution of waterlogging. We demonstrate that green infrastructure present different levels of resilience in terms of its structural composition and functional performance. The Shenzhen city shows a high capacity to maintain soil retention stability, but a feeble capacity regarding water yield and gross primary productivity. The resilient connections of green infrastructure are highly centralized, with a few pivotal nodes performing a high degree of connectivity. It shows that a total of 52.2% of resilient lines are identified as belonging to the fourth level but linking the majority of the nodes. Enhancing the general resilience of green infrastructure could facilitate its adaptation to specific disturbances such as waterlogging. When correlated the resilient connections of green infrastructure with the distribution of waterlogging, a distance of 1.6 km from the waterlogging points is significantly identified where the residuals of the entropy index display the lowest variance. As the distance increases, the composite entropy index initially decreases and then increases. We suggest that the alignment of generic properties and specified performance of green infrastructure is essential in the pursuit of sustainable development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Policy instruments that integrate the actions of multiple farmers are of growing interest for improving landscape scale environmental sustainability of agriculture. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with farmers in south-east England and applied thematic analysis to the responses to perform a qualitative investigation into the combined role of economic, social, and cultural barriers to cooperative environmental management, and identify possible solutions for these barriers. Interviewees recognised environmental benefits of cooperative management, but this was a low priority compared to other management activities, being seen as complex and time-consuming, with uncertainty over direct benefits to participants. External coordination could address this by overseeing information sharing on cooperation benefits and minimising the logistical burden for participants, but given farmer mistrust of outside intervention, these projects will be more successful when collaborating farmers feel they are in control. The efforts of both pioneering farmers able to initiate projects with their peers, and respected facilitators who embody local knowledge and experience, will be vital for balancing coordination and collaboration. Finding the optimal balance between these different elements will vary with local circumstances: policy should have the flexibility to accommodate this. Farmers were wary of connecting with others possessing different farming ideals and thus having to compromise on their management approach. Some respondents sought to bridge these gaps by focusing on aspects of farming identities they shared with their peers, raising the possibility that support targeting these individuals will help develop relationships that foster lasting cultural change for farmer cooperative environmental management., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Global grassland degradation poses a significant threat to the sustainable socio-economic development of humanity. However, this trend can be effectively mitigated through scientifically sound and rational grassland improvement measures. Grassland improvement utilizes the theory of pratacultural science, especially the theory of the four production levels of grassland agro-ecosystems, to solve the fundamental contradiction between the seasonal imbalance of grassland supply and livestock demand through integrates a number of improvement techniques. In order to clarify the implementation subject, target and specific measures of grassland improvement and to improve the science and efficiency of management and conservation, we classify grassland improvement into four types according to the target, scale and attributes of grassland and livestock feedback mechanism. Grassland improvement is generally based on one key technology, with multiple technologies used in combination, and synergy or superposition formed between integrated technologies. Individual technologies mainly include enclosure of livestock, reclamation, ripping, overseeding, fertilization, irrigation, fire work and grazing management, while integrated technologies are a combination of two or more technologies. Compared to individual techniques, the integrated approach resulted in a significant enhancement of community aboveground biomass by 17-38% and species richness by 2-24%, with no discernible impact on soil properties in the short term. The establishment of a standardized grazing-based improvement process while adhering to the principles of improvement after utilization, comprehensiveness, standardization and scale consistence to improve the structure and function of grassland ecosystems. Strategy of grassland improvement reassesses "nuisance" species as "citizens" of the ecosystem because they supply productivity, species biodiversity and other ecosystem services, and they can be managed at an unharmful and even benefitful level through identifying the ecological and economic thresholds., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Various research endeavours are designed to identify ecosystem services, assess their spatial distribution, and prioritize them in a given forest landscape. The Turkish State Forest Organization has introduced an ecosystem-based multiple-use forest management philosophy since 2008, which emphasizes the need for identifying and allocating ecosystem services to each forest planning unit. This paper aims to investigate the use of Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques and explores their effectiveness and suitability in identifying and allocating ecosystem services to forest units, considering scientific suitability, stakeholder engagement and the sustainability concept in the context of ecosystem-based forest management decision-making processes in a case study area of Turkey. We propose a framework that entails an iterative process comprising various stages, starting from identifying ecosystem services (ES) to allocating them to forest stands with a participatory approach. We employed the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Delphi method to determine stakeholder preferences and allocate ecosystem services to forest stands. This was achieved through an equation newly developed using scientific suitability, stakeholder preferences, and the sustainability concept. The landscape percentage allocated primarily to ES was as follows: water regulation (55.44%), soil protection (16.47%), biodiversity conservation (14.03%), wood production (13.08%), and aesthetic-recreation (0.84%). Notably, no allocations were made for national defence and climate regulation services. In conclusion, the stratification of Posof forests into zones was efficiently achieved a priori, considering both scientific-technical and socio-cultural criteria through MCDA techniques based on stakeholder preferences. This study streamlines the decision-making process involved in spatially allocating ecosystem services and provides crucial information instrumental in determining management objectives and optimal forest activities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Gadopsis (Percichthyidae) is a freshwater genus distributed in south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, and comprises two recognized species. Previous molecular phylogenetic investigations of the genus, mostly conducted in the pre-genomics era and reflecting a range of geographic and molecular sampling intensities, have supported the recognition of up to seven candidate species. Here we analyze a genome-wide SNP dataset that provides comprehensive geographic and genomic coverage of Gadopsis to produce a robust hypothesis of species boundaries and evolutionary relationships. We then leverage the SNP dataset to characterize relationships within candidate species that lack clear intraspecific phylogenetic relationships. We find further support for the seven previously identified candidate species of Gadopsis and evidence that the Bass Strait centered candidate species (SBA) originated from ancient hybridization. The SNP dataset permits a high degree of intraspecific resolution, providing improvements over previous studies, with numerous candidate species showing intraspecific divisions in phylogenetic analysis. Further population genetic analysis of the Murray-Darling candidate species (NMD) and SBA finds support for K = 6 and K = 7 genetic clusters, respectively. The SNP data generated for this study have diverse applications in natural resource management for these fishes of conservation concern., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Mineral extraction is regarded as a pollution-intensive industry and is confronted with multiple environmental sustainability challenges. This issue poses an existential crisis for mineral extraction due to continued global pressure to adopt more sustainable practices in their functioning. Despite its importance, there is a notable gap in the literature regarding how these companies encounter financial challenges, particularly in the context of high-risk, long development cycles, and the unique double externalities associated with green innovation. This research, leveraging panel data from 2016 to 2023, aims to fill this gap by examining whether Chinese mineral extraction companies demonstrate distinct preferences for specific financing sources and by evaluating the role of government in facilitating their green innovation activities. Our findings indicate that such companies utilize a mix of internal and external financing to support their green innovation projects. It is observed that the influence of external finances channels, namely government subsidies, equity financing and debt financing, on green innovation progressively weakens, a conclusion supported by multiple robustness checks. Furthermore, the study highlights the crucial role of government subsidies in motivating publicly listed companies to enhance their green innovation activities through debt and equity financing, thereby contributing to a more equitable and sustainable development paradigm in the Global South., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The economic management of lignocellulosic biomass from semi-natural grasslands is now a challenge across Europe. The abandonment of mowing these grasslands leads to the gradual degradation of these ecosystems. This study investigates how chemical and biological factors affect the suitability of biomass from abandoned grasslands for biogas production. We sampled 30 mown and 30 abandoned grassland sites in the Sudetes Mountains (Poland and Czechia). The cover contribution of short herbs was found to be significantly higher in mown grasslands (p < 0.001), while that of tall herbs was more prevalent in abandoned grasslands (p < 0.01). The specific biogas yield (SBY, NL kg -1 volatile solids) is negatively affected by an increased percentage of herbs in the biomass of mown and abandoned grasslands. This is due to the inhibitory effect of herbs on biodegradation, the increase in lignin content and the decrease in cellulose. This study highlights the importance of individual plant species in assessing grassland biomass for area biogas yield (ABY, m 3 ha -1 ) and provides new insights into a field that has not yet been extensively investigated. In mown grasslands, ABY was most positively correlated with grass species (Arrhenatherum elatius, Trisetum flavescens and Festuca pratensis). In abandoned grasslands, the ABY was most correlated with herbaceous species (Galium aparine, Urtica dioica and Chaerophyllum aromaticum) and grasses (A. elatius and Elymus repens). Mown grasslands had significantly higher species richness (p < 0.001) compared to abandoned grasslands, but the number of species sampled did not correlate with SBY and ABY. This study contributes to the development of a sustainable bio-economy by highlighting the need for efficient use of grassland biomass. This approach helps protect semi-natural ecosystems and facilitates sustainable management of renewable resources., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The alarming decline of amphibians, sometimes marked by sudden extinctions, underlines the urgent need for increased conservation efforts. Conservationists recognize that more action, particularly the setting of national targets, is needed to ensure the future persistence and recovery of species and habitats. Protecting habitats that harbor evolutionarily diverse species preserves divergent genetic information within ecosystems. Türkiye holds 36 amphibian species at the intersection of two continents, creating three biodiversity hotspots and phylogenetic transitional areas. In this study, we aimed to determine the hotspot regions and to evaluate the effectiveness of the protected areas in Türkiye in preserving amphibian populations. First, we estimated four community indexes (species richness and three evolutionary distinctiveness measures) for amphibian communities in Türkiye divided into 371 grid cells with a ca 50 × 50 km size. Then, the spatial extent of protected areas is evaluated from two perspectives: current (has a protection status) and candidate protected areas (Key Biodiversity Areas, not protected) coverage in those grid cells. Finally, these two approaches' effectiveness in protecting areas was assessed by modeling four diversity metrics using GLS models. Current protected areas protect about 6% of the total amphibian distribution in Türkiye, while Key Biodiversity Areas would cover 30% if declared protected areas. We estimated that the coastal areas of Türkiye are identified as hotspots based on the four measured amphibian community indexes. Our study also highlights that Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) can contribute to conserving high levels of amphibian richness and evolutionary distinctiveness of species across Türkiye. However, existing protected areas (PAs) networks were insufficient to protect amphibians., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Coastal wetland ecosystems harbor rich biodiversity and possess significant ecosystem service value (ESV). Therefore, it offers a range of crucial ecosystem services (ES) for human well-being and socio-economic development. Taking the Hainan Island coastal zone (HICZ) as a case study, the spatio-temporal characteristics of land use and land cover change (LULCC), and its associated ESV in wetland landscapes were analyzed over three time points (2000, 2010 and 2020). We explored the spatio-temporal evolution trajectory of ESV on the basis of geo-information tupu. Then, future land use simulation (FLUS) was employed to predict wetland patterns and ESV under three different scenarios: business as usual (BAU), ecological conservation first (ECF), and economic development first (EDF). The results showed that over the past two decades, a significant proportion (exceeding 80%) of the overall wetland region was comprised of offshore and coastal wetlands (OCW) as well as constructed wetlands (CW); these formed the matrix of the landscape. The area of building land (BL) continued to exhibit a consistent upward trend. Expanding by 2.18 times, it represented the most significant increase in the rate of dynamic changes in BL. The main ES in the HICZ corresponded to the regulation services (53.57%) and the support services (27.58%). The ESV of wetland losses accounted for 45.17% (43.08 × 10 8 yuan) of the total loss. The spatial differentiation of ESV in the HICZ was larger in the southwest and the northeast regions, while it was comparatively lower in the north. The transformation in the area of early and late change types accounted for 236.46 km 2 and 356.69 km 2 , respectively. The scenario ECF was achieved with an optimal development of ESV (1807.72 × 10 8 yuan), which was coordinated with the high-level of development of regional ES functions and the economy. These findings provide valuable information for the sustainable development as well as the protection of ecology and environment of the coastal zone under the background of the construction of Hainan pilot free trade zone in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing interest There is no conflict of interest involved in the submission of this manuscript. All authors have given their consent for the publication of this research paper. On behalf of my co-authors, I affirm that the work presented here is an original study and has not been previously published or under consideration for publication elsewhere, either in its entirety or partially. The attached manuscript has received approval from all authors., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)