Editorial preface to special issue: Applying palaeoenvironmental data to inform resource management and planning

Abstract

The cornerstone of effective public policy and decision-making relies on robust, fit-for-purpose data that typically extend beyond recent, very short-term monitoring and observation. This is true in fields as diverse as pollution, climate change, climate and geophysical hazards, biodiversity conservation, and water and natural resource management. Accurate, time-stamped data is particularly important when considering the resilience or rates of change that our systems must absorb before thresholds for active intervention are crossed. Fortunately, analysis of palaeo-archives is providing longer-term information prior to observational or monitoring efforts. Longer-term data can be informative as standalone records or can be compiled into regional syntheses underpinning modelling exercises. In this Virtual Special Issue (VSI) entitled Applying palaeoenvironmental data to inform resource management and planning, we compile eight studies that reinforce the value of palaeo-knowledge for appropriate decision-making and policy development. The studies span very different time frames from historical through to deep time and across many different spheres of policy and decision-making. This VSI barely scratches the surface of the potential that palaeo-information can provide when considered with an application-focused lens, and demonstrates the critical importance of long-term datasets for decision-making.