Environmental Science & Policy最新文献

{"title":"Integrating local and Indigenous knowledge with sustainable development goals in lithium mining impact assessment for a fair energy transition","authors":"Andrea E. Izquierdo ,&nbsp;Marina Mautner ,&nbsp;Romina Díaz Gomez ,&nbsp;Florencia Nieva ,&nbsp;Lucrecia Estigarribia ,&nbsp;Laura Forni","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104155","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104155","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy has accelerated the extraction of minerals critical to energy transmission and storage, including lithium—raising pressing questions of socio-environmental justice, particularly for Indigenous and local communities. While global frameworks for impact assessment exist to work towards sustainable development, they fail to reflect the values, priorities, and knowledge systems of these communities. This study foregrounds Indigenous and local knowledge to identify socio-environmental impacts of lithium mining in the Argentinian High Andean Plateau and to propose locally grounded indicators aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To achieve this, we 1) identify and classify the socio-environmental impacts of lithium extraction in the region reported in scientific literature; 2) explore local and Indigenous knowledge regarding these impacts; and 3) identify local indicators of these impacts aligned with the UN SDGs to inform policy decisions. The literature review identified 15 impacts of lithium mining, which were then verified through a survey of four local and indigenous communities. Through the specific local impacts reported, we propose potential indicators to measure them. By analyzing these locally relevant indicators against the UN SDGs, we found that the local indicators contribute to all but one of the UN SDGs. However, there were some local indicators that did not have corresponding global goals, revealing that local knowledge is not necessarily represented in global policies. Overall, this research consists of an iterative process to contribute to a more equitable, sustainable, and fair energy transition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104155"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144581374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Conceptualizing the state of the art of social license to operate: A visualization-based word frequency analysis","authors":"Yu Chen ,&nbsp;Xiaoyan Luo ,&nbsp;Min Xu ,&nbsp;Bo Xia ,&nbsp;Yongjian Ke ,&nbsp;Martin Skitmore ,&nbsp;Yong Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104163","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104163","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Social license to operate (SLO) has emerged as a key concept in understanding the relationships between communities, businesses, and governments, particularly in industries with significant social and environmental impacts. This study conducts a systematic literature review to examine the status quo, trends, and gaps in research into SLO. A systematic process involving a two-phase word frequency analysis and search of research topics helps to identify core research clusters and reduced subjectivity in hotspot detection. The analysis revealed four major thematic areas: SLO measures, Factors affecting SLO, access mechanisms to SLO, and Spatio-temporal dynamic evolution. Findings highlight clear disparities in SLO knowledge production between the Global North and the Global South, with SLO-related research concentrated in developed Western countries represented by Australia, Canada, Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Based on the above discussion, this study proposes four directions for future research, and these insights offer a roadmap for advancing the theoretical and practical understanding of SLO across diverse contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104163"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144581373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Climate justice: A view from the Latin American context","authors":"Gabriela Guevara-Cue","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104156","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104156","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate justice critically integrates ethical, social, and political dimensions into climate change discourse, recognizing its disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations and intensifying pre-existing inequalities. This article argues that operationalizing climate justice in Latin America requires fundamentally decentering Global North frameworks, rigorously addressing socio-historical injustices, prioritizing Indigenous knowledge, and fostering inclusive institutional arrangements. Latin America's unique context, marked by colonialism, extractives’, and deep-seated social inequality, fundamentally shapes its understanding of justice and creates distinct vulnerabilities. Implementing climate justice faces significant challenges, including weak regulatory frameworks, economic dependencies perpetuating extractives’ practices, and the marginalization of Indigenous knowledge systems. These issues necessitate a political redefinition of justice beyond compensation, challenging structural power asymmetries that benefit extractive industries at the expense of local communities. Effective strategies must embrace a multifaceted approach, emphasizing procedural and cognitive justice through participatory governance and integrating diverse epistemologies. Ultimately, achieving genuine climate justice in Latin America demands a paradigm shift towards development models prioritizing socio-ecological well-being, confronting systemic inequalities, and ensuring that climate action leads to truly equitable outcomes rather than exacerbating historical injustices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104156"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144571901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Challenge accepted – identifying barriers and facilitating climate change adaptation in spatial development across planning boundaries, sectors and planning levels","authors":"M. Juschten ,&nbsp;F. Reinwald ,&nbsp;A. Jiricka-Pürrer","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104152","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104152","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Spatial planning influences diverse sectors, including housing, industry, forestry, agriculture, tourism, and nature conservation. Accordingly, climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies stress the need to integrate climate considerations into spatial plans, programs, and response strategies. However, prior studies highlight gaps in cooperation across planning levels, sectors and borders, as well as insufficient integration of sectoral data. Therefore, this paper (i) identifies and classifies challenges arising from existing CCA efforts across planning areas, levels, and sectors; (ii) investigates structural mechanisms underlying key cooperation barriers; and (iii) outlines leverage points to promote integrated spatial planning for climate resilience. Empirical findings from qualitative interviews and workshops using backcasting methods with case studies enable comparison across governance levels and federal states, shedding light on vertical and horizontal collaboration and disciplinary perspectives.</div><div>Results show that transparent communication of trade-offs and co-development of synergistic solutions remain rare, largely driven by individual initiative rather than institutional practices or frameworks. This poses a challenge given spatial planning’s coordinating role. Nonetheless, the analysis results reveal growing interest from sectors such as water management, forestry, green space planning, and geology to formally engage with spatial planners. A key barrier is the diversity of planning instruments across governance levels and the limited capacity to interpret them cross-sectorally, reflecting broader issues around institutional and individual capacity, resources, and knowledge. This paper contributes to the discourse on enabling transformative change, identifying leverage points for a strategic, integrated spatial planning approach that incorporates CCA, informed by sectoral expertise and applicable across planning hierarchies and boundaries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104152"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144569958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does democratic regression threaten biodiversity conservation and climate action? Exploring the relationships, implications, and opportunities for democratization as a conservation strategy","authors":"Brian Pentz ,&nbsp;Palash Sanyal ,&nbsp;Zachary Simek ,&nbsp;Phil Loring","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104151","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104151","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A global democratic recession is underway, but its repercussions for the pursuit of progress on the joint crises of climate change and biodiversity loss remains unclear. In this paper we explore two questions: (1) what is the evidence of a relationship between the strength of a state’s democracy and its performance on environmental issues?; and (2) to what extent does ongoing democratic regression overlap with conservation actors and biodiversity hotspots? Using a series of datasets and biodiversity proxies (including state actors, intergovernmental organizations, civil society actors, and 36 biodiversity hotspots), we produce three central findings: (a) we find support for the hypothesis that there is a strong positive relationship between the strength of democratic institutions and a state’s environmental performance. We (b) find that the positive relationship between democracy and environmental performance appears to coalesce in ‘hybrid regimes’ and continues in ‘flawed democracies’ and ‘full democracies.’ This relationship does not hold true for authoritarian regimes. Finally, we (c) find that democratic regression has substantial overlap with important biodiversity actors and hotspots, which suggests it may pose a critical risk to conservation success. The recent turn towards democratic approaches such as collaboration, co-production, and centering of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in environmental governance requires that more attention be paid to the risks that democratic regression creates, and that democratization be pursued as a conservation strategy alongside prominent conservation approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104151"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144569959","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From control to care: Trans-hegemonic approaches to just-sustainability transformations","authors":"Valerie Nelson","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104115","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104115","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sustainability transformations are the subject of increasing academic and policy attention, but definitions and practice remain contested. This paper provides a comparative analysis of four meta-reviews of sustainability transformation theorisation to identify new insights on transformative change. The overarching analysis compares four interpretive framings of sustainability transformation theory, in terms of their features and mutual critiques, evolution of the field involving a broadening of disciplines and perspectives toward greater attention to critical and relational social sciences, overlaps and continuing tensions. This article proposes a new interpretive clustering, that foregrounds relational, more-than-human, feminist political ecology, Indigenous and decolonial theorisation in sustainability discourse, and calls for their exploration in future research and action. This is in support of unlearning and unmaking invisible common sense formations that are the underlying common causes (although differentiated in manifestations) of unsustainabilities and which prevent transformative change from occurring. The article goes on to identify principles, practices and capacities for action, especially transdisciplinary action research, offered as non-exhaustive, polythetic dimensions of trans-hegemonic sustainability transformations. The paper concludes with an exploration of justice in relation to sustainability transformations, involving the advancement of shifts from control-based imaginaries to pluriversal, care-based futures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104115"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144524031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing potential implications of the EU's carbon dioxide removal strategy on Brazil's land ecosystems and local communities","authors":"Joana Portugal-Pereira ,&nbsp;Aline Cristina Soterroni ,&nbsp;Antonella Mazzone ,&nbsp;Jiesper Tristan","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104154","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104154","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The European Union (EU)'s commitment to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 relies significantly on Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) strategies, yet implications of such approaches for the Global South remain unclear. Here we reflect on how land-based CDR ambitions in the EU—particularly BECCS—may generate disproportionate pressures on ecosystems and communities in countries like Brazil, which have become a focal point for climate mitigation due to their biophysical potential and geopolitical ties. Although Brazil is not formally committed to providing land-based offsets to the EU, its significant potential to host large-scale afforestation and BECCS projects renders it a useful case study for exploring these dynamics. Under a stylised exploratory scenario in which Brazil accommodates the full external land demand for BECCS, we estimate that up to 10.2 million hectares (Mha) would be needed by 2030, and between 100.3 and 152.5 Mha by 2050. This level of land use could lead to substantial socioenvironmental risks, including deforestation, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and the displacement of local and indigenous communities. Drawing on past experiences with extractive green initiatives, we identify risks associated with predatory green projects—such as land use conflicts, food insecurity, and the erosion of Indigenous rights and knowledge—which raise concerns aligned with notions of green neo-colonialism. Furthermore, this increased demand for land could jeopardise Brazil’s capacity to achieve its net-zero GHG pledge by 2050, which relies heavily on nature-based solutions, such as ending deforestation and promoting large-scale native vegetation restoration. We recommend a set of integrated and participatory policy approaches that prioritise procedural justice, ensure transparent international cooperation, and mitigate the unintended impacts of global CDR strategies on vulnerable ecosystems and communities. This work advances the conceptual understanding of the multi-layer environmental and social implications of the EU’s CDR strategy, highlighting its transboundary effects and potential tensions between Global North priorities and Global South equity considerations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104154"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144524033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Risk tolerance and climate change adaptation: A need for transparency in policy assumptions and implications","authors":"Iain Brown","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104150","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104150","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To inform policy priorities, climate change risk assessments are often framed through an adaptation gap between current planned actions and those required to manage risk effectively. Residual risks remain to be managed through autonomous and reactive responses. Adaptation policies therefore assume a level of risk tolerance, but this is usually not made explicit. This lack of transparency can lead to a mismatch in expectations, especially when risk is increasing or perceived differently from experts. It also constrains wider engagement in adaptation decisions. These issues are explored both conceptually and through a UK case study referencing the third National Adaptation Programme whose generalised objectives demonstrate a policy delivery paradox that has also been subject to legal challenge. The paradox is exemplified by top-down objectives for resilience building or risk reduction that are ambiguous on assumed risk tolerance thresholds and implications for managing residual risks across all of society. A case is therefore made that both risk assessments and policy frameworks need explicit declarations on assumed risk tolerance and its implications, especially regarding those bearing the risks. This openness would be consistent with calls for an ‘honest conversation’ on expectations and viability of risk management outcomes between policy, stakeholders and public. Deliberation may involve difficult normative issues, especially to reconcile increasing risks against current resource constraint challenges. But it is ultimately necessary for wider societal adaptation engagement and increased adaptive capacity, including aspirations for enhanced collective resilience. Recommendations are hence provided to better explicate risk tolerance distinctions in adaptation research and policy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104150"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144524207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Adaptive capacity and climate resilience of mountain pastoralist communities under extreme weather stress","authors":"Ayat Ullah,&nbsp;Miroslava Bavorova","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104153","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104153","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pastoralism plays a vital role in Pakistan's agricultural sector, yet the impact of climate change and climate-related extreme weather events on pastoralists' land use decisions and adaptation strategies remains underexplored. This study investigates livelihood impacts, adaptive capacity, and local adaptation responses of high-altitude pastoral communities to extreme weather in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Six focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with pastoralist communities using participatory research methods to explore their perceptions and responses to climate stressors. Thematic analysis revealed that snow-related climate risks —extreme colds, avalanches, wildfires, floods, and storms—led to significant livestock and crop losses, limiting access to resources, and disruption of seasonal movement patterns. Key adaptation strategies included genetic selection of livestock, temporary sheltering, migration, stock feeding, livestock reduction, and temporary cessation of farming. Barriers to adaptation included high illiteracy rates, limited access to information and early warning systems, under-representation of youth in decision-making, ethnic conflict, and poor infrastructure. Financial support, improved infrastructure, access to information, and the inclusion of marginalized groups are critical for enhancing community resilience. Policy recommendations emphasize the need to resolve land tenure conflicts, promote youth participation in decision-making, and support inter-ethnic peace-building initiatives to reduce vulnerability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104153"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144518200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Finnish experts’ perceptions of IPBES operating principles – Synergies and tensions between the multiple evidence base and credibility, policy relevance and legitimacy","authors":"Anna Salomaa","doi":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104149","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104149","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intergovernmental science policy organizations assess and mediate knowledge for decision makers, especially their member governments. IPBES is known as a trailblazer in acknowledging plural knowledge systems because of the multiple evidence base approach it has adopted, which has challenged the older operating principles of credibility, policy relevance, and legitimacy. In this paper, I juxtapose those principles and the multiple evidence base to study their context-sensitive synergies and tensions, based on experts’ perceptions of IPBES operations. I qualitatively analyze interviews with the Finnish delegation to the IPBES-7 Plenary and Finland-affiliated assessment authors in 2019. Both synergies and tensions emerged between all the examined principles. While major synergies were found in the knowledge synthesis processes, especially relating to the added value of more plural knowledge sources, several tensions were also present relating to the superior position of natural science, to undeveloped processes of using other knowledge types, to languages, and to country- and sector-specific interests, with many of these tensions illustrated by the case of nature’s contributions to people. Finnish experts valued credibility highly. Policy relevance and political interests interacted, revealing the need to elaborate the principle of policy relevance. Multiple evidence base and legitimacy were largely overlapping, but that was not so in the case of the nature’s contributions to people. The results show the complexity of balancing different operating principles that can be interpreted differently in different contexts. I further discuss why and how IPBES should elaborate on policy relevance and its relation to societal actors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":313,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science & Policy","volume":"171 ","pages":"Article 104149"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144501263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}