Geo-Geography and Environment最新文献

{"title":"Beyond Alternative Energy Markets Without Morals: Examining the North Carolina Clean Energy Plan in Robeson County, NC, USA","authors":"Sebastian Boute,&nbsp;Matthew Jerome Schneider","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70035","DOIUrl":"10.1002/geo2.70035","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This commentary critically examines the North Carolina Clean Energy Plan (CEP) through the lens of energy justice, focusing on Robeson County, North Carolina, USA—a region paradoxically leading in solar energy development while remaining one of the state's most economically marginalised areas. Drawing on J. Mijin Cha's Four Pillar Framework for a Just Transition and Karl Polanyi's critique of market liberalism, this commentary argues that renewable energy initiatives in Robeson County replicate historical patterns of dispossession and environmental inequity. Despite rhetoric around equity and sustainability in state climate policy, solar infrastructure currently stands to benefit external actors, disrupt local land use and exacerbate economic and environmental vulnerabilities, particularly among Indigenous and low-income communities. This commentary contends that a truly just transition requires more than green technologies; it demands systemic change rooted in strong governance, local sovereignty, participatory planning and reparative justice. Robeson County exemplifies both the risks of market-driven energy transitions and the possibilities of place-based, equity-centred alternatives.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70035","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145824506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Entangled Frontiers: Uncovering the Hydrosocial Territories of Shenzhen","authors":"Xiaoxuan Lu","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70048","DOIUrl":"10.1002/geo2.70048","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The dominant image of Shenzhen as one of China's most rapidly urbanised and densely populated cities stands in sharp contrast to the often-overlooked fact that fresh water resources within its territory can supply only a miniscule fraction of its demand. An untold story of Shenzhen is how its rapid transformation has co-evolved with the development of one of the most sophisticated urban blue infrastructures in the country. Within Shenzhen's municipal boundaries, there are 149 government-managed reservoirs connected by a complex network of 310 streams and rivers, and 16,377 km of pipelines. This blue infrastructure constitutes a largely hidden but critical element of the city's urban framework that continues to play a key role in the story of Shenzhen's development. Through the theoretical framework of hydrosocial territories, this paper conceptually maps Shenzhen's territorialisation from 1949 to the present, revealing a process driven by water-society interactions. By applying a unique historical-geographical angle, it examines three approximate historical phases to crystallise both the critical intersection of administrative and infrastructural change and the contingency embedded in the spatiotemporal layering of nested territories shaped by socio-ecological dynamics. The study finds that these continuously evolving hydrosocial territories are both a medium for and an expression of Shenzhen's shifting identities on China's southern frontier as well as its corresponding administrative transformations. Furthermore, it illuminates how such evolution has been driven by the changing historical, social, political and cultural contexts, which in turn have transformed the territory's hydraulic grid, economic base structures and political relationships. This research is generated through multimodal methodological practices, including spatial analysis, archival research and stakeholder interviews. By mapping and tracing the contingent histories of the blue infrastructures in Shenzhen, this study contributes to a more nuanced conceptualisation of relations between water, technology, power and society within the context of China.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70048","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145824625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Shaping Interconnected Geography in Central and Eastern European Academia—Key Research Challenges for the Future","authors":"Mariusz Lamentowicz,&nbsp;Grzegorz Micek,&nbsp;Mateusz C. Strzelecki,&nbsp;Tomasz Wites","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70046","DOIUrl":"10.1002/geo2.70046","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Central and Eastern European geography, shaped by its entanglement of natural and social sciences, provides a distinctive lens for rethinking the unity of the discipline. Its historical and institutional hybridity makes the region particularly well positioned to foster integrative geographical perspectives. The objective of this study was to evaluate the present, post-transitional state of the discipline in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), to identify its future trajectory and to uncover the significant role of CEE geography in addressing global environmental, social and economic challenges. To facilitate this process, four significant geographical topics have been identified as potentially providing a conducive environment for the partial reintegration of geography. The aforementioned themes encompass a range of topics, including migrations, the green transition, anthropogenic climate change, global tipping points, wetland disturbance, peatland carbon sequestration and cryosphere degradation. Furthermore, we have sought to assess the perspective and significance of geographical unity in addressing global crises that impact human life on Earth. This analysis has enabled the identification of critical issues that necessitate integrated approaches. The necessity for enhanced collaboration between physical and human geography, as well as between nature studies and social and economic explorations, is emphasised. In this regard, it is acknowledged that a more inclusive approach is employed in the field of CEE geography, with contributions from other disciplines such as biology, ecology, physics, sociology and economics being welcomed. These disciplines address processes that span from local to global scales, as well as those that study long-term phenomena, such as history and archaeology. The establishment of robust interdisciplinary networks has the potential to enhance the scientific standing of integrated geography and to strengthen innovative connections between human and physical geography.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70046","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145739464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond Nation-State Climate Governance: Cuerpo-Territorio and Decolonial Feminist Pathways to Justice","authors":"Miriam Gay-Antaki","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70047","DOIUrl":"10.1002/geo2.70047","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Decolonial feminisms offer a unique lens to understand why current global climate governance arrangements perpetuate the patterns of inequality and cannot address the climate crisis. The modern nation-state, democratic but only in the image of the White masculine subject, who owns but is not part of territory, cannot recognise the violence of separating body from territory, a first step towards climate justice. Through the concept of <i>cuerpo-territorio</i>, understood as the inseparability of bodies from their territory advanced by Latin American communitarian feminisms, we can illuminate how climate governance materialises the colonial separation of bodies from their territories. This severance sanctions activities that continue environmental and social injustices. While human rights approaches appear to offer climate justice pathways, I show how they reproduce the modern/colonial gender system responsible for the crisis. Using decolonial feminist theory and drawing from experiences attending the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations, I argue for the restoration of <i>cuerpo-territorio</i> that colonialism severed, transforming the way we think about gender, territory, identity and belonging, fostering a practice of care, essential to justly address the climate crisis.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70047","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145739555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Desires for In Situ Adaptation Versus Out-Migration? The Impact of Flooding and Cyclones on Polder Communities in the Bangladesh Delta","authors":"Emily Stone,&nbsp;Rebecca Holloway,&nbsp;Brendan Moore,&nbsp;Michael Steckler,&nbsp;Robert Stojanov","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70045","DOIUrl":"10.1002/geo2.70045","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In Bangladesh's delta, rural communities have long held lives inseparable from seasonal flooding, adapting their homes and livelihoods to the annual monsoon. However, land subsidence, changing seasons, severe storms, increased salinity, and rising sea levels are threatening local livelihoods. The objective of this paper is to understand rural residents' perceptions of climate impacts and adaptation measures, focusing on their mobility choices. Through 15 qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 22 representatives from two embanked polder localities in southwest Bangladesh, we explored the following questions: (i) How do local residents perceive recent climate and environmental changes? (ii) How are local residents coping with these changes and what external assistance do they require to maintain their livelihoods; and (iii) How do local residents perceive migration or partial migration as a potential adaptation strategy? While these communities report an increased frequency of extreme climate events and severe flooding, our findings also reveal a lack of external assistance for adaptation solutions. Moreover, most families are either unwilling or unable to completely migrate out of affected areas. Therefore, increased support—the provision of fresh drinking water, money to recoup lost income and assistance rebuilding or reinforcing homes—is essential for building adaptive capacity and increasing local resilience in the face of climate shocks.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70045","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145739576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Repoliticising the Coast: A Post-Foundational Commentary on Integrative Governance and Blue Infrastructure","authors":"Luca Scheunpflug,&nbsp;Kira Gee","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70044","DOIUrl":"10.1002/geo2.70044","url":null,"abstract":"<p>European coasts are contested spaces due to conflicting uses and impacts, prompting the introduction of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). These governance frameworks aim to promote cooperation, resolve conflicts and ensure socio-ecological outcomes acceptable to multiple actors, even as large-scale blue infrastructure projects increasingly transform maritime environments. However, these integrative governance approaches have been criticised for promoting essentialist ‘blue growth’ as a dominant ontological and epistemological lens. Thereby, they contribute to shifting production and exploitation frontiers towards coastal and marine areas, prioritising market-based solutions while sidelining meaningful democratic participation. As a result, structural power asymmetries persist, leading to ongoing ecological degradation and the disenfranchisement of communities connected to coastal environments. Challenging the often-proclaimed inevitability of integration and its technocratic foundation, this paper highlights coastal governance's inherent yet unseen contingent—and therefore political—nature, arguing for its repoliticisation. Drawing on a post-foundationalist interpretation of political ontology and environmental justice, a conceptual framework is proposed to deconstruct depoliticisation, which is deeply embedded yet hidden in knowledge production around coastal environments. It underscores how dissent and difference can offer productive alternatives beyond path-dependent, growth-oriented approaches by emphasising injustices related to blue infrastructure planning and construction and their uncertain socio-ecological impacts. Illustrative case studies from the Spanish Mediterranean coast demonstrate how environmental justice movements around blue infrastructure projects, and their counter-narratives can disrupt depoliticisation and help to establish more just, and sustainable coastal environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70044","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145619154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Place-Based Sustainability Transformations for Just Futures: A Systematic Review","authors":"Katie Keddie,&nbsp;Sam Beaver,&nbsp;Elizabeth A. Law,&nbsp;Christopher D. Ives,&nbsp;Rachel S. Friedman","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/geo2.70040","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The planet is facing enduring and intersecting challenges from climate change, land degradation, habitat and biodiversity loss, as well as social inequalities. To achieve sustainability in the face of these crises, transformative changes are essential. While the path towards a more sustainable future has the capacity to bring net social benefits, it also holds the potential to exacerbate vulnerabilities. As such, there is growing recognition that social equity and justice must be central to action for sustainability transformations. However, it remains unclear what characterises a ‘just transformation’ and how to achieve it. To develop a baseline understanding of how social justice is integrated into sustainability transformations and to help guide research and practice in this emerging field, we present a systematic literature review of 125 papers that explicitly account for social equity and justice in research on place-based transformations. Results reveal considerable variation and ambiguity in how the concepts of transformation and equity are employed, and highlight a focus on a narrow set of systems, with a large number of papers focusing on energy and urban transformations, located primarily in the Global North. While distributional and procedural dimensions of justice are frequently addressed, contextual and restorative justice remain underexplored. We identify key areas that require future attention in research and practice, including promoting interdisciplinary research that champions global inclusivity as well as a more explicit consideration of contextual justice and place.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70040","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145625995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Amazonian Common Use Territory: Pluriverse or Insurgent Universality?","authors":"James A. Fraser,&nbsp;Mauricio Torres,&nbsp;Luke Parry,&nbsp;Wilde Itaborahy,&nbsp;Victoria Frausin,&nbsp;Natalia Guerrero,&nbsp;Josinaldo Aleixo","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70043","DOIUrl":"10.1002/geo2.70043","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We examine Brazil's first <i>Território de Uso Comum</i> (TUC) in the Amazon as an innovation in territorial rights significant to debates on the commons, pluriverse and insurgent universality. Scholarship emphasises plural ontologies and identity-based recognition, yet we argue that TUC Rio Manicoré is more productively read as a form of insurgent universality: a grassroots, women-led struggle articulating concretely universal claims through the defence of collective lifeways rather than abstract rights or fixed identities. Drawing on Karen Ng's interpretation of Frantz Fanon's concept of concrete universal humanity, we frame the TUC as an expression of existential freedom grounded in forest peoples' practices of common use. Ethnographic and historical analysis situates the TUC within longer trajectories of Amazonian resistance to capitalist expropriation, from early twentieth-century rebellion against Colonel Lindoso to contemporary mobilisations against logging, land grabbing and industrial extractivism. The TUC differs from state-managed conservation and agrarian reform units by foregrounding rights to traditionally occupied territory and collective self-governance for forest peoples, transcending the exclusions of identity-exclusive categories such as Indigenous and Quilombola lands. This insurgently universal model unites diverse forest peoples around shared practices of common use, affirming autonomy while resisting capitalist incursions and state fragmentation. The TUC Rio Manicoré demonstrates how grassroots struggles can reshape legal frameworks: following its recognition in 2022, 12 further TUCs are under consideration and in 2025; the federal government adopted the model to regularise traditionally occupied lands in undesignated forests of the Legal Amazon. Serious challenges remain: state institutions have failed to defend the TUC against illegal logging and land grabs. The TUC's institutionalisation of insurgent universality is of conceptual and practical relevance for defending collective rights in forest conservation globally. It points towards a planetary politics of the commons that reconciles social justice and environmental governance through shared stewardship of land, water and life.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70043","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145618828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mapping Africa's Climate Extremes: Delineation of Thermal Equator Under Current and Future Climate Scenarios","authors":"Tabaro H. Kabanda","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70039","DOIUrl":"10.1002/geo2.70039","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The thermal equator, the latitudinal position of maximum mean annual surface temperature, represents a dynamic boundary in Earth's climate system. This study presents a high-resolution, longitudinally segmented analysis of Africa's thermal equator using CHELSA V2.1 baseline data and downscaled CMIP6 projections under the SSP3-7.0 scenario. I delineated the equator for 1981–2010, 2011–2040 and 2041–2070 and quantified shifts across longitudinal transects spaced at 0.5° intervals. Results show that under this scenario, by 2041–2070, thermal equator displacement is projected to exceed 300 km in several zones, with a mean latitudinal shift of 36.3 km. Hot spot analysis reveals that under the SSP3-7.0 scenario, persistent high-magnitude displacement clusters in Chad, with new hotspots projected to emerge in northeastern Central African Republic and central to southern Niger. Buffer-based overlays show increasing intersection with bare land (+28%) and arid ecoregions, while overlap with mesic biomes declines. These patterns reflect intensifying thermal gradients and spatially uneven climate reorganisation. The study provides a replicable framework for tracking surface thermal maxima at sub-continental scales and highlights emerging climate frontiers critical to ecosystem vulnerability, land degradation and regional adaptation planning.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70039","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145618830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Adapting to Uncertainty: Knowing Shifting Sands and Blue Infrastructure in Unpredictable Seas","authors":"Dennis Schüpf,&nbsp;Jonas Hein","doi":"10.1002/geo2.70041","DOIUrl":"10.1002/geo2.70041","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Along the southern coast of India, hard protective infrastructure has become the default response to increasingly frequent cyclones and severe coastal erosion. However, such interventions not only intensify erosion by disrupting sand movement, but also obscure its root causes, which are often contested through diverging narratives and knowledge claims about the sand and the sea. Making use of the burgeoning literature on ‘geosociality’ and ‘situated knowledges’, this paper interrogates how knowledge about coastal dynamics is produced, legitimised and contested in shaping these protective measures. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork, including interviews and participant observation among ocean engineers, policymakers and artisanal fishers, we unravel the diverging and oftentimes contested epistemologies that shape how uncertain coastal futures are navigated. By examining the social entanglements with geomorphic processes such as sand movement and erosion, we show how different forms of knowledge adapt to the unpredictability of the sea, yet with uneven socio-spatial consequences, particularly for artisanal fishers. We argue that coastal protection practices are embedded in epistemic hierarchies that prioritise technical expertise and predictive science, rendering fishers' situated knowledges less legitimate in decision-making. By situating both livelihood practices and scientific modelling within their social and epistemic contexts, we demonstrate how confronting uncertainty can challenge power asymmetries that shape knowledge production. Rather than defaming engineering knowledge, we call for complementary approaches that recognise uncertainty, complexity and the value of co-produced knowledge. Situating fishers' knowledges alongside modelling practices provides openings for re-politicising adaptation and rethinking whose expertise counts in shaping coastal futures.</p>","PeriodicalId":44089,"journal":{"name":"Geo-Geography and Environment","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/geo2.70041","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145572235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}