Environmental Development最新文献

{"title":"Cereal yield's effect on greenhouse gas emissions in South Africa: Examining the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis","authors":"Lindiwe Hayo ,&nbsp;Peter Terrance Jacobs ,&nbsp;Hideo Hasegawa","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101416","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101416","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cereal crop farming in South Africa is critical in supplying staple foods and for generating export revenue. However, intensified farming practices are tied to significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, challenging national climate goals. This study employs the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis to analyze time-series data (1961–2021) and identify the cereal yield threshold where emissions begin to decline. The main goal is to find a turning point that balances food security with climate mitigation actions. Employing both parametric and nonparametric techniques, the analysis finds an inverted U-shaped link between cereal yield and emissions, with a turning point at 3.40 tonnes per hectare. The results confirm a nonlinear relationship, with linear and quadratic yield terms statistically significant at the 1 % and 5 % levels, respectively. Above the turning point, higher cereal yields correlate with lower emissions, supporting the feasibility of sustainable intensification strategies. These findings reveal a crucial emissions-reduction benchmark, linking mitigation measures with policy and supporting yield-linked carbon credit schemes to promote sustainable agriculture and lower emissions. The study advances EKC research in agriculture and offers actionable insights for integrating food security with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This research contributes to discussions on sustainable development and climate-smart agriculture.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101416"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840826","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":"Uncovering streams, dreams, and dilemmas: A case study analyzing trade-offs and justice in the urban stream daylighting of Tibbetts Brook in New York City, USA","authors":"Charlotte Stijnen ,&nbsp;Katinka Wijsman ,&nbsp;Timon McPhearson ,&nbsp;Niki Frantzeskaki","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101391","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101391","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Daylighting urban waterways is one form of nature-based solution (NBS) gaining attention amongst cities internationally. Urban daylighting – which involves removing historically buried waterways from underground pipes and bringing them back to the surface – is an intensive form of NBS which can address urban stormwater management, reduce combined-sewage overflow issues, improve riparian habitat, and increase biodiversity. The process of reinserting a waterway in an urban environment makes daylighting an important context for analyzing urban NBS trade-offs and their associated justice implications. We use a typology of trade-offs – rigid, governance, and functional trade-offs – intersected with a socio-ecological justice lens to critically approach and understand the implications of trade-offs in urban daylighting projects. We apply this framework to the contemporary case study of daylighting Tibbetts Brook in The Bronx, New York City. Data was collected through interviews with stakeholders involved in the project, and street interviews, to capture the perceptions of trade-offs related to daylighting. We find governance trade-offs related to the inclusion of local community, and choices between accessibility and ecological functioning. Additionally, we identify functional trade-offs related to daylighting as infrastructural upgrades or maximized ecological benefits, considerations of future use and impacts, and the trade-off between novel and landscaped ecosystems. We examine the differentiated socio-ecological justice dilemmas associated with the trade-offs for diverse groups, including non-human nature. Moreover, we indicate how wider policy and social drivers interconnect and shape the trade-offs in daylighting Tibbetts Brook. Overall, we highlight the socio-ecological benefits that daylighting can provide, as well as the complexity of daylighting in cities and the interconnected infrastructural, social, and ecological factors which create justice dilemmas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101391"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840835","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":"Insights from sensor-based hyperlocal air pollution measurements over Bhubaneswar, India","authors":"Monalin Mishra ,&nbsp;A. Asutosh ,&nbsp;Boopathy Ramasamy ,&nbsp;Rajasekhar Reddy ,&nbsp;Vamsi G ,&nbsp;Trupti Das","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101409","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101409","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Bhubaneswar, a rapidly developing smart city in eastern India, faces persistent air quality challenges primarily due to vehicular emissions, construction, and industrial activities. Conventional monitoring in the city has been limited to a few fixed stations, providing insufficient spatial coverage to represent citywide pollution variability.</div></div><div><h3>Methodology</h3><div>To address this gap, a dense low-cost sensor (LCS) network comprising 21 stations was deployed across Bhubaneswar's residential, traffic, and industrial zones. The network operated continuously for one year (2022–2023), and the LCS-based PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ data were validated against co-located gravimetric reference measurements and compared with MERRA-2 reanalysis datasets to assess performance and spatial representativeness.</div></div><div><h3>Major findings</h3><div>The LCS-based PM_2.5 measurements showed strong agreement with reference gravimetric data (r ∼ 0.92), confirming the reliability of the network for long-term urban monitoring. The observed PM_2.5/PM₁₀ ratio (∼0.92) indicated a dominant contribution from fine anthropogenic particles. The network identified pollution hotspots near major highways and dense traffic corridors, where pollutant concentrations exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for more than 50 % of the observation period. A notable positive weekend effect was observed across most stations, in contrast to trends reported for other Tier-II Indian cities.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>This study provides the first high-resolution, yearlong characterization of PM pollution in Bhubaneswar using a citywide LCS network. The results highlight the potential of low-cost sensing systems for cost-effective, scalable urban air-quality surveillance and support the formulation of targeted mitigation strategies for rapidly urbanizing regions in the Global South.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101409"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737767","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":"Addressing environmental and societal challenges through systems thinking: Lessons from socially sensitive environmental projects","authors":"Rani Lefler ,&nbsp;Yoram Reich","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101408","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101408","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article addresses the management of socially sensitive environmental projects that pose significant risks to human health, society, and the environment. Such projects require a careful balance between the interests of diverse stakeholders, as well as the evaluation of complex environmental, health, and economic impacts. We propose a unique systems engineering (SE) framework that integrates both established and innovative methods to improve project management, mitigate risks, and facilitate informed decision-making.</div><div>The methodology involves an interdisciplinary analysis of two actual case studies in Israel: the removal of friable asbestos from a school in Haifa and the proposed establishment of a phosphate mine in Sde Barir, near the city of Arad. Employing the systems thinking (ST) approach, the study integrates both conceptual and technical perspectives. ST provides an overarching worldview for understanding interdependencies, feedback loops, and social dynamics, while SE contributes structured processes, analytical rigor, and lifecycle management methods.</div><div>The study integrates a tailored combination of engineering and decision-support tools – including, but not limited to, After Action Review (AAR), the Systems Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP), and Value-Oriented Requirements Analysis (VORA) – to construct a comprehensive framework for managing complex environmental risks and addressing diverse stakeholder concerns. The primary research question is: How can systems engineering frameworks and tools improve the management of socially sensitive environmental projects?</div><div>The framework evolved through two carefully selected case studies, each providing an in-depth examination of complex, socially sensitive environmental projects. These cases demonstrate the framework's potential and its capacity to be further strengthened through future applications in additional contexts. The findings indicate that integrating ST with a coordinated set of SE tools significantly improves the balance between competing objectives and enhances decision-making processes. This combined approach promotes a more holistic understanding of project dynamics, enabling better management of environmental, technical, and social dimensions within socially sensitive projects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101408"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737765","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":"Valuing forest ecosystem services for environmental damage compensation: An adaptive management approach","authors":"Bo-Cheng Yang ,&nbsp;Chun-Hung Lee ,&nbsp;Yi-Jun Wu ,&nbsp;Thi Thanh Thuy Phan ,&nbsp;Van Viet Nguyen","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2026.101435","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2026.101435","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing frequency of forest fires under climate change scenarios poses significant threats to Forest Ecosystem Services (FES). However, adaptive management strategies and compensation frameworks tailored to specific regional characteristics remain limited. This study employs a choice experiment methodology to investigate Taiwanese residents' preferences for fire-affected FES restoration and their marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for a conservation trust fund across various altitudinal regions. A total of 2984 residents were surveyed across different altitude zones in Taiwan. The results reveal significant spatial variation in WTP for FES restoration, with residents in medium-altitude areas exhibiting the highest WTP, followed by those in high- and low-altitude regions. Based on these findings, four adaptive management scenarios were developed to assess the welfare implications of different forest management strategies. The integrated ecosystem services scenario generated the highest welfare value across all regions, highlighting the need for spatially tailored and holistic approaches to forest management. Additionally, the study introduces a novel \"Forest Ecosystem Service Value Restoration Quantification Model,\" addressing a critical gap in the literature by providing a framework to evaluate the economic impact of forest fires and the benefits of ecosystem restoration. This model quantifies the marginal WTP for restoring forest service functions to 50 % or full capacity. The findings demonstrate the crucial role of public valuation in informing sustainable forest management and policy-making. The approach offers valuable insights for designing conservation trust funds and compensation frameworks aimed at mitigating the ecological and economic impacts of forest fires, contributing to more effective forest conservation and adaptation strategies in response to climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101435"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146077893","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":"Optimizing the water energy food nexus in Lebanon: a case study of the nexus in a developing country context","authors":"Fatima Mansour ,&nbsp;Mahmoud Al-Hindi ,&nbsp;Majdi Abou Najm ,&nbsp;Ali Yassine","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2026.101438","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2026.101438","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing demand for resources has intensified the need for integrated management strategies that ensure resource sustainability and security. This study presents a holistic case study of the water-energy-food nexus (WEFN) in Lebanon, optimizing resource allocation to minimize water and energy consumption while maximizing food production. Leveraging a multi-objective optimization tool, this research examines scenarios reflecting Lebanon's resource dependencies, dietary preferences, and energy constraints. The findings underscore the role of renewable energy integration and dietary shifts in enhancing resource efficiency and achieving higher self-sufficiency. By simulating policy-driven scenarios, including renewable energy targets and natural gas exploration, the study highlights trade-offs between food production, energy consumption, and environmental constraints, such as carbon and nitrogen planetary boundaries. Beyond technical optimization, the study assesses economic implications, trade-offs, and progress toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The work provides a scientific foundation for integrated resource management and policymaking in Lebanon, offering a framework for future interdisciplinary investigations and applications across developing countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101438"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146077894","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":"Sustainability challenges and environmental consequences of the Barapukuria coal mine: A comprehensive review","authors":"Mohammad Forrukh Hossain Khan ,&nbsp;Faysal Ahamed Akash ,&nbsp;Shaik Muntasir Shovon ,&nbsp;Istiak Ahmed ,&nbsp;Tania Sultana Sweety","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101400","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101400","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mining is a significant driver of economic development in developing countries, fueling industrialization, employment, and infrastructure growth. Bangladesh, despite its limited geographic size, relies heavily on fossil fuels, with coal as a primary energy source for electricity generation. The Barapukuria Coal Mine, Bangladesh's only operational coal mine, underscores this dependency on coal. However, coal extraction is associated with substantial carbon emissions and environmental degradation. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the environmental impacts of coal mining in Bangladesh, identifying critical research gaps and addressing key dimensions such as water and stream sediment quality, soil and mine tailings management, and temperature fluctuations with cascading ecological effects. The analysis also examines public health implications, socio-economic impacts, land cover and land use changes, and air quality. The review further explores sustainable mitigation and management strategies to address these challenges. Comparative analyses with global case studies and advanced modeling approaches are recommended to enhance predictive understanding of the long-term environmental impacts of coal mining and to inform effective mitigation planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101400"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145738323","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":"Territorial resource efficiency sustainability assessment based on production-living-ecological space in Sichuan Province, Southwest of China","authors":"Huixuan Wang ,&nbsp;Min Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2026.101441","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2026.101441","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Efficient production-living-ecological space (PLES) utilization can promote economic development and reduce unreasonable territorial resource consumption. However, the integration of PLES resource efficiency into the assessment of territorial sustainable development is still unexplored. This study constructs a sustainable development level assessment framework to investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of PLES resource efficiency during 2000-2020 and its sustainability, through taking 21 cities (states) in Sichuan Province of China as a case. Unlike traditional sustainability evaluation methods that rely solely on single indicators, this study combines economics and resource management science methods to introduce the diversity index and coupling coordination degree (CCD) for sustainability evaluation. This innovative framework emphasizes the quantitative differences and interactive coordination among the respective efficiencies of PLES, providing a novel theoretical perspective for understanding spatial sustainability mechanisms. The results show that: 1) PLES resource efficiency fluctuated upward during the study period, with an overall improvement of 28.24%. 2) Spatial interactions among PLES reveal evident geographical differentiation, with a synergistic relationship between living space and ecological space, whereas production space exhibits a trade-off relationship with the other two spaces. 3) The regional sustainable development level of PLES steadily improves throughout the study period, with an average index ranging from 0.45 to 0.65, in which the sustainability of central and northeastern cities is mainly influenced by CCD, while western cities are more reliant on the diversity index. This study contributes to promoting the efficient utilization and coordinated development of territorial space and the findings provide scientific support for policymakers aiming to balance economic development with environmental sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101441"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421013","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":"Sustainable development and the legacy of socio-ecological risk: the example of community forestry in Nepal","authors":"Douglas K. Bardsley ,&nbsp;Edwin Cedamon ,&nbsp;Naya Paudel ,&nbsp;Ian Nuberg","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101414","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101414","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Responses to risk have been insufficiently incorporated into sustainable development pathways. Development interventions can both generate new socio-ecological risks and fail to mitigate the risks experienced by rural communities. We analyse perceptions of socio-ecological risks within community forest user group households in Bagmati province in central Nepal across a three-year period. Community forestry has successfully returned the forest to the middle hills of Nepal, helping to mitigate landslide risks and conserve biodiversity, but other risks are being produced and reinforced within the forest as it transitions. Households are becoming less active in community forest management and are accessing smaller percentages of their income from agriculture and forestry. At the same time, wild animal and wildfire risks are increasing. Climate change is seen to be a key driver of a range of new risks in association with the forest. Perceived household food self-sufficiency has declined recently within all municipalities, with increasingly high levels of households going into debt to support food security. People are valuing the forest for the ecosystem services they provide, including improving biodiversity, supporting subsistence agriculture and stabilising landscapes, but most respondents were not using the forest either to mitigate food insecurity or generate financial incomes. Forests must be managed to continue to be part of the solution, not the problem. As new levels of risk become apparent, knowledge of risk perceptions and interactions with the forest need to be integrated reflexively within policy and practice to guide sustainable development outcomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101414"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840828","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":"Strengthening sustainability mindsets: Evidence from an analysis of the Human–Nature Connection and environmental behavior in Indonesia","authors":"Devi Mariya Sulfa ,&nbsp;Hadi Suwono ,&nbsp;Sofia Ery Rahayu","doi":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101417","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101417","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Human–Nature Connection (HNC) has gained increasing relevance as a psychological construct linked to environmental behavior, particularly within rapidly urbanizing societies such as Indonesia. Despite growing research interest, variations in measurement models, cultural adaptation, and behavioral relevance remain insufficiently synthesized. This study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 42 eligible empirical studies published between 2010 and November 2025 to evaluate the psychometric performance, structural validity, and behavioral associations of HNC measurement instruments, with a particular emphasis on their adaptation in Indonesia. Searches were performed across Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, and regional repositories using PRISMA-based screening criteria. Reliability statistics demonstrated strong measurement stability across instruments, with Cronbach's Alpha ranging from 0.84 to 0.90 and Composite Reliability from 0.86 to 0.92. Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed a four-factor structure, explaining 57.6 % of the variance, with the affective and cognitive dimensions contributing the highest loadings. Meta-analytic modeling yielded a pooled correlation of r = 0.42 between HNC and pro-environmental behavior, with subgroup results indicating the most potent effects among children and young adults (r = 0.45–0.48) and among individuals with at least 120 min of weekly nature exposure. The findings suggest that HNC serves as both a measurable psychological construct and a meaningful behavioral predictor in educational and sustainability contexts. Overall, this review underscores the importance of culturally grounded measurement and highlights opportunities to integrate HNC into environmental education, policy design, and longitudinal intervention research, thereby strengthening ecological engagement across Indonesian society.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54269,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Development","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 101417"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840827","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}