Crafting usable knowledge for sustainable development

A multimethod approach for building climate literacy and a climate portal in the context of spatial regional planning in northern Patagonia

Integrating climate change considerations into planning at the subnational level is imperative for effective adaptation and risk reduction. Increased climate literacy among planners, supported by tools like climate portals can help this integration. This paper presents our approach to conveying a reasonable level of climate literacy and co-developing an online portal that provides useable climate information to planners. The approach was implemented in Northern Patagonia in collaboration with a Regional Government in preparation for their first-ever Land-Use Regional Plan. Our findings show that planners lack explicit experience in integrating climate considerations into planning but possess significant awareness of climate impacts. While national climate change assessments help identifying critical adaptation priorities, a coproduction approach was still needed for developing region-specific actionable climate information. By implementing the proposed multi-method approach, including interviews and simulated planning exercises, key features were identified and achieved: a learning process, through an interdisciplinary team, should be in place to promote usage, climate data must be at the relevant scale, contextual information should be included, the portal must be interactive so planners may incorporate their knowledge, and, since climate data can be understood in different ways, planning objectives can contextualize different interpretations. Hands-on workshops, integral to the co-production process, enhanced planners' climate literacy by fostering practical understanding and use of climate indices. This collaborative approach highlights how tailored climate tools may bridge the gap between science and planning, providing critical support for effective climate adaptation.

Quantifying regulatory limits for multiple stressors in an open and transparent way

Biodiversity is confronted globally by multiple stressors. Environmental policies must regulate these stressors to achieve targets, but how should that be done when the outcomes of limits on one stressor are contingent on other stressors, about which there is imperfect knowledge? Deriving regulatory frameworks that incorporate these contingencies is an emerging challenge at the science-policy interface. To be fit for implementation, these frameworks need to facilitate the inherently sociopolitical process of policy implementation and account transparently for uncertainty, such that practitioners and other stakeholders can more realistically anticipate the range of potential outcomes to policy. We developed an approach to quantify stressor limits that explicitly accounts for multistressor contingencies. Using an invertebrate data set collected over 30 years throughout New Zealand, we combined ecological and ecotoxicological models to predict biodiversity loss as a function of one stressor, treating multistressor contingencies as a form of uncertainty about the outcomes of limits on that stressor. We transparently accounted for that uncertainty by presenting regulatory limits as bands bounded between optimistic and pessimistic views that practitioners may have about the local context within which limits are applied. In addition to transparently accounting for uncertainties, our framework also leaves room for practitioners to build stakeholder consensus when refining limits to suit different local contexts. A criticism of this open, transparent approach is that it creates too much scope for choosing limits that are lenient on polluters, paralyzing on-the-ground management of multiple stressors, but we demonstrate that this is not necessarily the case.

Visual storytelling as democratizing knowledge: relational concepts of transdisciplinary health impact through film

This paper examines the transdisciplinary collaboration between health practitioners, Indigenous community members, and doctoral researchers to democratize knowledge transfer enhancing social justice outcomes in the context of hepatitis C awareness with Indigenous communities in Alberta, Canada. Utilizing the impactful intersection between media and healthcare disciplines, two social science researchers built on each other's qualitative research projects using relational engagement and participatory action research to co-create a DocuStory film and accompanying impact campaign. Diverse expertise and varied life experiences contribute unique perspectives transferring insights informing knowledge translation. Communication scholars, media producers, and academics are exploring the social function of documentaries and how they can be used to generate change. This innovative collaboration draws on the strength and creativity of transdisciplinary relationships providing opportunity for social justice praxis at the intersections of culture, theory, health, and media. This successful approach is relevant for numerous health topics and inspires transdisciplinary collaboration and media innovation in health promotion.

Walking as a method for epistemic justice in sustainability

We argue that walking as a method provides an integrative approach to advance epistemic justice in sustainability research. The theory and practice of walking as a method has grown quickly within the social sciences and arts but remains underrepresented in sustainability research, where walking is typically an object of study (e.g., urban walkability). We argue that walking should be valued as an important mode of knowledge production that simultaneously widens sustainability knowledge, integrates diverse knowledge systems, and supports transdisciplinary sustainability solutions. In this perspective article, we consider the following questions: (1) Why is walking important to sustainability knowledge? (2) How can walk-based methods advance epistemic justice in sustainability knowledge? (3) What outcomes might we expect from cultivating walking as a method for sustainability knowledge? We reflect on how walking as a method centers equity and the contributions of walk-based sustainability knowledge for research and policy.

Pathways from research to sustainable development: Insights from ten research projects in sustainability and resilience

Drawing on collective experience from ten collaborative research projects focused on the Global South, we identify three major challenges that impede the translation of research on sustainability and resilience into better-informed choices by individuals and policy-makers that in turn can support transformation to a sustainable future. The three challenges comprise: (i) converting knowledge produced during research projects into successful knowledge application; (ii) scaling up knowledge in time when research projects are short-term and potential impacts are long-term; and (iii) scaling up knowledge across space, from local research sites to larger-scale or even global impact. Some potential pathways for funding agencies to overcome these challenges include providing targeted prolonged funding for dissemination and outreach, and facilitating collaboration and coordination across different sites, research teams, and partner organizations. By systematically documenting these challenges, we hope to pave the way for further innovations in the research cycle.

Operationalizing ambiguity in sustainability science: embracing the elephant in the room

Ambiguity is often recognized as an intrinsic aspect of addressing complex sustainability challenges. Nevertheless, in the practice of transdisciplinary sustainability research, ambiguity is often an 'elephant in the room' to be either side-stepped or reduced rather than explicitly mobilized in pursuit of solutions. These responses threaten the salience and legitimacy of sustainability science by masking the pluralism of real-world sustainability challenges and how research renders certain frames visible and invisible. Critical systems thinking (CST) emerged from the efforts of operational researchers to address theoretical and practical aspects of ambiguity. By adapting key concepts, frameworks, and lessons from CST literature and case studies, this paper aims to establish (1) an expansive conceptualization of ambiguity and (2) recommendations for operationalizing ambiguity as a valuable means of addressing sustainability challenges. We conceptualize ambiguity as an emergent feature of the simultaneous and interacting boundary processes associated with being, knowing, and intervening in complex systems, and propose Reflexive Boundary Critique (RBC) as a novel framework to help navigate these boundary processes. Our characterization of ambiguity acknowledges the boundary of a researcher's subjective orientation and its influence on how ambiguity is exposed and mediated in research (being), characterizes knowledge as produced through the process of making boundary judgments, generating a partial, contextual, and provisional frame (knowing), and situates a researcher as part of the complexity they seek to understand, rendering any boundary process as a form of intervention that reinforces or marginalizes certain frames and, in turn, influences action (intervening). Our recommendations for sustainability scientists to operationalize ambiguity include (1) nurturing the reflexive capacities of transdisciplinary researchers to navigate persistent ambiguity (e.g., using our proposed framework of RBC), and (2) grappling with the potential for and consequences of theoretical incommensurability and discordant pluralism. Our findings can help sustainability scientists give shape to and embrace ambiguity as a fundamental part of rigorous sustainability science.

Leadership and the regenerative economy - Concepts, cases, and connections: Leveraging the Sustainable Development Goals to move toward sustainability leadership

How leadership is taught and applied must take into account the complexities of socio-ecological systems, the opportunities found in diverse viewpoints, the ability to parse conflict and power differences, and the ability to resource expert knowledge for more sustainable futures. We discuss and chart resources linked to leadership concepts critical to constructively harness business engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), identifying eight that are primary to active learning and application: systems resilience, strength through interdependence, scaling adaption, innovation for transformation, context and collectiveness, diversity of learning, negotiating power, and elevating the normative nature of the Global Goals.

Factor analysis of community-ranked built environment factors contributing to pedestrian injury risk in Kampala city, Uganda

BACKGROUND

Examining community perspective on an issue is not only a key consideration in research on road safety but also on other topics. There is substantial theoretical and empirical knowledge on built environment factors that contribute to pedestrian injury but how the community views these factors is least studied and constitutes the focus of this study. Our study investigated how respondents ranked the relative importance of selected built environment factors that contribute to pedestrian injury risk in Kampala city, Uganda and examined the underlying pattern behind the rankings.

METHODS

Eight hundred and fifty-one pedestrians selected from 14 different road sections in Kampala city were asked to rank each of the 27 built environment variables on a 4-point Likert scale. Point score analysis was used to calculate scores for the different built environment variables and rank them in order of perceived contribution while factor analysis was used to determine the pattern underlying the responses.

RESULTS

Factor analysis isolated two factors that explained 92% of the variation in respondents' rankings: 'road adjacent trip generators and attractors' and 'structure of traffic flows'. This finding implies that pedestrians in Kampala city perceived trip generators and attractors adjacent to the road and the structure of traffic flows as major explanations of the influence of the built environment on pedestrian injury risk.

CONCLUSION

While these rankings and factors identified may not necessarily equate to actual risk, they are important in providing an understanding of pedestrian injury risk from the perspective of the community.

Pursuitworthiness in urgent research: Lessons on well-ordered science from sustainability science

Urgent and complex sustainability problems are redefining the conditions for success of science and instigating novel methodologies and new roles of values in science. At the same time, sustainability research, mostly under the umbrella of sustainability science, is abundant with dubious methods and dubious aims of research, contributing to the already widespread crisis of the quality control mechanisms in science. This paper identifies some of these dubious methods (non-systemic thinking and specific contractual funding mechanisms) and dubious aims (unclear aims and undisclosed value assumptions), and argues that, with proper expert evaluation, it is possible to predict the type of content (and the scientific value) these forms of research will result in. Identifying the forms of research with predictably dubious results has practical implications for doing and evaluating research in sustainability science, on the one hand, while on the other, it contributes to the discussion on the ideal of well-ordered science by concretizing the ideal and developing a criterion for ordering science in the case of sustainability science. Finally, the paper provides a connection of sustainability science with the meta-science discussions on the crisis in the quality of science and on science organization, what at the same time more closely connects the philosophy of science with problems encountered in research practice tackling urgent, complex and value-laden problems.

Five approaches to producing actionable science in conservation

The knowledge produced by conservation scientists must be actionable in order to address urgent conservation challenges. To understand the process of creating actionable science, we interviewed 71 conservation scientists who had participated in 1 of 3 fellowship programs focused on training scientists to become agents of change. Using a grounded theory approach, we identified 16 activities that these researchers employed to make their scientific products more actionable. Some activities were more common than others and, arguably, more foundational. We organized these activities into 3 nested categories (motivations, strategies, and tactics). Using a co-occurrence matrix, we found that most activities were positively correlated. These correlations allowed us to identify 5 approaches, framed as profiles, to actionable science: the discloser, focused on open access; the educator, focused on science communication; the networker, focused on user needs and building relationships; the collaborator, focused on boundary spanning; and the pluralist, focused on knowledge coproduction resulting in valuable outcomes for all parties. These profiles build on one another in a hierarchy determined by their complexity and level of engagement, their potential to support actionable science, and their proximity to ideal coproduction with knowledge users. Our results provide clear guidance for conservation scientists to generate actionable science to address the global biodiversity conservation challenge.

Centering and collaborating with community knowledge systems: piloting a novel participatory modeling approach

BACKGROUND

Systems science approaches like simulation modeling can offer an opportunity for community voice to shape policies. In the episteme of many communities there are elders, leaders, and researchers who are seen as bearers of historic knowledge and can contextualize and interpret contemporary research using knowledge systems of the community. There is a need for a systematic methodology to collaborate with community Knowledge Bearers and Knowledge Interpreters. In this paper we report the results of piloting a systematic methodology for collaborating with a community Knowledge-Bearer and Knowledge-Interpreter to develop a conceptual model revealing the local-level influences and architecture of systems shaping community realities. The use case for this pilot is 'persistent poverty' in the United States, specifically within the inner-city African American community in Baltimore City.

METHODS

This pilot of a participatory modeling approach was conducted over a span of 7 sessions and included the following steps, each with an associated script: Step 1: Knowledge-Bearer and Knowledge-Interpreter recruitment Step 2: Relationship building Step 3: Session introduction, Vignette development & enrichment Step 4: Vignette analysis & constructing architecture of systems map Step 5: Augmenting architecture of systems map RESULTS: Each step of the participatory modeling approach resulted in artifacts that were valuable for both the communities and the research effort. Vignette construction resulted in narratives representing a spectrum of lived experiences, trajectories, and outcomes within a community. The collaborative analysis of vignettes yielded the Architecture of Systemic Factors map, that revealed how factors inter-relate to form a system in which lived experience of poverty occurs. A literature search provided an opportunity for the community to contextualize existing research about them using realities of lived experience.

CONCLUSION

This methodology showed that a community Knowledge Bearer can function as communicators and interpreters of their community's knowledge base, can develop coherent narratives of lived experiences within which research and knowledge is contextualized, and can collaboratively construct conceptual mappings necessary for simulation modeling. This participatory modeling approach showed that even if there already exists a vast body of research about a community, collaborating with community gives context to that research and brings together disparate findings within narratives of lived experience.

Incorporating Evidence into Collaborative Ecosystem Restoration: A Content Analysis of Bibliographic References and their Use in Salmon Recovery Plans

Collaborative environmental management draws on a wide range of information, from a variety of stakeholders, to inform policy. Scientific information is particularly relevant for ecosystem restoration plans, such as those created for recovering species on the brink of extinction. This study examines use of evidence in salmon recovery plans in Puget Sound, USA. Across 12 plans, coders characterized 1104 references to identify their source, recency, domain, and context. Subsequently, 11 plans were analyzed in-depth to identify how each reference was used to support particular kinds of claims. Results indicate the most frequent source of information cited in salmon recovery plans is government agencies, especially from national and state governments, followed by peer reviewed journal articles and scientific books. Journal articles come predominantly from high impact (top quartile) journals, although these articles are on average 15 years old. Sources are almost exclusively from the domain of natural sciences (97%), with just 1% social sciences and 2% non-scientific. More references come from beyond than within the local watershed. Different reference sources are used to support different kinds of claims, with government agency sources positively associated with claims about species status/trends, and peer reviewed journal articles positively associated with claims about causes of species decline. Overall, the lack of social science references, and lack of references to support claims about levels of community support, reduce managers' abilities to incorporate features of social systems into species recovery planning.

Threats, challenges and sustainable conservation strategies for freshwater biodiversity

Increasing human population, deforestation and man-made climate change are likely to exacerbate the negative effects on freshwater ecosystems and species endangerment. Consequently, the biodiversity of freshwater continues to dwindle at an alarming rate. However, this particular topic lacks sufficient attention from conservation ecologists and policymakers, resulting in a dearth of data and comprehensive reviews on freshwater biodiversity, specifically. Despite the widespread awareness of risks to freshwater biodiversity, organized action to reverse this decline has been lacking. This study reviews prospective conservation and management strategies for freshwater biodiversity and their associated challenges, identifying current key threats to freshwater biodiversity. Engineered nanomaterials pose a significant threat to aquatic species, and will make controlling health risks to freshwater biodiversity increasingly challenging in the future. When fish are exposed to nanoparticles, the surface area of their respiratory and ion transport systems can decline to 60% of their total surface area, posing serious health risks. Also, about 50% of freshwater fish species are threatened by climate change, globally. Freshwater biodiversity that is heavily reliant on calcium perishes when the calcium content of their environments degrades, posing another severe threat to world biodiversity. To improve biodiversity, variables such as species diversity, population and water quality, and habitat are essential components that must be monitored continuously. Existing research on freshwater biota and ecosystems is still lacking. Therefore, data collection and the establishment of specialized policies for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity should be prioritized.

Is it only about science and policy? The 'intergovernmental epistemologies' of global environmental governance

Although international actors operating under the United Nations umbrella put much faith in the possibility of bridging science and policy through various institutional arrangements, research in the Science and Technology Studies (STS) tradition suggests that different civic epistemologies revolve around environmental degradation issues. Civic epistemologies, which imply peculiar understandings of knowledge across cultures, are not easily bridged. This paper contends that conflicting (civic) epistemologies inevitably emerge in epistemic debates at the intergovernmental level, with strong implications for how science and knowledge are dealt with and understood in environmental negotiations. Drawing on the experience of global soil and land governance and building on the idiom of civic epistemologies, the concept of intergovernmental epistemologies is introduced as an analytical tool to capture the diverging ways of appreciating and validating knowledge in intergovernmental settings. Placing state actors and their perspectives center stage, intergovernmental epistemologies account for the tensions, contestations and politicisation processes of international institutional settings dealing with environmental issues. The paper concludes discussing the consequences of intergovernmental epistemologies for the study of global environmental governance: it cautions about overreliance on approaches based on learning and all-encompassing discourses, emphasizing the value of using STS-derived concepts to investigate the complexity of international environmental negotiations.

Research knowledge transfer to improve the care and support of adolescents with sickle cell disease in Ghana

INTRODUCTION

Effective transfer of research findings to key knowledge users, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, is not always achieved, despite being a shared priority among researchers, funders, healthcare and community stakeholders and decision-makers. A constructivist grounded theory study conducted in 2015-2019 in Ghana that explored sickle cell-related fatigue in adolescence resulted in numerous implications for practice and policy. Peer-reviewed funding was obtained to support disseminating these findings to relevant stakeholders.

METHODS

Key steps in implementing this study dissemination project included: (1) identifying and attracting target stakeholders from healthcare and community organizations; (2) tailoring tools for communication of research findings for the stakeholder groups and (3) designing interactive workshops to facilitate knowledge sharing and uptake.

FINDING

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 50 healthcare and community stakeholders participated in the dissemination workshops. The dissemination activities contributed new layers of understanding to the original research findings through discussions. Through the workshops, participants identified culturally valuable and actionable recommendations that they could take forward to improve care and support for young people with sickle cell disease in Ghana. A follow-up 6 months post the workshops indicated some positive knowledge usage and benefits.

CONCLUSION

This dissemination project provided a unique opportunity for researchers and stakeholders to share in the interpretation of research findings and to strategically plan recommendations to improve SCD-focused care and support for young people in Ghana. Further research dissemination should continue to be grounded in locally generated knowledge, include systematic, long-term evaluation of dissemination outcomes and be adequately financed.

PATIENT AND PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Public involvement in this study was critical to the research dissemination project. The Sickle Cell Association of Ghana (Kumasi chapter) actively supported the project's development, organization and facilitation. Parent members of the Association, the Association's executive members and volunteers, and the health professionals involved in sickle cell care at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital participated in the project workshops. They contributed to the knowledge transfer and uptake.

Barriers and Enablers for Integrating Public Health Cobenefits in Urban Climate Policy

Urban climate policy offers a significant opportunity to promote improved public health. The evidence around climate and health cobenefits is growing but has yet to translate into widespread integrated policies. This article presents two systematic reviews: first, looking at quantified cobenefits of urban climate policies, where transportation, land use, and buildings emerge as the most studied sectors; and second, looking at review papers exploring the barriers and enablers for integrating these health cobenefits into urban policies. The latter reveals wide agreement concerning the need to improve the evidence base for cobenefits and consensus about the need for greater political will and leadership on this issue. Systems thinking may offer a way forward to help embrace complexity and integrate health cobenefits into decision making. Knowledge coproduction to bring stakeholders together and advance policy-relevant research for urban health will also be required. Action is needed to bring these two important policy agendas together.

Understanding responses to climate-related water scarcity in Africa

Water scarcity is a global challenge, yet existing responses are failing to cope with current shocks and stressors, including those attributable to climate change. In sub-Saharan Africa, the impacts of water scarcity threaten livelihoods and wellbeing across the continent and are driving a broad range of adaptive responses. This paper describes trends of water scarcity for Africa and outlines climate impacts on key water-related sectors on food systems, cities, livelihoods and wellbeing, conflict and security, economies, and ecosystems. It then uses systematic review methods, including the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative, to analyse 240 articles and identify adaptation characteristics of planned and autonomous responses to water scarcity across Africa. The most common impact drivers responded to are drought and participation variability. The most frequently identified actors responding to water scarcity include individuals or households (32%), local government (15%) and national government (15%), while the most common types of response are behavioural and cultural (30%), technological and infrastructural (27%), ecosystem-based (25%) and institutional (18%). Most planned responses target low-income communities (31%), women (20%), and indigenous communities (13%), but very few studies target migrants, ethnic minorities or those living with disabilities. There is a lack of coordination of planned adaptation at scale across all relevant sectors and regions, and lack of legal and institutional frameworks for their operation. Most responses to water scarcity are coping and autonomous responses that showed only minor adjustments to business-as-usual water practices, suggesting limited adaptation depth. Maladaptation is associated with one or more dimension of responses in almost 20% of articles. Coordinating institutional responses, carefully planned technologies, planning for projected climate risks including extension of climate services and increased climate change literacy, and integrating indigenous knowledge will help to address identified challenges of water scarcity towards more adaptive responses across Africa.

An actionable understanding of societal transitions: the X-curve framework

Sustainability transition research seeks to understand the patterns and dynamics of structural societal change as well as unearth strategies for governance. However, existing frameworks emphasize innovation and build-up over exnovation and break-down. This limits their potential in making sense of the turbulent and chaotic dynamics of current transition-in-the-making. Addressing this gap, our paper elaborates on the development and use of the X-curve framework. The X-curve provides a simplified depiction of transitions that explicitly captures the patterns of build-up, breakdown, and their interactions. Using three cases, we illustrate the X-curve's main strength as a framework that can support groups of people to develop a shared understanding of the dynamics in transitions-in-the-making. This helps them reflect upon their roles, potential influence, and the needed capacities for desired transitions. We discuss some challenges in using the X-curve framework, such as participants' grasp of 'chaos', and provide suggestions on how to address these challenges and strengthen the frameworks' ability to support understanding and navigation of transition dynamics. We conclude by summarizing its main strength and invite the reader to use it, reflect on it, build on it, and judge its value for action research on sustainability transitions themselves.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-021-01084-w.

Advancements of sustainable development goals in co-production for climate change adaptation research

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a new discursive regime that encompasses global environmental change challenges and sustainability sciences, including adaptation to climate change. Co-production of knowledge has become a key, intrinsic component in both sustainability sciences and adaptation research. In this review article, we investigate if and how the SDG agenda is included in the application of participatory approaches and co-production of knowledge for climate change adaptation. We review findings from such processes in projects whose objective is to foster adaptation in the context of SDGs and to categorize the methods employed to forward co-production. We investigate 1) whether and how co-production approaches localize SDG targets and address tradeoffs and synergies, 2) whether they focus on power asymmetries and political dimensions in such participatory processes, and 3) whether and how the literature show that the SDG agenda contributes to a shift in the role of researchers towards a more interventionist approach to co-production. Our results show that there is little evidence that the SDG agenda contributes to a shift towards more interventionist or transformative approaches within climate change adaptation. Further, we have a identified a missed opportunity in the exclusion of "social" SDGs (SDG 5 and 10) in the discussions of adaptation and co-production and SGDs. Most importantly, we find that participatory efforts, including the co-production of knowledge, for localizing SDG goals and resolving tradeoffs and benefits, are the most salient aspects that tie the three co-production - adaptation - the SDG agenda together. Such participatory localizing processes have a great potential in facilitating long-enduring empowerment and legitimacy in adaptation efforts.

Solutions-oriented research for sustainability: Turning knowledge into action : This article belongs to Ambio's 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Solutions-oriented research

In this perspective, we reflect upon the question: what processes may help transition scientific insights on sustainability issues into practice and thus contribute to tackling the complex, systemic sustainability problems of today? We use five forerunners in the field of providing and brokering knowledge for science informed real world solutions, all published in Ambio and highlighted in this Anniversary collection, as our starting point. We discuss how the authors present solutions, whom they tried to reach, and what was suggested-implicitly or explicitly-as the potential uptake processes for turning scientific knowledge into practice. With this as the starting point, we discuss how sustainability science, as a field vowed to action, has evolved in its views of actors, pathways for impacts, and the potential roles of research and researchers to promote sustainability transformations.

Urban Climate Policy and Action through a Health Lens-An Untapped Opportunity

Motivated by a growing recognition of the climate emergency, reflected in the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), we outline untapped opportunities to improve health through ambitious climate actions in cities. Health is a primary reason for climate action yet is rarely integrated in urban climate plans as a policy goal. This is a missed opportunity to create sustainable alliances across sectors and groups, to engage a broad set of stakeholders, and to develop structural health promotion. In this statement, we first briefly review the literature on health co-benefits of urban climate change strategies and make the case for health-promoting climate action; we then describe barriers to integrating health in climate action. We found that the evidence-base is often insufficiently policy-relevant to be impactful. Research rarely integrates the complexity of real-world systems, including multiple and dynamic impacts of strategies, and consideration of how decision-making processes contend with competing interests and short-term electoral cycles. Due to siloed-thinking and restrictive funding opportunities, research often falls short of the type of evidence that would be most useful for decision-making, and research outputs can be cryptic to decision makers. As a way forward, we urge researchers and stakeholders to engage in co-production and systems thinking approaches. Partnering across sectors and disciplines is urgently needed so pathways to climate change mitigation and adaptation fully embrace their health-promoting potential and engage society towards the huge transformations needed. This commentary is endorsed by the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) and the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH) and accompanies a sister statement oriented towards stakeholders (published on the societies' websites).

Linking Knowledge With Action When Engagement is Out of Reach: Three Contextual Features of Effective Public Health Communication

Scholars and practitioners often promote direct engagement between policymakers, health workers and researchers as a strategy for overcoming barriers to utilizing scientific knowledge in health policy. However, in many settings public health officials rarely have opportunities to interact with researchers, which is a problem further exacerbated by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. One prominent theory argues that policy actors will trust and utilize research findings when they perceive them to be salient, credible and legitimate. We draw on this theory to examine the conditions facilitating greater uptake of new knowledge among health officials when engagement is out of reach and they are instead exposed to new ideas through written mass communication. Using data from a survey experiment with about 260 health workers and administrators in Honduras, we find that messages from a technocratic sender based on statistical evidence improved perceptions of salience, credibility and legitimacy (SCL). Additionally, perceptions of SCL are three contextual features that operate as joint mediators between knowledge and action, and several individual characteristics also influence whether officials trust research findings enough to apply them when formulating and implementing health policies. This research can help inform the design of context-sensitive knowledge translation and exchange strategies to advance the goals of evidence-based public health, particularly in settings where direct engagement is difficult to achieve.

Community Science for Coastal Acidification Monitoring and Research

Ocean and coastal acidification (OCA) present a unique set of sustainability challenges at the human-ecological interface. Extensive biogeochemical monitoring that can assess local acidification conditions, distinguish multiple drivers of changing carbonate chemistry, and ultimately inform local and regional response strategies is necessary for successful adaptation to OCA. However, the sampling frequency and cost-prohibitive scientific equipment needed to monitor OCA are barriers to implementing the widespread monitoring of dynamic coastal conditions. Here, we demonstrate through a case study that existing community-based water monitoring initiatives can help address these challenges and contribute to OCA science. We document how iterative, sequential outreach, workshop-based training, and coordinated monitoring activities through the Northeast Coastal Acidification Network (a) assessed the capacity of northeastern United States community science programs and (b) engaged community science programs productively with OCA monitoring efforts. Our results (along with the companion manuscript) indicate that community science programs are capable of collecting robust scientific information pertinent to OCA and are positioned to monitor in locations that would critically expand the coverage of current OCA research. Furthermore, engaging community stakeholders in OCA science and outreach enabled a platform for dialogue about OCA among other interrelated environmental concerns and fostered a series of co-benefits relating to public participation in resource and risk management. Activities in support of community science monitoring have an impact not only by increasing local understanding of OCA but also by promoting public education and community participation in potential adaptation measures.

Five Steps to Inject Transformative Change into the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Accelerating declines in biodiversity and unmet targets in the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2010-2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity are stimulating widespread calls for transformative change. Such change includes societal transitions toward sustainability, as well as in specific content of the CBD's draft Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. We summarize research on transformative change and its links to biodiversity conservation, and discuss how it may influence the work of the CBD. We identify five steps to inject transformative change into the design and implementation of a new post-2020 framework: Pay attention to lessons learned from transitions research, plan for climate change, reframe area-based conservation, scale up biodiversity mainstreaming, and increase resources. These actions will transform the very nature of work under the CBD; a convention based on voluntary implementation by countries and facilitated by international administrators and experts must now accommodate a broader range of participants including businesses, Indigenous peoples, and multiple nonstate actors.

Personality change and sustainability attitudes and behaviors

Withstanding the climate crisis will depend in part on individuals behaving in a more environmentally sustainable manner. However, relatively little is known about the individual factors that promote sustainable attitudes and behaviors (SABs). Although there are established cross-sectional associations between personality traits and SABs, it is unclear whether changes in personality are related to increases in SABs over time, and how personality is differentially related to specific SABs. Using data from 61,479 participants in New Zealand, we tested preregistered hypotheses about how personality codevelops with valuing the environment, believing in climate change, concern about climate change, personal environmental efficacy, personal environmental sacrifice, and support for the Green Party. We found that SABs generally increased from 2009 to 2017, although there was variation across age cohorts, SAB variables, and samples. We replicated concurrent correlations between broad personality traits—particularly Agreeableness, Openness, and Honesty/Humility—and SABs and present novel evidence that increases in SAB are related to changes in traits, particularly Agreeableness. These findings have implications for both understanding the factors associated with changes in SABs over time and understanding the factors that drive personality change.

Scientists' warning on extreme wildfire risks to water supply

2020 is the year of wildfire records. California experienced its three largest fires early in its fire season. The Pantanal, the largest wetland on the planet, burned over 20% of its surface. More than 18 million hectares of forest and bushland burned during the 2019-2020 fire season in Australia, killing 33 people, destroying nearly 2500 homes, and endangering many endemic species. The direct cost of damages is being counted in dozens of billion dollars, but the indirect costs on water-related ecosystem services and benefits could be equally expensive, with impacts lasting for decades. In Australia, the extreme precipitation ("200 mm day -1 in several location") that interrupted the catastrophic wildfire season triggered a series of watershed effects from headwaters to areas downstream. The increased runoff and erosion from burned areas disrupted water supplies in several locations. These post-fire watershed hazards via source water contamination, flash floods, and mudslides can represent substantial, systemic long-term risks to drinking water production, aquatic life, and socio-economic activity. Scenarios similar to the recent event in Australia are now predicted to unfold in the Western USA. This is a new reality that societies will have to live with as uncharted fire activity, water crises, and widespread human footprint collide all-around of the world. Therefore, we advocate for a more proactive approach to wildfire-watershed risk governance in an effort to advance and protect water security. We also argue that there is no easy solution to reducing this risk and that investments in both green (i.e., natural) and grey (i.e., built) infrastructure will be necessary. Further, we propose strategies to combine modern data analytics with existing tools for use by water and land managers worldwide to leverage several decades worth of data and knowledge on post-fire hydrology.

Lessons from a pandemic for systems-oriented sustainability research

This review examines research on environmental impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from a systems-oriented sustainability perspective, focusing on three areas: air quality and human health, climate change, and production and consumption. The review assesses whether and how this COVID-19-focused research (i) examines components of an integrated system; (ii) accounts for interactions including complex, adaptive dynamics; and (iii) is oriented to informing action. It finds that this research to date has not comprehensively accounted for complex, coupled interactions, especially involving societal factors, potentially leading to erroneous conclusions and hampering efforts to draw broader insights across sustainability-relevant domains. Lack of systems perspective in COVID-19 research reflects a broader challenge in environmental research, which often neglects societal feedbacks. Practical steps through which researchers can better incorporate systems perspectives include using analytical frameworks to identify important components and interactions, connecting frameworks to models and methods, and advancing sustainability science theory and methodology.

Researcher perspectives on challenges and opportunities in conservation physiology revealed from an online survey

Conservation physiology represents a recently emerging arm of conservation science that applies physiological tools and techniques to understand and solve conservation issues. While a multi-disciplinary toolbox can only help to address the global biodiversity crisis, any field can face challenges while becoming established, particularly highly applied disciplines that require multi-stakeholder involvement. Gaining first-hand knowledge of the challenges that conservation physiologists are facing can help characterize the current state of the field and build a better foundation for determining how it can grow. Through an online survey of 468 scientists working at the intersection of physiology and conservation, we aimed to identify characteristics of those engaging in conservation physiology research (e.g. demographics, primary taxa of study), gauge conservation physiology's role in contributing to on-the-ground conservation action, identify the perceived barriers to achieving success and determine how difficult any identified barriers are to overcome. Despite all participants having experience combining physiology and conservation, only one-third considered themselves to be 'conservation physiologists'. Moreover, there was a general perception that conservation physiology does not yet regularly lead to tangible conservation success. Respondents identified the recent conceptualization of the field and the broader issue of adequately translating science into management action as the primary reasons for these deficits. Other significant barriers that respondents have faced when integrating physiology and conservation science included a lack of funding, logistical constraints (e.g. sample sizes, obtaining permits) and a lack of physiological baseline data (i.e. reference ranges of a physiological metric's 'normal' or pre-environmental change levels). We identified 12 actions based on suggestions of survey participants that we anticipate will help deconstruct the barriers and continue to develop a narrative of physiology that is relevant to conservation science, policy and practice.

Our future in the Anthropocene biosphere

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed an interconnected and tightly coupled globalized world in rapid change. This article sets the scientific stage for understanding and responding to such change for global sustainability and resilient societies. We provide a systemic overview of the current situation where people and nature are dynamically intertwined and embedded in the biosphere, placing shocks and extreme events as part of this dynamic; humanity has become the major force in shaping the future of the Earth system as a whole; and the scale and pace of the human dimension have caused climate change, rapid loss of biodiversity, growing inequalities, and loss of resilience to deal with uncertainty and surprise. Taken together, human actions are challenging the biosphere foundation for a prosperous development of civilizations. The Anthropocene reality-of rising system-wide turbulence-calls for transformative change towards sustainable futures. Emerging technologies, social innovations, broader shifts in cultural repertoires, as well as a diverse portfolio of active stewardship of human actions in support of a resilient biosphere are highlighted as essential parts of such transformations.

Operationalizing ecosystem service bundles for strategic sustainability planning: A participatory approach

The ecosystem service concept is recognized as a useful tool to support sustainability in decision-making. In this study, we collaborated with actors in the Helge å catchment, southern Sweden, in an iterative participatory ecosystem service assessment. Through workshops and interviews, we jointly decided which ecosystem services to assess and indicators to use in order to achieve a sense of ownership and a higher legitimacy of the assessment. Subsequently, we explored the landscape-level interactions between the 15 assessed services, and found that the area can be described using three distinct ecosystem service bundles. The iterative, participatory process strengthened our analysis and created a shared understanding and overview of the multifunctional landscape around Helge å among participants. Importantly, this allowed for the generated knowledge to impact local strategic sustainability planning. With this study, we illustrate how similar processes can support local decision-making for a more sustainable future.

Communicating complexity: interactive model explorers and immersive visualizations as tools for local planning and community engagement

Models that capture relationships between a variety of social, economic, and environmental factors are useful tools for community planning; however, they are often complex and difficult for diverse audiences to understand. This creates challenges for participatory planning and community engagement. Conducted in the community of Squamish (British Columbia, Canada), this study develops and examines tools for communicating outcomes of a community scenario modelling exercise to diverse stakeholders. These tools are ( i) a “model explorer” and ( ii) realistic, immersive visualizations. The model explorer is an online, HTML5-based tool that can be used to learn about the model, view community scenario maps, and explore potential outcomes of the scenarios. The visualizations are virtual environments that are navigated from the first-person perspective, and they were developed using a combination of ArcGIS, Trimble SketchUp, Adobe Photoshop, and the Unity3D game engine. A local government and community stakeholder focus group and public open house event were held to solicit feedback on the scenarios and tools. Findings of the research suggest that the two types of tools can be used in a complementary fashion, and tool integration can better harness their respective strengths in a manner that comprehensively communicates the implications of different development pathways to diverse community members.

From Transfer to Knowledge Co-Production: A Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Reduce Black Carbon Emissions in Metro Manila, Philippines

Air pollution, which kills an estimated 7 million people every year, is one of the greatest environmental health risks of our times. Finding solutions to this threat poses challenges to practitioners and policymakers alike. Increasing awareness on the benefits of transdisciplinary research in solution-oriented sustainable development projects has led to the establishment of the research project “A Transdisciplinary Approach to Mitigate Emissions of Black Carbon” (TAME-BC). This paper introduces the TAME-BC research setup that took place with Metro Manila, Philippines, case study. The approach integrates BC measurements with technological, socio-political, and health aspects to improve the scientific state of the art, policymaking, transport sector planning, and clinical studies related to air pollution health effects. The first pillar in the setup presents an (1) air quality assessment through aerosol measurements and instrumentation, complemented by a (2) description and assessment of the current policies, technologies, and practices of the transport sector that is responsible for pollution levels in the Philippines, as well as a (3) BC exposure and associated health impacts assessment. The fourth pillar is intercrossing, fostering (4) knowledge co-creation through stakeholder involvement across scales. We argue that this transdisciplinary approach is useful for research endeavors aiming for emission mitigation in rapidly urbanizing regions beyond Metro Manila.

Interpreting the effectiveness of a summer reading program: The eye of the beholder

In applying a methods-oriented approach to evaluation, this study interpreted the effectiveness of a summer reading program from three different stakeholder perspectives: practitioners from the school district, the funding agency supporting the program, and the policymakers considering mandating summer school. Archival data were obtained on 2330 students reading below benchmark in Grades 2-5. After propensity score matching participants to peers who did not attend the summer program, the final sample consisted of 630 students. Pre-to-posttest growth models revealed positive effects in Grades 2-4 (standardized slopes of .40-.54), but fifth graders demonstrated negligible improvement (standardized slope of .15). The standardized mean differences of propensity score matched treatment and control group students indicated null effects in all grade levels (d = -.13 to .05). Achieving proficient reading performance also was not attributable to summer school participation. Findings underscore the importance of operationalizing effectiveness in summative evaluation.

Collaboration and Sustainability: Making Science Useful, Making Useful Science

Collaboration is essential to produce the distinctive forms of science and technology—knowledge and know-how—required to meet sustainability challenges. What might be the form of that collaboration? One-shot or transient collaboration is giving way to richer, deeper, continual integration of knowledge, power, and diverse ethics and values (ethos), and these, in turn, confront leaders and analysts with new challenges.

How forest data catalysed change in four successful case studies

This paper presents four case studies in which forest data catalysed shifts in public policy and corporate activities. Brazil greatly reduced deforestation during the period between 2005 and 2014; Cameroon introduced a structured forest concessions regime; Viet Nam achieved their forest transition; and corporate operations around the world invested in supply chain management to alleviate deforestation concerns. We break the problem-solving required for these achievements into four steps: problem recognition, proposal and choice of solution, putting the solution into effect, and monitoring results. At each of these steps, we consider the relevant forest data. Data helped place issues on policymaker agendas, supported reaching sound decisions and enabled quantitative targets. Policy instruments for implementing change were built around available data and forest monitoring helped evaluate progress. The details of these successes can be an inspiration to those interested in improving collection of data on forests that can effectively support decision-making and better policies. There have been impressive recent improvements to many developing countries' national forest monitoring capabilities. The successful examples of data application presented and evaluated here provide insight into how these new data can be effectively leveraged.

A Design Workshop’s Contribution to Climate Adaptation in Coastal Settlements in Nigeria

With the growth in collaborative engagements for solutions to society’s complex problems, the role of co-designing to address climate change issues of low-income human settlements is becoming significant. This informed a design workshop/charette hosted at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. Twenty-six young architects and urban planners worked with non-academic stakeholders from coastal communities in Igbokoda, Ondo State during the five-day event. Structural (building and neighborhood setting) and non-structural (programmatic) ideas for climate adaptation and resilient housing in the low-income coastal communities were outcomes of the collaborative work. This paper reports and draws lessons from the process and outcomes of the design workshop/charette. The outcomes were well-received by the stakeholders and follow-up projects have since been conceived. This thus affirms the value of collaborative approach towards exploring and co-producing solutions in the era of a changing climate.

Resilience Thinking as a System Approach to Promote China’s Sustainability Transitions

Urban regeneration and rural revitalization are becoming major policy initiatives in China, which requires new approaches for sustainability transitions. This paper reviewed the history of policy reforms and institutional changes and analysed the main challenges to sustainability transitions in China. The urban-rural systems were defined as a complex dynamic social-ecological system based on resilience thinking and transition theory. The notions of adaptation and transformation were applied to compose a framework to coordinate “resilience” with “sustainability”. The findings indicate that China’s urbanization has experienced the conservative development of restructuring socio-economic and political systems (before 1984), the fast industrialization and economic development leaned to cities (1984 to 2002), the rapid urbanization led by land expropriation and investment expansion (2002 to 2012), and the quality development transformation equally in urban and rural areas (since 2012). The sustainability transitions have been challenged by controversial institutional arrangements, concerning population mobility control, unequal social welfare, and incomplete property rights. A series of policy interventions should be designed and implemented accordingly with joint efforts of multiple stakeholders and based on the combined technocratic and bottom-up knowledge derived from proactive and conscious individuals and collectives through context-dependent social networks.

Local- and landscape-scale variables shape insect diversity in an urban biodiversity hot spot

Local community structure is shaped by processes acting at local and landscape scales. The relative importance of drivers operating across different spatial scales is difficult to test without observations across regional or latitudinal gradients. Cities exhibit strong but predictable environmental gradients overlaying a mosaic of highly variable but repeated habitat types within a constrained area. Thus, cities present a unique opportunity to explore how both local and landscape factors influence local biotic communities. We used insect communities to examine the interactions among local environmental variables (such as temperature and relative humidity), local habitat characteristics (such as plant community composition), and broad-scale patterns of urbanization (including biophysical, human-built, and socioeconomic variables) on local insect abundance, species richness, and species composition in Los Angeles, a hot, dry, near-desert city. After accounting for seasonal trends, insect species richness and abundance were highest in drier and hotter sites, but the magnitude of local environmental effects varied with the degree of urbanization. In contrast, insect species composition was best predicted by broad-scale urbanization trends, with the more native communities occurring in less urbanized sites and more cosmopolitan insects occurring in highly urbanized sites. However, insect species richness and abundance were >30% higher and insect composition was similar across sites that hosted either native or drought-tolerant plants, regardless of the degree of urbanization. These results demonstrate that urban insect biodiversity is a product of interacting mechanisms working at both local and landscape scales. However, local-scale changes to urban habitats, such as cultivating plants that are adapted to the natural environment nearest the city, can positively impact urban biodiversity regardless of location.

Focal points for sustainable development strategies-Text mining-based comparative analysis of voluntary national reviews

Countries have to work out and follow tailored strategies for the achievement of their Sustainable Development Goals. At the end of 2018, more than 100 voluntary national reviews were published. The reviews are transformed by text mining algorithms into networks of keywords to identify country-specific thematic areas of the strategies and cluster countries that face similar problems and follow similar development strategies. The analysis of the 75 VNRs has shown that SDG5 (gender equality) is the most discussed goal worldwide, as it is discussed in 77% of the analysed Voluntary National Reviews. The SDG8 (decent work and economic growth) is the second most studied goal, With 76 %, while the SDG1 (no poverty) is the least focused goal, it is mentioned only in 48 % of documents and the SDG10 (reduced inequalities) in 49 %. The results demonstrate that the proposed benchmark tool is capable of highlighting what kind of activities can make significant contributions to achieve sustainable developments.

Participation, for Whom? The Potential of Gamified Participatory Artefacts in Uncovering Power Relations within Urban Renewal Projects

When defining participation in urban renewal projects in a political sense, this concept implies the challenging of power relations in each of its dimensions while addressing the need for knowledge, action and consciousness. Knowledge is defined as a resource which affects observable decision making. Action looks at who is involved in the production of such knowledge in order to challenge and shape the political agenda. Consciousness is how the production of knowledge changes the awareness or worldview of those involved, thus shaping the psychological and conceptual boundaries of what is possible. This paper addresses these politics of participation via the use of gamification, and more particularly gamified participatory artefacts. We discuss how a ‘good’ participatory planning process implies rebalancing existing power relations via the redistribution of knowledge, consciousness and actions, and aims to operationalize this ambition through a game. We particularly focus on the urban renewal process of one particular case, namely the Vennestraat—one of the main commercial streets of the city of Genk (BE) and present a three year participatory mapping process that made use of three gamified participatory artefacts (i.e., socio-economic network mapping, gathering mental images and scenario games). After uncovering the complex field of power relations in the entrepreneurial street, we analyze the different types of relations/groups that emerge from this participatory mapping process. The paper concludes with an analytical framework that employs gamified participatory artefacts in order to map and understand power relations and the mechanisms that frame them.

Green Awareness in Action—How Energy Conservation Action Forces on Environmental Knowledge, Values and Behaviour in Adolescents’ School Life

Affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy consumption is a crucial goal of the Agenda 2030. To raise each citizen’s awareness for more effective energy consumptions, proper education is necessary. The classroom project GAIA (Green Awareness in Action) was designed to change energy consumption patterns to pursue green behaviour. The class-wise aim was to improve schools’ CO2-balance and to promote environmentally sustainable behaviour without impacting school life quality. Our target group were sixth graders (N = 132, M = 11.03, SD ± 0.23, 53.4% = girls) of one Greek school. To monitor the project’s effect, a pre- and post-test design was applied to measure environmental literacy regarding environmental knowledge, attitudes/values and behaviour. A regression analysis revealed that students with poor previous knowledge reached higher learning effects compared to those with good previous knowledge. Related to the environmental knowledge types, an ANCOVA analysis revealed a knowledge gain in action-related and effectiveness knowledge. The overall learning effect correlates positively with pro-environmental preference (high scores in preservation, low scores in utilisation) and negatively with weak pro-environmental preferences. Anthropocentric (utilitarian) preferences primarily focussing on nature exploitation have considerably decreased. The project illustrates how far individual behaviour can be targeted in green educational initiatives.

Policy content analysis: Qualitative method for analyzing sub-national insect pollinator legislation

This project examines sub-national legislative policy to identify trends and describe policy innovations for addressing insect pollinator declines. Content analysis is used to describe these policies quantitatively (number of policies and frequency per year) and qualitatively (topic, comparison of policy instruments used). The policies selected constitute a census-not a sample-of policies passed then approved by all US state legislatures and signed by state Governors into law from 2000 to 2017. We used QSR International's NVivo 10 text-based analytic software to organize and document our close-reading (line-by-line coding) of 109 laws to address insect pollinator population declines. Our analysis blended both conventional (inductive) and directed (deductive) content analysis approaches to reveal the spectrum of new legislative innovations and to describe lawmakers' evolving view of pollinating insects. Applying proven methods from the health sciences and communication studies can aid large-scale analysis of legal texts. •Qualitative content analysis of all US state-level laws passed from 2000 to 2017 addressing insect pollinators (N = 109).•The close-reading analysis mixed both conventional (inductive) and directed (deductive) content analysis approaches to reveal the spectrum of new legislative innovations and to describe evolving views of pollinating insects.•Compared inductively gathered findings from US policies to global experts' policy recommendations to evaluate status of conservation policy.