Peer-reviewed publications

Implementing ecological connectivity conservation in large landscapes requires cutting-edge science combined with consideration of ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural factors that collectively shape the outcomes of conservation efforts. We outline a theory of change (ToC) for connectivity conservation to improve the ecological condition of landscapes and biodiversity and the ecosystem services upon which humans depend. We review connectivity conservation efforts on four continents in large landscapes that span gradients of latitude, fragmentation, biodiversity value, socioeconomic characteristics, and the richness of data used to assess connectivity and target action. We share the substantial but variable progress made in each landscape and outline specific challenges to achieving conservation goals. Opportunities and challenges in public and private sectors can further leverage the potential of large-scale connectivity conservation to reduce isolation and improve gene flow in functional landscapes worldwide.

Pandemics pose a global threat to human wellbeing, justice, economies, and ecosystems and are comparable with other planetary crises such as climate change and biodiversity loss in terms of urgency and impact. The global community would benefit from a dedicated scientific synthesis body to assess pandemic risks and solutions. In this Personal View, we explore proposals for an Intergovernmental Panel on Pandemics and assess potential pathways to its creation. Learning lessons from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) might help national governments and international organisations to chart a course through important decisions about format, governance, operations, scientific scope and process, and ability to recommend policies that make the world safer.

Large areas of forest are allocated to commercial logging concessions, some of which are eco-certified. Theoretically, both holding concessions' rights to log and being eco-certified can increase or decrease forest loss. Impact estimates are sparse and unsurprisingly mixed for these interventions (that aim to affect forest outcomes, if not always for conservation). We ask if adding different forest sensors, forest outcomes, and variations in forest contexts sheds new light upon the forest impacts of uncertified concessions and eco-certifications. Using new global data, which include forest degradation, we estimate the forest impacts of these interventions within the Peruvian Amazon, disaggregating across timber regions to allow for heterogeneity in impacts across distinct contexts. Our results confirm that, when averaging across the regions, uncertified logging concessions do not increase deforestation (relative to unintervened forest), consistent with previous findings. Yet, separating regions adds insight for policy and external validity: uncertified concessions yield larger reductions in deforestation rates within the more highly pressured of these three core logging regions. Degradation data provide further insights: uncertified concessions did not shift transitions from forest to degraded status, yet reduced transitions from degraded status to deforested. Eco-certifications did not reduce deforestation or degradation across contexts or outcomes.

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This Perspective describes the various dimensions of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) durability and interprets them in the context of current policy making. Durability – together with scalability and sustainability – is an essential condition of CDR. It depends on (i) the duration of CO2 storage and (ii) the risk of reversing such storage. The risk profile of durability varies widely across CDR methods. Because engineered, novel CDR methods involve more stable forms of CO2 storage than nature-based CDR, these methods are often promoted as a priority for CDR mitigation investments. However, shorter-term CDR plays an essential role in balancing sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century. Decision makers must also consider CDR policies in a larger context that takes into account readiness and feasibility, policy alignment and co-benefits of different CDR methods. They must also address durability in CDR policies and contracts, which tend to span much shorter timeframes than those contemplated by science when discussing durability. We argue that nature-based conventional CDR and novel engineered CDR that show complementary timing and risk profiles can be deployed in synergistic CDR portfoliosto balance the conditions of durability, feasibility and social and environmental sustainability.

In recognition of the importance of inland waters, numerous datasets mapping their extents, types, or changes have been created using sources ranging from historical wetland maps to real-time satellite remote sensing. However, differences in definitions and methods have led to spatial and typological inconsistencies among individual data sources, confounding their complementary use and integration. The Global Lakes and Wetlands Database (GLWD), published in 2004, with its globally seamless depiction of 12 major vegetated and non-vegetated wetland classes at 1 km grid cell resolution, has emerged over the last few decades as a foundational reference map that has advanced research and conservation planning addressing freshwater biodiversity, ecosystem services, greenhouse gas emissions, land surface processes, hydrology, and human health. Here, we present a new iteration of this map, termed GLWD version 2, generated by harmonizing the latest ground- and satellite-based data products into one single database. Following the same design principle as its predecessor, GLWD v2 aims to avoid double counting of overlapping surface water features while differentiating between natural and non-natural lakes, rivers of multiple sizes, and several other wetland types. The classification of GLWD v2 incorporates information on seasonality (i.e., permanent vs. intermittent vs. ephemeral); inundation vs. saturation (i.e., flooding vs. waterlogged soils), vegetation cover (e.g., forested swamps vs. non-forested marshes), salinity (e.g., salt pans), natural vs. non-natural origins (e.g., rice paddies), and stratification of landscape position and water source (e.g., riverine, lacustrine, palustrine, coastal/marine). GLWD v2 represents 33 wetland classes and – including all intermittent classes – depicts a maximum of 18.2 ×106 km2 of wetlands (13.4 % of the global land area excluding Antarctica). The spatial extent of each class is provided as the fractional coverage within each grid cell at a resolution of 15 arcsec (approximately 500 m at the Equator), with cell fractions derived from input data at resolutions as small as 10 m. The upgraded GLWD v2 offers an improved representation of inland surface water extents and their classification for contemporary conditions (∼ 1984–2020). Despite being a static map, it includes classes that denote intrinsic temporal dynamics. GLWD v2 is designed to facilitate large-scale hydrological, ecological, biogeochemical, and conservation applications, aiming to support the study and protection of wetland ecosystems around the world. The GLWD v2 database is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28519994 (Lehner et al., 2025).

Traditional approaches to maritime security focus on state and economic perspectives. We suggest that a more holistic approach to maritime security is needed that encompasses state, economic, human and environmental security to make maritime security more equitable, sustainable and responsive to contemporary social and environmental challenges. Adopting a normative human and eco-centric approach to maritime security, which revolves around the needs of coastal communities and the imperative of ocean sustainability, can be guided by four principles: participation and pluralism, autonomy and agency, equity and justice, and coherence and coordination.

The billfish industry in the Western Indian Ocean is multi-sectoral, involving artisanal, commercial and recreational sectors, exploiting billfish for food, income, sports and cultural values. However, billfish catches in the region have been declining with a number of species considered overexploited. To address gaps in sustainable billfish fisheries management, and maximize socioeconomic benefits, we explained the flow of billfish artisanal supply chain in Kenya using a mixed methods approach comprising qualitative and quantitative data. Our aim was to understand the profile of the key players, the supply chain, strengths, challenges and opportunities. Our findings revealed that the socio-demographics of actors varied by age, gender and level of formal education. Whereas different value addition processes were recorded, billfish unit prices were influenced by the type of actors, seasonality and place. Additionally, limited capital, inadequate storage facilities, vessel and fishing equipment were major constraints. These constraints could be tackled through interventions such as financing and provision of advanced infrastructure to improve the supply chain and support livelihoods. Results from this study contribute to our understanding of billfish artisanal fisheries and provide critical insights on the supply chain that are beneficial in achieving equitable and sustainable billfish fisheries in line with national and regional conservation and fisheries management plans.

"Recent decades have seen increasing calls for implementing Indigenous Knowledges (IK) in natural resource management (NRM). However, efforts have been limited by the cultural incommensurabilities between (1) NRM institutions, which are rooted in worldviews that prioritize extraction for dominant cultures and assume dominance over nature and (2) Indigenous worldviews that prioritize kincentric reciprocity with the environment. This manuscript addresses how transforming NRM institutions enables management to better support Indigenous Knowledges and lifeways.

This manuscript examines incommensurabilities between NRM institutional cultures and Indigenous cultures, with the value and lifeway of reciprocity as the focal point. Through synthesizing interdisciplinary scholarship and examples from author experiences, we explore how NRM institutions in North America can transform to honour and facilitate reciprocity, especially within efforts to implement IK and support Indigenous lifeways.
NRM institutions are cultural products, and in North America were born of colonial histories and cultural roots connected to modern governance and power dynamics. These cultural foundations led to NRM approaches that prioritize maximizing economic growth while guarding against overexploitation. Kincentric reciprocal relations with the environment often emphasize interdependency with more-than-human kin, place-based holistic Knowledges grounded in cultural practices and communal responsibility to cultivate social-ecological abundance for present and future generations.

Incommensurabilities between NRM institutional cultures and Indigenous cultures impede efforts to implement IK and support Indigenous lifeways as: (1) rigid institutional structures do not account for Indigenous worldviews and values but instead attempt to fit IK within dominant paradigms; (2) the siloing of NRM leads to the piecemealing and invalidation of IK at the expense of Knowledge Holders and (3) ineffective public engagement strategies limit the possibility of reciprocal relations between NRM institutions and communities throughout management processes.

Transforming NRM institutional cultures to better implement IK and support Indigenous lifeways is key for redressing long-standing issues and ensuring social-ecological resilience and abundance. Heavy investments of time, personnel and resources are necessary for transforming NRM institutions to appropriately cultivate reciprocal relations with Indigenous communities and lands. Strategies towards transformation include decentralization through decolonial frameworks, knowledge co-production and using place-based cultural evaluation processes to improve cultural alignment."

Most plant species rely on animals for the dispersal of their seeds, and seed dispersal is the most widespread mutualistic ecosystem function provided by terrestrial vertebrates. Because seed dispersal impacts plant gene flow, fitness, and distributions, seed-dispersing animals influence ecosystem biodiversity, functioning, and resilience to environmental changes. In this review, we evaluate the decline of seed dispersers and the consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, including their maintenance, recovery, and future trajectories under deforestation, wildfire, biotic invasions, and climate change. We find strong evidence of human-driven changes in the diversity, abundance, biomass, and movement of seed dispersers caused by habitat loss, landscape fragmentation, invasive species, and direct exploitation of animals (defaunation). These changes lead to declines in seed dispersal function along gradients of anthropogenic impact. Field studies and process-based models that evaluate the resulting impacts on plant communities indicate pervasive negative consequences ranging from biodiversity decline to reduced carbon storage, with ongoing research seeking to quantify the magnitude of these effects and their impacts on human wellbeing. Addressing seed disperser decline represents an important pathway by which the protection and restoration of animal biodiversity can support the biodiversity, connectivity, and functioning of vegetation communities, thus confronting the joint challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change.