Peer-reviewed publications

Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) are crucial yet complex mechanisms for forest conservation, particularly in highly biodiverse regions. This study investigates the rapid expansion of carbon forestry projects (CFPs) across 26 million hectares in Colombia, with 92% overlapping indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant, and local communities (IPALC) territories. Using spatial and qualitative analyses, a novel IPALC participation ladder framework and Colombia’s first publicly available CFP geodatabase, we assess IPALC engagement dynamics, including market share, distribution, conflicts, and participation barriers. Findings show VCMs, despite significant conservation finance, often yield moderate IPALC participation, exacerbate governance deficits, and inequitable benefit sharing, compromising integrity, social legitimacy, and the potential for durable, community-driven conservation outcomes. Effective VCM climate action demands robust, community-driven governance, and inclusive policy reform. Lessons from Colombia offer critical insights for global VCM evolution toward more just, sustainable outcomes.

1. Individual repeatable variation in behaviour, that is ‘personality’, is hypothesised to mediate how animals respond to environmental stress. However, temporal variability in local conditions and spatial constraints across the annual cycle may affect individual responses to environmental change and the subsequent impact on fitness. Here we tested how the relationships among personality, stress exposures and fitness may vary between the breeding and wintering periods in the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), a long-lived migratory seabird inhabiting the rapidly changing Arctic.
2. We conducted a long-term (2013–2021) study to explore how personality, represented by boldness, was related to feather corticosterone (fCORT), an indicator of stress exposure during feather growth. To examine temporal variation in this relationship, we focused on feathers grown during the breeding, post-breeding and pre-breeding stages, three periods when seabirds experience varying spatial constraints. We studied the covariation in fCORT, boldness and two fitness measures (chick survival and adult return rates) while correcting for two major proxies of resource availability: the subpolar gyre and Atlantic water influx (AWI).
3. We observed a season-dependent effect of boldness: ‘bolder’ individuals had lower fCORT concentrations than ‘shyer’ conspecifics during breeding and post-breeding but higher levels prior to breeding. Higher fCORT during breeding occurred during years of low AWI and correlated with lower chick survival, while higher fCORT prior to breeding correlated with lower likelihood of return to the colony. Personality did not mediate inter-annual relationships between fCORT and environmental measures or fCORT and fitness.
4. Our results highlight that while the negative effects of environmentally induced stress on fitness appeared to be ubiquitous across personality types, how and when bold and shy individuals experience stress is highly context dependent, reflecting different spatial and temporal constraints during the breeding and wintering stages.

Preventing grassland biome conversion of the North American Great Plains, improving grassland management, and restoring ecosystem function can be accomplished only through collaborative efforts designed with and in support of the communities on the ground.

World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF’s) The Great Plains Program partners with private landowners and Native Nations to realize a shared vision of maintaining intact and resilient grasslands and communities.

Launched in 2021, the Ranch Systems and Viability Planning (RSVP) network supports a growing network of landowners and managers dependent on grass-based economies, predominantly in livestock production across >110 ranches, totaling >485,622 ha (>1,200,000 acres) in the Northern Great Plains.

RSVP is an enrollment-based program featuring: (1) ranch-wide ecological monitoring (i.e., soil carbon, water infiltration, forage production, and biodiversity); (2) educational opportunities and scholarships; (3) technical assistance for implementing sustainable management practices, including grazing-management plans; (4) financial support (i.e., for ranch infrastructure to improve grazing practices); and (5) peer-to-peer learning and organizational development.

RSVP has been successful because of the relationships and trust built over decades, including funders, landowners, and managers dedicated to conserving the grasslands they call home and make a living from, and the partners working tirelessly across the region.

Remotely sensed Earth science information (ESI) has become increasingly central to addressing global challenges, yet its societal value, i.e., the difference ESI makes in real-world decisions and outcomes, is rarely quantified. In this study, we systematically map peer-reviewed literature that explicitly assesses the societal value of ESI across instrumental, intrinsic, and relational value types, and the diversity of approaches used to assess those values. Drawing from 13,823 publications across Scopus, Web of Science, and a curated library of ESI valuation studies, we identify 171 studies that applied ESI in a decision context and used a valuation method to compare outcomes with and without ESI. The majority of these studies employed decision analysis methods (e.g., Value of Information, Cost–Benefit Analysis), focusing primarily on quantitative instrumental values (e.g., profit, crop yield, lives saved), particularly in agricultural contexts. A smaller set of studies applied preference elicitation methods (e.g., stated preference, surveys, interviews, focus groups) to capture qualitative benefits and relational values including quality of life improvements, empowerment, and procedural justice. Many excluded studies demonstrated scientific value of ESI but did not explicitly translate that into societal value, revealing the need for a more systematic approach to ESI valuation. By promoting a more inclusive, interdisciplinary, and flexible portfolio of valuation methods, we aim to expand our understanding of the societal benefits of ESI to help guide investment in future missions, enhance public support, and ensure that science and policy goals are well aligned.

The ocean is essential for humanity1,2,3. Yet, inequity in ocean-based activities is widespread and accelerating4,5,6,7,8. Addressing this requires governance approaches that can systematically measure equity and track progress9. Here we present the Ocean Equity Index (OEI)—a framework for assessing and improving equity in ocean initiatives, projects and policies. We apply the index, which scores twelve criteria, to case studies at local, national and global scales. We show that the OEI can generate structured data to support evidence-based decision-making across ocean sectors and scales. As a theoretically robust and widely applicable tool, the OEI can guide the design of more equitable ocean initiatives, projects or policies, ensuring better outcomes for coastal people and marine ecosystems.

The rapidly expanding ocean economy is a significant driver of global growth but often produces substantial negative impacts on coastal communities, including environmental degradation, displacement, and human rights violations. These harms are exacerbated by the longstanding marginalization and exclusion of these communities from marine and coastal governance. In response, ocean defenders are organizing to resist these injustices, but can experience both non-lethal and lethal attacks for doing so. This study examines the role of allied organizations – including grassroots networks, funders, legal non-profits, NGOs and INGOs, researchers, and journalists – in supporting and safeguarding defenders. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with both ocean defenders and representatives of allied organizations, our findings reveal that allies contribute by strengthening local capacities and skills, advocating and facilitating participation in decision-making, increasing visibility of defenders, conducting research and documentation, creating and supporting solidarity networks, providing financial support, enhancing security and safety protocols, and offering legal support. Yet current efforts remain largely short-term, isolated, and insufficient to meet defenders’ diverse and urgent needs. Allied organizations also face several challenges ranging from funding constraints to personal security risks. Addressing these challenges requires more flexibility in financing, stronger protection measures, and deeper collaboration between defenders and their allies. Above all, any strategy to support ocean defenders must center their voices and needs, ensuring they are at the forefront of current and future discussions and decisions related to the development of the ocean economy.

The ability of environmental DNA (eDNA) to provide rapid assessments of mammal taxa composition at the watershed scale can make it an efficient survey method on large-scale landscapes, complementing camera traps. Due to the rugged and inaccessible terrain of many areas in Bhutan, camera trapping is associated with logistical challenges, increasing the cost of sampling considerably. In this study, conducted in the Upper Punatsangchhu catchment basin of Bhutan, we investigated the ability of eDNA water samples to capture the diversity of terrestrial mammals in comparison with camera trapping, using six watersheds within the basin as a baseline sampling frame. Combined, the two methods detected a total of 72 mammalian species: eDNA metabarcoding identified 60 species, while camera trapping detected 33 species, with an overlap of 21 species between the two methods. In addition, eDNA metabarcoding detected 90% of the IUCN Red List species detected by the camera traps. Small mammals were frequently detected using eDNA metabarcoding, while camera trapping more often detected large mammals. The mean detection probabilities recorded from eDNA were higher for all species grouped by orders and size categories compared with camera trapping. Biodiversity models based on eDNA metabarcoding and camera trapping both retrieved dominant effects of temperature and isolation in structuring the mammal assemblage. We conclude that eDNA sampling based on watersheds accurately represents the spatial distribution of species across each watershed in our study area in Bhutan to provide a rapid assessment of mammals from river water.

Evidence assessment—identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing data and findings from previous studies—is important to inform environmental decision-making but can be slow and resource intensive. Users seeking efficiency have developed multiple definitions and methods for rapid evidence assessment (REA), raising concerns about consistency and rigor. To improve consistency and confidence in REA, we convened an international group of evidence users and researchers to define REA for environmental applications. Through a consensus-driven and iterative approach, we define REA as: a structured review process that aims to maximize rigor and objectivity given assessment needs and resource constraints; is transparent about trade-offs, risks, and biases; and can integrate multiple types of evidence. Our standardized definition of REA will improve transparency and facilitate decisions about the appropriate levels of rigor required for those who commission, conduct, and use REAs for environmental decision-making.

This study presents an in-depth value chain analysis (VCA) of the artisanal billfish fishery in Tanzania, focusing on its structure, socio-economic dynamics, and governance. Despite their ecological and economic significance, billfish fisheries in the Western Indian Ocean remain under-researched, especially in small-scale contexts. Using qualitative data from Mafia Island, Dar es Salaam, Mtwara, and Zanzibar, this research mapped the billfish value chain. It examined the roles of key stakeholders from fishers to consumers alongside the flow of products, finance, and information. The findings revealed a fragmented value chain characterized by informal governance structures, weak bargaining power for fishers and limited value addition at the production level. Traders exerted significant influence through pricing and credit arrangements, while relational and captive governance typologies characterized the interactions between fisher-traders. Infrastructure gaps, lack of financial access, and limited post-harvest processing constrained equitable benefit distribution and sustainability. The study highlighted the need for inclusive governance reforms, investments in cold storage and processing facilities, and enhanced fisher participation in decision-making. The findings have significant implications for the joint development of policies and frameworks to enhance the sustainability and resilience of artisanal fisheries in Tanzania and the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region.

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