Although protected areas (PAs) play an important role in ecosystem conservation and climate change adaptation, no systematic information is available on PA protection of high-elevation freshwater ecosystems (e.g., lakes and watersheds with glaciers), their biodiversity and their ecosystem services in the tropical Andes. We therefore combined a literature review and map analysis of PAs of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and national systems of PAs and freshwater ecosystems. We found that seven national parks were created for water resources protection but were not designed for freshwater conservation (i.e., larger watersheds). High-value biodiversity sites have not been protected, and new local PAs were created due to water resource needs. We quantified 31 Ramsar sites and observed that PAs cover 12% of lakes, 31% of glacial lakes and 12% of the total stream length in the tropical Andes. Additionally, 120 watersheds (average area 631 km2) with glaciers and 40% of the total glacier surface area were covered by PAs. Future research into the role of PAs in ecosystem services provision and more detailed freshwater inventories within and around PAs, especially for those dependent on glacier runoff, will fill key knowledge gaps for freshwater conservation and climate change adaptation in the tropical Andes.

How can performance help us to think about the problem of climate change and its integral relationships to social and political frameworks? What directions do societies and arts need to take in order to forge different futures? Reflections on the proposals put forward in this installment of the special issue on Peripeteia raise questions toward further conversation.

In Singapore, the key institutions driving environmental protection are the legislature and the executive. The judiciary's role in environmental protection has thus far been relatively minor. By drawing upon environmental law theory and comparative analysis of other common law jurisdictions, this article explores avenues through which the common law can be engaged more meaningfully to further environmental protection in Singapore. A conceptualisation of environmental law as directed at furthering the rule of law by promoting carefully-considered and participatory environmental governance will be suggested as a fruitful way forward for thinking about the role of the common law in environmental protection. Drawing upon this theory, as well as the experience of other common law jurisdictions, the article proposes a set of concrete steps by which greater common law engagement with environmental protection in Singapore can be achieved.

The Babile Elephant Sanctuary in Ethiopia was established in 1970 specifically to protect its elephants Loxodonta africana. They were once part of a larger population that ranged in eastern Ethiopia and northern Somalia but that was largely extirpated during the 20th century. Since its establishment, the Sanctuary has experienced severe anthropogenic pressure, inadequate government support, and civil conflict. Mapping was undertaken to analyse the rate of human immigration into the Sanctuary in 2006, 2014 and 2017, as part of an assessment of the Sanctuary's effectiveness in protecting its resident elephant population and in mitigating anthropogenic pressures. From 2006 to 2017 the number of illegal houses in the Sanctuary increased from 18,000 to > 50,000, of which > 32,000 were in the area in which elephants range. This settlement, coupled with high demand for natural resources, has resulted in significant habitat destruction and could also have exacerbated human–elephant conflict. Elephant conservation and monitoring by the Born Free Foundation were challenging because of ethnic conflict; rural and political stability is required if efforts to protect wildlife are to be successful. Unless these issues are resolved and the integrity of the Sanctuary is restored, this elephant population will be extirpated in the near future.

Illegal killing of wildlife is a major conservation issue that, to be addressed effectively, requires insight into the drivers of human behaviour. Here we adapt an established socio-psychological model, the theory of planned behaviour, to explore reasons for hunting the Endangered Bewick's swan Cygnus columbianus bewickii in the European Russian Arctic, using responses from hunters to a questionnaire survey. Wider ecological, legal, recreational and economic motivations were also explored. Of 236 hunters who participated overall, 14% harboured intentions to hunt Bewick's swan. Behavioural intention was predicted by all components of the theory of planned behaviour, specifically: hunters' attitude towards the behaviour, perceived behavioural control (i.e. perceived capability of being able to perform the behaviour) and their subjective norms (perception of social expectations). The inclusion of attitude towards protective laws and descriptive norm (perception of whether other people perform the behaviour) increased the model's predictive power. Understanding attitudes towards protective laws can help guide the design of conservation measures that reduce non-compliance. We conclude that conservation interventions should target the socio-psychological conditions that influence hunters' attitudes, social norms and perceived behavioural control. These may include activities that build trust, encourage support for conservation, generate social pressure against poaching, use motivations to prompt change and strengthen peoples' confidence to act. This approach could be applied to inform the effective design, prioritization and targeting of interventions that improve compliance and reduce the illegal killing of wildlife.

Although a carbon value has often been integrated in the frameworks established to guide public decision-making, benefit-cost analysis (BCA) has played no more than a minor role in the design of climate policies. It is urgently necessary to promote BCA in this area, and there is currently a unique opportunity for doing so. Major countries are designing new packages in order to meet their commitments, as illustrated by the European Green Deal, recent decisions on the part of the Biden Administration, and the creation of a Chinese national carbon market. These constructive processes must be based on BCA. BCA is absolutely necessary in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 at a reasonable cost. Indeed, abatement costs across and within sectors, and across and within countries, are extremely heterogeneous, and many of the policy instruments in use (subsidies, feed-in tariffs, technical standards, etc.) overlap inefficiently. The instrumental debate between carbon pricing and other instruments is sterile if it merely remains at the level of stating principles. BCA can help on this point too, by specifying comparisons between alternatives, identifying complementarities, and selecting the most relevant combinations of instruments. Its scope should therefore range from setting benchmarks for carbon pricing to assessing, e.g., green investments or measures to enhance carbon sinks. When applied to decarbonization policies, BCA requires firstly the selection of a carbon value, in order to monetize the climate benefits of investments and policies. However, the whole assessment framework must be updated, including the time horizon, the discount rate, the cobenefits of climate mitigation actions, and the pricing of climate risks. We show that such an updated framework leads to an upward revision in the assessment of the climate benefits of mitigation actions, and that combining the valuation of damages and cost-effectiveness approaches is necessary in order to meet the needs of policy assessment. Finally, there is a need to extend analysis beyond the efficiency criterion in order to deal with other dimensions of climate policies, particularly their distributive impacts. This requires specific analyses, which should be articulated with BCA and carried out at an early stage for a better implementation of climate policies than we have seen to date.

Common Myna Acridotheres tristis is considered to be among the world’s most damaging invasive species through disturbance, predation, competition pathogen introduction to native birds and other taxa. Claimed impacts on native birds have often been based on anecdotal reports. More substantive evidence of interference with small-island endemic birds has been reported, but impacts have rarely been quantified or subjected to experimental manipulation. On Denis Island (Seychelles), up to 10% of Seychelles Warblers Acrocephalus sechellensis, and small numbers of Seychelles Fodies Foudia sechellesis and Seychelles Paradise Flycatchers Terpsiphone corvina had head injuries following myna attacks, stimulating an eradication of the mynas. Populations of four species of Seychelles’ endemic birds, introduced to the island to establish insurance populations, were estimated before, during and after the completion of the eradication, permitting assessment of the impact of myna removal on populations of the endemics. Numbers of all four endemics increased following introduction, but increases in the numbers of Seychelles Magpie Robins Copsychus sechellensis and Seychelles Paradise Flycatchers accelerated after >90% of the mynas had been removed. All endemic populations continued to increase during and after completion of the eradication in 2015, and injuries to Seychelles Warblers, Seychelles Fodies, and Seychelles Paradise Flycatchers ceased. Habitat management within a designated conservation zone on the island, into which the endemics were released and subsequently spread to occupy most of the island, also contributed to the endemic birds’ global populations and to their improved conservation status. This study confirms that mynas negatively impact small island populations of endemic birds and suggests that their potential impact has been underestimated. Myna eradication should be considered vital before endangered endemic birds and other taxa susceptible to their negative impacts are translocated to small islands for conservation reasons.

Habitat degradation due to hydropower development within protected areas has a marked negative effect on resident wildlife species. However, efforts to develop appropriate conservation and management plans are hampered by a general lack of quantitative information and a poor understanding of relevant ecological constraints. Great Argus Argusianus argus, a large galliform species sensitive to habitat degradation, can reflect the impacts of the Chiew Larn reservoir in southern Thailand on local wildlife. Great Argus abundance in the remaining lowland areas of Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary (KSWS) was estimated using line transects along the Chiew Larn reservoir edges and in the forest interior between February and April 2017. The population estimate for KSWS was 108 individuals (95% CI: 41–272) based on the sampled area of 18.06 km2, with a density estimate of 5.9 calling males/km2. The abundance increased with increased distance from the reservoir shoreline, which might be related to the high level of direct and indirect human disturbance close to the hydropower reservoir.

Functional traits related to regeneration responses to the environment are highly determinants of distribution patterns of plant communities. A large body of studies on seed traits suggests that regional climate may act as a strong filter of plant recruitment; however, few studies have evaluated the relative importance of seed traits and environmental filters for seed persistence at the population level. We tested the role of seed mass, water content and desiccation tolerance, as well as the germination time as proxies for seed tolerance to environmental filters (water deficit, heat shock and high temperatures) by comparing the response of tree species co-occurring in savannas located in different regions: Cerrado biome of Central Brazil and the Rio Branco savannas of northern Brazil. Seeds collected in savannas of Rio Branco showed a higher tolerance to environmental filters than those collected in savannas of the Cerrado. While the germination percentages largely varied in response to the treatments, the germination times were virtually unaffected by them, irrespective of seed origin, seed mass and water content. At the population level, the regional environment was a key determinant of seed tolerance to stress, irrespective of seed traits. Germination time was shown to represent a conservative seed trait and more linked to a species-specific germination strategy than to regional characteristics. Our results suggest that recruitment patterns of Cerrado savannas may be more impacted than Rio Branco savannas by the climate scenarios predicted for the future.

We used choice experiment data collected from 542 farmers in Nigeria to assess smallholders’ preferences for shifting to Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA). Results suggest that the higher the size of the incentive, the more the likelihood of farmers’ willingness to invest in CSA schemes. Similarly, the farmers were in favor of community development associations and non-governmental organizations-managed schemes over other project managements and also prefer government-based institutions as opposed to the private sector. Willingness to accept results suggest that an average farmer is willing to accept $540/ha/year and $386/ha/year to embrace good agricultural practices (GAPs) with and without manure application.

South-east Asia's diverse coastal wetlands, which span natural mudflats and mangroves to man-made salt pans, offer critical habitat for many migratory waterbird species in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. Species dependent on these wetlands include nearly the entire population of the Critically Endangered spoon-billed sandpiper Calidris pygmaea and the Endangered spotted greenshank Tringa guttifer, and significant populations of several other globally threatened and declining species. Presently, more than 50 coastal Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) in the region (7.4% of all South-east Asian IBAs) support at least one threatened migratory species. However, recent studies continue to reveal major knowledge gaps on the distribution of migratory waterbirds and important wetland sites along South-east Asia's vast coastline, including undiscovered and potential IBAs. Alongside this, there are critical gaps in the representation of coastal wetlands across the protected area networks of many countries in this region (e.g. Viet Nam, Indonesia, Malaysia), hindering effective conservation. Although a better understanding of the value of coastal wetlands to people and their importance to migratory species is necessary, governments and other stakeholders need to do more to strengthen the conservation of these ecosystems by improving protected area coverage, habitat restoration, and coastal governance and management. This must be underpinned by the judicious use of evidence-based approaches, including satellite-tracking of migratory birds, ecological research and ground surveys.

Climate warming is occurring most rapidly in the Arctic, which is both a sentinel and a driver of further global change. Ecosystems and human societies are already affected by warming. Permafrost thaws and species are on the move, bringing pathogens and vectors to virgin areas. During a five-year project, the CLINF – a Nordic Center of Excellence, funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, has worked with the One Health concept, integrating environmental data with human and animal disease data in predictive models and creating maps of dynamic processes affecting the spread of infectious diseases. It is shown that tularemia outbreaks can be predicted even at a regional level with a manageable level of uncertainty. To decrease uncertainty, rapid development of new and harmonised technologies and databases is needed from currently highly heterogeneous data sources. A major source of uncertainty for the future of contaminants and infectious diseases in the Arctic, however, is associated with which paths the majority of the globe chooses to follow in the future. Diplomacy is one of the most powerful tools Arctic nations have to influence these choices of other nations, supported by Arctic science and One Health approaches that recognise the interconnection between people, animals, plants and their shared environment at the local, regional, national and global levels as essential for achieving a sustainable development for both the Arctic and the globe.

While nudging has garnered plenty of interdisciplinary attention, the ethics of applying it to climate policy has been little discussed. However, not all ethical considerations surrounding nudging are straightforward to apply to climate nudges. In this article, we overview the state of the debate on the ethics of nudging and highlight themes that are either specific to or particularly important for climate nudges. These include: the justification of nudges that are not self-regarding; how to account for climate change denialists; transparency; knowing the right or best behaviours; justice concerns; and whether the efficacy of nudges is sufficient for nudges to be justified as a response to the climate crisis. We conclude that climate nudges raise distinct ethical questions that ought to be considered in developing climate nudges.

One of the largest nesting colonies of the Vulnerable loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta is in Cabo Verde. Here we present the first comprehensive study of loggerhead turtle nesting on the island of Maio in Cabo Verde. During 2016–2019 we monitored 38 km of undeveloped sandy beaches that have minimal artificial lighting and where all nesting on Maio takes place. We counted 4,063 nests in 2016, 5,429 in 2017, 14,364 in 2018 and 7,937 in 2019. The estimated total number of females was 1,016, 1,357, 3,591 and 1,984 in each of these years, respectively. Our findings suggest there are more loggerhead turtles nesting in Cabo Verde than previously estimated, and that this could be the species’ largest nesting subpopulation (followed by Florida, USA and Oman). The inter-annual hatching success (the proportion of eggs producing hatchlings) was 29–38% for the whole island but varied between sites. Our study of 250 clutches showed that flooding affected 38–61% and predation by crabs 40–42%, with hatching success on different beaches in the range of 1–59%. Poaching of eggs was rare (< 2% of clutches), but dogs predated 68.4% of all clutches on the beach nearest the largest human settlement. We evaluated different nest management strategies at multiple sites and estimated productivity of hatchlings (the number of hatchlings that would reach the sea for each management strategy), finding that hatcheries are not always the best option for nest management. As the beaches on Maio are relatively undisturbed, and there is a high abundance and density of turtle nests, the island should be protected as a globally important site for the conservation of the loggerhead turtle, and of coastal biodiversity more broadly.

It is well concluded that microbial composition and diversity of coral species can be affected under temperature alterations. However, the interaction of environmental accumulation of corals and temperature stress on symbiotic Symbiodiniaceae and bacterial communities are rarely studied. In this study, two groups of soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum were cultured under constant (26 °C) and inconstant (22 °C to 26 °C) temperature conditions for 30 days as control treatments. After that, water was cooled rapidly to decrease to 20 °C in 24 h. The results of diversity analysis showed that symbiotic Symbiodiniaceae and bacterial communities had a significant difference between the two accumulated groups. The principal coordinate analyses confirmed that symbiotic Symbiodiniaceae and bacterial communities of both control treatments were clustered into two groups. Our results evidenced that rapid cooling stress could not change symbiotic Symbiodiniaceae and bacterial communities’ composition. On the other hand, cooling stress could alter only bacterial communities in constant group. In conclusion, our study represents a clear relationship between environmental accumulation and the impact of short-term cooling stress in which microbial composition structure can be affected by early adaptation conditions.

In polar deserts, depth hoar (hereinafter: DH) growth is not systematic unlike on tundra and this is critical for snowpack properties. Here, we address the spatio-temporal variability of the DH layer in the polar desert at two sites in the Canadian High Arctic: Ward Hunt Island (83° N) and Resolute Bay (75° N). Our data show that, over humid areas, DH represented a larger fraction of the snowpack and was characterized by lower density and coarser crystals than over dry gravelly areas. Increased soil moisture extends the zero-curtain period during freeze-up, leading to stronger temperature gradients in the snowpack and greater kinetic metamorphism. Our results also demonstrate that the large inter-annual variability in DH is primarily driven by wind conditions in the fall since this key variable controls the initial snow density and snow onset date. These strong controls exerted by soil moisture and meteorological conditions on DH growth in polar deserts highlight the possibility of major changes in polar snowpacks physical properties in response to the rapid climate and environmental changes currently affecting these regions.