An agenda for research and action toward diverse and just futures for life on Earth

Decades of research and policy interventions on biodiversity have insufficiently addressed the dual issues of biodiversity degradation and social justice. New approaches are therefore needed. We devised a research and action agenda that calls for a collective task of revisiting biodiversity toward the goal of sustaining diverse and just futures for life on Earth. Revisiting biodiversity involves critically reflecting on past and present research, policy, and practice concerning biodiversity to inspire creative thinking about the future. The agenda was developed through a 2-year dialogue process that involved close to 300 experts from diverse disciplines and locations. This process was informed by social science insights that show biodiversity research and action is underpinned by choices about how problems are conceptualized. Recognizing knowledge, action, and ethics as inseparable, we synthesized a set of principles that help navigate the task of revisiting biodiversity. The agenda articulates 4 thematic areas for future research. First, researchers need to revisit biodiversity narratives by challenging conceptualizations that exclude diversity and entrench the separation of humans, cultures, economies, and societies from nature. Second, researchers should focus on the relationships between the Anthropocene, biodiversity, and culture by considering humanity and biodiversity as tied together in specific contexts. Third, researchers should focus on nature and economies by better accounting for the interacting structures of economic and financial systems as core drivers of biodiversity loss. Finally, researchers should enable transformative biodiversity research and action by reconfiguring relationships between human and nonhuman communities in and through science, policy, and practice. Revisiting biodiversity necessitates a renewed focus on dialogue among biodiversity communities and beyond that critically reflects on the past to channel research and action toward fostering just and diverse futures for human and nonhuman life on Earth.     

Protected area downgrading,downsizing, and degazettement as a threat to iconic protected areas

Protected areas (PAs) are expected to conserve nature and provide ecosystem services in perpetuity, yet widespread protected area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD) may compromise these objectives. Even iconic protected areas are vulnerable to PADDD, although these PADDD events are often unrecognized. We identified 23 enacted and proposed PADDD events within World Natural Heritage Sites and examined the history, context, and consequences of PADDD events in 4 iconic PAs (Yosemite National Park, Arabian Oryx Sanctuary, Yasuní National Park, and Virunga National Park). Based on insights from published research and international workshops, these 4 cases revealed the diverse pressures brought on by competing interests to develop or exploit natural landscapes and the variety of mechanisms that enables PADDD. Knowledge gaps exist in understanding of the conditions through which development pressures translate to PADDD events and their impacts, partially due to a lack of comprehensive PADDD records. Future research priorities should include comprehensive regional and country-level profiles and analysis of risks, impacts, and contextual factors related to PADDD. Policy options to better govern PADDD include improving tracking and reporting of PADDD events, establishing transparent PADDD policy processes, coordinating among legal frameworks, and mitigating negative impacts of PADDD. To support PADDD research and policy reforms, enhanced human and financial capacities are needed to train local researchers and to host publicly accessible data. As the conservation community considers the achievements of Aichi Target 11 and moves toward new biodiversity targets beyond 2020, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers need to work together to better track, assess, and govern PADDD globally.     

Building resilience to El Niño‐related drought: experiences in early warning and early action from Nicaragua and Ethiopia

Forecast‐based drought early warning/early action has been hampered by both inadequate decision‐making frameworks and a lack of appropriate funding mechanisms. Rural communities in Nicaragua and Ethiopia that have participated in resilience‐building interventions of varying durations demonstrate the value of community‐based actions informed by early warning, forecasts and drought management advice, both before and during the agricultural season. While drought affected all crops negatively, participants were better able to mitigate impacts, were more organised in accessing relief and recovered more effectively. These results are consistent with other research on the cost/benefit of anticipatory actions, use of climate services and appropriate drought management advice. They also confirm the importance of embedding short‐term early action in long‐term resilience‐building. Despite this, formal systems, national and local, remain essentially unimplemented. Systems being developed at global level now need to be operationalised and translated into effective local drought management standard operating procedures for the most vulnerable.     

Decay effects of pollutants on stony materials in the built environment

This review discuss the effects that pollutants have on stony materials applied on the built environment, illustrating different macroscopical products (pathologies) that can affect historical and modern architectural works. The impact of the decay processes is related to the susceptibility of the materials, environmental conditions and the kind of pollutants that degrade building materials. Here are reviewed the main decay processes resulting from the actions of gases, particulate matter and solutions (from wet deposition to capillary rising and including circulating waters such as run-off), showing that besides atmospheric pollution, also pollutants rising from the ground can cause important deterioration on building materials. Following, the use of tracers is considered for the study of pollutant sources and migration, including neoformation minerals (that might also constitute markers of environmental conditions) and chemical tracers, giving special attention to isotopic tracers, namely to proposals regarding the use of some stable and radioactive isotopes for the study of pollutants that have strong potential but have not been tested yet are also presented. At the end of this chapter, some final considerations are made on the problem of durability assessment of materials in the built environment and also on the use of tracers to assess the origin of damaging compounds in the built environment.     

Illegal fishing and territorial user rights in Chile

Illegal fishing poses a major threat to conservation of marine resources worldwide. However, there is still limited empirical research that quantifies illegal catch levels. We used the randomized response technique to estimate the proportion of divers and the quantities of loco (Concholepas concholepas) they extracted illegally. Loco have been managed for the past 17 years through a territorial user rights for fisheries system (TURFs) in Chile. Illegal fishing of loco was widespread within the TURFs system. Official reported landings (i.e., legal landings) accounted for 14–30% of the total loco extraction. Our estimates suggest that ignoring the magnitude of illegal fishing and considering only official landing statistics may lead to false conclusions about the status and trends of a TURFs managed fishery. We found evidence of fisher associations authorizing their members to poach inside TURFs, highlighting the need to design TURFs systems so that government agencies and fishers’ incentives and objectives align through continuous adaptation. Government support for enforcement is a key element for the TURFs system to secure the rights that are in place.     

Assessing species reintroduction sites based on future climate suitability for food resources

The reintroduction of a species that is extinct in the wild demands caution because reintroduction locations may be associated with threats, such as hunting, poor-quality habitat, and climate change. This is the case for Cyanopsitta spixii (Spix's Macaw), which has been extinct in the wild since 2000. The few living individuals were created in captivity and will be used in a reintroduction project within the species’ original distribution area, the Caatinga domain (Brazil). Because the occurrence records for this bird are old and inaccurate, we investigated the current and future environmental suitability of the 14 plant species used by C. spixii as resource. These plants are key elements for the long-term reestablishment of the species in the wild, so the use of models helps in the assessment of the effects of climate change on the availability of these resources for the species and informs selection of the best places for reintroduction. We based our models of environmental suitability on 19 bioclimatic variables and nine physical soil and topography variables. Climate projections were created for the present and for the year 2070 with an optimistic (SSP2-4.5) and a pessimistic (SSP5-8.5) climate scenario. Both future climate scenarios lead to a reduction in area of environmental suitability that overlapped for all the plant species: 33% reduction for SSP2-4.5 and 63% reduction for SSP5-8.5. If our projections materialize, climate change could thus affect the distribution of key resources, and the maintenance of C. spixii would depend on restoration of degraded areas, especially riparian forests, and the preservation of already existing natural areas. The Caatinga domain is very threatened by habitat loss and, for the success of this reintroduction project, the parties involved must act to protect the species and the resources it uses.     

Trends in the use of psychoactive substances by truck drivers in São Paulo State,Brazil: A time-series cross sectional roadside survey (2009–2016)

Objective: Truck drivers represent a group that is susceptible to the use of stimulant substances to reduce the symptoms of fatigue, which may be caused by a stressful and exhausting work environment. The use of psychoactive substances may increase the risk for involvement in road traffic crashes. Previous studies have demonstrated that amphetamine, cocaine, and cannabis are the 3 main drugs used by Brazilian truck drivers. We studied the prevalence of amphetamine, benzoylecgonine (indicating use of cocaine), and Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (THC-COOH; indicating use of cannabis) in urine samples from truck drivers in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, using the same methodology during 8 years (2009–2016).

Methods: Samples were collected during a health program supported by the Federal Highway Police. Toxicological analyses were performed using immunoassays and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.

Results: The total prevalence of illicit drugs was 7.8%. Benzoylecgonine was the most prevalent substance (3.6%), followed by amphetamine (3.4%) and THC-COOH (1.6%). We found the highest drug prevalence in 2010 (11.3%) and the lowest in 2011 (6.1%). We could detect a slight change in the pattern of stimulant use: until 2010, amphetamine was the most prevalent substance; however, in 2011 benzoylecgonine became the most frequently detected substance. This lasted until 2015, probably due to changes in Brazilian legislation regarding appetite suppressants; the most common one is metabolized to amphetamine.

Conclusion: These data show that the use of psychoactive substances by truck drivers in Brazil did not decrease during the study period. This reinforces the need for further preventive measures to reduce drug use among drivers, which could lead to a decrease in traffic crashes in Brazil.     

Implementing nanoparticles for competitive drinking water purification

Environmental Chemistry Letters - The implementation of nanotechnology in drinking water treatment is a very promising field for applied research. A major part of this effort focuses on the...