This article investigates the evolving role of rural women in Moroccan oases, focusing on how environmental change, particularly water scarcity, impacts their position within the social contract. Employing a conceptual framework that combines social contract theory with environmental justice perspectives, the study examines women's access to protection, provision, participation, and recognition. Field research in the Dr & acirc;a-Tafilalt region reveals that while women face structural marginalization and vulnerability, they are also active agents of change. The rise of women's cooperatives, often centred around agricultural products but expanding to empowering developmental activities, demonstrates their capacity for innovation and adaptation. However, water scarcity threatens present achievements. The study highlights the interconnectedness of environmental degradation, gender relations, and state-society dynamics, emphasizing the need for policies that recognize gender-specific needs and contributions in the context of climate change.
Despite a growing global consensus on the importance of public involvement in environmental governance, the extent to which countries follow through on their commitments to participation under multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) remains unclear. Through an examination of institutionalization of participation by India as part of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat, this paper identifies important complexities that need to be disentangled when assessing fulfillment of a commitment to participation. Findings from the analysis indicate the need to develop methods and make normative decisions regarding how to account for: participation across multiple management functions and Ramsar designated wetland sites; the layering of the Ramsar Convention with existing domestic laws and policies; evolution of participation commitments over time; flexibility in commitments; and the social, political, and institutional factors that affect participation that are outside the control of national-level governments.
Matrilineal and patrilineal descent systems create different gender relations surrounding the use, ownership, and decision-making about land and sea resources. Given the need for scaling community-based resource management (CBRM) across the Pacific, it is essential to consider how CBRM should be implemented in matrilineal and patrilineal contexts, such as found in Solomon Islands. This study used interviews and focus groups to investigate use and management of land and sea areas by communities with matrilineal descent systems. Themes explored include benefits and risks to matrilineal practices, and preferred approaches of community members for outsiders to engage with matrilineal societies. While matrilineal practices were valued, they are also undermined, particularly regarding women's voice in natural resource management in areas with extractive industry development. Fisheries, conservation and development actors need to engage in ways that support matriliny and women's voice, and a set of approaches is presented to guide such work in future.
In this work, we analyze storylines about forest functions alongside growing media attention regarding climate change. Using an in-depth content analysis of Austrian print media (2002-2022), we identify storylines and apply a correspondence analysis to explore interlinkages between actors and storylines. We identified six storylines reflecting three thematic divergences: (i) "Climate change is not a problem" versus (ii) "We need climate-resilient forests"; "Climate change mitigation through wood utilization" constituted by (iii) "Direct use" versus (iv) "Cascading use"; and (v) "Only a managed forest is a healthy forest" versus (vi) "Hands-off Forestry". Actors in the forest-based sector frequently iterate storylines that communicate climate change, along with mitigation, sequestration, or adaptation strategies, to advance their own operations and strategically communicate (mostly EU-level) policies they perceive as unfavorable. Nuanced communication of complex forest management storylines is needed to highlight synergies and bridge polarized debates about forest functions.
Environmental degradation associated with mining activities is not merely a biophysical disruption; it reconfigures community relationships with nature, erodes governance trust, and dislocates cultural meanings. This study examines how communities in Ghana's Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality perceive mining-related changes in ecosystem services (ES), drawing on a justice-oriented framework integrating ES theory with political ecology. Using a mixed-methods design comprising 191 household surveys, four focus group discussions, and 12 key informant interviews, the study documents widespread perceptions of decline in both provisioning (water, fuelwood, medicinal plants) and non-provisioning services (flood regulation, sacred groves, landscape aesthetics). Participants described these losses as emotional ruptures and cultural disorientation. Community narratives highlight institutional betrayal, the erosion of ecological governance, and inadequate livelihood restoration measures. The study demonstrates that mining-related ecosystem change is experienced not only as environmental degradation but also as relational loss, governance exclusion, and cultural disruption.
This study investigates how cultural and socio-psychological factors shape the valuation of cultural ecosystem services (CES) in urban river restoration, addressing the limited availability of cross-cultural empirical evidence. A discrete choice experiment was conducted with 222 urban residents in two culturally distinct cities: Nanyang, China (n = 120) and Rostov-on-Don, Russia (n = 102). Using a D-efficient design informed by pilot data, respondents evaluated tradeoffs among four CES attributes-walking trails, boating areas, cultural corridors, and wetland parks-along with an annual cost attribute. Mixed logit results indicate that while respondents in both cities exhibit positive willingness to pay for CES improvements, their preferences differ significantly: Nanyang residents prioritize recreational and aesthetic enhancements, whereas Rostov-on-Don residents place greater emphasis on cultural heritage. Interaction analyses further show that recreational habits, cultural identity, and environmental awareness significantly influence preference heterogeneity. These findings demonstrate that CES valuation is culturally embedded and provide an economic basis for designing context-specific and culturally responsive urban river restoration policies.
Citizen science has become a cornerstone for biodiversity monitoring and public engagement in conservation. Platforms such as Naturalista, previously the Mexican node of iNaturalist, have generated millions of biodiversity records, yet little is known about the motivations, engagement dynamics, and dropout patterns of their users. Here, we applied a multidisciplinary approach integrating marketing tools, such as benchmarking, market segmentation, usability analysis, and expert interviews, to characterize Naturalista users and develop a customer journey model. Our results reveal that participation is dominated by environmentally conscious individuals, often trained in biology or environmental sciences, but that average platform use lasts only two years and four months. Distinct entry points and dropout phases were identified, highlighting critical stages for intervention. We propose targeted communication and engagement strategies to sustain long-term participation. These insights provide a transferable framework to strengthen user retention across citizen science platforms worldwide, thereby enhancing their contributions to biodiversity conservation and environmental awareness.
The coupled effect of worsening climatic conditions and persistent energy crises is driving a steady evolution of green energy sources across the developing world. Preference for hydropower is higher for its affordability and efficient energy storage, conversion rate, and electricity production. However, dams, which facilitate hydropower production, always involve painful tradeoffs between satisfying a national demand and safeguarding rural agrarian livelihoods which characterize most host communities. Multiple studies exist on the livelihood implications of dams; yet little is known about the societal transformations often triggered by the usual large-scale land-takes, including the reconfigurations of laborscapes in rural agrarian host communities. With empirical evidence from Ghana's Bui Hydropower Dam, this paper discusses how the massive land-take has redefined land governance and restructured preexisting agrarian labor regimes in three host communities. The study approach is qualitative and involves multiple data collection instruments including semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and observations. Data is analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis and abduction to describe and conceptualize identified patterns about the central phenomena. The paper highlights the complex web of changes in power and power relations regarding gender, class, and ethnicity toward elaborating the implications of hydropower dams for rural labor and agrarian relations.
The study examines the connection between nationalization of resources, the quality of governance, and sustainable development in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries. It is intended to understand the effectiveness of governance in the management of mineral resources in promoting economic growth and social sustainability. The study uses Quantile Vector Autoregression (QVAR) and wavelet correlation to estimate data on five BRI countries to determine both short-run and long-run effects of governance on economic performance. The results indicate that a governance threshold of 0.4 is critical to transforming resource wealth into long-term growth, with considerable impacts being realized in 2-4 years. Findings also indicate that higher expenditure on auditing of mining ministries presents a good benefit, which facilitates economic stability. The research finds that proper governance is critical in using resource wealth to create sustainable development and recommends policy interventions targeting the improvement of institutional frameworks.
