Currently, there are no updated assessments on the climate vulnerability and food security status of the communities located near or hosting marine protected areas in Samal. To address this question, we assessed the vulnerability and food security status of small-scale fishing communities located near or at the community-managed marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Island Garden City of Samal, Philippines. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were gathered from N = 90 fisher respondents in barangay Aundanao, Tagbaobo, and Tambo. Fishers were interviewed in community fish landing sites or in their residences. The data gathered from these interviews were validated using three focus groups from the fishing villages participated by 10–15 fishers (N = 43) and additional key informants’ interviews. Results showed that most respondents were male, middle-aged, and long-term residents who relied heavily on fishing for livelihood. Overfishing, climate change, and illegal fishing (use of poison fishing and illegal fishing gears) were identified as the main causes of decline in fish catch. The most significant vulnerability factors included loss of fishing grounds due to MPA restrictions, unstable fish prices (supply is not guaranteed), and increasing operational costs (stemming from erratic weather patterns). Dietary patterns revealed adequate intake of basic staples but limited consumption of fruits, vegetables, and legumes, suggesting moderate food security with nutritional gaps. The findings highlight that while Samal may have established MPAs to help sustain marine ecosystems and livelihoods, this might not be adequate for fishers’ overall well-being. Strengthening adaptive capacity, additional livelihoods, and a more inclusive fisheries governance could be vital for enhancing resilience and ensuring sustainable food security among coastal communities.
Salinity intrusion in coastal Bangladesh has reduced the reliability of conventional drinking-water sources and encouraged the expansion of reverse osmosis (RO) systems. We examine RO here not simply as a desalination infrastructure but as a socio-technical water service whose outcomes depend on access, governance, energy, infrastructure, and environmental management. Direct non-participant field observations were undertaken in April-May 2025 and March-April 2026 across Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat, which were documented through location-specific photographs and the researcher’s personal retrospective memories arranged around access and affordability, functionality and maintenance, gendered challenges, energy resilience, and environmental risks. These observations are interpreted through water-justice and socio-technical transitions perspectives. Justice is operationalized as distributive justice (who receives benefits and bears costs), procedural justice (who participates in decisions and accountability), and recognition justice (whether differentiated needs are acknowledged). The evidence shows that RO can provide valuable potable water, but benefits are constrained by distance and user costs, seasonal shifts between rainwater and RO, weak lifecycle maintenance, private or project-dependent management, grid-electricity vulnerability, and poorly governed concentrate disposal. A Justice-Centred Climate-Resilient Desalination Framework (JCCRDF) has been proposed that links technological sustainability, institutional and governance capacity, justice and social inclusion, environmental responsibility, and climate-resilient energy systems, supported by capacity building, information systems, policy coherence, transparency, and adaptive learning. RO can contribute to climate-resilient water security only when technological performance is coupled with institutions that secure equitable, accountable, and environmentally responsible service over time.
Coastal climate adaptations are changes that tackle the challenges arising from sea level rise. Adaptations such as risk information and changes to public infrastructure have been met with some degree of public opposition. Climax thinking is an emerging framework for exploring this resistance. In this study, we used climax thinking to explore public responses to two specific coastal climate adaptation strategies: public flood risk mapping and managed dyke realignment. Using a survey administered to residents around the hypertidal Bay of Fundy, in Atlantic Canada, we found low knowledge of both. While most residents supported each, 30
Effective management of urban coastal pollution is often hindered by an inability to track the spatial and seasonal dynamics of wastewater plumes from creeks and canals. This study addresses this management gap by developing and validating a satellite-based operational monitoring framework for one of the polluted creeks in the Chennai metropolitan city, and adjacent coastal waters of the Bay of Bengal, India. The present study assessed water quality and plume dynamics using monthly one cloud free data from January 2023 to December 2025. Satellite-derived Chlorophyll-a and Total Suspended Matter were processed using the Case 2 Regional Coast Colour processor, and turbidity was estimated using a semi-empirical algorithm. Retrieved products were validated against synchronous in-situ measurements from two different field campaigns, demonstrating a strong positive correlation. Time-series analysis revealed low turbidity or no plume events during the dry season and extensive, highly turbid plumes during the Northeast Monsoon season (October to December) with plume extension observed up to 5 km offshore. A Random Forest classifier was trained using unsupervised K-means++ clustering of > 80,000 remote sensing reflectance spectra from a representative high-discharge (15th November 2024) event produced 14 spectrally distinct optical water types, ranging from clear marine waters to anomalously polluted types characterized by elevated red and near-infrared reflectance. This hybrid approach provides a robust framework for the spatial detection and monitoring of coastal discharges. This framework enables early warning of pollution events, supports compliance tracking with environmental regulations, and allows targeted interventions to reduce ecological impacts. This approach demonstrates how readily available satellite data and machine learning can be operationalized to improve coastal water quality management in rapidly urbanizing regions facing similar challenges.
Sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) has emerged as a powerful proxy for reconstructing past biodiversity and environmental change in lacustrine and coastal systems, yet standardized field guidance remains limited, particularly for researchers working in tropical and coastal depositional environments. Here, we present a practical sampling framework covering the key field protocols of sedaDNA research, from field collection to laboratory subsampling, with emphasis on contamination control at each step. We review recent sedaDNA applications across multiple research fields, highlighting the growing interdisciplinary relevance of the technique. Particular attention is given to the challenges of DNA preservation in dynamic depositional environments, including coastal and semi-arid regions, where shallow, physically reworked sediments and recurring human disturbance amplify degradation and contamination risks. A Brazilian case study from Itapipoca, Ceará, illustrates how the absence of basic contamination precautions during excavation of Late Pleistocene megafaunal deposits produced metabarcoding results dominated by modern domesticated and synanthropic taxa, making the dataset uninterpretable for paleoecological reconstruction. Together, the guidelines and case study demonstrate that rigorous contamination control is not optional but essential to credible sedaDNA research, especially in tropical and coastal systems, environments that are scientifically underrepresented and increasingly threatened by anthropogenic change.
