Intergenerational sustainability represents a significant socio-ecological concern of the twenty-first century, requiring governance frameworks, economic models, and cultural practices to account for the interests and well-being of future generations. Existing literature remains fragmented across disciplinary silos, often failing to reconcile technocratic policy interventions with Indigenous custodial epistemologies. This study addresses this gap by synthesizing 41 comparative cross-sectoral cases from peer-reviewed qualitative secondary literature spanning diverse contexts in 18 countries. Building on these cross-case patterns, we construct an Integrated System Model for Intergenerational Sustainability, conceived as a conceptual heuristic rather than a predictive or empirically validated model. This model articulates the systemic interactions across three core dimensions: Economic (regenerative models vs. market hegemony), Governance (future-generation representation vs. presentist electoral bias), and Cultural (Indigenous knowledge systems vs. epistemicide). Furthermore, we propose an operationalization framework for the ‘future ancestors bias' not merely as a normative critique, but as a structural governance failure described through four proposed observable indicators: Temporal Liability Transfer Ratio, Intergenerational Discount Rate Asymmetry, Representation Deficit Indicator, and Epistemic Exclusion Indicator. We also advance three testable theoretical propositions governing inter-dimensional nexuses—including the Water-Energy-Food-Forests (WEFF) nexus and institutional path-dependency. Our comparative synthesis indicates that addressing intergenerational equity may require moving beyond Western-centric sustainable development toward a ‘custodial ethic of sustainable coexistence.’ Such a transition would involve institutionalizing future-generation ombudspersons, enacting reparative land tenure redistribution, and developing pluriversal governance frameworks that recognize the legal personhood of nature.
Mangroves play a pivotal role in both socioeconomic development and ecological sustainability. This research proposes a novel hybrid model that integrates a generalized fuzzy dynamic Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with a centroid index to prioritize factors influencing the willingness to pay for mangrove environmental services (MESs). First, it introduces a new dynamic comparison matrix using generalized trapezoidal fuzzy numbers (GTrFNs) over a time sequence. Next, it defines the average values of fuzzy synthetic extents. Then, a generalized centroid index ranking approach is applied to determine the weight vector of the influencing factors. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed model, a practical application is conducted in Phu Long Commune, Vietnam. The study evaluates four main factors and their eighteen sub-factors: knowledge, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. The results indicate that perceived behavioral control is the most influential factor affecting the willingness to pay for MESs, followed by attitude, knowledge, and subjective norms. Based on these findings, the study offers several discussions and policy implications for Phu Long Commune, Vietnam.
Conservation outcomes in semi-arid Africa are shaped by the interaction of ecological change, livelihood vulnerability and governance performance. This review synthesises 39 studies (1990–2025) on the Save Valley Conservancy (SVC) using an integrated Human Dimensions of Wildlife (HDW), environmental governance and Social–Ecological Systems (SES) framework. The analysis situates SVC within global debates on conservation in water-scarce landscapes, showing how climate variability, tenure insecurity and socio-economic precarity influence public attitudes, wildlife crime, restoration success and community agency. Biodiversity loss is greatest where land-use transitions, weak enforcement and climate-linked livelihood pressures converge while collaborative governance and targeted interventions have enabled local recoveries. Wildlife crime emerges both as a coping strategy and as a symptom of institutional fragmentation, reflecting broader patterns in climate-stressed rural economies. Restoration outcomes depend on equity, participation, and secure rights, underscoring that ecological recovery is a socio-political as well as a biophysical process. The review identifies climate-resilient livelihoods, inclusive and gender-responsive governance, integrated water management and participatory monitoring as universal requirements for sustainability in semi-arid conservation landscapes. By positioning SVC as a globally relevant case, the review demonstrates how conservation can evolve into a climate-resilient livelihood-enhancing system that aligns biodiversity protection with human well-being.
Climate change induced floods have become more frequent and widespread posing growing challenges to communities worldwide. The Upper Jhelum Sub-catchment located in the Kashmir Himalayas of India was selected as the study area due to its high flood vulnerability, fragile ecology, recurrent flood events and livelihood vulnerability. We constructed the composite flood vulnerability index (CFVI) by integrating nine domains of vulnerability (social, economic, climate change and environmental, ecosystem, flood exposure, early warning system, local community adaptation, post flood adaptation and flood protection) at the household level. A total of 66 indicators of these domains were selected based on literature survey and expert knowledge. The data on the indicators were collected through a survey of 480 households from 24 villages using questionnaire. Most of the sampled villages experienced high and moderate flood vulnerability. Low socio-economic conditions, climate change and environmental, high ecological impact, high flood exposure and low adaptation strategies aggravated moderate to high flood vulnerability in these villages. The regression analysis revealed that the degree of vulnerability was most influenced by the climate change and environmental followed by the ecosystem and flood exposure domains. Raising awareness, local adaptation strategies, effective early warning systems and flood protection measures may help the communities for enhancing their adaptive capacities. Thus, CFVI has proved an effective not only in prioritizing villages but also helped in identifying domain areas where the efforts could be made for lessening flood vulnerability.
Environmental change is increasingly recognized as a contributor to conflict, yet scholars often examine its role only after violence becomes visible. This paper advances the concept of silent environmental conflict to capture latent, slow-moving socio-ecological tensions that accumulate beneath formal peace and may precede armed conflict. Drawing on insights from environmental security, political ecology, and climate-conflict research, the paper argues that environmental stress does not directly cause war but interacts with governance failures, inequality, and livelihood insecurity to amplify conflict risk. Silent environmental conflicts unfold through processes such as resource exclusion, ecological degradation, institutional neglect, and climate-induced livelihood decline, and may remain politically under-recognized unless addressed or made visible through protest, coercion, or violence. The paper synthesizes key mechanisms linking environmental stress to conflict, highlights climate change as a context-dependent risk multiplier, and examines how war itself generates new environmental grievances, creating recursive cycles of instability. By proposing an integrative framework that traces environmental stress, social mediation, political accumulation, possible escalation, and recursive feedback, this Perspective reframes conflict as a temporally extended and structurally embedded process without treating violence as inevitable. The paper concludes that recognizing and addressing silent environmental conflicts can support conflict prevention, climate adaptation, and sustainable development and calls for greater integration of environmental governance into peacebuilding and policy frameworks.
