The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, in southeastern Mexico, is a major conservation area known for its tropical forests, emblematic wildlife species, and long history of Maya occupation. Established in 1989 as a federal Natural Protected Area, it was incorporated into UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program in 1993 and designated a mixed World Heritage Site in 2014. Its socioecological trajectory is distinctive: conservation efforts advanced alongside the contemporary rural settlement resulting from agrarian reform and subsequent development and welfare policies. This article examines the persistent imbalance between ecological conservation and socioeconomic development surrounding the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, focusing on water vulnerability in adjacent communities. The study integrates environmental history with household-level survey data on water access and vulnerability among 200 households in eight communities in the Biosphere Reserve’s transition zone, complemented by interviews with key water-management stakeholders. We document the consolidation of conservation through management plans, advisory councils, payments for ecosystem services, scientific research, and expanding voluntary conservation areas. Yet these advances contrast sharply with everyday socioeconomic realities: 68% of households face prolonged water scarcity, with an average of more than 30 days annually without water. Calakmul’s case highlights structural mismatch between conservation and local human well-being in Natural Protected Areas contexts.

Abstract This chapter interrogates what practising ‘sustainability’ looks like within universities, with a focus on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the UK, and explores pathways, through policies and people, to achieve this. The goal of this chapter is to demonstrate the context and options for institutional transformation, and to support students, staff or community members to strengthen sustainability in their institutions. We will reflect on the business (or purpose) and busy-ness of universities, including teaching and learning, research, community engagement and practical operations. We will discuss institutional ‘sustainability’ policies, how policies translate to practice, and how to engage people in policy and practice. In section “Introduction”, we outline the role that universities can play in transforming society towards a vision of sustainability and more sustainable practices. In the section on “Concepts of a Sustainable University”, we explore meanings and representations of a ‘sustainable university’. In the section on “Policies, People and Practices for Change”, we map out the institutional landscape for transformation: the policies, practices and people that influence sustainability transformation. We discuss the theoretical framing for sustainability practice, including socio-technological transitions, systems thinking, behavioural change, social practice and community building, to link individual action, institutional policies and wider societal aspirations. The section on “Student Voice and Case Studies of Action” supports student-led change through voice, action and activism, providing practical tools that you can use to drive change within your university and beyond. Finally, in the Conclusions, we conclude with the potential for individuals to be change agents, and for institutions to change, and how we can promote sustainability transformation through sustainable universities.

Attempts to address biodiversity loss have led to ecosystem and species restoration efforts. Tree species restoration is particularly relevant because of increasing threats from pests and pathogens. However, there are different notions of ‘loss’, as well as sociocultural considerations, including social acceptability, which are often neglected in decision‐making for restoration. This paper explores concepts and meanings of ‘loss’, discusses sociocultural aspects and analyses social acceptability in relation to possible restoration routes for elm species in Great Britain (GB). We identified different forms of ecological or species ‘loss’. For this paper, we recognise the following: Biological loss relates to biological extinction at varying scales. Functional loss refers to functional characteristics and traits of a species. Cultural loss refers to cultural connection, and societal loss refers to common utilisation and values. Tree species such as field elm and wych elm have either radically transformed or have almost disappeared from large areas of GB since the 1960s, due to Dutch Elm Disease (DED). Biological presence continues, mainly in the form of small shrub‐like trees, but functional, cultural and social loss continues through the decline of most large, freestanding elms. Some mature elms remain in refuge areas, especially in the north of Scotland where DED has not yet been recorded. A range of restoration routes have been identified for elm in GB, from individual tree management or the creation of biosecure refugia, to the use of genetic technology. These options are each subject to different constraints, address ‘loss’ in diverse ways and face different levels of social acceptability, related in part to sociocultural connections. We conclude that the following must be addressed to ensure socially acceptable routes to restoration: recognition of sociocultural considerations, trade‐offs between public engagement and efficacy, absence of trust, lack of accessible information, evidence gaps, long‐term funding and resources, and platforms for public dialogue. We emphasise the need for multiple notions of ‘loss’ and a shift to consideration of interlinked social, cultural and ecological regeneration as we forge new relationships and practices for tree health and sustainability. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Global and interconnected sustainability challenges require systems thinking and policy coherence to support bold and coordinated action. To chart a course for action, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a suite of targets across international and national levels. Here, we explore intentions and contributions over time of the Mexican multifaceted rural-development program Sembrando Vida (SV) to the SDGs, to assess its policy coherence for sustainable development, especially in relation to climate change. We reviewed online documents and newspaper articles, interviewed key SV staff and analyzed the Mexican President’s morning conference speeches. We show that multiplicity and adaptation of stated intentions suggest opportunistic forms of policy drift with limited policy coherence. The potential of the SV program remains promising, but it requires clearer objectives, coherent strategy, expert knowledge, community support and evaluation. These results demonstrate how political context can cause policy drift and negatively impact intended policy coherence for sustainable development.

EDITORIAL article Front. Sustain., 03 October 2023Sec. Sustainable Organizations Volume 4 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1281269

Indigenous and rural peoples have developed close connections with land and nature for millennia. Traditional and local knowledge resulting from such human-environment interactions is embedded in ethnic, linguistic, and cultural contexts, and may assist local communities in adapting to global issues such as climate change. However, the extent to which traditional knowledge supports adaptation to local manifestations of severe socio-environmental changes, the traditional knowledge techniques that play an effective role in adaptation, and the dynamic yet integral aspect of traditional knowledge for indigenous and mestizo cultures remain unclear. Despite an extensive literature on climate change, adaptation, and traditional knowledge in the Global South, Mesoamerican countries are underrepresented. The aims of this systematic review were to address the main manifestations of climate change in Mesoamerican countries, to critically analyze relationships between traditional knowledge and contemporary climate change adaptation and to make recommendations regarding knowledge conservation, production, and exchange for climate change adaptation in the region. We systematically identified, reviewed, and coded 77 relevant papers. Our results show that: 1) most papers do not distinguish between local, traditional, and indigenous knowledge; 2) rainfall variability, droughts, and weather unpredictability are the most frequently expressed experiences of climate change; 3) the main adaptations undertaken by smallholders are changes to the agricultural calendar and crops cultivated, a shift to more sustainable agriculture, and labour diversification to generate off-farm income; and 4) many more articles are published on Mexico than the other Mesoamerican countries, and predominantly by authors from outside Mesoamerica. Local traditional knowledge makes important contributions to climate change actions and policy by observing changing climates, adapting to impacts, and contributing to global mitigation efforts. As a response to increasing climate change challenges, smallholders create new hybrid knowledge by combining traditional and western perspectives. This knowledge evolution will support greater resilience to climate change but may hasten cultural erosion and exacerbate social inequalities in the region unless efforts are taken to maintain cultural integrity.

Promoting tolerance towards wildlife that pose a threat to humans or their livelihoods is critical to achieving species conservation goals. While conservation discourses often revolve around retaliation, tolerance and intolerance can vary from passive acceptance to active support, and according to level and scale of loss. We developed an experimental tool with a gamified survey-based field experiment to test multiple intended behaviours along a gradient of livestock loss to predation by jaguars (Panthera onca) in Calakmul, Mexico. Using a within-subject design, participants played a card-choice game against livestock loss scenarios. The choices offered were "No action [taken]", "Protect [domestic animals]", "Kill [the jaguar]". First, our experimental design was validated by increased frequencies of "Kill" responses in reaction to hypothetical jaguar incursion with increasing damage. The greatest difference occurred between zero and minimal damage (one chicken), showing that whether damage occurs at all is at least as important as its extent. Secondly, average frequency of intentional retaliation to jaguar incursion was higher for participants who had already killed a jaguar. Finally, age, education, and ethnicity all correlated with intentional behaviours to implement preventive measure or kill jaguars. Past experience of attack had no effect. Our results showed that survey/game-based experiments can assess tolerance to potentially hazardous wildlife interactions, while allowing more nuanced understandings of people's tolerance on a gradient of loss. This allows us to move away from a dualistic model of "conflict" versus "coexistence" towards a more complex understanding incorporating individual attitudes and experience, cultural significance, and socio-economic context.

Conservation biology is a mission-driven discipline that must navigate a new relationship between conservation and science. Because conservation is a social and political as well as an ecological project, conservation biologists must practice interdisciplinarity and collaboration. In a comparative study of 7 cases (Jaguars in the Chaco, Grevy's zebra in Kenya, Beekeeping in Tanzania, Andean cats in Argentina, Jaguars in Mexico, Lobster fishing, and Black bears in Mexico), we examined motivations for collaboration in conservation, who can collaborate in conservation, and how conservation professionals can work well together. In 5 case studies, successful conservation outcomes were prioritized over livelihood benefits. In the other 2 cases, livelihoods were prioritized. All case studies employed participatory approaches. There were multiple external actors, including local and Indigenous communities, nongovernmental organizations, agencies, regional and national governments, and international organizations, which enhanced conservation and wider sustainability outcomes. Key collaboration aspects considered across the case studies were time (mismatch between relationship building and project schedules), trust required for meaningful partnerships, tools employed, and transformative potential for people, nature, and the discipline of conservation biology. We developed guidelines for successful collaboration, including long-term commitment, knowledge integration, multiscalar and plural approaches, cultivation of trust, appropriate engagement, evaluation, supporting students, and efforts for transformation.

IntroductionIf sustainability is about imagining and pursuing desired futures, our past history, heritage, and culture will influence the kind of futures we seek and our chosen routes towards them. In Scotland, there is a strong connection between culture, land, and identity; a sense of community; and a perception of work ethic that derive from our biogeography and socio-political journey. Concepts and practises of education have been influenced by the ideas of key thinkers such as the Scot Sir Patrick Geddes, who introduced approaches to education and community through concepts such as “heart, hand, and head”, “think global, act local,” and “place, work, and folk”. This background influenced us in establishing Scotland's United Nations University-recognised Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), known locally as “Learning for Sustainability Scotland”. Its initial development ten years ago and subsequent evolution have been built on engaging collaboratively across Scotland and linking formal, non-formal, and informal modes of learning for sustainability. In this paper, we explore how culture and context have influenced the emergence, governance, and activities of RCE Scotland over the past decade.MethodsWe developed an analytical framework of possible cultural and contextual influences on Scottish education. We used a Delphi approach to develop a novel and locally relevant definition of ESD when the RCE was established.ResultsAnalysis of purposively selected RCE Scotland activities against our cultural framework illustrated how they had been influenced by culture or context. We propose that democratic intellect, local and global, and nature-culture connections have informed our initiative.DiscussionWe conclude that connection to people, place, and nature influences engagement and action on sustainability, and we suggest that additional sustainability competencies should include physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of nature connection.

Despite practical advances in many areas of sustainability, golf still faces a number of complex, interlinked challenges heading into the future. Using strong sustainability as a critical interpretive lens, this paper radically reimagines what golf is, what golf does, and what golf can be for current and future generations and identifies some possibilities to be found through the theory and practice of sustainable development. For the sake of current and future generations, golf must explore means of minimizing resource inputs, minimizing waste outputs, optimizing use of renewable energy and maximizing player participation and satisfaction. To do this, golf requires a paradigm shift from efficiency to sufficiency supported by big thinking, moral responsibility and radical renovations in its practices, technologies and values. Using the fundamental principles of sustainability, we begin to envision an overhaul of golf as part of broader societal transformations. In short, this paper poses a provocation for “thinking otherwise” about golf and sustainability and opens fertile ground for turfgrass practitioners and researchers to begin cultivating more resilient and sustainable fields of play.

Global processes manifesting as activities in local places have led to an increase in documented conservation conflicts. Conservation conflicts are sometimes labelled human-wildlife conflict, focusing only on the direct negative impact of species (usually wildlife) on humans or vice versa. However, many authors now recognize that conservation conflicts arise between people with diverse views, when one party acts against the interests of another. They are thus human-human conflicts and not merely an impact on or from conservation. Conflict is not always directly correlated with impact because perceptions of risk, levels of tolerance and conservation values influence human responses. This review aims to define the concept of ‘conservation conflict hotspots’ and explore its practical applications in conservation. We propose that the interaction of impact, risk perception, level of tolerance in a context of conservation values can be mapped at a local scale, with spatial visualization assisting the prediction, understanding and management of such hotspots. The term conservation value incorporates measures of indigeneity, endemicity and demography along with emotional or cultural attachment to species or places. The umbrella terms of risk perception and tolerance capture many of the aspects of attitude, values and individual demographics that can influence people’s actions, enabling contextualization of relevant social factors at local scales. Spatially mapped layers enable us to plan and target conservation efforts towards human as well as ecological factors. The concept of ‘conservation conflict hotspot’ emphasizes the need for transdisciplinary research to understand underlying drivers of conflict and for dialogical and peace-building approaches to facilitate trust and cooperation amongst actors. We can thus address conflicts and achieve sustainable outcomes.

Innovation in environmental fields such as plant health is complex because of unbounded challenges and lack of certainty of commercial uptake. In this paper we present a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) framework, specifically to assist with assessment of technologies to support detection of tree pests and pathogens, but also for wider potential adaptation. Biosecurity can be enhanced by improved early detection of pests and pathogens, but development and deployment of new technologies requires robust scrutiny. We critically analyse the concept, practice and applicability of TRLs. Interviews revealed scientist perspectives during the development process of five novel early plant pest and pathogen detection technologies. A retrospective, collective narrative of one technology from concept to commercial deployment was undertaken. We then developed a calculator tool for assessment of biosecurity TRLs. Our findings illustrate the iterative process of technology development, the challenges in final TRLs of acquiring funding to move from proven success to viable product, inefficiencies created through the need for multiple projects for each technology and the imperative to consider the wider socio-ecological technical landscape, including policy context. End user engagement was particularly valuable at beginning and end of the TRL scale. We conclude that the TRL framework comprises a robust approach to assess technologies in that it facilitates progress tracking, evaluation of success likelihood and identification of opportunities for investment. However, its potential will only be realised for environmental management if it is integrated into the socio-ecological technical landscape and wider discussions regarding knowledge co-production and valuing nature.

Borderlands can be places of socio-economic tensions, development challenges, and ecological risks, now exacerbated by climate change. We investigate the border-development-climate change nexus using research from Calakmul, Mexico and Petén, Guatemala, to detail the lived experiences and vulnerabilities of campesinos in the Selva Maya cross-border region. Our mixed methods approach combines historical analysis and ethnographic interviews with 70 campesinos. We demonstrate how large scale development approaches result in local and specific policy interventions, but produce mixed outcomes for campesinos, neglecting the most marginalized. Despite the absence of any major border crossings, a porous border in this area allows flows of people, goods, and services to connect the region, but there are differential national outcomes. In Petén, many campesinos suffer from ‘irregularity’ (lacking rights to the lands where they live and cultivate), preventing access to state development benefits. In Calakmul greater climate change demands adaptations beyond the scope of recent policy interventions. We consider how the border region includes biophysical processes as well as socio-political and cultural ones, and we argue that policy interventions are required at global, national, and local scales to address structural inequalities and co-create local solutions to development, migration, and climate change challenges.

Conflicts between agriculture and biodiversity conservation in Europe are increasing, due to multiple demands from agricultural ecosystems, including a growing need for high quality and good-value agricultural products, as well as the provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Currents trends such as globalization, European policies, and global change, such as climate change and nitrogen atmospheric deposition are potentially driving the emergence or evolution of biodiversity conflicts in Europe. These trends are interwoven with continuing debates around land-sparing and land-sharing, that often lead to conflicting perspectives and social dynamics that influence how local actors interact with each other over agriculture. Whilst some strategies have been put in place to address the potential competition between agriculture and biodiversity, such as reglementary and market-based mechanisms, and non-monetary voluntary approaches, these need to be reflected upon and improved for a future agriculture where the negative impacts of conflicts are minimized. This paper provides a comprehensive update on the current and future trends and evaluates current strategies, to highlight the importance of addressing conflict not only through technical fixes but by developing approaches that involve profound changes in agricultural systems and a shift in how people collaborate, perceive conflict and address it. We propose three emerging pathways—agroecology, a shift to partnerships, and conflict transformation—that would support a positive change for the future of biodiversity conflicts in agriculture.

There is growing recognition of the value of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for all learners, and of the unique role that universities play in the transformation of individuals, institutions and societies towards more sustainable futures. Universities engage and even lead in several areas: education, research and community engagement, all of which are essential in this transformation. Further, given their focus and influence, universities are pivotal to action needed to realise the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but, to date, UK university integration of ESD and engagement with the SDGs is relatively limited. In recognition that a more urgent and meaningful response is needed to deliver the 2030 targeted socio-economic transformation outlined by the SDGs, the UK ESD Guidance has been comprehensively revised to support universities to deliver education which enables students to acquire sustainability competencies, equipping them to play leadership roles in an increasingly uncertain world. In this case study, we critically analyse the role of universities and explore why ESD needs to be more urgently integrated in teaching and learning. We review the barriers to achieving ESD in UK universities at political and institutional levels. Finally, we explore the policy-practice interface and outline how the new UK ESD Guidance can support universities in leading individual and societal transformation through ESD and act as a stimulus for embedding ESD in university curricula in both UK and international contexts. We conclude that universities have as yet unfulfilled potential to explore and facilitate ESD for sustainability leadership.

Community projects provide opportunities for their participants to collectively undertake climate action and simultaneously experience alternative concepts of wellbeing. However, we argue that community projects do so in 'liminal' ways-on the threshold of (unactualised) social change. We employed an ethnographic approach involving participant observation and qualitative interviews to investigate two community climate action projects in Scotland supported by the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF). We identify some of the outcomes and barriers of these projects in relation to promoting wellbeing through work, transport, participation and green spaces for food production, biodiversity and recreation. Projects' achievements are contextualised in light of the urgent imperative to tackle climate change and against a background of social inequality. Liminal community projects are structurally constrained in their potential to create wider systemic changes. However, the projects' potential to promote wellbeing among their participants can intersect with climate change mitigation when systemic and wide-ranging changes are adopted. These changes must involve a meaningful shift towards an economy that centres wellbeing, framed through principles of environmental justice and promoting social equity.