This paper investigates the relationship between local air pollution and urban structure with an emphasis on urban fragmentation. Using a unique dataset of 249 Large Urban Zones (LUZ) across Europe, ...a Bayesian Model Averaging model selection method is employed to identify the determinants of within-LUZ concentration of three air pollutants: NO2, PM10 and SO2. These are supplemented by several indices of land cover and a set of data on various economic, demographic and meteorological variables that might explain the variation of air pollution. The results of this econometric analysis support the hypothesis that urban structure has significant effects on pollution concentration. In particular, the results suggest that fragmented and highly constructed cities experience higher concentrations of NO2 and PM10 and that densely populated cities suffer from higher SO2 concentration. The findings suggest that policies favoring continuous urban areas may result in environmental improvements.
Underwater noise pollution from shipping is globally pervasive and has a range of adverse impacts on species which depend on sound, including marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, and many ...invertebrates. International bodies including United Nations agencies, the Arctic Council, and the European Union are beginning to address the issue at the policy level, but better evidence is needed to map levels of underwater noise pollution and the potential benefits of management measures such as ship-quieting regulations. Crucially, corroboration of noise maps with field measurements is presently lacking, which undermines confidence in their application to policymaking. We construct a computational model of underwater noise levels in the Northeast Atlantic using Automatic Identification System (AIS) ship-tracking data, wind speed data, and other environmental parameters, and validate this model against field measurements at 4 sites in the North Sea. Overall, model predictions of the median sound level were within ±3 dB for 93% of the field measurements for one-third octave frequency bands in the range 125 Hz–5 kHz. Areas with median noise levels exceeding 120 dB re 1 μPa and 20 dB above modelled natural background sound were predicted to occur in the Dover Strait, the Norwegian trench, near to several major ports, and around offshore infrastructure sites in the North Sea. To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantitatively validate large-scale modelled noise maps with field measurements at multiple sites. Further validation will increase confidence in deeper waters and during winter months. Our results highlight areas where anthropogenic pressure from shipping noise is greatest and will inform the management of shipping noise in the Northeast Atlantic. The good agreement between measurements and model gives confidence that models of shipping noise can be used to inform future policy and management decisions to address shipping noise pollution.
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•Shipping noise is globally pervasive and impacts marine species which rely on sound.•To manage ship noise pollution effectively, ground-truthed noise maps are needed.•We present the first such validated maps of shipping noise at large scale.•Predictions were within ±3 dB for 93% of measurements in the range 125 Hz–5 kHz.•Our results give confidence that ship noise mapping can be used to guide management.
With more than one-third of children worldwide living in urban areas, the call for child-friendly cities (CFC) has increased in urgency; however, many cities are still largely unfriendly to children. ...This paper uses a systematic literature review and bibliometric tool to identify papers from Scopus between 2001 and 2020. It reviews the existing knowledge and gaps about child-friendliness within the sphere of socio-spatial urban planning. The findings reveal a three-dimensional perspective of the concept of child-friendly cities: rights, physical environment, and governance. Moreover, it shows that existing knowledge appears rather limited in its explanation of the governance processes that lead to translating children's rights into suitable physical environments. In the conclusions, a research avenue is proposed to close the existing gaps that can contribute to achieving CFC.
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•Child-friendly cities (CFC) have three dimensions: rights, physical environment, and governance.•The physical environment is a platform to fulfill children's rights.•Good governance is widely recognized as a factor towards child-friendly cities.•There are limited studies about the child-friendly cities governance processes.
More than half of the world's 18 penguin species are declining. We, the Steering Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Penguin Specialist Group, ...determined that the penguin species in most critical need of conservation action are African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus), and Yellow‐eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes). Due to small or rapidly declining populations, these species require immediate scientific collaboration and policy intervention. We also used a pairwise‐ranking approach to prioritize research and conservation needs for all penguins. Among the 12 cross‐taxa research areas we identified, we ranked quantifying population trends, estimating demographic rates, forecasting environmental patterns of change, and improving the knowledge of fisheries interactions as the highest priorities. The highest ranked conservation needs were to enhance marine spatial planning, improve stakeholder engagement, and develop disaster‐management and species‐specific action plans. We concurred that, to improve the translation of science into effective conservation for penguins, the scientific community and funding bodies must recognize the importance of and support long‐term research; research on and conservation of penguins must expand its focus to include the nonbreeding season and juvenile stage; marine reserves must be designed at ecologically appropriate spatial and temporal scales; and communication between scientists and decision makers must be improved with the help of individual scientists and interdisciplinary working groups.
Aplicación de Ciencia en las Necesidades de Conservación Urgentes para los Pingüinos.
Resumen
Más de la mitad de las 18 especies de pingüinos del mundo están disminuyendo. Nosotros, el Comité Directivo de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, Grupo de Especialistas en Pingüinos, determinamos que las especies de pingüinos con necesidades críticas de conservación son el pingüino africano (Spheniscus demersus), el pingüino de las Galápagos (Spheniscus mendiculus) y el pingüino de ojos amarillos (Megadyptes antipodes). Debido a que sus poblaciones son pequeñas o están declinando rápidamente, estos pingüinos requieren colaboración científica e intervención política inmediatas. También utilizamos un método de clasificación por pares para priorizar las necesidades de investigación y conservación para todas las especies de pingüinos. Entre las 12 áreas de investigación que identificamos, las más prioritarias fueron: cuantificación de las tendencias poblacionales, estimación de las tasas demográficas, predicción de las patrones de cambio ambiental y mejora del conocimiento de las interacciones con pesquerías. Las mayores necesidades de conservación fueron: optimizar la planificación marina espacial, mejorar la colaboración de las partes interesadas y desarrollar planes de manejo de desastres y de acción para cada especie. Coincidimos en que, para mejorar la traducción de la ciencia en la conservación efectiva de los pingüinos, la comunidad científica y los organismos financiadores deben reconocer la importancia de la investigación a largo plazo y apoyarla; la investigación sobre pingüinos y su conservación debe expandir su enfoque para incluir la época no reproductiva y la etapa juvenil; las reservas marinas deben ser diseñadas a escalas espaciotemporales ecológicamente apropiadas; y la comunicación entre científicos y tomadores de decisiones debe mejorar con la ayuda de científicos individuales y grupos de trabajo interdisciplinario.
Article impact statement: Safeguarding the future of penguins requires collaboration among scientists and policymakers and immediate, informed conservation action.
The ocean is the next frontier for many conservation and development activities. Growth in marine protected areas, fisheries management, the blue economy, and marine spatial planning initiatives are ...occurring both within and beyond national jurisdictions. This mounting activity has coincided with increasing concerns about sustainability and international attention to ocean governance. Yet, despite growing concerns about exclusionary decision-making processes and social injustices, there remains inadequate attention to issues of social justice and inclusion in ocean science, management, governance and funding. In a rapidly changing and progressively busier ocean, we need to learn from past mistakes and identify ways to navigate a just and inclusive path towards sustainability. Proactive attention to inclusive decision-making and social justice is needed across key ocean policy realms including marine conservation, fisheries management, marine spatial planning, the blue economy, climate adaptation and global ocean governance for both ethical and instrumental reasons. This discussion paper aims to stimulate greater engagement with these critical topics. It is a call to action for ocean-focused researchers, policy-makers, managers, practitioners, and funders.
•There has been inadequate attention to social justice and inclusion in ocean science, management, governance and funding.•This paper reviews injustices and exclusions across key ocean policy domains and argues for greater attention to these issues.•The social sciences can increase understanding and help develop robust and evidence-based solutions.•We need to learn from past mistakes and identify ways to navigate a just and inclusive path towards sustainable oceans.•This is a call to action for ocean researchers, policy-makers, managers, practitioners, and funders.
The knowledge of small‐scale fisheries (SSFs) is important to develop management policies and mitigate the competition for marine resources. However, spatially explicit information is often ...unavailable at the regional and subregional scale. We designed and tested a novel participatory approach to map the SSF fishing effort using the Mediterranean sea as a case study. We applied the approach in eight countries (Albania, Croatia, Italy, Libya, Malta, Montenegro, Slovenia and Tunisia) characterized by different cultural, social, political and ecological features. The results provided quantitative and spatially explicit information on fishing operations on a fine‐scale resolution, contributing to overcome the pragmatic and budgetary constraints that to date have prevented an accurate assessment of SSFs worldwide. This novel participatory approach is inspired by the principles of governance, adaptive management, cross‐national cooperation and spatial planning, thus supporting the ecosystem approach to fisheries and has the potential to provide a useful complement to traditional assessments.
Land-use changes, especially urbanization, have largely impacted the capacity of ecosystems to deliver ecosystem services (ES) on which human wellbeing depends. The current sectorial landscape and ...territorial planning approaches that separately address protected areas and urban areas have proven ineffective in conserving biodiversity. To address this important challenge, integrated territorial planning has been claimed to be able to better reconcile interests between nature conservation and urban planning, and ES supply and demand mapping may be a useful tool for such purposes. In this study, we quantitatively mapped biodiversity and the supply and demand of eight ES along an urban-rural gradient in the region of Madrid (Spain). Then, we clustered the municipalities in this gradient into four groups based on their common biodiversity and ES supply and demand characteristics. Additionally, we reviewed the urban plans from these municipalities and the management plans of three protected areas, analysed the references to ES in the plans, and searched for potential conflicts between urban and protected area planning aims. We found that municipalities with highly coupled ES supply and demand are in high altitude areas, coinciding with protected areas, while in urban areas, the ES demand exceeds the supply. Municipalities exhibiting a high demand for regulating ES usually include them in their plans, while municipalities with a high supply of regulating ES do not. Given the several conflicts between protected areas and urban planning that we detected, we discuss the utility of mapping biodiversity and ES supply and demand beyond administrative boundaries to overcome the challenge of integrating spatial planning approaches, especially in the context of urban-rural gradients and megacities. We also explore the utility of these methods for coordinating urban planning tools to achieve integrated territorial planning.
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•Mapping biodiversity and ecosystem services informs integrated territorial planning.•Planning tools for urban and protected areas promote an urban-rural dichotomy.•Urban-rural dichotomies lead to environmental challenges and conflict.•Ecosystem services demand drives municipalities to incorporate them in planning tools.
An increasing number of international initiatives aim to reconcile development with conservation. Crucial to successful implementation of these initiatives is a comprehensive understanding of the ...current ecological condition of landscapes and their spatial distributions. Here, we provide a cumulative measure of human modification of terrestrial lands based on modeling the physical extents of 13 anthropogenic stressors and their estimated impacts using spatially explicit global datasets with a median year of 2016. We quantified the degree of land modification and the amount and spatial configuration of low modified lands (i.e., natural areas relatively free from human alteration) across all ecoregions and biomes. We identified that fewer unmodified lands remain than previously reported and that most of the world is in a state of intermediate modification, with 52% of ecoregions classified as moderately modified. Given that these moderately modified ecoregions fall within critical land use thresholds, we propose that they warrant elevated attention and require proactive spatial planning to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem function before important environmental values are lost.
Several international initiatives aim to balance development with conservation goals, which requires a comprehensive understanding of the current ecological condition of landscapes. We quantified the spatial extent and pattern of human land modification using a cumulative measure of 13 anthropogenic stressors with median year of 2016. We identified that fewer unmodified lands remain than previously reported and that most of the world's ecoregions fall at critical land modification thresholds, thus, warrant timely conservation attention.
The impacts of climate change and the increasing occurrence of consequent extreme events in recent years have led to significant environmental, social and economic consequences in a fragile and ...highly vulnerable territory such as Venice. It is precisely in this perspective, which considers areas particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate, that the scientific research program Venezia2021, coordinated by CORILA - Consortium for coordination of research activities concerning the Venice lagoon system, is inserted. The research in question involves a complex process of identification and integration of innovative tools, data processing and analysis and assessment of impacts, in order to contribute to the maintenance of a proper balance of the lagoon ecosystem in a perspective of increased climate resilience. The overall objective of the research was to build a strategic, accurate and shared vision with respect to the challenges that await the preservation of the city and its lagoon, (a World Heritage Site), in consideration of climate change scenarios. Specifically, this paper analyzes the research experience of thematic axis No. 5 that led to the drafting of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Venice Lagoon. The operational path that led to the construction of the plan was guided by an in-depth spatial study and development of an integrated system of analysis, assessment, planning, management and monitoring of the Venetian area capable of supporting the city and the activities that operate in it, through coordinated adaptation actions aimed at increasing sustainability and resilience as a whole.
Mariculture (marine and brackish water aquaculture) has grown rapidly over the past 20 years, yet publicly-available information on the location of mariculture production is sparse. Identifying where ...mariculture production occurs remains a major challenge for understanding its environmental impacts and the sustainability of individual farms and the sector as a whole. We compiled known mariculture locations and applied a simple production-allocation approach to map remaining global mariculture locations across 73 countries using the key determinants of distance to shore and ports, and average productivity (tonnage) of known farms. Our map represents 96% of reported fish and invertebrate mariculture production for 2017, but excludes algae which constitutes half of global mariculture production. We provide, for the first time, a publicly available spatial database of known and estimated mariculture locations. We discuss the utility and limitations of the existing data and our modeling approach, and highlight the key data gaps and future challenges for mapping aquaculture. Our results provide a vital resource for mariculture and environmental researchers, but we emphasize the need for a standardized, ground-truthed global spatial database of aquaculture locations and farm-level attributes (e.g., species, production type) to better understand the distribution of production and adequately plan for future growth.
•We created a database of mariculture locations for six major taxa groups, across 73 mariculture reporting countries.•This study is the first to use a reproducible, globally consistent methodology to estimate mariculture locations.•Provides a starting point for understanding the distribution of mariculture, highlighting major data gaps for future efforts.•This data allows for mapping of environmental pressures and impacts to inform policy decisions and plan for climate change.
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