Open Access

The World Network of Biosphere Reserves promotes learning sites for sustainable development, designated under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere programme (MAB). The programme aims to strengthen biodiversity conservation, economic development and capacity building. Scientific research in and about Biosphere Reserves is expected to support these objectives. In response to a strong focus on natural sciences and conservation issues, calls for transdisciplinary approaches emanated from science and the newest MAB Lima Action Plan. Yet, the extent and contributions of transdisciplinary research in Biosphere Reserves remains unexplored. This study provides a comprehensive and systematic screening of 3304 scientific publications in and about Biosphere Reserves published since 1975. Research within Biosphere Reserves spans a broad spectrum, encompassing social to political to ecological investigations, with a focus on natural sciences and studies conducted mainly in Europe and Asia. We identified an emerging field of transdisciplinary science in research, represented in 336 publications. Most transdisciplinary studies were conducted in Mexican and Indian Biosphere Reserves. While transdisciplinary research provided insights about participation, management and governance in Biosphere Reserves, its transformative potential could be enhanced, notably through stronger forms of participation of non-academic actors in research processes. Our review suggests strengthening knowledge co-creation about transformative solutions and interventions addressing deep leverage points. Scientific research could thereby enhance the role of Biosphere Reserves as model regions for sustainability transformations.

The rapid expansion of the public discussion and research on just transition implies the risk of watering down either justice or the (eco-)socio-technical transition itself. We create a theoretical notion of just transition boundaries and propose it to help consider non-negotiable limits to just transition discourse and make sense of negotiations within such limits. Just transition boundaries are comprised of ecological and social boundaries. They determine that just transition-processes must bring societies effectively within the safety thresholds of the two most critical planetary boundaries, climate change and biodiversity loss, and must do that by means and supportive measures that protect vulnerable groups from falling or getting stuck below social minimums in those processes. Boundaries leave room for plural values and visions for realizing transitions and remaining within safe thresholds in community-specific conditions. Context-specific additions to what just transition should cover are possible insofar as they do not contradict or risk just transition boundaries. In addition to justifying and conceptualizing just transition boundaries, we reflect on its implications for policymaking and research.

Background The global human footprint has fundamentally altered wildfire regimes, creating serious consequences for human health, biodiversity, and climate. However, it remains difficult to project how long-term interactions among land use, management, and climate change will affect fire behavior, representing a key knowledge gap for sustainable management. We used expert assessment to combine opinions about past and future fire regimes from 99 wildfire researchers. We asked for quantitative and qualitative assessments of the frequency, type, and implications of fire regime change from the beginning of the Holocene through the year 2300. Results Respondents indicated some direct human influence on wildfire since at least ~ 12,000 years BP, though natural climate variability remained the dominant driver of fire regime change until around 5,000 years BP, for most study regions. Responses suggested a ten-fold increase in the frequency of fire regime change during the last 250 years compared with the rest of the Holocene, corresponding first with the intensification and extensification of land use and later with anthropogenic climate change. Looking to the future, fire regimes were predicted to intensify, with increases in frequency, severity, and size in all biomes except grassland ecosystems. Fire regimes showed different climate sensitivities across biomes, but the likelihood of fire regime change increased with higher warming scenarios for all biomes. Biodiversity, carbon storage, and other ecosystem services were predicted to decrease for most biomes under higher emission scenarios. We present recommendations for adaptation and mitigation under emerging fire regimes, while recognizing that management options are constrained under higher emission scenarios. Conclusion The influence of humans on wildfire regimes has increased over the last two centuries. The perspective gained from past fires should be considered in land and fire management strategies, but novel fire behavior is likely given the unprecedented human disruption of plant communities, climate, and other factors. Future fire regimes are likely to degrade key ecosystem services, unless climate change is aggressively mitigated. Expert assessment complements empirical data and modeling, providing a broader perspective of fire science to inform decision making and future research priorities.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can create new knowledge by analyzing large amounts of data, by recognizing patterns in the data sets via machine learning to create new knowledge about ecosystems. In addition, environmental balances can be created in the process, which can be used as a basis for decision-making. Due to the large amounts of data, complex feedback mechanisms can be balanced and the costs of decisions can be made transparent. Despite these opportunities for resource-saving handling of nature, AI balancing should not be allowed to become an automatic decision-making process. For sustainable environmental action, an emotional connection to the environment is also important. This cannot be achieved by AI, here it is the task of natural intelligence to recognize its embedding in a larger natural context and to develop from it a lifestyle in an environmental virtue ethics perspective.