Defining Illegal Forest Activities and Illegal Logging

This report presents the results of the fifth global scientific assessment undertaken by the GFEP initiative. The report set out to gain deeper understanding of the meaning of illegal logging and related timber trade, its scale, drivers and consequences. It provides a structured synthesis of available scientific and expert knowledge on illegal logging and associated timber trade while adding to existing studies and reports by sharing new insights, including a criminology perspective and new information about timber and timber product trade flows as well as exploring future policy options and governance responses. This assessment report and the accompanying policy brief provide an authoritative source of information for policymakers and stakeholders involved in the fight against illegal logging and associated timber trade, in order to support effective action in tackling this pressing global problem

Increasing resource circularity in wastewater treatment : Environmental implications of technological upgrades

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MAcord transformatiu CRUE-CSICA paradigm shift is needed in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to progress from traditional pollutant removal to resource recovery. However, whether this transformation produces overall environmental benefits will depend on the efficient and sustainable use of resources by emerging technologies. Given that many of these technologies are still being tested at the pilot scale, there is a lack of environmental assessments quantifying their impacts and benefits. In particular, an integrated approach to energy and nutrient recovery can elucidate the potential configurations for WWTPs. In this study, we conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) of emergent wastewater treatment technologies aimed at increasing resource circularity in WWTPs. We focus on increasing energy self-sufficiency through biogas upgrades and a more radical circular approach aimed at nutrient recovery. Based on a case-study WWTP, we compare its current configuration with (1) implementing autotrophic nitrogen removal in the mainstream and deriving most of the organic matter for biogas production, which increases the quality and quantity of biogas available for energy production; (2) implementing struvite recovery through enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) as a radical approach to phosphorus management, offering an alternative to mineral fertilizer; and (3) a combination of both approaches. The results show that incremental changes in biogas production are insufficient for compensating for the environmental investment in infrastructure, although autotrophic nitrogen removal is beneficial for increasing the quality of the effluent. Combined phosphorus and energy recovery reduce the environmental impacts from the avoided use of fertilizers and phosphorus and the nitrogen release into water bodies. An integrated approach to resource management in WWTPs is thus desirable and creates new opportunities toward the implementation of circular strategies with low environmental impact in cities

Envisioning the future: creating sustainable, healthy and resilient BioCities

Numerous challenges – from population increase to climate change – threaten the sustainable development of cities and call for a fundamental change of urban development and green-blue resource management. Urban forests are vital in this transition, as they provide various ecosystem services and allow to re-shape and re-think cities. Based on a Europe-wide community effort with diverse experts centered around urban forests and urban greening, we propose five key research fields to generate the knowledge required to unlock fundamental changes in urban development and green-blue resource management: circular bioeconomy, climate resilience, governance, social and human environment, and biodiversity. To support the design of greener, cooler, more inclusive and resilient cities, all these research fields require inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, engaging stakeholders in transforming urban engagement and functioning. We summarise main inter-, trans- und multidisciplinary research paths for each field and the cross-cutting knowledge areas that can help to address the challenges many cities face (e.g., modelling and assessment of the urban microclimate). For transforming cities further knowledge is needed on e.g., urban innovation, transition, participation, and more. Finally, we address how the identified research gaps can be implemented (e.g., international coordinated research effort, interdisciplinary networks)

Modernizing persistence–bioaccumulation–toxicity (PBT) assessment with high throughput animal-free methods

The assessment of persistence (P), bioaccumulation (B), and toxicity (T) of a chemical is a crucial first step at ensuring chemical safety and is a cornerstone of the European Union’s chemicals regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals). Existing methods for PBT assessment are overly complex and cumbersome, have produced incorrect conclusions, and rely heavily on animal-intensive testing. We explore how new-approach methodologies (NAMs) can overcome the limitations of current PBT assessment. We propose two innovative hazard indicators, termed cumulative toxicity equivalents (CTE) and persistent toxicity equivalents (PTE). Together they are intended to replace existing PBT indicators and can also accommodate the emerging concept of PMT (where M stands for mobility). The proposed “toxicity equivalents” can be measured with high throughput in vitro bioassays. CTE refers to the toxic effects measured directly in any given sample, including single chemicals, substitution products, or mixtures. PTE is the equivalent measure of cumulative toxicity equivalents measured after simulated environmental degradation of the sample. With an appropriate panel of animal-free or alternative in vitro bioassays, CTE and PTE comprise key environmental and human health hazard indicators. CTE and PTE do not require analytical identification of transformation products and mixture components but instead prompt two key questions: is the chemical or mixture toxic, and is this toxicity persistent or can it be attenuated by environmental degradation? Taken together, the proposed hazard indicators CTE and PTE have the potential to integrate P, B/M and T assessment into one high-throughput experimental workflow that sidesteps the need for analytical measurements and will support the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability of the European Union.ISSN:0340-5761ISSN:1432-073

Transforming the bio-based sector towards a circular economy - What can we learn from wood cascading?

The circular economy has become the focus of a recent major EU policy program, which aims at the transformation towards environmentally sustainable modes of production and consumption. This has moved parts of the forest and related bio-based industries to envision their operations in terms of a circular economy. However, the meaning and implementation pathways of the concept often remain vague and ambiguous. At the same time, bio-based industries have a long history of discussing and partly realizing wood cascading. This concept strongly overlaps with circular economy ideas as it describes activities to increase the efficiency of biomass utilization. This article takes stock of wood cascading research and identifies major influencing factors for its realization to provide a comprehensive knowledge base for discussions about the circular economy in forest and related bio-based industries. Based on a review of peer-reviewed literature, we find substantial knowledge available on the factors influencing the realization of wood cascading. These factors largely resemble what is currently being discussed as barriers and enablers of circular economy. Some crucial influencing factors, like policy limitations, are frequently highlighted but remain barely investigated. In addition, the various influencing factors are interdependent, making a conclusive assessment of the environmental impacts of a change to certain cascading activities extremely challenging. The challenges of quantitative assessments combined with the substantial knowledge gaps on political and socio-economic factors result in certain assumptions and political recommendations that hardly appear to be based on empirical evidence. We therefore suggest scrutinizing these assumptions and filling knowledge gaps, especially related to product design, potentials and limitations of long-lived products, and avoidance of waste generation

Discursive dynamics and lock-ins in socio-technical systems : an overview and a way forward

Understanding the dynamics of stability and change is key to accelerate sustainability transitions. This paper aims to advance and inspire sustainability transition research on this matter by collecting insights from interpretative environmental discourse literature. We develop a heuristic that identifies and describes core discursive elements and dynamics in a socio-technical system. In doing so, we show how the interplay of meta-, institutionalized, and alternative discourses, dominant, marginal, and radical narratives, as well as weak and strong discursive agency influence the socio-technical configuration. The heuristic suggests three discursive lock-ins reinforcing the stabilization of socio-technical systems: unchallenged values and assumptions, incumbents’ discursive agency, and narrative co-optation. Furthermore, it explores three pathways of discursive change: disruptive, dynamic and cross-sectoral. Overall, this paper puts forward a discursive perspective on sustainability transitions. It offers additional analytical approaches and concepts for discursive transition studies, elaborated insights on the dynamics within and between the analytical dimensions of a socio-technical system, as well as a theoretical baseline for analyzing discursive lock-in mechanisms and pathways of discursive change

Locked in unsustainability : Understanding lock-ins and their interactions using the case of food packaging

Lock-in mechanisms are major hurdles to sustainability transitions. Scholars identified various types of lock-ins; however, their dynamics and interactions remain underexplored. Using the case of food packaging, this study enhances the conceptual understanding and empirical analysis of lock-ins and their interactions from a socio-technical perspective. We analyze the material, institutional, behavioral, and discursive configuration and the shallow and deep lock-ins reinforcing the persistent dominance of single-use over reusable food packaging in Germany. Additionally, we explore the lock-in interactions both within and between the socio-technical elements. Hence, we introduce archetypical interlock-ins and lock-in clusters pointing to core trends of resistance towards reusable packaging alternatives. This study advances the lock-in concept for future socio-technical analyses while guiding the illumination of the complex dynamics of stability, the assessment of current sustainability transition interventions, and the search for potential unlocking strategies to enable change

Discourse analysis of environmental policy revisited: traditions, trends, perspectives : Introduction

Since the mid-1990s, discourse analysis has become an increasingly established framework in environmental policy analysis. The field has diversified in terms of conceptual approaches, methods, topics, and geographies. This special issue revisits trends and traditions regarding theoretical and methodological approaches, ‘old’ and ‘new’ discourses, and our knowledge about discursive effects. We contextualize and discuss the twelve contributions to this special issue against the broader trajectory of the field over the past 25 years. Our analysis reveals an abundance of theoretical approaches with limited cross-fertilization, a plethora of rich case studies but few attempts at meta-analysis, and subtle accounts of discursive effects on discourse, policy and practice without an overarching framework. We suggest seven directions for the field’s future evolution: a need for more comparative and multiple-case studies, theoretical cross-fertilization, pro-active integration of non-English-speaking research contexts, development of methodological capabilities to capture discursive developments across larger numbers of publics and policy arenas, a more explicit conceptualization of agency, power and materiality, a stronger collaboration with transdisciplinary approaches, and a reflexive engagement with the ‘critical’ ambition of discourse analysis

Eating healthy or wasting less? Reducing resource footprints of food consumption

To feed future populations on ever-scarcer natural resources, policy initiatives aim to decrease resource footprints of food consumption. While adopting healthier diets has shown great potential to reduce footprints, current political initiatives primarily address strategies to reduce food waste, with the target of halving food waste at retail and consumption levels by 2030. Using Germany as a case study, we compare the resource-saving potential of this political target with three scenarios of nutritionally viable, plant-based dietary patterns and investigate interactions and trade-offs. By using the food and agriculture biomass input-output model, we capture biomass, cropland, and blue water footprints of global supply chains. The results show that dietary changes are particularly effective in reducing biomass and cropland footprints, showing a decrease of up to 61% and 48% respectively, whereas halving food waste decreases biomass and cropland footprints by 11% and 15% respectively. For blue water savings, halving food waste is more effective: water use decreases by 14% compared to an increase of 6% for dietary change with the highest water consumption.Subsequently, a combination of the scenarios shows the highest total reduction potential. However, our findings reveal that despite reduced footprints, a dietary shift can lead to an increased amount of food waste due to the rising consumption of products associated with higher food waste shares. Therefore, policy strategies addressing both targets might be contradicting. We conclude that international and national policies can be most effective in achieving higher resource efficiency by exploiting the reduction potentials of all available strategies while simultaneously considering strategy interactions