Review Article

Cascading effects of contemporaneous defaunation on tropical forest communities

Background

Defaunation, caused by hunting and habitat fragmentation, is a major threat to biodiversity in tropical forests. It disproportionately affects large-bodied vertebrates, which play key roles as seed dispersers, seed predators, and herbivores. The loss of these animals can have cascading effects on plant populations, altering species composition, seed dispersal, and plant recruitment. This study reviews empirical evidence from 42 studies to understand how defaunation influences plant-animal interactions, plant demography, and overall community diversity.

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Reimagine fire science for the Anthropocene

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Navigating power in conservation

Background

Conservation has traditionally centered on the natural sciences, but there is a growing recognition that it also deeply involves people and society. As a result, conservation efforts constantly navigate power dynamics, often without fully acknowledging them. Conservationists wield power when they decide which animals or plants to protect, where to focus their efforts, and how to implement them. Recognizing these power dynamics is essential for making conservation more effective, fair, and just. However, many conservationists either overlook or misunderstand the concept of power.

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Placing diverse knowledge systems at the core of transformative climate research

Background

Effective solutions-oriented research values both the process and the outcomes, recognizing that genuine partnerships across knowledge systems emerge within broader political shifts. Yet, international environmental organizations often exclude non-Western knowledge from their frameworks, reinforcing epistemic injustices that mirror social and political inequalities. Transformative change in addressing the climate crisis demands a critical examination of how knowledge and power interact, ensuring the integration—not marginalization—of diverse perspectives.

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A Comparison of Governance Challenges in Forest Restoration in Paraguay’s Privately-Owned Forests and Madagascar’s Co-managed State Forests

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Indigenous knowledge and the shackles of wilderness

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Key challenges for governing forest and landscape restoration across different contexts

Background

Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) restores ecological integrity, strengthens climate resilience, enhances human well-being, and increases the productivity of deforested or degraded landscapes. By integrating diverse land uses and restorative actions, FLR balances environmental and socio-economic needs. Global agreements, including the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Bonn Challenge, recognize its importance. Effective governance—defined by clear rules and inclusive decision-making—plays a critical role in ensuring FLR's success.

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Conservation social science: Understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation

Background

Many scholars believe that there is an urgent need to integrate social sciences into conservation efforts. Although researchers widely acknowledge the importance of understanding the human dimensions of conservation, social science insights remain underutilized in practice.

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Environmental governance and its implications for conservation practice

Background

Environmental governance is a growing field that expands conservation practice beyond traditional management approaches. Managers make operational decisions to achieve specific conservation outcomes, while governance involves the broader processes and institutions through which societies make decisions that affect the environment. Unlike management, governance incorporates diverse views, fosters networks, and supports hybrid partnerships among state and non-state actors, creating opportunities for shared learning.

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A technological biodiversity monitoring toolkit for biocredits

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