Reducing the quantity of animal products is not barely a “demand side measure”

Livestock provides important services to humans such as transforming grass into food, recycling kitchen waste or providing organic fertilizers. In addition, livestock provides a labor force in non-mechanized agricultural systems, is often linked to ancient cultural heritage, and supports the livelihood of more than a billion producers and retailers. However, livestock production considerably contributes to…

Re-MEDIAting distant impacts – how Western media make sense of deforestation in different Brazilian biomes

Brazil plays a central role in Western depictions of and narratives on tropical deforestation. In this contribution, we gather a large text corpus from Western media outlets with articles on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado biomes. The sources include outlets from Europe, the US, Canada and Australia and span a time period from…

Telecoupling as a framework to support a more nuanced understanding of causality in land system science

Telecoupling and the challenge of attributing causality This article illustrates the potential of the telecoupling framework to improve causal attribution in land system science (LSS). We shed light on the distinct analytical approaches that have characterized telecoupling research to date, how these can contribute to LSS with new insights, and whether such insights can improve…

[Brazil Rainforest]

Patterning Conservation Flows: How Formal and Informal Networks Shape Transnational Conservation Practice

Conservation Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are crucial actors in global conservation governance. They shape resource flows, establish cross-sector and cross-scale networks, and influence conservation discourses and practices. While research on conservation NGOs is growing, less attention has been paid to how conservation NGOs structure their networks. In this article, we interrogate the interpersonal social relationships that…

Environmental governance of a Belt and Road project in Montenegro – National agency and external influences

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious effort to increase trans-continental connectivity and cooperation mainly through infrastructure investments and trade. On the one hand, this globally unparalleled initiative is expected to foster economic growth, but on the other hand, it can have substantial environmental implications. The BRI creates new challenges and opportunities for…

Accounting for land use changes beyond the farm-level in sustainability assessments: The impact of cocoa production

In this study, we analyzed the impacts of two cocoa production systems, full-sun and agroforestry, at the farm-level and beyond the farm-level. This study shows that the impacts of cocoa production can only be accurately accounted for when the land use dynamics arising in producing landscapes are taken into account. Impact assessments of value chains…