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The report assesses three multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs)—the APRM, OGP, and EITI—finding that while they provide platforms for transparency and civil society engagement, their ability to drive fundamental governance transformation is limited by varying levels of political will, uneven implementation, and challenges in measuring direct impact.

An executive summary detailing the water supply and economic challenges facing the wine-producing region of Mendoza, Argentina, particularly for small-scale producers amidst a changing climate.

The document argues that while 97% of climate scientists agree that humans are causing global warming, a significant 'consensus gap' exists in public perception, largely driven by decades of deliberate misinformation campaigns. It identifies perceived consensus as a 'gateway belief' that influences support for climate policy and provides evidence-based communication strategies, such as 'weight-of-evidence' reporting and 'inoculation' against misinformation, to close this gap.

The document serves as Deliverable 2.2 of the BONUS RETURN project, providing a preliminary list of ecotechnologies designed to minimize environmental harm and provide societal value by recovering carbon and nutrients. It defines ecotechnologies as "human interventions in social-ecological systems in the form of practices and/or biological, physical, and chemical processes designed to minimise harm to the environment and provide services of value to society". The report details the methodology used to identify these technologies, including bibliographic searches of Scopus and Web of Science and grey literature searches via Google Scholar and organizational websites. To date, the mapping has screened 40% of agricultural evidence and 60% of wastewater evidence, with the full database intended for a subsequent deliverable. The project aims to address the degradation of the Baltic Sea by improving the adoption of technologies that reconcile eutrophication reduction with food and energy security.

The report highlights the explosive growth of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), with an estimated 40.5 million direct workers in 2017. It examines the sector's critical role in global mineral supplies—including 20% of gold and 80% of sapphires—while detailing severe environmental and health risks, particularly from mercury use in gold mining. The document analyzes the tensions between ASM and large-scale mining (LSM), the limitations of current certification schemes, and the necessity of inclusive formalization processes that address the poverty-driven nature of the sector rather than focusing solely on entrepreneurs.

The report advocates for Community Forest Management (MCB) as a sustainable alternative to industrial logging and top-down conservation. It links MCB to the 'Buen Vivir' philosophy, emphasizing the need for secure land tenure, social capital, and gender equity. The text critiques market-based mechanisms like REDD+ and the Payment for Environmental Services (PSA) for promoting privatization and centralizing control. It concludes with recommendations to shift funding from fossil fuel subsidies toward community-led conservation and the restoration of ancestral rights.

The report proposes a definition of sustainable migration as movement that ensures a well-balanced distribution of costs and benefits for individuals, societies, and states, both now and in the future. It argues that migration is an integral part of social change and that its sustainability is inherently political, requiring a balance of empirical data and normative values. Through literature reviews and case studies of Somalia, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Norway, the authors examine how migration impacts development, social cohesion, and welfare state legitimacy, while cautioning that the term 'sustainable' can be co-opted for restrictionist political agendas.

The Book of Abstracts compiles nearly seventy research proposals focused on the sustainable harnessing of the Blue Economy. The submissions are organized into four primary thematic areas: sustainable use of resources, climate action resilience, global connectivity and transportation, and blue economy and sustainable cities, with an additional focus on human resource capacity. The abstracts cover a diverse range of topics, including marine spatial planning, aquaculture development in Africa and Asia, the economic impacts of ocean acidification, and the role of scientific research in informing policy and investment. Geographically, the research spans global contexts with specific case studies from Kenya, Canada, Ireland, Bangladesh, Israel, China, and various Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The Mendoza wine region, a primary producer of Malbec, faces a divide between large, efficient growers and smallholders who struggle with quality standards and economic stability. Climate change is threatening the region's 'oasis' by reducing snow precipitation and glacier area, which provide 70% to 80% of summer water. Current water governance, based on the 1884 Ley de Aguas de Mendoza, is deemed insufficient for these new conditions, leading to suggestions that the region adopt regional groundwater management models similar to California's.

The paper examines the effectiveness of integrating climate adaptation objectives into existing policies rather than creating standalone adaptation policies. It identifies a significant 'implementation gap' where policy outputs do not consistently lead to policy outcomes, a trend particularly pronounced in developing countries, although the effectiveness of outcomes themselves does not vary by country. The authors call for more unified frameworks and explicit definitions to improve future research and policy recommendations.

The research examines the capacity of 'old industrial regions' (OIRs) to transition from declining mature industries to new growth paths. It utilizes the Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) framework to analyze 'lock-in'—functional, cognitive, and political—that hinders diversification. Using examples like Germany's Ruhr region, the paper argues that successful renewal requires 'regional branching' based on existing capabilities and a shift from top-down mandates to inclusive, bottom-up 'regional development coalitions'. It provides a typology of innovation support and warns against the 'regional resource curse' where renewable energy transitions may fail to create localized value.

This report examines the intersection of gender and LPG subsidy reform in Indonesia, finding that current subsidies are regressive and fail to reach many poor women. It highlights that women are more vulnerable to price increases due to their primary role in cooking and household management, and that switching back to biomass fuels poses significant health risks through indoor air pollution.

The report analyzes the critical role of sediment in the Mekong River Basin and the threats posed by human activity and climate change. It finds that hydropower dams and riverbed mining are drastically reducing sediment loads, which threatens the productivity of the Mekong Delta and Tonle Sap, impacts fisheries and agriculture, and increases coastal erosion. The authors recommend enhanced regional monitoring, better data sharing between China and Lower Mekong countries, and the integration of sediment management into the entire hydropower lifecycle.

The document details the positive outcomes of institutional food procurement policies, showing that local sourcing increases regional economic output and job creation. It highlights environmental benefits, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions and water use through meat reduction, and projects significant health improvements—including lower sodium intake and reduced risks of type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer—for students and adults in Los Angeles County. Additionally, it analyzes the increasing availability of antibiotic-free chicken in the US supply chain and compares the cost of procuring such meat against the high medical costs of treating antibiotic-resistant infections.

The authors find that practitioners and policy-makers give only superficial attention to the risk of adaptation activities redistributing vulnerability, and that conceptual research on maladaptation has not yet translated into sufficient empirical evidence regarding the distributional impacts of real-world adaptation.

The document outlines the role of border carbon adjustments (BCAs) in mitigating emissions leakage and competitiveness concerns resulting from asymmetrical domestic climate actions following the Paris Agreement. It suggests that BCAs can incentivize trade partners to improve their climate policies and vary in effectiveness from moderate to very high in tackling leakage.

The paper identifies ten core and twenty emerging characteristics of sustainable FDI, derived from a review of 150 instruments including international investment agreements and codes of multinational enterprises. It also examines mechanisms to implement these characteristics and their relevance to investment facilitation discussions.

The report examines the impacts of investment treaties on developing countries, noting a modest increase in some types of foreign direct investment (FDI) but finding no clear evidence for other benefits like domestic reform or the rule of law. It highlights that treaties limit government policy space and create distributive costs through compensation requirements, though insufficient evidence exists to determine the overall net effect for developing countries.

The report evaluates 16 financial institutions and infrastructure standards to determine how sustainability and climate resilience are screened during infrastructure development. It finds that while environmental and social (E&S) assessments are standard, climate risk integration varies significantly. Most financial institution tools focus on the financing phase, whereas infrastructure standards like BREEAM and Envision target the design and planning phases. The review highlights a general lack of public availability for specific screening tools and a need for better integration of natural capital and regional-scale planning.

The paper proposes using agent-based modeling (ABM) to unify the study of tourism and migration under a single 'population mobility' framework. It highlights how both are driven by the pursuit of wellbeing and are increasingly influenced by global environmental change. The author details how ABM's ability to handle agent heterogeneity, internal decision-making complexity, and social interactions makes it ideal for simulating complex social-ecological systems. The discussion explores common challenges, such as the 'sense of invasion' felt by locals in mass tourism hubs like Venice and Barcelona, and the role of migration as a legitimate adaptation strategy to climate change. The paper concludes that a combined perspective can better address economic sustainability, cultural identity preservation, and the impacts of global environmental change on human movement.