Climate change resilience and mitigation for a just transition in a biodiversity loss framework

Closes:
Submission deadline date: 1 May 2025

Introduction

The research discussing biodiversity loss, climate change, and the mitigation of it having as final beneficiaries both people and environmental integrity is vital for an adequate understanding of sustainability. The gaps in current knowledge must be addressed by a paradigm switch that includes nature as a stakeholder and not only a provider of raw resources and land for humans. In this sense, strengthening the multinational stakeholders' commitments and actions to limit biodiversity loss and to urge sustainable patterns of economic activity and the energy transition process are a linchpin of our world.

In this context, the aim of this special issue is to fill the gaps in understanding biodiversity loss as a part of climate change mitigation risks along with other economic and social features. Specifically, it will emphasize that biodiversity loss should not be a marginal topic when discussing environmental issues and that biodiversity should be carefully considered when setting climate change mitigation and resilience actions.  Most of the research that examined the influence of economic, financial, geopolitical, and social factors on the environment focused on assessing their impact on climate change and pollution. While these factors are incremental to highlight how economic and human activity affect the environmental quality, another relevant aspect that should be considered refers to biodiversity loss. If the new transition processes fail to consider biodiversity as a critical factor, they could exacerbate the harmful effects of climate change. Therefore, in addition to the impact of climate change, habitat destruction, changes in soil destination, and land degradation must be taken into account. Environmental features such as biodiversity should be considered not only from a human-centered perspective, but also to switch the paradigm towards biocentrism to better emphasize it as a part of planetary priorities.  As climate change continues to cause vital risks to people, ecosystems, and economies, academia and policymakers evaluate and design instruments to mitigate the causes and ensure resilience to the effects. Pollution has been a part of life since the early industrial stages, but the multiplication speed of toxic emissions in recent decades has pushed nature's ability to respond and prevent the effects of climate-induced risks. Catastrophic floods and fires occur in regions that were safe in the past affecting both humans and wild species without discrimination.

United Nations set the SDG 15 to emphasize biodiversity and its relevance for the planet's wellbeing. The disequilibrium between human actions and the natural environment is identified as critical, while the threats are discussed in a broader context, including both people and the planet, meaning that the ecological dimension is recognized accordingly as a stand-alone priority. 

List of topic areas

  • Biodiversity loss-free economic development patterns;
  • Biodiversity-neutral climate change mitigation policies and practices;
  • SDG 15-oriented actions and models;
  • Biodiversity accounting models for sustainable future;
  • Ecosystem integrated energy transition options.

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see:  journal’s author guidelines hyperlink

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to "Please select the issue you are submitting to". 

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else while under review for this journal.

Click here to submit!

Key deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 10th December, 2024

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 1st May, 2025    

Email for submissions: [email protected]