Mushroom biotech startups help address global challenges.

International parties are paying more attention to the State of Qatar's efforts to advance human well-being and fulfil sustainable development goals. This paper looks at and assesses the State of Qatar's initiatives as well as the policies the Qatari government has implemented to advance human capital and well-being in order to accomplish sustainable development. In this context, the paper contends that there is a strong relationship between investment in human capital and the state's ability to accomplish sustainable development and human well-being. Consequently, by emphasising the development of human capital at the economic, social, and environmental levels, the State of Qatar may put sustainable public policies into practice. The rights of future generations can be preserved while also achieving the current generations' aims for sustainable development. The paper has been divided in two key parts. The theoretical and analytical framework is presented first. The focus will be on how human capital is conceptualised, where it comes from theoretically, and how it relates to sustainable development. The second section centres on the State of Qatar's endeavours concerning human capital investment. The discussion reflects how such efforts affect the government's capacity to accomplish the sustainable development objectives as outlined in the Qatar National Vision 2030. Preliminary research results on the relationship between investing in human capital and achieving sustainable development indicates that investing in human capital improves and expands workforce competencies throughout the country's numerous sectors. As a result, it becomes simpler for those officials to carry out their responsibilities in the field of sustainable development to the fullest.

Evaluating progress in human development and well-being is imperative for policymakers to assess the impact of their policies. Traditional measurement methods focus mostly on economic growth and socio-economic objectives, often neglecting vital components of the natural environment, particularly the ecological determinants essential for the sustainability of human well-being. The tension between sustainability and development becomes apparent as the recognition of the dependence of human well-being on the natural environment and ecosystem services is crucial for safeguarding the environment for present and future generations. This highlights the necessity for indicators that capture the intricate relationship between human well-being and environmental changes while addressing the challenges posed by the tension between sustainable practices and traditional development models. This paper presents a literature review examining the domains, dimensions, and indicators related to the sustainability of human well-being regarding economic, social, and natural environments. Emphasizing the multidimensional nature, this paper highlights the drawbacks of relying solely on socioeconomic indicators for assessment. The review explores diverse concepts and methodologies proposed to evaluate the components and multidimensional factors influencing the sustainability of human well-being. Ultimately it offers a holistic understanding serving as a foundation for further research and policy development.

Introduction: History and Conceptual Framework Carol J. Pierce Colfer and Yvonne Byron, with Ravi Prabhu and Eva Wollenberg Section One: Gender and Diversity in Forest Management 1. Gender and Diversity in Assessing Sustainable Forest Management and Human Well-Being: Reflections on Assessment Methods Tests Conducted in Bulungan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia Cynthia L. McDougall 2. The Place of Rural Women in the Management of Forest Resources: The Case of Mbalmayo and Neighboring Areas in Cameroon Anne Marie Tiani 3. Changing Gender Relationships and Forest Use: A Case Study from Komassi, Cameroon Katrina Brown and Sandrine Lapuyade Section Two: A Conservation Ethic in Forest Management 4. Traditional Knowledge and Practice of Biodiversity Conservation: The Benuaq Dayak Community of East Kalimantan, Indonesia Mustofa Agung Sardjono and Ismayadi Samsoedin 5. Assessing People's Perceptions of Forests: Research in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Joseph Woelfel, Reed L. Wadley, and Emily Harwell 6. In Search of a Conservation Ethic Agus Salim, Mary Ann Brocklesby, Anne Marie Tiani, Bertin Tchikangwa, Mustofa Agung Sardjono, Roberto Porro, Joseph Woelfel, and Carol J. Pierce Colfer Section Three: Security of Intergenerational Access to Resources 7. Intergenerational Equity and Sharing of Benefits in a Developing Island State: Research in Trinidad Mario G nter 8. Assessing Intergenerational Access to Resources: Using Criteria and Indicators in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Reed L. Wadley, Emily Harwell, and Ravi Prabhu 9. Sustainability and Security of Intergenerational Access to Resources: Participatory Mapping Studies in Gabon Norbert Gami and Robert Nasi 10. Soil Fertility and the Generation Gap: The B n of Southern Cameroon Diane Russell and Nicod me Tchamou 11. Access to Resources in Forest-Rich and Forest-Poor Contexts Roberto Porro, Anne Marie Tiani, Bertin Tchikangwa, Mustofa Agung Sardjono, Agus Salim, Carol J. Pierce Colfer, and Mary Ann Brocklesby Section Four: Rights and Responsibilities to Manage Cooperatively and Equitably 12. From 'Participation' to 'Rights and Responsibilities' in Forest Management: Workable Methods and Unworkable Assumptions in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Carol J. Pierce Colfer and Reed L. Wadley 13. Rights and Means to Manage Cooperatively and Equitably: Forest Management among Brazilian Transamazon Colonists Noemi Miyasaka Porro 14. Rights to Manage the Forest Cooperatively and Equitably in Forest-Rich and Forest-Poor Contexts Bertin Tchikangwa, Mary Ann Brocklesby, Anne Marie Tiani, Mustofa Agung Sardjono, Roberto Porro, Agus Salim, and Carol J. Pierce Colfer Section Five: Comparisons: Geograhical and Temporal 15. Sustainable Rural Communities: General Principles and North American Indicators Joseph A. Tainter 16. Forest Cover Change Analysis as a Proxy: Sustainability Assessment Using Remote Sensing and GIS in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Rona A. Dennis, Carol J. Pierce Colfer, and Atie Puntodewo Conclusion: Concluding Remarks and Next Steps References Index

What is the role of startups within the innovation ecosystem? Since 2000, startups have grown in their share of commercializing research from top U.S. universities; however, prior work has little to say on the particular advantages of startup ventures in the innovation process relative to more traditional alternatives such as academia and established private-sector incumbents. We develop a simple model of startup advantage based on private information held by the initial inventor, and generate predictions related to the value and impact of startup innovation. We then explore these predictions using patents granted within the regional ecosystems of top-25 research universities from 2000 to 2015. Our results show a significant startup advantage in terms of forward citations and outlier-patent rates. Further, startup innovation is both more original and more general than innovation by incumbent firms. Moreover, startups that survive to become "scale-ups" quickly grow to dominate their regional innovation ecosystems. Our findings have important implications for innovation policy.

THE visit of Mr. Wilson to Europe, and to England especially, is an event of the highest moment, not merely because it is the first time that a President of the United States has left the shores of his great and powerful country, but also because he has come upon a mission of grave consequence—so grave, indeed, that he has deliberately set aside all precedent—to the civilisation of the world, and to help in the settlement of the public affairs of a continent plunged into a welter of confusion unparalleled in the history of man. He comes, though a participator, and in large measure a determining factor, in the victorious issue of the colossal efforts made to meet the imposing onslaught on men's liberties on the part of a great autocracy backed by all the immense resources of modern science, with a message of reconciliation and goodwill to the nations concerned in the dreadful struggle of the last four and a half years. We are all now confronted with the arduous dufy of laying the foundations of a new polity which shall assure the means, through long years of tribulation it may be, of a progressive, contented life in harmony with the well-being of humanity. Mr. Wilson comes armed with the spirit of right and justice; he will maintain the one and demand the other, and he trusts to the essential power of these two great principles to ensure the conditions of a firm, just, and lasting peace. He has shown himself, from the time he led his nation into the struggle, to be a man of high courage, with a real grasp of affairs, and of unwavering loyalty to high ideals and to the truth; and his visit here has been hailed with delight by all men of goodwill.

Modeling air quality regulation by green infrastructure in a Mediterranean coastal urban area: The removal of PM10 in the Metropolitan City of Naples (Italy)

The formation of the Coalition government in 2010 has resulted in unprecedented spending cuts presented as necessary austerity, together with the promotion of the ‘Big Society’ as the panacea for social ills. This article argues that the cuts continue a thirty-year process of redistribution to the rich. Rather than being a necessary response to the economic crisis, they constitute a neo-liberal shock doctrine, forcing through punitive policies which undermine the collective provision against risk that constitutes the ‘just’s umbrella’. However, arguments for reduced consumption and self-organization in civil society have purchase partly because of real needs for sustainable development and human well-being. Reading austerity and the Big Society through a ‘hermeneutics of faith’ rather than a ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’ opens up the utopian possibility of thinking holistically about an alternative, equitable, sustainable future radically different from that offered by conventional politics.

Biodiversity is the variability of living organisms from all sources, including diversity within a single species, between multiple species, and within ecosystems. It can also be used to refer to all the species of living organisms in a region or an ecosystem. It includes all flora, fauna, and microorganisms of an ecosystem. The biodiversity is essential to keep an ecosystem going as every organism has a peculiar place and position in the ecosystem. It underpins the provision of food, fiber, and water. It mitigates and provides resilience to climate change. It constitutes the living natural resources that are found inhabiting our aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Biodiversity is essential for sustainable development and human well-being as it helps mitigate climate change and reduce disaster risk. It is vulnerable to various threats, most of which revolve around anthropogenic activities. Plants and animals across the globe are disappearing at an alarming rate. Preventive measures, if not taken well in time, could lead to a mass destruction of biodiversity, which would consequently threaten the existence of living organisms on this planet.

The increase in population and rapid industrial development have resulted in surface water pollution that stresses groundwater resources to ensure sustainable consumption and human well-being. The present study was aimed to assess the physico-chemical characteristics and heavy metal concentration of groundwater in Aizawl city. The study also seeks to determine the indicator parameters of water quality through analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation coefficient in relation to physico-chemical properties. The results revealed that all physico-chemical parameters were within the regulatory standards, except turbidity (80.9 NTU) and phosphate (0.6365 mg/L). Trace amounts of Zinc (Zn) and Copper (Cu) were also present; however, Iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn) slightly exceeded (Fe: 1.162 mg/L; Mn: 0.6892 mg/L) the permissible limit. Statistically, two-way ANOVA revealed that temperature, chloride, total alkalinity (TA), total hardness (TH), calcium, and dissolved oxygen (DO) were significant (p<0.001) both between sites and seasons. Further, TH showed positive and significant correlation with total dissolved solid (TDS) (R2=0.792), chloride (R2=0.52), TA (R2=0.62), calcium (R2=0.88), and Zn (R2=0.61). Conversely, DO demonstrated negative and significant correlation with turbidity (R2=-0.73), chloride (R2=-0.52), phosphates (R2=-0.70), ammonia (R2=-0.81), and Mn (R2=-0.58). These results indicate that the analysis of TH and DO can serve function as proxies for indirectly indicating the presence and concentrations of the other correlated water quality parameters. Thus, TH and DO act as indicator parameters for water quality in holistic groundwater monitoring in Aizawl. The identification of water quality indicator parameters can play a key role in future research for cost-effective, rapid, and seasonal groundwater monitoring to ensure the sustainable management of this resource.

Measuring the cross-border spillover effects and telecoupling processes of ecosystem services in Western China

abstractAs a means to preserve present and future generations' living conditions, sustainable consumption presents a route to the enhanced well‐being of individuals. However, the occurrence of the COVID‐19 pandemic raises the question of whether society is going to continue down a path of increased awareness of sustainable consumption or whether the pandemic will move people to focus more on themselves. Based on data gathered before and near the end of the first pandemic lockdown in Germany in spring 2020, this research demonstrates that ecological, social, and voluntary simplicity consciousness deteriorated in the minds of sustainability‐conscious consumers, with notable impacts on their willingness to spend sustainably and their shopping affinity. Furthermore, we identify segments that show particular vulnerability to the lockdown by reacting with a decrease in their ecological consumption consciousness. This study concludes with a discussion of the pandemic's implications for the spread of sustainable consumption styles and human well‐being.

Understanding how green spaces foster sense of place is critical for sustainable urban planning and human well-being, yet no comprehensive synthesis has integrated findings across the fragmented literature spanning multiple disciplines. This systematic review analyzed 497 empirical studies examining green space-place attachment relationships, following PRISMA guidelines across three major databases through June 2025. Beyond documenting the field’s rapid growth—from 10 annual publications pre-2010 to over 50 by 2021—this review reveals critical patterns and gaps with implications for theory and practice. While the term ‘place attachment’ was most frequently used (45% of studies), the field employs diverse terminology often without clear definitional boundaries. Only 18% comprehensively addressed the Person-Process-Place tripartite model, with process dimensions particularly neglected. This theoretical incompleteness limits the understanding of how attachments form and evolve. Geographic analysis exposed severe disparities: 78% of studies originated from high-income countries, with Africa (2.4%) and South America (3.6%) critically underrepresented, raising questions about the applicability of current theories beyond Western contexts. Urban settings dominated (49.5%), potentially overlooking rural and indigenous perspectives essential for comprehensive understanding. Methodologically, studies demonstrated sophistication through strategic deployment of quantitative (60%), qualitative (15%), and mixed methods (25%). Key thematic areas, residence duration, restorative benefits, and pro-environmental behaviors, showed promise, yet environmental justice remained underexplored despite its critical importance. This synthesis advances the field by identifying specific pathways for progress: expanding geographic representation to develop culturally inclusive theories, employing longitudinal designs to capture attachment formation processes, developing validated cross-cultural measures, and centering environmental justice in green space planning. These findings provide essential guidance for creating equitable green spaces that foster meaningful human-nature connections across diverse global contexts.

Urbanization is a major driver of environmental change and is closely linked to the future of biodiversity. Cities can host a high richness of plants and animals, and this urban biodiversity supports multiple regulating, provisioning and cultural ecosystem services. Developing biodiversity-friendly cities is thus inextricably linked to sustainable urban development and human wellbeing. The contributions to this Special Issue on “Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Urban Development” in the journal Sustainability illustrate the role of urban environments as pressures on biodiversity, and envision pathways towards developing more biodiverse urban environments that are accepted and supported by people. Contributions reveal promising opportunities for conserving biodiversity within many urban landscapes. The insights from this Special Issue can support urban conservation policies and their implementation in the development of sustainable cities.

The urban ecosystem services index as a new indicator for sustainable urban planning and human well-being in cities

Regional inequality significantly influences sustainable development and human well-being. In China, there exists pronounced regional disparities in economic and digital advancements; however, scant research delves into the interplay between them. By analyzing the economic development and digitalization gaps at regional and city levels in China, extending the original Cobb-Douglas production function, this study aims to evaluate the impact of digitalization on China’s regional inequality using seemingly unrelated regression. The results indicate a greater emphasis on digital inequality compared to economic disparity, with variable coefficients of 0.59 for GDP per capita and 0.92 for the digitalization index over the past four years. However, GDP per capita demonstrates higher spatial concentration than digitalization. Notably, both disparities have shown a gradual reduction in recent years. The southeastern region of the Hu Huanyong Line exhibits superior levels and rates of economic and digital advancement in contrast to the northwestern region. While digitalization propels economic growth, it yields a nuanced impact on achieving balanced regional development, encompassing both positive and negative facets. Our study highlights that the marginal utility of advancing digitalization is more pronounced in less developed regions, but only if the government invests in the digital infrastructure and education in these areas. This study’s methodology can be utilized for subsequent research, and our findings hold the potential to the government’s regional investment and policy-making.