ABSTRACT Despite South Korea's extensive forest coverage, which accounts for approximately 63% of its total land area, the country imports over 83% of its timber needs and has shown a gradual decline in forest carbon sequestration capacity. The Circular Forest Management Policy (CFMP) addresses these challenges through systematic forest resource management aimed at establishing sustainable utilization cycles and enhancing carbon removals. However, public awareness remains low while environmental stakeholders express skepticism toward tree harvesting components, creating fundamental obstacles to policy success and threatening Korea's Nationally Determined Contributions targets. This study examines how communication framing strategies impact citizen support and behavioral intentions regarding CFMP. We conducted a survey experiment ( n = 402) using positive versus negative frames combined with three scenarios: carbon neutrality, economic incentives, and ecological sustainability. Participants were randomly assigned to one of six groups and assessed on policy support and behavioral intentions. Results demonstrate that negative framing significantly increases policy support by activating loss aversion bias. Economic and ecological scenarios each proved more effective than carbon neutrality messaging, though with distinct patterns across outcome measures. These findings indicate that strategic message framing represents a critical component for achieving meaningful policy communication and public engagement in forest management initiatives.

ABSTRACT Nature‐based solutions (NBS) for climate adaptation encompass a range of approaches that work with nature to increase resilience to climate change while providing ecological, economic and social co‐benefits. These solutions have frequently been put forward for application in urban contexts, such as the creation of urban forests, but can likewise be applied to rural contexts where they may, for example, prevent soil erosion. However, NBS face numerous barriers to being considered on equal footing with technical climate adaptation interventions. Previous research that has sought to address this issue has focused on conceptual frameworks, on the one hand, and practical guidance on how to quantify the benefits provided by NBS, on the other. In this article, we supplement these existing frameworks by providing practical recommendations for the whole decision‐making cycle, from identification of objectives to the monitoring and scaling up of chosen interventions. We draw from a wide range of literature to, first, outline the barriers to the inclusion of NBS and, second, present policy recommendations for each step of the climate adaptation process. We find that policy recommendations which span across all decision‐making steps are: choosing a participatory decision‐making approach, involving a wide range of experts, considering social justice implications, and creating a legal and regulatory framework which can accommodate NBS. While we put an emphasis on climate adaptation, most of the recommendations presented here are not limited to this context.

ABSTRACT Global sustainability policy demands coordination among domain‐specific policies, yet a major challenge persists in policy monitoring and reporting, where various, often uncoordinated indicator initiatives exist. To address this challenge, we apply a network approach to investigate linkages between the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15, Life on Land), the indicators of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and those used in assessments of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs). Network analysis is a well‐known tool but to the best of our knowledge remains largely unexplored to analyse indicator linkages. Our findings indicate limited interconnectivity (number and type of cross‐set linkages) among the selected indicator sets. Nevertheless, we identify direct network linkages showing that most SDG 15 indicators could draw upon data or other information (e.g., methodological) from Aichi indicators, IPBES indicators, or EBVs. Findings show the potential of EBVs to deliver policy‐relevant information, but this warrants further research. We identify indicators and EBVs with a key role in the network and discuss advantages and limitations of our network approach. We show the utility of the approach to linking multiple policy agendas, and argue that—if applied more widely—it can promote a more coordinated sustainability policy monitoring and reporting.

ABSTRACT An advanced exploration of polycentric climate governance is essential to achieve global mitigation goals. This study draws on social network analysis, surveys, and 86 qualitative interviews with policy actors in the Indian power sector. It investigates the role of the state in enabling or constraining actor participation versus the extent to which actors self‐organise into belief‐based coalitions to influence energy transition policy. By engaging with political economy frameworks, the paper furthers the literature on polycentric governance, unravelling actor interests and relationships. The results show that while India's power sector includes a diverse set of policy actors, they do not form coalitions based on shared policy beliefs. Rather, the central government plays a dominant role, influencing the extent to which different actors participate in the polycentric policy network. However, this central state apparatus itself is non‐monolithic with uneven power dynamics across its various agencies and ministries. The Indian government pushed ambitious clean energy policies to encourage self‐organisation between subnational government and private players. Civil society operates in a limited policy space, invited to participate to carry out the national energy transition policy agenda. The selective empowerment of actors by the central state has reshaped governance towards increased renewable energy adoption. However, the imbalanced participation of different actors may limit the potential for rapid and deep decarbonisation. Future work should study how an increasingly dominant private sector empowered by the state and a civil society that is nudged to the periphery impacts climate coalition building within polycentric networks.

ABSTRACT The attention paid to justice dimensions in societal change toward decarbonization and resilience is growing in sustainability governance and research. “Just transition” is emerging as an emblematic concept in these discussions, yet there has been limited systematic stock‐taking of the major strands of research in this area. This paper aims to analyse the evolution of the “just transition” concept in the context of sustainability in empirical and theoretical scholarly literature. The paper provides comprehensive mapping and analysis of key trends and themes in peer‐reviewed literature, which could contribute to conceptual clarity around just transitions. We explore the scope of changes, i.e., whether and how the studies engage with narrower sector‐wise changes or broader profound societal changes; what justice dimensions are highlighted and in what ways; and what geographies dominate the research field. The analysis builds on a review of 491 peer‐reviewed papers published between 1998 and 2023. The literature on just transitions has expanded rapidly since 2020, with growing conceptual breadth and sectoral relevance. While papers frequently emphasize distributive justice in decarbonization processes in industrial regions, later studies also integrate procedural, recognitional, ecological, and emerging justice dimensions like planetary and intergenerational justice. Transitions are increasingly understood as complex, interconnected cultural, social, technological, economic, and political changes. However, most empirical studies focus on high‐income countries, with growing—but limited—coverage of middle‐ and low‐income contexts. This geographic imbalance risks reinforcing power asymmetries. Broader case diversity is needed to make the concept of just transitions applicable across varied socio‐economic, cultural and environmental settings.

ABSTRACT High mountain forests are critical socio‐ecological systems, sustaining biodiversity, regulating hydrological cycles, and supporting the livelihoods of millions globally. Across Africa and other tropical regions, community‐based forest governance has emerged as a pivotal framework for reconciling conservation and livelihood objectives, aligning with global initiatives such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. In Nigeria, the Obudu and Mambilla highlands represent fragile montane ecosystems increasingly threatened by deforestation, unsustainable land use, and climate change. Despite the strategic ecological and cultural importance of these highland forests, limited scholarly attention has been given to the role of local communities in their management and conservation. This paper foregrounds community‐led and multi‐actor approaches to forest governance as vital pathways for addressing the intertwined challenges of environmental degradation and rural livelihoods. By situating the Nigerian highland experience within broader African and global debates on participatory forest management, the paper draws on case studies from the Obudu Plateau and Mambilla Highlands to examine traditional ecological knowledge, cultural practices, and evolving partnerships between local actors, government agencies, and non‐governmental organizations. The paper highlights how community stewardship practices counteract the drivers of forest loss while navigating structural barriers such as weak policy implementation and land tenure insecurity. It also explores how emerging policy frameworks including Nigeria's National Forest Policy (2020) and community‐based forest management guidelines shape local agency, rights, and institutional collaboration within highland conservation. The paper argues that strengthening local participation through inclusive, adaptive governance frameworks is essential for sustaining highland forest ecosystems and securing socio‐economic resilience for upland communities. By linking local initiatives to wider regional and international governance frameworks, this paper contributes to global debates on decolonial and justice‐oriented conservation models. This approach opens transformative possibilities for reimagining conservation beyond technocratic solutions, centering the agency of Indigenous and rural actors in environmental decision‐making.

ABSTRACT The loss of biodiversity presents one of the most pressing societal challenges of our time. Insects play a crucial role for biodiversity in terms of ecosystem services and food provision. Although insects receive increasing public and academic attention, the development of policy mixes for insect conservation remains challenging. In Germany, insects crawled onto the political agenda in 2019 with the release of the national action programme for insect conservation. We use this empirical case to analyse the agenda‐setting process of the emerging policy mix for insect conservation. We combine an actor‐centred understanding of the policy process along the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) with the policy mix concept for transitions, focusing on policy mix elements. Our contribution is twofold: First, we apply the policy mix concept for transitions to a new (low‐tech) empirical case (insect conservation policy in Germany), thereby further concretising the concept for empirical analysis. Second, we use insights from policy process theories, the MSF in particular, to unpack the policy process focusing on two key actor concepts (the policy entrepreneur and the problem broker). We find that streams do not unfold arbitrarily, but that the three streams are interdependent, with different actor roles playing a crucial role in shaping the coupling of streams.

ABSTRACT While the body of environmental governance research (EGR) continues to grow, it does not appear to become more coherent or cumulable. A lack of knowledge cumulation—defined as the systematic building on previous knowledge by broadening, deepening, contextualizing, questioning or rejecting existing theories and empirical evidence—may hinder both scientific progress and policy relevance. In the interdisciplinary field of EGR, the cumulation of knowledge faces a number of challenges, including epistemological discrepancies; interdisciplinary plurality of concepts, theories, methods and research questions; and an academic incentive system that prioritizes novelty and originality over sustained engagement with prior research. For the first time in EGR, this Special Issue on Knowledge Cumulation in Environmental Governance Research conceptually and empirically explores (a) how knowledge cumulation relates to interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, epistemic justice, action orientation, and policy relevance; (b) how the degree of knowledge cumulation in the field can be assessed, and with what results; (c) which methods support knowledge cumulation; and (d) what generally hinders knowledge cumulation, and how these obstacles can be overcome. The findings are manifold. Within and across several subfields of EGR, epistemological positions, research questions, understandings of key concepts, theories, methods, and author networks prove to be highly fragmented. Structural academic incentives, such as the emphasis on novelty, further inhibit knowledge cumulation. At the same time, interdisciplinary knowledge integration, dialogue and collaboration across knowledge holders and epistemic communities, and research practices and publication formats designed to facilitate knowledge cumulation, offer promising avenues to address the challenges in EGR.

ABSTRACT Through the Just Transition Fund, the EU aims to support regions that face unemployment and declining welfare due to the green transition, primarily by supporting diversification of the economy. In northern Sweden, the fund targets the steel industry. We investigate how the allocation of the Fund is understood and justified by the EU, Swedish national‐level authorities, the steel industry, and residents, including workers, to support a sector not at direct risk of closure and already dominating the regional economy. Our study finds that the following assumptions underlie this allocation: that the green transition means reducing emissions; and that achieving justice in transition means supporting large industries, such as the steel industry, to secure regional jobs. Taken together, justice in transition is framed as climate‐change mitigation support for high‐emitting companies to ensure regional welfare. Described as rational and effective, actors at all levels view this as a logical choice for allocation. This frame is challenged, however, as residents fear that prioritizing large‐scale industrial development risks deepening local injustices, through deteriorating public services, increasing local tensions around Sámi land rights, shortages of housing and labour force, and growing power asymmetries between industry and municipality. Our study shows what ‘justice’ and ‘transition’ are made to be in the implementation of the Just Transition Fund in northern Sweden, and how these reflect but also diverge from the overarching narrative of the European green transition.