Abstract Achieving transformative progress on sustainability goals is dependent on synergistic actions across multiple policy domains. This identifies requirements for more coherent and integrated approaches to sustainable management of natural resource (SMNR) across land and sea, including air, water, soil, and geological resources. The challenge is further emphasised by severity and cross-cutting dimensions of nature loss and climate change crises. To help address this challenge, a general systems-based framework for SMNR was developed to facilitate co-ordinated knowledge exchange across the science–policy interface. Inspiration was provided by the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act in Wales, which obligates major policy innovation to sustain intergenerational wellbeing at a level beyond the current UN SDGs, including robust formulation of target outcomes and indicators. The SMNR framework, therefore, aimed to cross-reference primary outcomes for ecosystem resilience, natural resource management, and human wellbeing. Outcomes were linked through a circular reinforcing systems loop emphasising both ‘nature’s contributions to people’ relationships (including ecosystem services) and adaptive regenerative actions working with natural processes. Candidate indicators representing key concepts were also defined. The framework was applied in Wales through systems mapping to show relationships across policy domains. This highlighted added value of linked headline indicators with hierarchical components, exemplified by resource footprint metrics. Key issues from stakeholder engagement included long-term ‘reference conditions’, cross-scale integration, and inclusivity through multiple values. Major knowledge gaps exist regarding diverse relationships between nature and wellbeing, together with associated behaviours and actions, and hence efficacy of different actions for regenerating both natural and social systems. These issues highlight the need for flexibility, ongoing learning and adaptive capacity as integral to regenerative systems design.

Climate change consequences, such as severe droughts, water shortages, wildfires, rising sea levels, floods, polar ice melt, catastrophic storms, and biodiversity loss, significantly impact the achievement of the SDGs. These adverse effects exacerbate the frequency and magnitude of disasters, thereby increasing the need for effective HOs and disaster management policies. HOs are essential for balancing short-term emergency responses with long-term economic and social development interventions. Considering this context, we develop a systems thinking approach to identify key interconnections and intervention points at the intersection of climate change (CC), the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and humanitarian operations (HOs), using a systematic literature review (SLR) and causal loop diagrams (CLDs). These diagrams provide a visual representation of how different variables interact, allowing for a deeper understanding of where interventions can be most effective. This holistic approach is crucial for achieving the long-term goals of resilience and sustainability in the face of growing climate challenges. Additionally, we use heat maps to depict the intensity and distribution of relationships across different variables. Key findings highlight the need for innovative policies that integrate nature-based solutions and advanced climate data analytics to strengthen disaster preparedness and response. For example, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions stands out as a strategic leverage point that simultaneously contributes to climate change mitigation, disaster risk reduction, and progress across multiple SDGs. Moreover, the findings underscore the importance of advancing carbon sequestration techniques to mitigate climate change impacts effectively. Addressing these research gaps can contribute to developing more effective strategies for managing climate risks and promoting sustainable development.

Abstract The food, energy, and water domains are strongly interrelated. The body of literature investigating these interlinkages developed into water–energy–food and, more recently, ecosystem (WEFE) nexus thinking. The WEFE nexus is concerned with cross-sectoral resource management requiring dedicated WEFE governance approaches. Among the existing WEFE nexus conceptualizations, the one that places the ecosystem at the center emphasizes the importance of ecosystem services for human well-being and as the basis for the functioning of the water, energy, and food domains. Such conceptualization, however, lacks clear definition and explanation of implications for WEFE nexus governance as well as practical tools for implementation. Accordingly, based on an in-depth analysis of WEFE nexus interlinkages, associated governance challenges, and practical experience, we propose the WEFE Nexus Governance Approach as an operationalization of the ecosystem-centric WEFE nexus conceptual framework. This approach takes policy coherence and stakeholder co-creation at its core, integrated with quantitative modeling of WEFE nexus interlinkages, and is organized in four steps: problem identification; formulation of substantive ambitions through stakeholder dialogue; embedding of ambitions and action into a stakeholder agreement; and implementation of actions. The approach is oriented to practical application and can be implemented by any actor (e.g., research institutes, governments, non-governmental organizations) having the ambition to initiate a stakeholders co-creation process toward nexus governance in a specific context. Furthermore, it can be applied to different scales and nexus domains depending on the identified nexus problems, while accounting for the vital role of ecosystem services. The approach’s applicability and needs for future research are discussed. Graphical abstract

Abstract Agrivoltaics, which integrate solar photovoltaics with diverse agricultural activities on shared land, can play a pivotal role in advancing global decarbonization and agricultural innovation. Several European Union (EU) countries, states in the United States (US), and Asia Pacific nations are increasingly targeting the development of agrivoltaics. This includes Italy’s €1.7 billion investment to deploy 1.04 gigawatts (GW) of agrivoltaics and the US allocation of USD 75 million to agrivoltaics market incentives. In Australia, large-scale agrivoltaics are currently hindered by policy inertia, legal gaps, and absent market incentives to address emerging tensions between agricultural land use and renewable energy developments. In New South Wales (NSW), Australia, the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap aims to develop 12 GW of new renewable energy capacity and 2 GW of long-duration storage by establishing Renewable Energy Zones, primarily situated within rural areas. In response, the potential agricultural land alienation and fragmentation has prompted several planning and community engagement inquiries between 2022 and 2024. When regulated effectively, agrivoltaics presents a solution to clarify, protect, and enable agricultural landholder rights, stimulate planning policy innovation, and activate new energy market mechanisms. As a nascent socio-technical practice in NSW, agrivoltaics projects are developing iteratively due to the absence of agrivoltaic-specific planning policy, regulation, market incentives, and legal frameworks. This structural failure creates barriers to agrivoltaics scaling and may undermine social acceptance. This study conducts the first scaling readiness analysis of agrivoltaics in NSW, an emerging Australian state in agrivoltaic grazing practices, examining policy, regulation, market settings, and legal agreements creating obstacles and uncertainties. It presents key regulatory and legal reform recommendations to support scaling a commercially viable agrivoltaics sector promoting good grazing practices and enhancing social outcomes.

Abstract This paper examines the implications of an energy transition characterized by the widespread adoption of renewable energy sources, distributed energy assets, and digitalization, using South Australia as a central case study. By leveraging and adapting the concept of “Electrical Hybridization” (Verdeil and Jaglin, 2023), we show how South Australia’s ambitious energy policies, which integrate economic growth with decarbonization, are transforming its electricity system. This transformation requires both the reinforcement of the electricity network (reticulation) and the extensive deployment of distributed energy assets (heterogeneity). An additional trend, coordination, is emerging as a crucial element in South Australia, facilitating the control of distributed energy assets through smart interfaces and digital networks. We then analyse the system-wide evolutions driven by the convergence of renewable energy transition and digitalization, detailing the evolving energy governance arrangements and underlining the significant interaction between public bodies and private initiatives in investments and regulatory reforms. Finally, we explore the broader implications of these developments, raising critical questions around decentralization, local empowerment, and participation in the energy transition. We conclude by suggesting that further research is essential to fully understand the complex, intertwined effects of the renewable and digital transitions.

Abstract Relational values contribute to the pluralistic valuation of nature by providing a unique perspective beyond the dichotomy of intrinsic and instrumental values. This study examines how the Nagara River Basin in central Japan is relationally valued by locals and the factors influencing their evaluation. The Nagara River Basin is home to approximately 830,000 people and deeply connected to the local economy and culture. We subjected data from an online survey of 2031 respondents living in the river basin to exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to explore the factors that impact the level of relational values. We found that the residents of the basin valued the river in two relational ways: their own self-identity and well-being (RV-self), and the community or the social relationships that are built around the river (RV-others). Structural equation modeling revealed that RV-self was significantly correlated with the number of activities that the respondents engaged in around the river, and special knowledge of the traditional interactions between people and the Nagara River. Furthermore, RV-others was significantly correlated with the number of activities engaged in by the respondents around the river, childhood experiences in nature, social interactions around the river, and general knowledge regarding the Nagara River. These findings provide insight into how relational values can be developed, suggesting a direction for future research on how these factors can be used to develop pro-environmental behavior and promote the well-being of local communities.

The assessment of the sustainability status of territories is a prerequisite for the development of public policy strategies to be implemented on them aimed at attaining established sustainability goals. A socioenvironmental systems perspective, in which economic, social and environmental aspects constituting these territories and their interactions between them are considered, allows for a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of these systems. Given the complexity of such systems, sets of indicators are required to simplify and quantify them. Here, we developed a model of the dynamics of the socioenvironmental system associated with the Usumacinta River basin (URB), a 77,000 km2 area shared by Guatemala and Mexico. We fed this model with information from a system of 51 sustainability indicators and modeled the relationships between these indicators, as well as developed indices to visualize the sustainability status of these components. This allowed us to evaluate the impact of different scenarios of change in the indicators of public policy on the entire URB system. We determine that the URB displays a good state of its natural component and of the impact human activities have in the territory; however, components associated with the human activities themselves, their drivers, the social condition and the human assets displayed differences in their sustainability status between countries. Concerning the evaluation of scenarios of changes in the magnitude of the public policy indicators, we established that Ecosystem Services payment increases the overall sustainability of the territory. We conclude that both environmental protection and social investment should be considered if socioenvironmental sustainability is to be attained.