You are currently viewing a new version of our website. To view the old version click .
  • 30 daysTime to First Decision

Challenges

Challenges — Journal of Planetary Health is a transdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal focused on planetary health and the interconnected Grand Challenges affecting human wellbeing and flourishing of all life on Earth.
Published quarterly online by MDPI, it accelerates cross-sectoral solutions for sustainable, just, and regenerative futures by integrating insights from the natural, social and health sciences, and the humanities. The journal welcomes contributions that address the social, economic, political, and spiritual dimensions of global challenges, as well as biophysical threats to planetary boundaries. The Nova Network is affiliated with Challenges — Journal of Planetary Health, and the journal supports the global agenda of the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA).

All Articles (511)

This study analyzes the relational architecture of Brazilian traceable beef exports using a tripartite network model that connects certified meatpacking plants, AgriTrace sustainability protocols, and importing countries. By leveraging export authorization data from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, it is shown that certification protocols function not merely as compliance tools but as relational governance infrastructures, mediating legitimacy, market access, and coordination within global value chains. Bipartite projections allowed the deriving and analyzing of two secondary networks: one mapping connections between meatpacking plants that share certifications, and the other linking consumer nations through common supply channels. The meatpacking plant network displays high modularity, featuring two dominant clusters alongside several smaller, regionally coherent clusters. This structure reflects diverse governance capabilities and strategic certification adoptions. Conversely, the consumer nation network shows lower modularity but identifies central hubs that organize international demand and signal regulatory alignment. These patterns reveal underlying dynamics of coopetition, where actors collaborate through shared standards yet compete through innovation. By integrating the Inner Development Goals (IDG) framework, it is revealed internal capacities, such as trust, complexity awareness, and shared purpose, underpinning the efficacy of traceability systems as ethical and adaptive infrastructures. This values-based lens provides a novel perspective on how technical systems can foster resilient, inclusive, and sustainable trade, thereby contributing to planetary health and human-centered development in global livestock governance.

16 October 2025

Tripartite directed network of certified Brazilian beef exports showing relational dependencies among meatpacking plants, certification protocols, and consumer nations. The relative size of labels and nodes is associated with their centrality in the network.

What Factors Influence Cardamom Farmers to Adopt a Range of Climate-Resilient Practices?

  • Shreesha Pandeya,
  • Binayak Prakash Mishra and
  • Sushmita Bhatta

The hilly and mountainous regions of Nepal provide a suitable environment for the cultivation of large cardamom, a high-value cash crop with significant global market potential. However, climate change poses significant threats to its production and the livelihoods of farmers dependent on this crop. To cope with these challenges, adopting climate-resilient agricultural practices is essential, particularly among smallholder farmers of rural communities. However, the extent of their implementation remains largely unknown. We surveyed 158 households in Ilam and Tehrathum districts to assess the adoption intensity of climate-resilient practices among large cardamom farmers using the Ordered Probit Model. Findings revealed considerable variation in the adoption intensity of climate-resilient practices. Traditional practices like tillering, weeding, and irrigation were highly adopted, while more innovative, knowledge-intensive methods were less adopted. Education was found to have a positive influence on the high adoption intensity of climate-resilient practices. Each additional unit of year of schooling increases the probability of high adoption of practices by 3.4%. Membership in farmers’ groups increases the likelihood of high adoption by 12.9%, while labor availability and regular extension contact rises by 21.9% and 17.8%, respectively. Similarly, age shows a smaller but significant effect, increasing adoption by 0.5% at p-value = 0.08. The use of traditional practices is common; however, the uptake of scientifically recommended practices for climate resilience remains limited. Policy initiatives focusing on farmer education, promoting farmer organizations, addressing labor shortages, and strengthening extension services are important for enhancing resilience in the large cardamom sector of Nepal.

10 October 2025

Location of the study areas: Laligurans Municipality (C) and Rong Rural Municipality (D) within the respective Tehrathum and Ilam districts (B) of Nepal (A).

A New Era for Challenges: Celebrating 15 Years with a Fresh Identity as Challenges—Journal of Planetary Health

  • Susan L. Prescott,
  • David Webb and
  • Challenges—Journal of Planetary Health Editorial Office

We are delighted to announce an exciting new chapter in the life of our journal [...]

30 September 2025

Planetary health requires integrative, transdisciplinary approaches that combine technical solutions with social, cultural, and ethical dimensions to foster flourishing systems for people, places, and planet.

Greenwashing threatens both consumer trust and the integrity of planetary health initiatives. Transparency in sustainability claims is therefore critical for promoting ecological wellbeing, strengthening food security, and fostering equitable development in the Anthropocene. This paper investigates greenwashing by adapting the Gompers Governance Index methodology to the context of sustainability claims. The focus of our greenwashing index in this case is the sustainability claims made by canned tuna brands in Australia. The index is created from a comprehensive set of criteria for environmental claims, based on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)’s principles for trustworthy claims. We show that the canned tuna brands form two clusters: one at a very high level of achievement and a second group with notable opportunities to improve on their sustainability communication and transparency. The results also highlight several key issues, most notably a lack of information regarding future sustainability transition plans across most brands. A deeper analysis of the scoring scheme shows that the brands with third-party sustainability certification generally achieved a better alignment with the ACCC principles than other brands. Future iterations of this analysis could incorporate online transparency and third-party verification to provide a more comprehensive assessment. Overall, this study underscores the need for clearer sustainability messaging, greater regulatory enforcement, and improved accountability among brands to ensure consumers can make informed choices.

30 September 2025

Total sustainability scores across brands.

News & Conferences

Issues

Open for Submission

Editor's Choice

Get Alerted

Add your email address to receive forthcoming issues of this journal.

XFacebookLinkedIn
Challenges - ISSN 2078-1547Creative Common CC BY license