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Sustainable Environment through Sustainability Science — Environmental Studies in the Era of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030)

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability in Geographic Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 March 2023) | Viewed by 8082

Special Issue Editors

Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Powstańców Warszawy 55, 81-712 Sopot, Poland
Interests: aerosols; aerosol measurements; aerosol transport; marine aerosols; climate change; sustainable planet
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), Promontorio de San Martín s/n 39004 Santander, Spain
Interests: oceanography; climate change; remote sensing; sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, using the philosophy of the SDGs, calls for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world’s biggest challenges, with climate change as one of the most important ones. Meeting the targets of Goal 13 (Climate) and Goal 14 (Oceans) will ensure that the targets of all other Goals are met and vice versa.

Knowledge of the current state of the climate change and hence the state of the ocean and effective management to achieve its conservation and sustainable use require new approaches, and sustainability science is one of them. Sustainability science is perceived as a new paradigm in research, which involves the achievement of all of the societal outcomes of the UN Decade. With this new paradigm, we need a new generation of scientists and research to focus on a holistic vision of the world, with special attention given to marine ecosystems.

These days, a lot of attention is given to environmental sustainability, yet the following problems still require intense and continuous research: To what extent will the climate change influence global environment and societies, and what is the ocean’s role in this process? Understanding and evaluating its rate as well as creating appropriate adaptation scenarios for the next generations, as well as describing the pace and character of these changes are among the most urgent challenges for humans.

Therefore, we invite research papers, inter- and transdisciplinary as well as review papers, contributing to the UN Decade of Ocean Science and the SDGs, which focus on ocean/climate issues as well as on ocean literacy and modern approaches to ocean environmental education.

Assoc. Prof. Tymon Zielinski
Dr. Carlos Garcia-Soto
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable science
  • climate change
  • ocean
  • interdisciplinary approaches
  • ocean literacy

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 1594 KiB  
Article
Bottlenose Dolphin Responses to Boat Traffic Affected by Boat Characteristics and Degree of Compliance to Code of Conduct
by Aleksandra Koroza and Peter G. H. Evans
Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5185; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095185 - 25 Apr 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2482
Abstract
Levels of boat traffic in coastal seas have been steadily increasing in many parts of the world, introducing pressures on marine wildlife through disturbance. The appropriate management of human activities is important not only to preserve wildlife, but also for the local communities [...] Read more.
Levels of boat traffic in coastal seas have been steadily increasing in many parts of the world, introducing pressures on marine wildlife through disturbance. The appropriate management of human activities is important not only to preserve wildlife, but also for the local communities that depend on ecotourism for employment and their economy. This study presents further insight into bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) responses to boats in New Quay Bay (West Wales) within the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation. This region is heavily dependent on wildlife tourism, and marine traffic is regulated through a long-standing Code of Conduct. Based on a long-term dataset spanning the months of April to October and the years 2010–2018, the study found that compliance to a code of human behaviour increased dolphin positive responses towards boats. Dolphin responses to individual named boats and to different boat types were examined in greater detail. Speed boats, small motorboats, and kayaks were found to break the code most often, resulting in higher rates of negative response by dolphins. Visitor passenger boats formed the majority of boat traffic in the area, and showed greater compliance than other general recreational crafts. Suggestions are made for the better protection of the coastal dolphin population, as well as the role that citizen science can play to help achieve this goal through working directly with wildlife trip boats and the recruitment of local observers. Full article
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11 pages, 557 KiB  
Article
A Blueprint for Ocean Literacy: EU4Ocean
by Tymon Zielinski, Izabela Kotynska-Zielinska and Carlos Garcia-Soto
Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 926; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020926 - 14 Jan 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1597
Abstract
In this paper, we discuss the importance of the efficient communication of science results to citizens across the world. In order for people to absorb information, we need to understand the principles and apply the best available means to facilitate the process of [...] Read more.
In this paper, we discuss the importance of the efficient communication of science results to citizens across the world. In order for people to absorb information, we need to understand the principles and apply the best available means to facilitate the process of increasing global awareness of the changes. This explicitly applies to the verification of how we appeal to people with respect to various environmental issues and, hence, how we can modernize the educational approaches to challenge the global change. We state that, in order to follow the philosophy of sustainable development goals with respect to ocean issues, we need an attractive alternative to the existing areas of consumption. We also state that the ocean issues are at the core of any process aiming to secure sustainability. New methods and tools of education and scientific communication, especially those which are offered by non-formal approaches, are necessary, and we present here some of the activities of the EU4Ocean coalition as best practice examples. Full article
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15 pages, 2383 KiB  
Article
Comparative Evaluation of Top-Down GOSAT XCO2 vs. Bottom-Up National Reports in the European Countries
by Youngseok Hwang, Stephan Schlüter, Tanupriya Choudhury and Jung-Sup Um
Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6700; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126700 - 12 Jun 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2243
Abstract
Submitting national inventory reports (NIRs) on emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is obligatory for parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The NIR forms the basis for monitoring individual countries’ progress on mitigating climate change. Countries prepare NIRs using [...] Read more.
Submitting national inventory reports (NIRs) on emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is obligatory for parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The NIR forms the basis for monitoring individual countries’ progress on mitigating climate change. Countries prepare NIRs using the default bottom–up methodology of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as approved by the Kyoto protocol. We provide tangible evidence of the discrepancy between official bottom–up NIR reporting (unit: tons) versus top–down XCO2 reporting (unit: ppm) within the European continent, as measured by the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). Bottom–up NIR (annual growth rate of CO2 emission from 2010 to 2016: −1.55%) does not show meaningful correlation (geographically weighted regression coefficient = −0.001, R2 = 0.024) to top–down GOSAT XCO2 (annual growth rate: 0.59%) in the European countries. The top five countries within the European continent on carbon emissions in NIR do not match the top five countries on GOSAT XCO2 concentrations. NIR exhibits anthropogenic carbon-generating activity within country boundaries, whereas satellite signals reveal the trans-boundary movement of natural and anthropogenic carbon. Although bottom–up NIR reporting has already gained worldwide recognition as a method to track national follow-up for treaty obligations, the single approach based on bottom–up did not present background atmospheric CO2 density derived from the air mass movement between the countries. In conclusion, we suggest an integrated measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV) approach using top–down observation in combination with bottom–up NIR that can provide sufficient countrywide objective evidence for national follow-up activities. Full article
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12 pages, 266 KiB  
Hypothesis
The Semantics of Remorse for the Climate Crisis: Moral Self-Awareness and Its Educational Role
by Waldemar Tłokiński, Henryk Olszewski and Michał Olech
Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14145; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914145 - 25 Sep 2023
Viewed by 709
Abstract
The indifference of Earth’s inhabitants towards progressive climate crises raises understandable anxiety for ecologists. Searching for effective forms of education aimed at radical and rapid change in attitudes is implemented in various areas of knowledge. This research combines linguistic, cognitive workshops and personality [...] Read more.
The indifference of Earth’s inhabitants towards progressive climate crises raises understandable anxiety for ecologists. Searching for effective forms of education aimed at radical and rapid change in attitudes is implemented in various areas of knowledge. This research combines linguistic, cognitive workshops and personality psychology, together with a selection of statistical tools. The results obtained through empirical research facilitated the construction of the semantic image of remorse and its wider (transcending the lexical) interpretation framework within self-aware emotional states and, specifically, moral feelings. The semantic analyses herein have become the grounds for educational guidelines within the process of attitude changes. Full article
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