Search Results (44)

Introduction: AQUArestore is a three-year project focused on promoting adaptive ecological restoration strategies for river ecosystems in the vulnerable cross-border region of Portugal. The project responds to pressing environmental challenges across the territory, including severe habitat degradation, climate vulnerability, declining water security, and biodiversity loss, with particular concern for freshwater fish communities, making river restoration essential to preserve native species and freshwater ecosystem services. Objective: The project aims to develop a replicable framework for restoration of Mediterranean transboundary riverine habitats, supporting the objectives of the EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL, Regulation 2024/1991). The consortium AQUArestore will develop (1) robust restoration indicators, (2) implement living labs for restoration experimentation, and (3) establish capacity-building and training programs for technicians and citizens. Methodology: The project kick-off meeting was used to operationalize project tasks, detail the implementation calendar and milestones, and clarify responsibilities of each project member and partner institutions within the different work tasks. The meeting gathered consortium members from the coordinating institution CEF-ISA (researchers at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia) and partners WWF Portugal (an environmental NGO) and Mushmore Cooperative, each one contributing according to their respective expertise and institutional objectives. Results: The AQUArestore project kick-off meeting took place in January 2026 at ISA, Lisbon, and included a presentation of the NRL and a detailed discussion of project task development. In detail, the activities will begin with the compilation of information on previously restored sites (Task 1). This will support the development and validation of environmental and biodiversity indicators of restoration outcomes, including those linked to freshwater fish assemblages and riparian vegetation (Task 2). The project will then establish two living labs as platforms to test nature-based solutions in collaboration with stakeholders and local communities (Task 3). In parallel, AQUArestore will strengthen technical capacity through training for practitioners and public authorities (Task 4). Finally, dissemination will be supported through citizen science, communication activities, and stakeholder engagement, fostering a broader impact (Task 5). Together, these tasks provide an integrated, science-based, and participatory framework aiming to support adaptive river restoration under climate and environmental changes. Conclusions: By integrating ecological restoration, biodiversity and environmental monitoring, and stakeholder engagement, AQUArestore is expected to contribute to the recovery of Mediterranean freshwater ecosystems and improve habitat quality and connectivity for native fish communities, enhancing resilience to climate change and other anthropogenic pressures. Full article

In response to the influence of extreme disasters, damage to distribution lines and user outages, a parallel implementation strategy is proposed for emergency repair of disaster-damaged distribution networks and rapid restoration of power supply for users, considering the collaboration of “human–vehicle–road–pile” resources. This strategy constructs a hierarchical optimization framework, with the upper-level model aiming to minimize the repair time for disaster damage. It adopts a collaborative optimization approach between repair resources and transportation routes to quickly repair the connection between the distribution network and the main power network. In the lower-level model, a model predictive control mechanism is adopted to schedule electric vehicles (EVs) in Real-time as mobile energy storage systems, and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) service technology is used to provide an emergency power supply for key loads during the repair period, achieving parallel optimization of “repair–restoration”. Considering constraints such as emergency repair resources, time-varying transportation, electric vehicle scheduling and power management, charging pile capacity, power flow safety of the distribution network, and topology of the distribution network, second-order cone relaxation technology is adopted to improve solving efficiency. The simulation results show that compared with the traditional serial restoration strategy, the proposed strategy delivers a dual benefit: it significantly eliminates the power supply vacuum period without compromising the efficiency of emergency repair operations. Specifically, it increases weighted load restoration by 57.2% compared with traditional sequential methods and reduces the average outage time for key loads from 3.22 h to 0.5 h, effectively enhancing the resilience and restoration ability of the power supply guarantee of the distribution network. Full article

Earthquake disasters often cause communication base stations to fail, severely hindering rescue operations and information transmission. While traditional air-ground collaborative emergency communication systems can rapidly restore communications, they still face challenges such as the “time gap” caused by the endurance limitations of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and the “spatial blind spots” resulting from the uncertainty of road disruptions. These issues reduce the continuity and reliability of system services. To address the robustness of air-ground platform coordinated deployment and path planning under uncertain road disruptions, this paper proposes a two-stage distributionally robust deployment and path planning (DRDPRP) method for fixed-wing UAV and ground unmanned vehicles (UGVs) in post-disaster emergency communications. This method constructs a distributionally robust uncertainty set based on a probabilistic distance metric to characterize road disruption risks. It establishes a two-stage distributionally robust optimization model to jointly optimize the deployment and paths of fixed-wing UAV and UGVs. Concurrently, it employs the Column and Constraint Generation (C&CG) algorithm as the solution framework, combined with branch-and-bound and local optimization strategies to enhance computational efficiency. Simulation results demonstrate that this method generates more robust collaborative deployment plans under road disruption uncertainties, thereby enhancing the continuity and reliability of post-disaster emergency communication systems. Full article

The spatio-temporal dynamics of ecosystem services (ESs) are essential for ecological restoration and sustainable management in arid regions. Although ESs have been extensively studied in sandy landscapes, research on the multi-model evaluation of various ESs remains limited. This study assessed the spatio-temporal quantification and driving factors of, and interrelationships among, Net Primary Productivity (NPP), Habitat Quality (HQ), Carbon Stock (C), Water Yield (WY), and Soil Retention (SR) in the Horqin Sandy Land. This assessment utilized the InVEST model, the CASA model, geographic detectors, and Spearman correlation analysis. The results indicate the following: (1) From 2000 to 2024, land use transformation in the Horqin Sandy Land was characterized by a substantial reduction in fixed sand dunes (−1047 km²) and a shift toward dryland and semi-fluid sand dunes, while semi-fixed sand dunes and forested areas expanded significantly. (2) NPP, HQ, and SR exhibited an overall increase with notable spatial improvement, whereas WY experienced a general decline. The changes in each service displayed marked differentiation in both time and space. (3) NDVI, land use and precipitation are the dominant factors of different services, and the explanatory power of the interaction among these factors is generally stronger, jointly driving the spatial pattern of ecosystem services. (4) The collaboration and trade-off relationships among services evolve dynamically over time. Among them, the transformation from trade-off to collaboration between C and WY is the most prominent, and the spatial distribution of various relationships shows significant regional heterogeneity. The research results provide a scientific basis for revealing the ecological restoration in arid areas. Full article

Riparian ecosystems provide key ecosystem services, yet their degradation is accelerating under growing human pressures. This study performs a systematic and bibliometric assessment to identify global trends in riparian restoration, specifying three objectives: (i) analyze the temporal evolution of scientific production, (ii) evaluate geographical patterns and North–South asymmetries, and (iii) identify dominant restoration approaches and research gaps. A total of 322 documents (1984–2025) were analyzed using productivity indicators, Lotka-based authorship patterns, co-authorship networks, keyword co-occurrence, and a logistic growth model fitted to annual publication counts, combined with descriptive statistics. Annual scientific output showed a steady 4% growth, while 78.2% of studies were led by institutions in the Global North, mainly in North America (39.1%), Europe (17.8%), and Asia (18.5%), highlighting geographical biases and limited representation of tropical regions. Restoration efforts were centered on natural regeneration and tree planting, with less emphasis on cultural ecosystem services and community participation. Despite scientific advances, challenges persist in adopting adaptive and socio-ecologically grounded approaches, especially in underrepresented regions. Strengthening science–policy links, promoting interdisciplinary collaborations, and expanding community involvement are essential to enhance riparian resilience and sustainability. We call for co-creation processes that integrate traditional knowledge and position local communities as partners in restoration efforts. Full article

The integration of federated learning into Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) networks enables collaborative intelligence but also exposes systems to identity spoofing, model poisoning, and malicious update injection. This paper presents Leash-FL, a lightweight self-healing framework that combines certificateless elliptic curve cryptography with blockchain to enhance resilience in resource-constrained IoT environments. Certificateless ECC with pseudonym rotation enables efficient millisecond-scale authentication with minimal metadata, supporting secure and unlinkable participation. A similarity-governed screening mechanism filters poisoned and free-rider updates, while blockchain-backed checkpoint rollback ensures rapid recovery without service interruption. Experiments on intrusion detection, anomaly detection, and vision datasets show that Leash-FL sustains over 85 percent accuracy with 50 percent malicious clients, reduces backdoor success rates to under 5 percent within four recovery rounds, and restores accuracy up to three times faster than anomaly-screening baselines. The blockchain layer achieves low-latency consensus, high throughput, and modest ledger growth, significantly outperforming Ethereum-based systems. Membership changes are efficiently managed with sub-50 ms join and leave operations and re-admission within 60 ms, while guaranteeing forward and backward secrecy. Leash-FL delivers a cryptography-driven approach that unifies lightweight authentication, blockchain auditability, and self-healing recovery into a secure, resilient, and scalable federated learning solution for next-generation IIoT networks. Full article

Urban agglomerations in plateau regions often face severe landscape fragmentation and cross-boundary ecological pressures, highlighting the need for coordinated eco-logical planning for sustainable urban development. We coupled species–landscape interactions and multi-ecological services to construct sustainable ecological security patterns (ESPs) and establish a collaborative optimization framework. Specifically, we integrated MaxEnt-derived habit suitability with InVEST-based ecosystem services to identify ecological sources (ESs) and analysis the environmental impacts on species distribution. Based on this, we built a multi-factor resistance surface and employed circuit theory to extract ecological corridors (ECs) and critical nodes (pinch points and barrier points). Then, we quantitatively compared two simulated scenarios (barrier points restoration and stepping stone augmentation) to assess the spatial priority of ecological nodes. We identified 48 ESs (26,410.48 km², mainly distributed in Chuxiong, Yuxi, Honghe, and Kunming), 115 ECs (2670.02 km, with a west-dense and east-sparse spatial pattern), 43 pinch points, and 39 barrier points. Scenario simulation shows that repairing 39 barrier nodes increases network connectivity by an average of 33.52% and global network efficiency by 19.44%, whereas adding steeping stones yields improvements of 20.09% and 5.56%, respectively, indicating that barrier-node restoration produces larger contribution in both connectivity and efficiency at the global scale. Leveraging EN construction and scenario simulation, we developed an ESP-based sustainable framework for collaborative optimization in plateau urban agglomerations. The framework specifies agglomeration-specific coordination pathways, which are expected to provide a transferable blueprint for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem optimization, and sustainable development. Full article

Urban agglomerations are key to balancing carbon emissions (CEs) and ecosystem services (ESs), yet structural imbalances exist between LUCE and ESs due to the lack of standardized frameworks and clear governance strategies. This study investigates the relationship between LUCE and ESs in the Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration using multi-source data from 2010 to 2023. The study aims to address three main research questions: (1) How do LUCE and ES networks evolve over time? (2) What factors drive their heterogeneity? (3) How do urbanization and ecological restoration impact LUCE and ES network dynamics? To answer these, we apply centrality metrics and develop heterogeneity indices to evaluate connectivity, accessibility, and driving factors. The findings show that both LUCE and ES networks exhibit corridor-like structures, with asymmetric node distributions. The LUCE-Network’s degree centrality increased from 0.16 to 0.29, while the ES-Network’s rose from 0.16 to 0.23. Heterogeneity was initially positive but turned negative by 2023, indicating a shift from LUCE dominance to an increased emphasis on ES. This transition was influenced by urbanization, land use changes, and ecological restoration efforts. Notably, the proportion of built-up land (X11) grew from 0.0187 in 2010 to 0.1500 in 2023, intensifying the disparity between LUCE and ESs. Similarly, urbanization (X7) surged to 0.1558 in 2023, increasing CEs and the demand for ESs. A collaborative pathway is proposed to address these challenges, involving controlled urban development, restoration of green spaces, and prioritizing multimodal transport and energy efficiency. This framework offers actionable diagnostics for improving low-carbon and ecological governance in urban agglomerations. Full article

The resilience and sustainable development of modern power distribution systems faces escalating challenges due to increasing renewable integration and extreme events. Traditional single-system approaches often overlook the spatiotemporal coordination of cross-domain restoration resources. In this paper, we propose a multi-stage resilience enhancement method that employs transportation and hydrogen energy systems. This approach coordinates the pre-event preventive allocation and multi-stage collaborative scheduling of diverse restoration resources, including remote-controlled switches (RCSs), mobile hydrogen emergency resources (MHERs), and hydrogen production and refueling stations (HPRSs). The proposed framework supports cross-stage dynamic optimization scheduling, enabling the development of adaptive resource dispatch strategies tailored to the characteristics of different stages, including prevention, fault isolation, and service restoration. The model is applicable to complex scenarios involving dynamically changing network topologies and is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem. Case studies based on the IEEE 33-bus system show that the proposed method can restore a distribution system’s resilience to approximately 87% of its normal level following extreme events. Full article

To address the severe damage and outage risks to distribution networks caused by extreme weather, this paper proposes a coordinated optimization strategy for distribution network repair sequencing and rapid restoration, which considers multi-source collaboration and incomplete fault information. In response to the challenge of incomplete fault information after a disaster, a two-layer robust optimization model is constructed. The upper-layer model aims to minimize the completion time of repairs for all faults under the most unfavorable fault scenario to obtain a robust repair time for potential faulty lines, providing a reliable basis for the restoration decisions of the lower-layer model. The lower-layer model’s objective is to maximize the weighted restored load quantity by comprehensively coordinating mobile diesel generators (MDGs), distributed generators (DGs), photovoltaics (PVs), wind turbines (WTs), and energy storage systems (ESSs) to achieve the optimal restoration strategy. The proposed service restoration strategy is validated through simulation on a modified IEEE 33-bus power system, and the results demonstrate that the strategy can efficiently and comprehensively utilize multi-source collaborative resources and improve the resilience of the distribution network. Full article

The current global energy crisis is one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century, it highlights the fragility of an old power system based on fossil fuels, geopolitical dependencies and often the precariousness and age of equipment and installations, affecting the economy, security and social stability on a national, regional and world scale. The risk of blackout thus becomes not only a technological threat, but a symbol of the need for a paradigm shift. The energy future must be sustainable, collaborative and adaptable—to guarantee not only the continuity of services with electricity, but also the stability of modern society. This paper provides an intrinsic interdisciplinary analysis on the causes, implications and possible solutions related to major imbalances in contemporary power systems, emphasizing the growing risk of blackout (large power outages). The main causes of crises are analyzed interdisciplinary, such as: insecurity in the functioning of the National Power System, terrorist attack on the National Power System, extreme weather condition, natural calamity, energy insecurity and political/military insecurity. The paper highlights the interdependence between energy infrastructure and energy security, as well as the vulnerability of power grids to cyberattacks, natural disasters and consumer pressures. In addition, socio-economic, technological and political issues are addressed, providing an integrated view of the phenomenon. Finally, national, regional and bilateral mitigation, limitation and restoration (resilience) procedures and measures are proposed in the event of an electricity crisis—blackout. Full article

The ongoing degradation of global forests has severely weakened ecosystem service functions, and traditional judicial remedies have struggled to quantify intangible ecological losses. China has become an important testing ground for restorative justice through the establishment of specialized environmental courts and the practice of environmental public interest litigation. Since 2015, China has actively explored and institutionalized the application of the concept of restorative justice in its environmental justice reform. This concept emphasizes compensating environmental damages through actual ecological restoration acts rather than relying solely on financial compensation. This shift reflects a deep understanding of the limitations of traditional environmental justice and an institutional response to China’s ecological civilization construction, providing critical support for forest ecosystem restoration and enabling ecological restoration activities, such as replanting and re-greening, habitat reconstruction, etc., to be enforced through judicial decisions. This study conducts a qualitative analysis of judicial rulings in forest restoration cases to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of restorative justice in compensating for losses in forest ecosystem service functions. The findings reveal the following: (1) restoration measures in judicial practice are disconnected from the types of ecosystem services available; (2) non-market values and long-term cumulative damages are systematically underestimated, with monitoring mechanisms exhibiting fragmented implementation and insufficient effectiveness; (3) management cycles are set in violation of ecological restoration principles, and acceptance standards lack function-oriented indicators; (4) participation of key stakeholders is severely lacking, and local knowledge and professional expertise have not been integrated. In response, this study proposes a restorative judicial framework oriented toward forest ecosystem services, utilizing four mechanisms: independent recognition of legal interests, function-matched restoration, application of scientific assessment tools, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. This framework aims to drive a paradigm shift from formal restoration to substantive functional recovery, providing theoretical support and practical pathways for environmental judicial reform and global forest governance. Full article

Plant diversity, as a critical indicator of wetland ecosystem health and functionality, has garnered extensive research attention. However, systematic and quantitative assessments of research advancements in wetland plant diversity remain inadequate. This study pioneers a global bibliometric analysis of wetland plant diversity research (1986–2025), designed to systematically examine its worldwide patterns, knowledge architecture, and evolutionary trends. Bibliometric analysis was performed using CiteSpace V6.2.R4 (64-bit) software on 482 publications retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. Results indicate that the United States, Canada, China, and several European countries have collectively prioritized wetland plant diversity research, forming a close international collaboration network. Research themes initially centered on species composition, community structure, and diversity metrics have expanded to multiple dimensions such as ecosystem functions and services, environmental change impacts, and wetland management and restoration, forming several key research clusters. Keyword time-zone mapping reveals the trajectory of research themes from basic descriptions to applied and environmental relevance, while emergent analyses accurately identify hotspots and frontiers of current research such as ecosystem services, functional diversity, and climate change impacts. These findings contribute to comprehending the overall framework and developmental trajectories in wetland plant diversity research, and provide a reference for identifying potential research gaps and planning future research directions. Full article

Draining wetland landscapes accelerates climate change, and multilateral support is therefore needed to speed up the transition to new land uses. This paper examines perceptions of ecosystem services (ES) in wetland areas in scientific and civic assessments. The case study area is Denmark’s largest drained wetland system, which is notable for its carbon sequestration potential. The area’s transformation efforts involving public participation offer a unique chance to examine differences between scientific and civic perceptions of ES. This exceptional case is ideal for revealing contextual differences, trade-offs, and controversies between scientific and civic perceptions of ES. Millennium ES Assessment and CICES are used as a conceptual framework for understanding and mapping human–nature interactions in a nature park. However, these systems are, in practice, not sufficiently developed to identify how citizens understand and value ES in real life. Therefore, we analyse perceptions using interviews, collaborative mapping, and media analysis. We compare these to scientific ES mappings based on local data, literature reviews, and fieldwork. The paper concludes that (1) scientific ES asymmetries are important; (2) environmental blind spots in scientific ES are due to its approach to knowledge collection; (3) citizens’ blind spots are due to their everyday life focus and tabooing the issue of local climate mitigation; and (4) science-based ES assessments and accounts are disconnected from local ES controversies. We argue that identifying ES controversies through various scientific methods may improve climate mitigation and restoration efforts if community planning becomes involved. Full article

Sustainable forest management plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation and adaption, as well as the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recognizing the significance of sustainable forest management, China has implemented a range of the legislative measures and policies for the conservation and restoration of key forest ecosystems and has launched the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program and other key forest programs, resulting in an increase in forest coverage and forest carbon sinks. In addition to forestry ecological restoration projects (FERPs) initiated by the administration and project developers, the Chinese courts have also actively engaged in exploring various strategies to enhance forest carbon sinks. In both criminal and civil cases, afforestation and reforestation activities, buying forest carbon credits, and participation in forest management and other restoration activities by offenders have been regarded as factors in determining legal responsibility. Moreover, the courts have also established forest restoration centers, either independently or in collaboration with local governments. These judicial innovations in China have provided positive incentives for the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of forests, thereby significantly contributing to the achievement of the Climate Action Goals (SDG 13). However, these developments also raise several concerns, particularly the fair application of forest carbon sink mechanisms, the comparability in ecosystem service between damaged natural resources and compensatory measures, and the interconnection of the various SDGs. It is imperative to establish clear guidance on buying forest carbon credits, to develop standards and procedures to assess forest carbon sinks, and to strengthen cooperation between the judiciary and governmental agencies. Additionally, it is essential to integrate the forest carbon sink with broad economic development goals and social justice frameworks to ensure sustainable and inclusive outcomes. Full article