Abstract

This study overviewed the spatiotemporal variation, chemical characteristics, and source apportionment of PM_2.5 in the coastal regions and at the offshore islands of East Asia. We aimed to comprehensively ascertain the mass concentration and chemical signature of PM_2.5 in the target regions. First of all, the inter-comparison of PM_2.5’s sampling and analytical methods applied by previous researches were extensively employed. The spatial distribution of PM_2.5’s mass concentrations and chemical characteristics were then explored throughout the coasts and islands in East Asia, shedding light on the variability in different geographical areas. Additionally, we explored the source apportionment of PM_2.5 in the coasts and islands separately, highlighting the unique characteristics and potential sources of PM_2.5 in the target regions. This study further explored three major influential factors which primarily affect PM_2.5 levels in East Asia, including pollution sources, synoptic weather patterns, and air mass transporting pathways. We revealed that anthropogenic sources including industrial emissions, vehicular exhausts, and shipping emissions were the major contributors to PM_2.5, while synoptic weather patterns and meteorological phenomena also played crucial roles in shaping the spatiotemporal variation of PM_2.5 concentrations in East Asia. Moreover, this review article further addressed the cluster of transport pathways in assessing three transport channels of PM_2.5. By synthesizing the findings from previous investigations, this study provided a much more comprehensive understanding on PM_2.5 pollution dynamics in the coastal regions and at the islands of East Asia. Hopefully, these findings could address the needs for targeting the interventions and pollution abatement measures to explore the diverse sources and the complex dynamics of PM_2.5 pollution for the critical environmental settings in East Asia.

The increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), has been identified as one of the main causes of global warming, with significant implications for global climate and ecological balance. Soil carbon sequestration emerges as a promising strategy to mitigate the impacts of climate change, given that soil is one of the largest terrestrial carbon reservoirs. However, the carbon storage capacity of tropical soils is influenced by a range of factors, such as soil texture, vegetation dynamics, agricultural systems, land-use practices, and edaphoclimatic variability. In this context, we will present preliminary results from an ongoing research project, where we are quantifying soil carbon stocks across different soil types and production systems in Brazil. The data obtained are analyzed considering the edaphoclimatic variations and different agricultural management practices, with a particular emphasis on comparison with carbon stocks in native environments under similar conditions. This research aims to provide a detailed assessment of carbon dynamics in tropical soils, contributing to the understanding of the factors influencing carbon sequestration and supporting more efficient management practices for mitigating GHG emissions.

Global change and disturbance ecology, including risks and benefits to humans, are a current research topic in applied science, and many projections are considered in the context of climate change. There is widespread concern that mortality, costs and negative impacts on ecosystems will increase. Examples of recent disasters support this view of things. Positive trends and benefits for nature are much less often communicated. Furthermore, important ecological facts are ignored, especially in summaries for political decision-makers and in the social media.

To find out how the discrepancy between the socio-ecological reality and some alarming predictions on a global scale comes about, we examined the IPCC reports from 2018-2023 using text mining including word frequency analysis and compared reflections on changing conditions with ecological findings and public information on the internet.

Both a negativity bias and a repetition bias were identified. However, ecological conditions and processes vary from one climate zone to another and from one year to another. Therefore, ecological processes and their significance in terms of risks and benefits to people, biodiversity and ecosystems need to be analyzed at local to regional scales.

Ignorance and distorted perceptions create problems both in the practical implementation of environmental measures and at the psychosocial level. 1. The focus on global change distracts from the regionally different socio-ecological problems. 2. The focus on disasters distracts from the importance of gradual changes. 3. The range of possible solutions is severely limited and many people are emotionally burdened. 4. The increasing polarization between climate change alarmism and climate change denial could further undermine trust in science. There are already many people who no longer have confidence in scientific findings. 5. It is necessary to emphasize the ecological significance of extreme events and values in the landscape. The goal of completely eliminating extreme events is unacceptable with regard to the aspiration and principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Abstract:
As the world population is expected to increase by 2 billion people by 2050, the world food system will have to respond to this increase, implying a doubling of production to meet this demand and ensure improved quality of life. Such intensi-fication in food production systems and agricultural activities will lead to the rep-resentative increase in the use of water resources. On the other hand, the Sustaina-ble Development Goals (SDGs) are a global call to end poverty, protect the envi-ronment and the climate, and ensure that people everywhere can enjoy peace and prosperity. These are the goals to which the United Nations is contributing so that we can achieve the 2030 Agenda in Brazil. Circular Economy (CE) has become a hot topic in the management discussion in the last decades as a method to improve business based on sustainability parameters, balancing environmental and socioec-onomic issues. Is it possible to apply financial techniques, having as one of its pil-lars the Circular Economy, to support water reuse projects generated both by com-panies and for residential purposes? Based on the bibliometric study carried out, the Research Project is justified by Covering a gap in the literature, given the re-duced number of publications for the keywords. Presenting a Research Project aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations in its agenda 2030. This research project aims to develop a method for analyzing fi-nancial feasibility, using the Circular Economy as one of the bases, for water reuse projects in businesses and households located in the Paraíba Valley, São Paulo.