Microplastic pollution in the polar oceans-A review

Microplastic pollution is a global environmental threat. This problem is now the order of the day in everyone's eyes, leading to environmental and health challenges for the ecosystem. A plastic ban was implemented, but as the COVID-19 pandemic began, multiple needs for plastic materials arose. This resulted in the growth of worldwide plastic pollution, which has even reached remote polar regions. This chapter focuses on microplastic pollution in the polar oceans, such as the Antarctic and Arctic regions. The aim is to describe the microplastics reports underpinning the polar regions, summarize the acquired knowledge, and highlight the need for future perspectives. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The YOPP Final Summit: Assessing Past and Forecasting Future Polar Prediction Research

The successes of YOPP from the presentations and keynote presentations included * a better understanding of the impact of key polar measurements (radiosondes and space-based instruments such as microwave radiometers), and recent advancements in the current NWP observing system, achieved through coordinated OSEs in both polar regions (e.g., Sandu et al. 2021);* enhanced understanding of the linkages between Arctic and midlatitude weather (e.g., Day et al. 2019);* advancements in the atmosphere–ocean–sea ice and atmosphere–land–cryosphere coupling in NWP, and in assessing and recognizing the added value of coupling in Earth system models (e.g., Bauer et al. 2016);* deployment of tailored polar observation campaigns to address yet-unresolved polar processes (e.g., Renfrew et al. 2019);* progress in verification and forecasting techniques for sea ice, including a novel headline score (e.g., Goessling and Jung 2018);* advances in process understanding and process-based evaluation with the establishment of the YOPPsiteMIP framework and tools (Svensson 2020);* better understanding of emerging societal and stakeholder needs in the Arctic and Antarctic (e.g., Dawson et al. 2017);and * innovative transdisciplinary methodologies for coproducing salient information services for various user groups (Jeuring and Lamers 2021). The YOPP Final Summit identified a number of areas worthy of prioritized research in the area of environmental prediction and services for the polar regions: * coupled atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean models with an emphasis on advanced parameterizations and enhanced resolution at which critical phenomena start to be resolved (e.g., ocean eddies);* improved definition and representation of stable boundary layer processes, including mixed-phase clouds and aerosols;incorporation of wave–ice–ocean interactions;* radiance assimilation over sea ice, land ice, and ice sheets;understanding of linkages between polar regions and lower latitudes from a prediction perspective;* exploring the limits of predictability of the atmosphere–cryosphere–ocean system;* an examination of the observational representativeness over land, sea ice, and ocean;better representation of the hydrological cycle;and * transdisciplinary work with the social science community around the use of forecasting services and operational decision-making to name but a few. The presentations and discussions at the YOPP Final Summit identified the major legacy elements of YOPP: the YOPPsiteMIP approach to enable easy comparison of collocated multivariate model and observational outputs with the aim of enhancing process understanding, the development of an international and multi-institutional community across many disciplines investigating aspects of polar prediction and services, the YOPP Data Portal3 (https://yopp.met.no/), and the education and training delivered to early-career polar researchers. Next steps Logistical issues, the COVID-19 pandemic, but also new scientific questions (e.g., the value of targeted observations in the Southern Hemisphere), as well as technical issues emerging toward the end of the YOPP Consolidation Phase, resulted in the decision to continue the following three YOPP activities to the end of 2023: (i) YOPP Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH);(ii) Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (MIIP);of which YOPPSiteMIP is a critical element;and (iii) the Societal, Economics and Research Applications (PPP-SERA) Task Team.

Packaging plastic waste management in the cosmetic industry

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the relationship between the various variables present in the packaging plastic waste management system in the cosmetics industry.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the authors deal with plastic packaging waste in the cosmetic industry with the help of system dynamics. The model broadly divides the system into six sections – Cosmetic Packaging, Waste Generation, Waste Collected, Waste Sorted, Waste Treated and Waste Dumped. Businesses have been investing in each section depending on their progress and targets. The authors are looking at case studies of two leading cosmetic brands, L'Oréal and L'Occitane en Provence, to validate the industry practices against our model.FindingsFrom a business perspective, using the case study methodology for L'Oréal and L'Occitane, the authors inferred that out of the various investment vehicles available, companies are targeting technological advancement and third-party collaborations as they have the potential to offer the greatest visible change. However, most of these investments are going toward the treatment subsection. Still, there is a scope for improvement in the collection and sorting subsystems, increasing the efficiency of the whole chain.Originality/valueThere has been a lot of research on packaging plastic waste management in the past, but only a few of them focused on the cosmetic industry. This study aims to connect all the possible variables involved in the cosmetic industry's packaging plastic waste management system and provide a clear output variable for various businesses looking to manage their packaging waste because of their products efficiently.

From city to sea: Spatiotemporal dynamics of floating macrolitter in the Tiber River

Rivers are undoubtedly the main pathway of waste dispersed in the environment that from land reaches oceans and seas increasing the amount of marine litter. Major cities are a great source of riverine litter as large urbanization can originate pressure on the integrated waste management resulting in litter entering the rivers. Within this study, we aim to investigate the dynamic of floating riverine macrolitter (items >2.5 cm) in the city of Rome before it reaches the sea by assessing the composition, amount, and seasonal trends of litter transported from the urban centre to the main river mouth of Tiber River. Visual surveys for a whole year (March 2021–February 2022) were conducted from two bridges, Scienza Bridge (in the city) and Scafa Bridge (at the main river mouth) and followed JRC/RIMMEL protocol for riverine litter monitoring. Overall, similar litter composition was observed from the city centre to the mouth with a prevalence of plastic material, mainly related to fragmentation process (i.e. plastic pieces) and single use items, mainly in food and beverage sectors. An extrapolated annual loading of 4 × 105 items/year was estimated at the main mouth of Tiber River. The litter flux seems to be influenced by the seasonal variability and hydrometeorological parameters. The frequency of size classes decreases with increasing size in both sites, and more than half of the recorded items were below 10 cm. Specific categories belonging to "other plastics” have been reported related to anti-Covid-19 behaviour such as face masks and beverage sector, e.g. bottle lids and rings. The main colour of plastics was white, suggesting weathering process of floating riverine litter. This study contributes to increasing knowledge of the origin, composition and spatiotemporal dynamics of riverine floating litter from the city and entering the sea. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

Near-real-time CO2 fluxes from CarbonTracker Europe for high-resolution atmospheric modeling

We present the CarbonTracker Europe High-Resolution (CTE-HR) system that estimates carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange over Europe at high resolution (0.1 × 0.2∘) and in near real time (about 2 months' latency). It includes a dynamic anthropogenic emission model, which uses easily available statistics on economic activity, energy use, and weather to generate anthropogenic emissions with dynamic time profiles at high spatial and temporal resolution (0.1×0.2∘, hourly). Hourly net ecosystem productivity (NEP) calculated by the Simple Biosphere model Version 4 (SiB4) is driven by meteorology from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis 5th Generation (ERA5) dataset. This NEP is downscaled to 0.1×0.2∘ using the high-resolution Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) land-cover map and combined with the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) fire emissions to create terrestrial carbon fluxes. Ocean CO2 fluxes are included in our product, based on Jena CarboScope ocean CO2 fluxes, which are downscaled using wind speed and temperature. Jointly, these flux estimates enable modeling of atmospheric CO2 mole fractions over Europe.We assess the skill of the CTE-HR CO2 fluxes (a) to reproduce observed anomalies in biospheric fluxes and atmospheric CO2 mole fractions during the 2018 European drought, (b) to capture the reduction of anthropogenic emissions due to COVID-19 lockdowns, (c) to match mole fraction observations at Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) sites across Europe after atmospheric transport with the Transport Model, version 5 (TM5) and the Stochastic Time-Inverted Lagrangian Transport (STILT), driven by ECMWF-IFS, and (d) to capture the magnitude and variability of measured CO2 fluxes in the city center of Amsterdam (the Netherlands).We show that CTE-HR fluxes reproduce large-scale flux anomalies reported in previous studies for both biospheric fluxes (drought of 2018) and anthropogenic emissions (COVID-19 pandemic in 2020). After applying transport of emitted CO2, the CTE-HR fluxes have lower median root mean square errors (RMSEs) relative to mole fraction observations than fluxes from a non-informed flux estimate, in which biosphere fluxes are scaled to match the global growth rate of CO2 (poor person's inversion). RMSEs are close to those of the reanalysis with the CTE data assimilation system. This is encouraging given that CTE-HR fluxes did not profit from the weekly assimilation of CO2 observations as in CTE.We furthermore compare CO2 concentration observations at the Dutch Lutjewad coastal tower with high-resolution STILT transport to show that the high-resolution fluxes manifest variability due to different emission sectors in summer and winter. Interestingly, in periods where synoptic-scale transport variability dominates CO2 concentration variations, the CTE-HR fluxes perform similarly to low-resolution fluxes (5–10× coarsened). The remaining 10 % of the simulated CO2 mole fraction differs by >2 ppm between the low-resolution and high-resolution flux representation and is clearly associated with coherent structures ("plumes”) originating from emission hotspots such as power plants. We therefore note that the added resolution of our product will matter most for very specific locations and times when used for atmospheric CO2 modeling. Finally, in a densely populated region like the Amsterdam city center, our modeled fluxes underestimate the magnitude of measured eddy covariance fluxes but capture their substantial diurnal variations in summertime and wintertime well.We conclude that our product is a promising tool for modeling the European carbon budget at a high resolution in near real time. The fluxes are freely available from the ICOS Carbon Portal (CC-BY-4.0) to be used for near-real-time monitoring and modeling, for example, as an a priori flux product in a CO2 data assimilation system. The data are available at 10.18160/20Z1-AYJ2 .

One Shell of a Problem: Cumulative Threat Analysis of Male Sea Turtles Indicates High Anthropogenic Threat for Migratory Individuals and Gulf of Mexico Residents

Human use of oceans has dramatically increased in the 21st century. Sea turtles are vulnerable to anthropogenic stressors in the marine environment because of lengthy migrations between foraging and breeding sites, often along coastal migration corridors. Little is known about how movement and threat interact specifically for male sea turtles. To better understand male sea turtle movement and the threats they encounter, we satellite-tagged 40 adult male sea turtles of four different species. We calculated movement patterns using state-space modeling (SSM), and quantified threats in seven unique categories;shipping, fishing, light pollution, oil rigs, proximity to coast, marine protected area (MPA) status, and location within or outside of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). We found significantly higher threat severity in northern and southern latitudes for green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and Kemp’s ridleys (Lepidochelys kempii) in our study area. Those threats were pervasive, with only 35.9% of SSM points encountering no high threat exposure, of which 47% belong to just two individuals. Kemp’s ridleys were most exposed to high threats among tested species. Lastly, turtles within MPA boundaries face significantly lower threat exposure, indicating MPAs could be a useful conservation tool.

Guest editorial: Sustainable growth and development in the food and beverage sector

According to Ammar et al. [...]their paper draws the attention of food loss and waste policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to implement suitable food loss and waste prevention strategies in developing and developed countries. SDG 12 “Responsible Consumption and Production”, which focuses on eliminating food waste from the food chain production process, and SDG 14 “Life Below Water”, as the reduction and elimination of plastic waste from the F&B sector, will surely have a positive effect on rivers, lakes and oceans. [...]marketing managers should indicate the benefit regarding the functionality of the packaging instead of over-enhancing sustainable aspects.

Institutional Capacity Building Toward the Sustainability of Ocean Science in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Plastic litter in places like Tanzania comes from the unregulated production of single-use plastic products and the legal and illegal dumps located at riverbanks or near the coast (Nipe Fagio, 2021). This pollution is dangerous to human health as well as to the species in the ocean. Oceans are fundamental in controlling the earth's climate. If the ocean is polluted, an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and acidification in the ocean will accelerate, which will result in sea-level rise causing disastrous consequences (Lukambuzi, 2006). This calls for a sound environmental response to the pandemic in connection with research on ocean science. Formulating our laws and policies in response to this is vital, and therefore, institutions need capacity building to work on the matter at hand. Government officers, law, and policymakers need to be reminded, trained, and sensitized on the importance of formulating good laws and policies that protect our ocean from pollution. These are key players in the immediate and long-term recovery efforts from the environmental impact of COVID-19 because they have the power to enact laws and oversee government policies.

Healthy planet healthy people

One Health is a cross‐sectoral and transdisciplinary approach that emphasizes the fundamental ways in which the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, fungi, plants, microbes, and natural and built ecosystems are interdependent. One Health approaches recognize the links between human health and a range of environmental concerns including biodiversity, climate, freshwater, food, harmful chemicals, and healthy oceans. Yet the conservation community and its broad interest in biodiversity and the natural world has been notably lacking in discussions about One Health. Partly as a result, both policy and practice have been narrowly focused on one or a few links between human and other healths, such as the human and wildlife health nexus. We provide a set of principles and components that will balance existing discussions by including the natural world and biodiversity and provide a framework for more active involvement by the conservation community. Incorporating these principles and components will enable One Health practice to guide inclusive, multidisciplinary, and cross‐sectoral efforts that consider the shared costs and benefits of human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health and help readjust humanity's pursuit of a green, just, and equitable sustainability pathway.

Negotiating an International Legal Instrument on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction: A Look Ahead

The negotiation of the future Agreement governing the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction is in its final stage. Essentially a treaty for the protection of general interests, the Agreement can generate several benefits for the governance of the oceans. However, in the first three sessions of the intergovernmental conference, deep discrepancies have emerged with respect to the core issues of the package agreed in 2011. This article identifies various formulas and strategies that have been considered in the negotiations and incorporated in the Revised draft text as possible regulatory options with the potential to bring positions closer and facilitate the agreement: avoiding explicit reference to the legal status of marine genetic resources;the incorporation of differential and contextual norms;the introduction of due diligence obligations;the incorporation of internal soft law;and the reduction of the scope of the treaty. These options may help to provide flexibility and differentiation in the regulation but, as essentially pragmatic measures, they tend to sacrifice the ambition of the final Agreement. On the other hand, if States assume their real role and responsibility in the process - that of interpreters of general interest and custodians of marine biodiversity - they would be in a better position to find novel and more ambitious solutions for bringing this crucial Agreement to fruition. This article advocates a return to basics and the placing of the marine environment at the centre of the regulations.

Ozone pollution during the COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020 over Europe, analysed from satellite observations, in situ measurements, and models

We present a comprehensive study integrating satellite observations of ozone pollution, in situ measurements, and chemistry-transport model simulations for quantifying the role of anthropogenic emission reductions during the COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020 over Europe. Satellite observations are derived from the IASI+GOME2 (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer + Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment 2) multispectral synergism, which provides better sensitivity to near-surface ozone pollution. These observations are mainly analysed in terms of differences between the average on 1–15 April 2020, when the strictest lockdown restrictions took place, and the same period in 2019. They show clear enhancements of near-surface ozone in central Europe and northern Italy, as well as some other hotspots, which are typically characterized by volatile organic compound (VOC)-limited chemical regimes. An overall reduction of ozone is observed elsewhere, where ozone chemistry is limited by the abundance of NOx. The spatial distribution of positive and negative ozone concentration anomalies observed from space is in relatively good quantitative agreement with surface in situ measurements over the continent (a correlation coefficient of 0.55, a root-mean-squared difference of 11 ppb, and the same standard deviation and range of variability). An average difference of ∼ 8 ppb between the two observational datasets is observed, which can partly be explained by the fact the satellite approach retrieves partial columns of ozone with a peak sensitivity above the surface (near 2 km of altitude over land and averaging kernels reaching the middle troposphere over ocean).For assessing the impact of the reduction of anthropogenic emissions during the lockdown, we adjust the satellite and in situ surface observations for subtracting the influence of meteorological conditions in 2020 and 2019. This adjustment is derived from the chemistry-transport model simulations using the meteorological fields of each year and identical emission inventories. Using adjustments adapted for the altitude and sensitivity of each observation, both datasets show consistent estimates of the influence of lockdown emission reduction. They both show lockdown-associated ozone enhancements in hotspots over central Europe and northern Italy, with a reduced amplitude with respect to the total changes observed between the 2 years and an overall reduction elsewhere over Europe and the ocean. Satellite observations additionally provide the ozone anomalies in the regions remote from in situ sensors, an enhancement over the Mediterranean likely associated with maritime traffic emissions, and a marked large-scale reduction of ozone elsewhere over ocean (particularly over the North Sea), in consistency with previous assessments done with ozone sonde measurements in the free troposphere.These observational assessments are compared with model-only estimations, using the CHIMERE chemistry-transport model. Whereas a general qualitative consistency of positive and negative ozone anomalies is observed with respect to observational estimates, significant changes are seen in their amplitudes. Models underestimate the range of variability of the ozone changes by at least a factor 2 with respect to the two observational datasets, both for enhancements and decreases of ozone. Moreover, a significant ozone decrease observed at a large hemispheric scale is not simulated since the modelling domain is the European continent. As simulations only consider the troposphere, the influence from stratospheric ozone is also missing. Sensitivity analyses also show an important role of vertical mixing of atmospheric constituents, which depends on the meteorological fields used in the simulation and significantly modify the amplitude of the changes of ozone pollution during the lockdown.

The Plastic Waste Challenge in a Post-COVID-19 World: A Circular Approach to Sustainability

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is upending our lives and the global economy in ways unimaginable until recently. While the overall impacts are still difficult to quantify, ramifications are sure to be felt for decades to come. Providing secure, reliable, and affordable resources for all without causing devastating environmental consequences is perhaps the greatest challenge of the 21st century. But the pandemic has significantly altered dynamics and changed priorities. How is this impacting the quest for sustainability? This paper analyzes these challenges by focusing on the plastic industry. There is no doubt that plastic has molded society in many ways that make our lives easier and safer, but it has also created a global environmental and sustainability crisis. To curb our addiction to plastic, the world had been trying to move away from virgin plastic, but the pandemic has turned an enemy into a much-needed ally. The following paper uses a mixed-methods approach of surveys, empirical analysis, and literature review to answer a fundamental question: How can we leverage the advantages of plastic without contributing to the world's environmental crisis? This dilemma poses a significant challenge but also opens an opportunity to address sustainability at a systemic level through circularity and the transition to low-carbon alternatives to petroleum-based plastics.

Divided by Borders Connected by Blue Line: Prospects and Lessons for Sustainable Ocean Governance in the Indian Ocean Region

In last few decades, oceans are perceived only as everyone's resource but no one's responsibility. After the publication of Gunter Pauli's book The Blue Economy (2010) and declaration of UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a call for efficient and sustainable use of ocean resources. Blue economy is all about oceanrelated sustainable development model and has a huge potential in income and employment generation. A fundamental change is required in the way the world's marine economy is managed. The Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Maldives) has a huge coastline, but unlike Small Island Developing States (SIDS), it is hardly able to develop a comprehensive, integrated blue economy policy at regional level due to border and other disputed transboundary issues. All the above-mentioned countries of the Indian subcontinent are part of Indian Ocean Rim region but not part of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) which can play a potential role in building a comprehensive strategy for sustainable management of the Indian Ocean. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected most of the sectors associated with blue economy However, the pandemic has also delivered unusual environmental benefits through reduced economic activity and consequent curb on ocean emissions and air and water pollution. Therefore, the objective of the paper is to understand the prospects and lessons of blue economy in the post-pandemic world order as a common policy paradigm in the Indian subcontinent region for sustainable ocean governance in the near future.

Design as a Driver for Behavioural Change: Oceans and Plastics, Approaches for a Shift Towards Sustainability

Design as a field of study and research emerged in the 1960's, a relatively recent area of academic study, however its multidisciplinary characteristics demonstrate that it has become a field of major importance in various types of research problems on other areas of study. We are living a pandemic scenario unveiled by Covid-19 that made governments and societies change their ways of living, working, and interacting. On a Planet in which humanity's overconsumption and overproduction endangered the biological regeneration of the natural habitats, these changes demonstrate the possibility to transform behavioural habits and mindsets towards a more environmentally driven attitude. In this study, we researched the negative impact of plastic litter in the Oceans, a fast-growing menace that needs urgent action. Based in a comprehensive literature review, we were able to better understand the span of the problem and decided to center our approach on fast moving consumer goods, having narrowed the aim of our research to one of the most common plastic packaging items found in marine litter that results from a negative behavioural habit: plastic grocery bags. Subsequently we have selected a set of food retail companies in Portugal as case studies, to access if they use new and innovative design solutions, in which careful material flow decisions, environmental concerns, acceptable consumption habits and aesthetics have been taken in consideration. Findings reveal sustainability concerns when analyzing the commitment and action plans adopted by these companies on the improvement of their environmental impacts, with the reduction in the use of raw materials or the ecodesign of their self-brand products, in which Design is a strategic element. Future work intends to follow up those actions to identify if they led the user/consumer to adopt a more sustainable and sentient behaviour.

Transport Systems for Sustainability: Policy, Planning and Exploitation

There are several SDG targets directly linked to transport, including SDG 3 on health (increased road safety), SDG 7 on energy, SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth, SDG 9 on resilient infrastructure, SDG 11 on sustainable cities (access to transport and expanded public transport), SDG 12 on sustainable consumption and production (ending fossil fuel subsidies) and SDG 14 on oceans, seas and marine resources. The authors concluded that the construction of the new artery by the city centre, using appropriate technical solutions and traffic organization (tunnel, noise barriers, roundabouts, speed limit) likely contributed to an overall reduction in NO2 concentrations. Tsakalidis, Gkoumas, Grosso and Pekár present an overview of TRIMIS and its benefits as an integrated analytical tool that provides support to sustainable transport governance and decision-making. [...]it provides insights on current technology trends in the road transport domain with a focus on smart innovation and identifies emerging trends with a potential future impact through a dedicated case study, combining a techno-economic assessment with findings of a horizon scanning exercise. [...]we have four papers that focus on specific modes of transport—road and maritime:

Assessment of Palm Jumeirah Island’s Construction Effects on the Surrounding Water Quality and Surface Temperatures during 2001–2020

Climate change stressors like rising and warmer seas, increased storms and droughts, and acidifying oceans are rapidly threatening coastal zones, which are the world’s most densely inhabited places. This research assesses the effects of Palm Jumeirah Island (PJI) construction on its surrounding water quality and temperature, using Landsat-7 and 8 spectral and thermal bands for the years 2001, 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2020. To aid in this goal, the changes in water spectral reflectance was observed and interpreted, based on previous research and measurements, to discover the correlation between water quality and its spectral reflectance. Then, the sea surface temperature (SST) was calculated for the years under review and changes in water temperature were evaluated. Finally, the Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI) and the Normalized Difference Turbidity Index (NDTI) were calculated to estimate water chlorophyll levels and water turbidity, respectively, and changes were observed and interpreted for the time period under review. The present study showed that the PJI construction not only increased the water reflectance in the 0.5–0.8 µm of wavelength, which can be considered to be the increase of suspended sediments and chlorophyll but the water temperature also increased by 7.5 °C during the 19 years. In addition, a gradual increase in the values of GNDVI (by 0.097–0.129) and NDTI (by 0.118~0.172) were observed. A drop in chlorophyll and suspended sediment spectral reflectance and GNDVI and NDTI values were also observed in 2020 compared to 2019 which can be attributed to the 63 to 82% decrease in tourists in Dubai in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to draw attention to environmental issues by clarifying the effect of creating artificial islands in the sea and our analysis and results are a suitable reference for specialized hydrological and environmental studies based on spectral information and distance measurements, as presented in this paper.

A Review and Categorization of Artificial Intelligence-Based Opportunities in Wildlife, Ocean and Land Conservation

The scholarly literature on the links between Artificial Intelligence and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is burgeoning as climate change and the biotic crisis leading to mass extinction of species are raising concerns across the globe. With a focus on Sustainable Development Goals 14 (Life below Water) and 15 (Life on Land), this paper explores the opportunities of Artificial Intelligence applications in various domains of wildlife, ocean and land conservation. For this purpose, we develop a conceptual framework on the basis of a comprehensive review of the literature and examples of Artificial Intelligence-based approaches to protect endangered species, monitor and predict animal behavior patterns, and track illegal or unsustainable wildlife trade. Our findings provide scholars, governments, environmental organizations, and entrepreneurs with a much-needed taxonomy and real-life examples of Artificial Intelligence opportunities for tackling the grand challenge of rapidly decreasing biological diversity, which has severe implications for global food security, nature, and humanity.

Increasing of Business Competitiveness of Bus Transport Companies Through the Blue Oceans Strategy in Slovakia

This article deals with the issue of strategic management in bus transport companies in Slovakia. It briefly explains why it is important for companies to focus on new strategies, not the old ones. From new strategies, the article is focused on the blue ocean strategy and presents its essence, keystones, and recommendations. In connection with this strategy, the authors also explain the concept of the red ocean strategy. The aim of this paper is to find out whether companies in the Zilina region use some principles of the blue ocean strategy, and thus increase their competitiveness in the market, and to explain the necessity of this increase through the mentioned strategy by the Covid-19 crisis. A questionnaire survey method was used to achieve the aim of the paper. The results indicate that only a small percentage of the interviewed companies use any of the principles of the blue ocean strategy, the old strategies are more preferred in generally. E. g. focus on the quality of products / services, and innovations, which are, according to the blue ocean strategy, a very important factor of success and competitive advantage, ranked only third. After the questionnaire survey the authors used a structured interview to find out whether companies that use the blue ocean strategy are successfully operating in Slovakia as well. It turned out that the interviewed company really cared about all the principles of the blue ocean strategy. The results of this thesis are therefore recommendations that bus transport companies should focus on in the field of strategic management in order to be more successful in the market of transport services. © 2021 Kaunas University of Technology. All rights reserved.

Preface

Issue 3 carried two aspects of adverse impact of climate change in exacerbating sexual and gender-based violence against women as well as decline in the flow of transboundary water resources. In the wake of Covid 19 pandemic the enormity of the challenge of plastics has only grown with the use of huge amounts of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and generation of biomedical plastic waste. [...]the article on use of 'precautionary principle' in court settlement of civil environmental cases in Indonesia provides a case of the framework for environmental decision-making in the event of scientific uncertainty.