Perspectives in 2025

Amid escalating climate and biodiversity crises, restoration of degraded lands is urgent. In this Perspective, the case for justice at the core of restoration practice is made, going beyond superficial approaches and providing a more robust path towards a truly just and transformative restoration.

Emerging contaminants are threatening the well-being of the ecosphere, but our understanding of this problem is limited. This Perspective discusses how to better assess the environmental risks of emerging contaminants.

Inaccuracies in the evaluation of project impacts, even under ex ante scenarios, can cause overestimation or underestimation of carbon offsets. This study shows the potential of systematic ex post evaluations to enhance the credibility of voluntary carbon market schemes.

History can enhance the robustness of scenario planning for the food system. Through cases in Mozambique, Bangladesh and Holland, this Perspective illustrates how historical insights can guide interventions on various scales for more resilient food systems.

While adaptation to climate and environmental impacts is assumed for future development, this Perspective provides evidence that adaptation may be more limited or even undermined by climate change, requiring difficult societal decisions to be made.

Adopting early dry season fires has been proposed as a means of generating sufficient carbon revenues to pay for conservation in Africa. However, the climatic impact thereof is deeply questionable and may have unforeseen detrimental effects.