Environmental Geography

Environmental geography examines the spatial dimensions of interactions between people and the natural world. It integrates physical processes—such as climate dynamics, hydrology, geomorphology and ecosystem functioning—with human activities including land use, resource management, urbanisation and policy frameworks. By combining remote sensing, field observation, spatial statistics and qualitative inquiry, practitioners map and analyse patterns of environmental change, vulnerability to hazards and the distribution of ecosystem services. The field spans scales from local catchments to global systems, addressing questions of sustainable water allocation, biodiversity conservation in fragmented landscapes, the impacts of climate extremes on communities and pathways for adapting infrastructure and livelihoods. Its insights inform planning, disaster risk reduction and natural resource governance, underpinned by a commitment to equity and resilience in the face of mounting environmental pressures.

Research from Nature Portfolio

One study in a semi-arid Mexican valley applied water-footprint analysis to grape and olive cultivation over three decades, demonstrating that reduced rainfall and higher temperatures since the late 1980s have driven irrigation demand up by more than 70 per cent in extreme drought years. By partitioning green (rainfall), blue (surface and groundwater) and grey (pollution assimilation) components, the work offers quantitative guidance for optimising water use under climatic stress.

Research on the diurnal cycle of wet- and dry-bulb temperatures in South Asia has revealed that peak combined heat and humidity stress often occurs several hours after the daily maximum air temperature. Boundary-layer dynamics prolong exposure to physiological thresholds of uncompensable heat stress into the evening, underscoring the need for heat-health warning systems that account for humidity–temperature timing rather than peak air temperature alone.

Analyses of four decades of wet-bulb temperature trends across eastern China show that rising water vapour pressures—more than warming alone—drive elevated thermal stress in southern provinces, while shifts in large-scale circulation patterns amplify moisture transport. Climate model attribution indicates that, by century’s end, uniformly higher heat stress will prevail across populous eastern regions, calling for regionally tailored adaptation measures.

Research from all publishers

A review of climate adaptation in Latin America and the Caribbean identifies institutional capacity gaps, fragmented governance and resource constraints as primary barriers to translating climate knowledge into resilient action. The authors advocate inclusive, multi-stakeholder processes that integrate local data and equity considerations to strengthen links between policymakers, scientists and communities.

Ensemble projections under the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 reveal that, by the late twenty-first century and under high-emission scenarios, Central America and the Caribbean may see temperature rises of up to 6 °C alongside a meridional dipole of precipitation change—wetter in parts of the southern United States and drier by up to 40 per cent in key agricultural zones—highlighting divergent regional trends and adaptation needs.

Attribution studies comparing simulations with and without anthropogenic forcing demonstrate that recent multi-year droughts in Central America are now at least four times more likely as a consequence of human-induced warming. While multi-decadal drying owes much to natural variability, such extreme events will intensify under intermediate and high emission pathways, signalling an urgent requirement for proactive water management.

Environmental Geography publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in environmental geography across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Water footprint: The total volume of freshwater used to produce a good or service, partitioned into green (rainfall), blue (surface and groundwater) and grey (pollution assimilation) components.

Wet-bulb temperature: The lowest temperature achievable by evaporative cooling of a water-saturated surface, indicating combined heat and humidity stress on organisms.

Uncompensable heat stress: A physiological state in which the human body can no longer maintain core temperature by evaporation and circulation, posing severe health risks.

Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6): An international framework of coordinated climate model experiments used to assess past, present and future climate under standardised scenarios.

Attribution analysis: A methodological approach that distinguishes the relative contributions of natural variability and human activities to observed climate events.

Blue water: Freshwater sourced from surface or groundwater bodies, used for irrigation, industry or domestic purposes.

Grey water: The volume of freshwater required to dilute pollutants to meet specified water quality standards during production processes.

References

1. Challenges for climate change adaptation in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Frontiers in Climate (2024).
2. A temporal analysis of the consequences of the drought regime on the water footprint of agriculture in the Guadalupe Valley, Mexico. Scientific Reports (2024).
3. The diurnal variation of wet bulb temperatures and exceedance of physiological thresholds relevant to human health in South Asia. Communications Earth & Environment (2023).
4. Uniformly elevated future heat stress in China driven by spatially heterogeneous water vapor changes. Nature Communications (2024).
5. Projected Changes in Temperature and Precipitation Over the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean in CMIP6 GCMs. Earth Systems and Environment (2021).
6. Natural variability vs forced signal in the 2015–2019 Central American drought. Climatic Change (2021).