SEI York Publications 2021
Publications by SEI York centre staff are listed here. For the full list of SEI Publications please visit the SEI website.
This paper explores the links between urban public realm spaces, both natural and built, and residents' wellbeing in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs).
Tuhkanen, H., Cinderby, S., Bruin, A. de, Wikman, A., Adelina, C., Archer, D., & Muhoza, C. (2022). Health and wellbeing in cities - Cultural contributions from urban form in the Global South context. Wellbeing, Space and Society, 3, 100071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2021.100071
This paper by SEI's Jonathan Green et al. explores how co-production processes can enable sustainability transformations.
Chambers, J.M., Wyborn, C., Klenk, N.L., Ryan, M.E., Serban, A., Bennett, N.J., Brennan, R., Charli-Joseph, L., Fernandez-Gimenez, M.E., Galvin, K.A., Goldstein, B.E., Haller, T., Hill, R., Munera, C., Nel, J.L., Österblom, H., Reid, R.S., Riechers, M., Spierenburg, M., Tengö, M., Bennett, E., Brandeis, A., Chatterton, P., Cockburn, J.J., Cvitanovic, C., Dumrongrojwatthana, P., Durán, A..P, Gerber, J.D., Green, J.M.H., Gruby, R., Guerrero, A.M., Horcea-Milcu, A-I., Montana, J., Steyaert, P., Zaehringer, .JG., Bednarek, A.T., Curran, K., Fada, .SJ., Hutton, J., Leimona, B., Pickering, T. and Rondeau, R. (2021). Co-productive agility and four collaborative pathways to sustainability transformations. Global Environmental Change (forthcoming).
Chris West, Emilie Stockeld and Simon Croft contributed to this large scale literature and data review to explore the potential climate impact transmission pathways between the EU and other world regions.
West, C.D., Stokeld, E., Campiglio, E., Croft, S., Detges, A., Duranovic, A., von Jagow, A., Jarząbek, Ł., König, C., Knaepen, H., Magnuszewski, P., Monasterolo, I. and Reyeri, C.P.O. (2021). Europe's cross-border trade, human security and financial connections: A climate risk perspective, Climate Risk Management 34:100382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2021.100382.
Some consumer countries and blocs are developing laws to tackle deforestation linked to commodity imports. Using Brazil as an example, the authors show that measures that focus on legality alone are not sufficient to address global deforestation and may be undermined by dilution of local laws.
We present novel co-created transdisciplinary research that uses arts and humanities methods to explore air pollution in an informal settlement (Mukuru) in Nairobi, Kenya.
West, S.E., Bowyer, C.J., Apondo, W., Büker, P., Cinderby, S., Gray, C.M., Hahn, M., Lambe, F., Loh, M., Medcalf, A., Muhoza, C., Muindi, K., Njoora, T.K., Twigg, M.M., Waelde, C., Walnycki, A., Wainwright, M., Wendler, J., Wilson, M. and Price, H.D. (2021). Using a co-created transdisciplinary approach to explore the complexity of air pollution in informal settlements. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8, 285. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-021-00969-6
Whether trade is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for our societies and the environment has been a topic of ongoing debate. This brief is a simple overview of some of the costs.
This discussion paper is written by Chris West and is a part of a series of trade and nature discussion papers highlighting the insights and findings from ongoing research across the GCRF TRADE Hub.
A collective industry commitment to work together to ensure all physical shipments of soy to the UK are deforestation and habitat conversion free.
The UK Soy Manifesto is a UK industry initiative, facilitated by Efeca, which holds the Secretariat function. The content of the manifesto has been co-developed across a multi-stakeholder working group that includes Mighty Earth, Earthworm, Global Canopy, the Stockholm Environment Institute, WWF and Tesco, in consultation with wider UK industry. SEI’s Chris West was part of the working group of Manifesto signatories and supporters that developed a concept note for the monitoring, reporting and verification system.
This paper contributes to filling this knowledge gap through a novel interdisciplinary mixed methods study undertaken in two rapidly changing cities in Thailand and Kenya using qualitative surveys, subjective wellbeing and stress measurements, and spatial analysis of urban infrastructure distribution.
A new experimental statistic has been released that will act as an indicator of the global environmental impacts of UK consumption. This report (JNCC Report No. 695) describes the methodologies used to produce the experimental statistic.
Croft, S., West, C., Harris, M., Green, J., Molotoks, A., Harris, V. and Way, L. 2021. Technical documentation for an experimental statistic estimating the global environmental impacts of UK consumption. JNCC Report No. 695, JNCC, Peterborough, ISSN 0963-9091. https://data.jncc.gov.uk/data/91efc19d-f675-426f-9333-ed0195cc729d/JNCC-Report-695-FINAL-WEB.pdf
This paper presents a systematic review of the controlled and uncontrolled evidence for outdoor nature-based interventions (NBIs) to improve adult mental health in community based (non-hospital) settings. It identifies which of the reviewed NBIs are most effective and what format and dose is most efficacious.
This paper describes a rapid evidence synthesis to identify which forest-risk commodities imported to the UK have the highest overseas impacts.
Efforts to decrease food loss and waste must engage with all stakeholders and all of their impacts. This report explores using method called True Cost Accounting to help overcome siloed thinking and support collaborative efforts to reduce food loss and waste throughout the whole food system. The executive summary is available now with full report due later this month.
This report provides a first systematic, quantitative assessment of transboundary climate risks to trade in major agricultural commodities – maize, rice, wheat, soy, sugar cane, and coffee.
Adams, K.M., Benzie, M., Croft, S. & Sadowski, S. (2021). Climate Change, Trade, and Global Food Security: A Global Assessment of Transboundary Climate Risks in Agricultural Commodity Flows. SEI Report. Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm. https://doi.org/10.51414/sei2021.009
This paper addresses challenges faced by low and middle income country (LMICs) cities using citizen science to enhance official data monitoring of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and calls for greater support for them.
Pateman, R., Tuhkanen, H. and Cinderby, S. (2021). Citizen Science and the Sustainable Development Goals in Low and Middle Income Country Cities. Sustainability, 13(17). 9534. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179534
This evidence into action brief summarises the state of research on the topic of urban air pollution in low- and middle-income countries and its impacts on children, and proposes ideas for action.
West, S., Loh, M., Malley, C., and Bowyer, C. (2021) Urban air pollution and children in low- and middle-income families: Global Alliance - Cities 4 Children: Research Series: Cities for Children and Youth.
SEI, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and IKEA are partners in a project to create a practical guide to help businesses develop their own air pollutant emission inventories. The guide is being devised to set out a process for businesses to track and ultimately reduce these emissions across their value chains. This brief outlines the genesis, concept and aims of the project.
Achieving the UK’s net-zero target by 2050 will require a mix of technological, societal and nature-based solutions working together to enable systemic change towards a regenerative society. Research must be prioritised into solutions for sectors that are difficult to decarbonise, say leading scientists from the COP26 Universities Network.
Ainalis, D., Bardhan, R., Bell, K., Cebon, D., Czerniak, M., Farmer, J. D., Fitzgerland, S., Galkowski, K., Grimshaw, S., Harper, G., Hunt, H., Jennings, N., Kehsav, S., Mackie, E., Maroto-Valer, M., Michalopoulou, E., Reay, D., Seddon, N., Smith, S. M., Smith, T., Simpson, K., Stranks, S. D., Tennyson, E. M., Uekert, T., Vera-Morales, M. and Woodcock, J. (2021). Net-zero Solutions and Research Priorities in the 2020s: COP26 Universities Network Briefing.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an approach used to calculate the potential environmental impacts of a product over the course of its life cycle. Supply chain information is essential for LCAs, but there are few detailed assessments of production and consumption practices for specific regions. This study introduces the commodity supply mix (CSM), which relies on mapping national or international supply chains, as a way to gain a deeper understanding of these issues.
Lathuillière, M.J., Patouillard, L., Margni, M., Ayre, B., Löfgren, P., Ribeiro, V., West, C. Gardner, T., and Suavet C. (2021). A Commodity Supply Mix for More Regionalized Life Cycle Assessments. Environmental Science & Technology. http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c03060
This article describes a practical tool for researchers and societal actors to critically explore when and how particular co-production approaches may be effective or constructive.
Chambers, J.M., Wyborn, C., Ryan, M.E. et al. Six modes of co-production for sustainability. Nat Sustain (2021). http://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00755-x
This work presents a model that integrates the assessment of food consumption-related health risks, with the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions.
Malley, C., Hicks, K., Kuylenstierna, J., Michalopoulou, E., Molotoks, A., Slater, J., Heaps, C., Ulloa, S., Veysey, J., Shindell, D., Henze, D. K., Nawaz, O., Anenberg, S. C., Mantlana, B. and Robinson, T. (2021). Integrated assessment of global climate, air pollution, and dietary, malnutrition and obesity health impacts of food production and consumption between 2014 and 2018. Environmental Research Communications. http://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ac0af9
Agriculture accounts for approximately 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and is simultaneously associated with impacts on human health through food consumption, and agricultural air pollutant emissions. These impacts are often quantified separately, and there is a lack of modelling tools to facilitate integrated assessments.
This work presents a new model that integrates assessment of agricultural systems on i) human health indirectly through dietary, obesity and malnutrition health risks from food consumption, ii) human health directly through exposure to air pollutants from agricultural emissions, and iii) greenhouse gas emissions.
Malley, C., Hicks, K., Kuylenstierna, J., Michalopoulou, E., Molotoks, A., Slater, J., Heaps, C., Ulloa, S., Veysey, J., Shindell, D., Henze, D. K., Nawaz, O., Anenberg, S. C., Mantlana, B. and Robinson, T. (2021). Integrated assessment of global climate, air pollution, and dietary, malnutrition and obesity health impacts of food production and consumption between 2014 and 2018. Environmental Research Communications.
This paper examines the concept of 'care' to understand the relationship between people and woodland and how this can be extended to forest conservation.
O’Flynn, T., Geoghegan, H., Dyke, A. and de Bruin, A. (2021). Attending to nature: Understanding care and caring relations in forest management in the UK. Journal of Rural Studies, 86, 226–235.
Climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability studies tend to confine their attention to impacts and responses within the same geographical region. However, this approach ignores cross-border climate change impacts that occur remotely from the location of their initial impact and that may severely disrupt societies and livelihoods.
The authors propose a conceptual framework and accompanying nomenclature for describing and analysing such cross-border impacts. The conceptual framework distinguishes an initial impact that is caused by a climate trigger within a specific region. Downstream consequences of that impact propagate through an impact transmission system while adaptation responses to deal with the impact propagate through a response transmission system.
This brief introduces a four-part series exploring nature-based solutions (NbS). Responding to identified gaps in existing knowledge about the social and economic sustainability aspects of NbS, the series seeks to explore their costs and benefits and how they can be developed without leaving anyone behind.
Barquet, K., Leander, E., Green, J., Tuhkanen, H., Omondi Odongo, V., Boyland, M., Fiertz, E.K., Escobar, M., Trujillo, M. and Osano, P. (2021). Spotlight on social equity, finance and scale: Promises and pitfalls of nature-based solutions. SEI brief. Stockholm Environment Institute.
This book chapter discusses the importance of citizen science in understanding food and food policy.
Reynolds, C., Oakden, L., West, S., Pateman, R., Elliot, C., Armstrong, B., Gillespie, R. and Patel, M. (2021) Citizen science for the food system. In Future directions for citizen science and public policy. Cohen, K. and Robert Doubleday, R. (eds). Centre for Science and Policy, Cambridge. 55-59.
The Outcome Indicator Framework for the UK government’s 25-year environment plan calls for the development of an indicator to measure the overseas environmental impacts of UK consumption of key commodities. This report describes the work undertaken so far, and future work needed to release this indicator as an experimental statistic for Outcome Indicator Reporting starting in 2022.
Croft, S., West, C., Harris, M., Otley, A. and Way, L. 2021. Towards Indicators of the Global Environmental Impacts of UK Consumption: Embedded Deforestation. JNCC Report No. 681, JNCC, Peterborough. ISSN 0963-8091.
This report reviews the cooperation between three Northeast Asian countries: China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, and assesses which aspects of the regional collaboration from Europe and North America can be transferred to this part of Asia. The report will serve to advise governments, intergovernmental agencies and others on some key options that can be used to take further action at either national or regional scales.
Choi, G., Kuylenstierna, J., Lee, S.K., Palmer, E., Hicks, K., Lee, E., Jun, D., Nikam, J., Archer, D., Ågren, C., Williams, M. (2021) Developing regional cooperation on air pollution in Northeast Asia. Transferring lessons from Europe and North America, progress and future development. SEI Report. Stockholm Environment Institute.
This report presents a summary of an assessment undertaken to understand the awareness that transport planners and decision-makers have of catering for the needs of disadvantaged groups. This includes the challenges transport planners and decision-makers face in incorporating the views of disadvantaged groups and climate resilience in the planning process.
Haq, G., Muhoza, C., Njoroge, G., Mwamba, D., Arby, W.Y., and Ngabirano, A. (2021) Inclusive Climate-Resilient Transport In Africa: Assessment of needs of transport stakeholders including disadvantaged groups. HVT046. UK Foreign Commonwealth Development Office.
The UK is committed to targets under international biodiversity agreements to value, conserve and restore the variety of life on earth (biodiversity). Progress towards targets is tracked using indicators, which are designed to summarise complex monitoring data. This POSTnote reviews indicator use and development in the context of the post-2020 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Global Biodiversity Framework.
This POSTnote describes the challenges surrounding the effective use of biodiversity indicators. These challenges are interlinked and include the types, varieties and number of indicators used; challenges of assessing progress towards targets; and data availability. Possible future indicator developments and advances in monitoring are also outlined.
Key Points:
Links between biodiversity loss and drivers of change are complex; indicators are used to describe and communicate trends in aspects of biodiversity, and can be used to aid policy decisions.
The types, varieties and numbers of indicators can be a source of confusion, but they can help to identify important location-specific trends in biodiversity.
The difficulty of setting appropriate baselines for reference, the ambiguity of biodiversity targets and the differing sensitivity of indicators to change over time create challenges for assessing progress towards biodiversity targets.
The quantity and quality of representative data available for indicator development is a key limitation. Researchers suggest greater clarity about global biodiversity targets would aid the selection of indicators.
This POSTbrief summarises the different suites of indicators at both the devolved- and UK-level and complements POSTnote 644, which describes the challenges surrounding the effective use of biodiversity indicators in the context of the post-2020 CBD Global Biodiversity Framework.
Read the POSTbrief
SEI involvement through researcher Amy Molotoks.
The editors of Climate and Development react to the “Hot List” of 1,000 influential scholars in climate change published by Reuters on 20 April 2021.
Schipper, E.L.F., Ensor, J., Mukherji, A., Mirzabaev, A., Fraser, A., Harvey, B., Totin, E., Garschagen, M., Pathak, M., Antwi-Agyei, P., Tanner, T. and Shawoo, Z. (2021) Equity in climate scholarship: a manifesto for action. Climate and Development. DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2021.1923308
The aim of this discussion paper is to encourage the research and policy community to move towards an evidence-based position about prescribed burning impacts on UK peatlands.
Ashby, M. A. and Heinemeyer, A. (2021). A Critical Review of the IUCN UK Peatland Programme’s “Burning and Peatlands” Position Statement. Wetlands, 41(5). 56.
This article reviews the literature on the motivations of citizen scientists and provides advice to those designing recruitment and retention strategies for citizen science projects, particularly those seeking to include currently underrepresented groups.
West, S, Dyke, A and Pateman, R. (2021). Variations in the Motivations of Environmental Citizen Scientists. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 6(1): pp. 1–18.
The Global Methane Assessment released by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with support from SEI researchers, shows that human-caused methane emissions can be reduced by up to 45% this decade. Such reductions would avoid nearly 0.3°C of global warming by 2045 and would be consistent with keeping the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal to limit global temperature rise to 1.5˚C, within reach.
United Nations Environment Programme and Climate and Clean Air Coalition (2021). Global Methane Assessment: Benefits and Costs of Mitigating Methane Emissions. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme.
SEI researchers and partners presented insights into blanket bog ecosystem functioning based on data from a peatland management project in Northern England.
Heinemeyer, A., Jones, A., Holmes, T., Mycroft, A., Burn, W. and Morton, P. (2021). Peatland-ES-UK: a long-term, deep and holistic look at climate and management impacts on grousemoor managed UK blanket bog peatlands - carbon, water, biodiversity, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-11589.
SEI researchers and partners presented insights on the physical and chemical properties of peat relevant to management decisions on 'at source' drinking water.
Mycroft, A., Heinemeyer, A., Penkman, K., Banks, J. and Thom, T. Towards unravelling the 'Black Box' of peatland carbon: Linking peatland habitat condition and management to water chemistry and quality, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-15049.
A conceptual framework for describing and analyzing cross-border climate change impacts, presented at the EGU General Assembly 2021.
Carter, T.R., Benzie, M., Campiglio, E., Carlsen, H., Fronzek, S., Hildén, M., Reyer, C. and West, C. (2021). A framework for analysing cross-border climate change impacts, responses and their propagation, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-13263.
This document is a rapid evidence review of citizen science methods, focusing on how they can be applied to the UK Food Standards Agency priority areas.
Reynolds, C., Oakden, L., West, S., Pateman, R., and Elliot, C. (2020).Citizen Science and Food: A Review. Food Standards Agency. Crown Copyright 2020.Read the report
This article describes a two stage, subjective approach to resilience assessment using rapid household interviews and participatory qualitative methods.
Ensor, J. E., Mohan, T., Forrester, J., Khisa, U. K., Karim, T. and Howley, P. (2021). Opening space for equity and justice in resilience: A subjective approach to household resilience assessment. Global Environmental Change, 68. 102251.
This article describes how a new metric for species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) can be used to identify actions to halt and reverse species extinction across the globe.
Mair, L., Bennun, L. A., Brooks, T. M., et al. (2021). A metric for spatially explicit contributions to science-based species targets. Nature Ecology & Evolution.
This article examines the ethnicity, socio-economic status and gender of participants in citizen science activities. It discusses mechanisms to widen participation and the need to monitor diversity.
Pateman, R., Dyke, A. and West, S. (2021). The Diversity of Participants in Environmental Citizen Science. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 6(1). 9.Read the article
This report for the Joint Nature Conservancy Council explores the uncertainty of different approaches to assess overseas environmental impacts from commodities consumed in the UK.
Harris, M., Hawker, J., Croft, S., Smith, M., Way, L., Williams, J., Wilkinson, S., Hobbs, E., Green, J., West, C. and Mortimer, D. (2019) Is the Proportion of Imports Certified as Being from Sustainable Sources an Effective Indicator of UK Environmental Impact Overseas? JNCC Report No: 631. ISSN 0963-8091.
This paper describes the approach and results of using create methods for mobility and road safety planning outcomes in two East African cities.
Cinderby, S., de Bruin, A., Cambridge, H., Muhoza, C., and Ngabirano, A. Transforming urban planning processes and outcomes through creative methods. Ambio (2021).
Since its founding in 1989, SEI has aimed to promote sustainable development by bridging science and policy. This report assesses how SEI engages with policy and decision-making processes, the outcomes of these interactions and areas for improvement, moving forward.
Kuylenstierna, J.C.I., Forrester, J., Williams, E. and Dyke, A. (2021). Assessing SEI's policy engagement. SEI Report. Stockholm Environment Institute.
This policy brief shares ten practical recommendations for urban policy makers, planners, designers and local authorities in dryland areas in Africa.
Thorn, J.P.R., Hejnowicz, A.P., Marchant, R. Ajala, O.A., Delgado, G., Shackleton, S., Kavonic, J. and Cinderby, S. (2021) Dryland nature based solutions for informal settlement upgrading schemes in Africa. ICLEI Africa.
This policy brief shares ten practical recommendations for urban policy makers in dryland Africa to use when planning, developing and implementing policies.
Thorn, J.P.R., Hejnowicz, A.P., Kavonic, J., Marchant, R., Shackleton, S., Delgado, G., Ajala, O.A., Mueller, A. and Cinderby, S. (2021) Socially inclusive urban policy making for climate resilient dryland Africa [Internet]. ICLEI Africa.
This article highlights how transformation needs to be considered as part of resilience if issues of equity and social justice are to be addressed in development and disaster risk reduction plans.
Ensor, J., Tuhkanen, H., Boyland, M., Salamanca, A., Johnson, K., Thomalla, F., Mangada, L.L. (2021). Redistributing resilience? Deliberate transformation and political capabilities in post-Haiyan Tacloban. World Development, 140. 105360.
This paper discusses how to define and analyze success or failure when integrating of social equity in environmental governance systems.
Ensor, J. and Hoddy, E. (2020). Securing the social foundation: A rights-based approach to planetary boundaries. Earth System Governance. 100086.
This paper calls for a greater understanding of soil microbiota and their influence on peatland functioning and resilience to perturbations associated with land use and climate change.
Ritson, J. P., Alderson, D. M., Robinson, C. H., et al. (2020). Towards a microbial process-based understanding of the resilience of peatland ecosystem service provisioning – A research agenda. Science of The Total Environment. 143467.Read the article
This paper identifies citizen science opportunities to address food waste related SDGs.
Pateman, R.M., de Bruin, A., Piirsalu, E., Reynolds, C., Stokeld, E., and West, S.E. (2020) Citizen Science for Quantifying and Reducing Food Loss and Food Waste. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 4:589089.Read the paper