This review aims to provide information about “Strategies for Enhancing Ecosystem Resilience to Climate Change”. A community of living things interacting with their natural surroundings is called an ecosystem. The term “environment” refers to both the physical surroundings and living things. Despite being linked, these two are inseparable. Nutrient cycles and energy flows connect the physical and biological components. Significant variations in the world’s temperature, precipitation, wind patterns, and other climatic indicators that last for several decades or more are referred to as climate change. The necessity of increasing climate change resilience, lowering risks, and minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is highlighted by extreme and frequent manifestations of climatic variability. Households with low incomes and the impoverished are disproportionately affected by climate change. These households in developing nations are frequently the most dependent on industries (fisheries, forestry, and agriculture) that are sensitive to climate change and have little ability to adapt. According to research conducted in 2023, between 2000 and 2019, climate change-related losses and damages cost the world at least USD 2.8 trillion, or around USD 16 million per hour. Enhancing ecosystem resilience to climate change is crucial for the well-being of our planet. A few strategies involve putting policies in place to lower greenhouse gas emissions, encouraging sustainable land-use practices, and preserving and restoring natural habitats. To build a future that is more sustainable and resilient, cooperation is essential.

Wildfires are a common natural disaster that may seriously harm infrastructure, human lives, and ecosystems all over the world. Since 2016, there have been some of the most costly years for wildfire-related economic and insurance losses; from 2013 to 2022, wildfires cost USD 98.87 billion in worldwide economic losses and USD 69.92 billion in insured losses (adjusted to USD 2023). This review includes information on the causes, impacts, and mitigation strategies of wildfire. The main causes of wildfires might be human activities, such as arson or accidental igniting, or natural events, like lightning strikes. Many areas have shown that wildfire frequency and intensity are influenced by climate change, which is linked to rising temperatures and prolonged droughts. Wildfires have wide-ranging and complex effects. They may cause ecosystems to change, biodiversity to disappear, and habitats to be destroyed. Because they destroy property, infrastructure, and natural resources, wildfires cause significant financial losses. In addition, the inhalation of smoke can lead to respiratory issues and force communities to quit their homes, both of which are major health hazards associated with wildfires.

Homeowners in the wild land–urban interface need to be ready for wildfires that could endanger their properties. Certain protocols and strategies can be put in place to prepare for wildfires as more people relocate to these areas. Defensible areas, growing vegetation resistant to fire, fire-retardant building materials, and sprinklers to prevent the spread of the fire are some of these measures. In conclusion, wildfires are serious disasters that extensively affect economies, human lives, and ecosystems. Societies may try to lessen the frequency and severity of wildfires; save lives and livelihoods; and preserve our natural environment by being aware of the causes, effects, and suitable mitigation techniques.

The knowledge of using natural resources like flora, fauna, and minerals, materials for survival, and livelihood to cure human and animal diseases has been developed in several old tribal communities like the Baiga tribe of Madhya Pradesh. This great reliance on the surrounding landscape can be seen in the tribal communities’ daily affairs. They live in the most interior part of the forest, and they are constantly dependent on the forest’s agro-climatic conditions, resources, nature of soil fertility, availability of water, etc. Context and the surrounding landscape are the paramount sources of food and livelihood of tribal communities in India. Each tribe of India has its kind of landscape manipulating techniques in the form of agricultural, grazing, poultry farming practices etc. Their lives mostly rely on the harvest they get from the surrounding landscape throughout the year and thus become the primary source of their survival. Festivals are their way of expressing respect, gratitude and worship to these landscapes. My objective is to try to understand tribal community festivals and interdependency with their context and surrounding landscape. To understand this affinity between tribal community and their landscape I will try to provide brief study of BAIGA tribe of Madhya Pradesh of India.

There is an urgent need for conservation measures and a management plan because the natural forest resources in northwest Ethiopia are currently in danger. Although we have a limited understanding of these dynamics, these forests' vegetation is changing in terms of growth performance and distribution. The necessity of looking into the underlying causes of these changes and their implications for conservation and sustainable forest management programs is highlighted by this information gap. Furthermore, only a few site-specific studies on vegetation changes in relation to environmental variations have been done. Consequently, this study aimed to examine the existing state of these resources to apply sustainable forest management practices. To achieve this, transects with 200 square plots measuring 400 m² were set up at nine forest patches with 200m spacing between plots and transects. Vegetation and environmental data were collected and analyzed using R version 4.1. Significant variations (p 0.008) were found in vegetation features along the slope, forest patches, and agro-ecology. When compared to other forest patches, highland and mid-altitude forest patches had the highest species diversity (2.48) and stocking (2578 trees ha-1). The gentle slope has the most species diversity (2.83). The species similarity between highland and mid-altitude forest habitats was found to be significant (69%). The vegetation cover in the mid-altitude forest patches was also high (abundance: 5–12%). In all of the forest patches examined, tree life forms exceeded shrubs, climbers, and herbs. According to the study's findings, the state of forest resources varies considerably across different environmental variations. Despite the impression of entire forest patches from the outside, the interiors are open, with only huge and mature trees covering the canopy. This state has been triggered by deforestation, degradation, and inappropriate human and grazing operations.

Invasive exotic conifer species pose a significant threat to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and fire risk in various regions worldwide, including areas in northwest Patagonia, Argentina. The Red PINOS partnership, established in 2021, brings together NGOs, scientific institutions, and government bodies to develop participatory governance strategies to mitigate the impacts of invasive conifer species like Pinus contorta, P. radiata, and Pseudotsuga menziesii in Bariloche and its surroundings.

Based on memetics and the spreading activation theories about how cultural traits evolve over time, we are exploring the public perception of these invasive pines in Bariloche by analyzing citizens' memes as words associated with pine forests. A total of 106 face-to-face surveys were conducted during the austral winter of 2023, targeting key public areas within the city. Respondents were presented with images of invasive pine encroachment and a Red PINOS poster promoting citizen participation and asked for the first five words elicited by them.

Results show that while "greenness" and "natural" were the most common memes associated with pines (31% and 27% of responses, respectively), "invasion" and "non-native" received negligible responses (5% and 1%). Notably, despite the significant scientific knowledge locally available and the strong impact of exotic conifer invasions in the region, 82% reported no prior knowledge about the environmental impacts of pines. Despite this lack of awareness, 55% of respondents expressed a high to very high level of adherence to the call for citizen participation in the second image showing the Red PINOS poster.

This study, while preliminary, highlights a critical gap in public knowledge about invasive conifers, suggesting a need for greater public awareness campaigns and participatory management strategies to effectively address this growing threat in northwest Patagonia. It also reveals a positive potential for a shift in perception through targeted outreach and engagement efforts.

The neotropical region, encompassing the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas and extending from southern Mexico through Central America and the Caribbean to South America, is known for its high biodiversity and complex ecosystems. Natural hybridization might have played an important role in shaping such biodiversity, but studies focused on understanding its influence are still scarce when compared with other regions of the World. Yet, understanding the mechanisms and consequences of hybridization is essential for effective conservation and management of these diverse ecosystems. In this study, we aimed to detect the presence of natural hybridization between Chaetogastra longifolia (Vahl) DC. and Chaetogastra campii (Wurdack) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang. (formerly included in Tibouchina). Previous ecological studies have suggested the possibility of gene flow between them due to the existence of individuals with conflicting morphological traits in sympatric populations where the two species occurred. To achieve this, forty-eight samples of the two species of Chaetogastra, including putative hybrids, were analysed through plastid DNA sequencing results and taxon-specific amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fragment distribution analysis. The results confirmed the hybrid nature of all putative hybrids. The AFLP patterns of most hybrids demonstrated a closer relationship to C. campii, suggesting hybridization to be asymmetric with this species more often used as a maternal progenitor of hybrids. Some individuals collected as pure were also revealed to be of hybrid origin, indicating the possibility of backcrosses with parental species. Future studies should focus on understanding the ecological and evolutionary outcomes occurring after hybridization, as well as the existence of natural hybrids between other species of Chaetogastra.

Forest fires in Mediterranean ecosystems are a common phenomenon. In Greece, only 5% of forest fires are related to natural causes, whereas human activities are responsible for 95%, heightening the severity and complexity of these fires. However, in cross-border regions, different fire management systems can result in a variety of factors that drive forest fires.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the fire risk in the Region of Central Macedonia, Greece, for the prevention and mitigation of fire disasters in the cross-border area, adhering to the technical specifications of the national fire protection plan. The datasets used for this study were obtained from national official sources and OpenStreetMap, while their completeness and reliability were checked using visual interpretation methods, with medium-high and very-high spatial resolution remote-sensing data available from Copernicus, National Cadastre and Mapping Agency, and Google Earth imagery.

Wildfire risk assessment considered two parameters, namelyfire hazard and fire vulnerability. Fire hazard combines vegetation flammability as a potential for the easy initiation and rapid progression of fire, with fire cause elements such as voltage network, road network, settlements, forest/rural fire-starting points, and explosion risk elements. The final fire hazard map was evaluated and refined using actual fire data from the past decade. Fire vulnerability considers the combustibility of vegetation types under weather and topographical conditions that favor fire spread, as well as threaten values regarding tangible and intangible elements-at-risk such as areas of high natural value, as well as socio-economic data. Both parameters received a score (1 to 10), and wildfire risk was assessed on a qualitative rating scale of five categories from low to very high.

Overall, the present work, as part of the eFIDAR project, is a step towards common forest fire management in the cross-border region, increasing forest fire preparedness and knowledge transfer between Greece and North Macedonia

Recent increases in livestock numbers throughout Mongolia could alter plant communities, and the soils of habitats differ by landscape position. There is little research on the potential of dendrochronology to elucidate the effects of climate change, long-term drought, and grazing on perennial shrubs growing in the patch ecosystem of the desert steppes and low mountains in Mongolia. In particular, willows, which grow predominantly in patch ecosystems with oases and springs, play an important role in the functional activities of that ecosystem service. In recent years, natural factors such as low summer rainfall, long-term warming, increased frequency of thunderstorms, and the effects of grazing pressure from the increased number of livestock have led to the deterioration in the habitat around the spring, and the growth of perennial shrubs has decreased dramatically. Therefore, we aimed to determine the response to the dendrochronological potential of Willow (Salix lederbouriana Trautv.) species. Our findings indicate that the annual growth ring of Willow (Salix lederbouriana Trautv.) species is influenced differently by climatic factors. For instance, climate factors have a relatively weak correlation (r = -0.29) with annual ring growth, but growth between years is significantly different (F = 4.36, DF = 19, P > 0.001). Furthermore, it is indicated that there is a need to develop conservation and management strategies for Willow species that grow predominantly in the desert steppe ecosystem.

We often talk about urban land consumption in terms of an estimated loss of 19 hectares of natural soil per day, of which 15 square kilometers are permanent artificializations. We try to contain this with measures and regulatory rules. The areas most affected are metropolitan cities and coastal areas but also rural areas. Data pertaining to agricultural land consumption in some Italian regions, including Sicily, show that peri-urban land consumption increased by 2.7 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year (Ispra). The continuous transformation of soil causes serious damage to natural habitats by altering already delicate systems, increasing the risk of hydrogeological disruption and the loss of fertile and productive land. Consumption is causing the impairment of ecosystem services, damaging and minimizing them. Loss of biodiversity, changes in the carbon storage process by forests, and vulnerability related to environmental hazards and hydrogeological disruption are just some of the negative consequences of this phenomenon. The ability of communities and natural habitats to adapt and respond to change is being compromised, putting the long-term sustainability of peri-urban areas at risk. Addressing the problem of rural land consumption requires innovative and flexible strategies that take into account the complexity of social–ecological systems. The promotion of sustainable development practices, the protection of natural areas, and urban planning supported by precise regulations (think of Italian regional laws on the containment of land consumption, Veneto's LR 14/2017, or those aimed at promoting urban regeneration interventions as a strategic alternative to new land consumption) are key to preserving the resilience of local communities and ensuring a sustainable future. These include implementing the "chain" of sustainability, helping to preserve the environment and natural resources with measures, new technologies and eco-innovations for agriculture. Encouraging forms of rural tourism with a strong identity can counter forms of overtourism.

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris Linneo) and maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) forests are essential to the local economy in the province of Soria (Spain). Thus, regeneration care through thinning is key, not only from a silvicultural point of view, but also in terms of wildfire prevention. However, this operation incurs costs for forest owners. The availability of high-precision technologies such as LiDAR and high upgradability such as satellite imagery provide an excellent opportunity to automate the location of these areas suitable for thinning and therefore reducing costs. Free national LiDAR data are available for the year 2010, whereas Sentinel-2 obtains images every 3-5 days. Given this, the National Forest Inventory (2019) was used to identify plots that meet the conditions for applying thinning: pure stands of Scots or maritime pines where at least 80% of trees range between 0 and 5 meters’ height or between 5 and 9 meters’ height with a density above 1000 trees/hectare. In this way, the Sentinel 2 and LiDAR variables were used to create an automatic classification model using the random forest algorithm. The model was extrapolated on the area of the Spanish Forest Map established as monospecific stands of Scots pine and maritime pine. As a result, an updated map of the areas suitable for thinning in the province of Soria was obtained. The validation of the results showed a producer’s and user’s accuracy of 62% and 76%, respectively, for the Scots pine and of 66% and 75%, respectively, for the maritime pine. In conclusion, this map can be considered as a tool that facilitates the location of thinning areas.