We are pleased to announce the 1st International Online Conference on Environments (IOCE 2026) - Environmental understanding, managing, restoring and policy-making, which will be held online on 2-4 March, 2026, and promoted by the open access MDPI journal Environments ( ISSN: 2076-3298, Impact Factor: 3.7 (2024)).

The biosphere, as the habitat of all species (including humans), and its self-organization to provide deep interactions and support biodiversity require full understanding and appropriate environmental policy making. Environments, with its final “s”, clearly refers to the multiplicity and diversity of environmental systems and species, linked to each other, all together contributing to create a symphony of colors, sounds, habits, habitats, and production and consumption patterns, from which every species benefits and to which every species contributes, in terms of sustainability and quality of existence. Humans, at the top of the evolutionary hierarchy, should not consider Nature and its diversity as a market from which to withdraw without limits, but instead as a living community to be understood in its dynamics and boundaries, protected in its abundance, enjoyed in its richness. Environments and its large research network have already highlighted and investigated the environmental systems, their pulsing cycles and species interactions and, most of all, the role of human species: its environmental impacts, its Earth management as a shared house according to rigorous rules for each species survival.

The scientific community grown around Environments is likely to contribute to increased environmental system knowledge, species interaction understanding, and nature-based solution implementation. When talking of “solutions”, we mean addressing problems related to the survival of species, improving the quality of the habitat in which these species live (including humans) and increasing the environmental services to meet some of their needs, in so preventing biodiversity loss due to environmental degradation. Environmental systems most often jointly suffer from the same environmental degradation problems (e.g., climate change, loss of biodiversity, population increase, impacts of mineral extraction, soil erosion, deforestation, etc.), which cannot be dealt with separately, but need an integrated picture, integrated monitoring and assessment, a clear investigation of the impacts of human activities and their mutual links. This deeper and integrated investigation, most welcome in the pages of Environments, may be the basis for appropriate environmental policy making and nature-based solutions.

The journal Environments was launched 10 years ago to promote a full understanding of environmental systems dynamics, species interaction and survival as well as the commitment of humans to protect and restore ecosystems and species at risk. Due to the tremendous efforts of its Editorial Board and Editorial Office Members, Environments has published a large number of papers and Special Issues that have contributed to environmental knowledge, policy making and well-being. We must continue to share and promote high-level research and results.

We invite researchers from different environmental sectors to contribute original findings, novel ideas, scientific concepts, as well as new technologies, experiences and policy-making strategies to understand, monitor, restore, and protect environmental systems and their biodiversity.

The following sessions will take place at the conference:
S1. Environmental Assessment Methods and Management Technologies;
S2. Environmental Impact and Risk Assessment;
S3. Terrestrial and Marine Biodiversity and Habitat Loss Prevention;
S4. Urban Systems and Ecosystems: Dynamics and Functioning;
S5. Shared Responsibility in Resource Use and Impact Generation;
S6. Ecological, Environmental and Circular Economy.

This conference will be organized as an online event in order to enable participation from all over the world, with no restrictions related to travel effort and expenditure. Furthermore, active participation and attendance in this online conference are free of charge. We extend our warmest welcome to you as participants or attendees of this virtual conference. We hope you can share this enthusiasm and help us to make this first Environments online conference a success.

Department of Science and Technology, Parthenope University of Napoli, Napoli, Italy,
School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China