Increasing and challenging environmental pressures are threatening coffee cultivation worldwide. One of the key strategies to mitigate the impact of such pressures is to incorporate crop wild relatives in the value chain. However, this is often restrained by the lack of knowledge concerning basic features, such as the number and type of wild populations, or current threats. To fill this gap in coffee cultivation, we studied the population structure and threats of Coffea racemosa Lour., a wild relative of the two principal traded species, Coffea arabica L. and C. canephora Pierre ex A.Froehner. Coffea racemosa is native from Mozambique, and is resilient to drought and most coffee pests. It also has a low caffeine level, with a high market potential as an alternative to coffee consumers who are caffeine-sensitive. ​ Therefore, it is considered a good candidate to be used in future breeding programs. However, the current distribution of this species in Mozambique and the factors that might threaten its sustainable use are unknown. In this study, we searched for the occurrence of C. racemosa to understand how the species is distributed in Mozambique and how populations are demographically structured. Considering the scenario of high forest fragmentation in Mozambique, we specifically addressed if (1) populations vary between fragmented patches and conserved forests; (2) natural regeneration is occurring; and (3) habitat fragmentation is affecting the population's demographic structure. Our results show a demographic populational structure that is stratified into large, medium, and small trees and seedlings, with the latter mostly being found in conserved forests. In contrast, no seedlings or small or large trees were found in the small city patches, which were only composed of medium trees. Overall, there was no evidence of regeneration in small patches. These first insights are essential for the conservation and management of C. racemosa in Mozambique.

The spread of invasive pines from productive plantations is one of the main environmental problems in Argentine northern Patagonia. This not only threatens biodiversity but also increases the risk of forest fires in natural–urban interface areas. However, the gradual nature of the invasion often leads to its being perceived as a natural process, and therefore, community education is necessary to understand the problem. In 2021, a group of scientific researchers, forest managers and environmentalists from Bariloche founded the Red PINOS partnership to self-organize the local community for participatory governance of this problem. The defined strategy centrally includes carrying out pine removal campaigns with publicly summoned volunteers. So far, we have conducted two campaigns (November 2022 and February 2023) at a pilot site of 7 hectares in a central area of Bariloche, located on the access road to the most important ski center in South America. This area, a multi-specific low forest, is invaded by Pinus sylvestris, P. contorta, P. ponderosa and Pseudotsuga menziesii. Over the two campaigns, 12,965 pine trees, up to 1.5 m tall, were manually removed with the participation of 34 volunteers within two hours each time (an average of 195.5 pine trees per person). These events were used to raise awareness about the issue of invasions through social media (e.g. WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook) and local mass media (newspapers and radio), extending the environmental message to the entire community. Monitoring through transects carried out in March 2024 showed the persistence of pine trees below 30 cm, highlighting the importance of seed tree removal and ongoing monitoring to prevent new seedlings and escapees. Thus, seed tree removal will represent the second stage of the intervention, requiring the involvement of public and private institutions for the use of machinery and waste management, which can be a by-product of economic value.

Background: Although the ingestion of and dermal contact with lutetium (Lu) has recently been measured in topsoils across Leicester (UK) and surrounding rural areas as low risk, this heavy rare earth element (HREE) was biomonitored in wild mushrooms.

Methods: A total of 106 mushrooms were collected from Leicester city and Bradgate Park. Species identification was confirmed by DNA barcoding. Lu was monitored by ICP-MS in cleaned/dried/homogenised mushrooms [LoD=0.506 ng/g dry weight (dw)] and in topsoils collected in these areas; physicochemical properties and textures were also determined in topsoils using standard methods. The data were processed with NADA available in R software, owing to the censored values detected in mushrooms (60.8%).

Results: Contrary to the distribution determined in topsoils [0.123 (0.069-0.162) vs. 0.117 (0.084-0.182); median and ranges, mg/kg], the levels of Lu were higher in mushrooms collected in the main urban area (median and ranges, in ng/g dw): 0.347 (0.285-293.837) vs. 0.196 (0.780-8.116). The content of Lu in topsoils would only have a small effect on the levels of Lu detected in mushrooms, which is supported by the lack of correlation found between mushrooms and topsoils (p-value=0.506) and by the different physicochemical properties and soil textures monitored. This pattern is different to other HREEs studied in the same areas, which might be explained by an unknown appetence for Lu by the different local species of wild soil mushrooms collected. Lu also varied between major mushroom species collected (median or 95-percentile and range, in ng/g): Agaricus bitorquis [edible; 88.6% of censored values, 1.518 (0.798-6.715), Panaeolus foenisecii [poisonous; 1.740 (0.812-49.692)], and Mycena citrinomarginata [unclassified; 0.855 (0.285-10.351)]. Lu also seemed to show little appetence for wild edible species when comparing with non-edible.

Conclusions: Although our results should be considered as preliminary, in general, collecting local wild edible mushroom species in Leicestershire would represent a small risk for humans due to their content of lutetium.

Aims: The aim was to biomonitor air quality for praseodymium (Pr) in Leicester city (England) after detecting slight contamination of this element in topsoils across the city and surrounding rural areas, when compared with other industrialised towns in Europe.

Methods: Thin layers of bark were collected from 96 trees from Leicester (n=55) and surrounding rural/suburban areas (41), at a consistent height of 1.50–1.80 metres from the ground. Pr was monitored by ICP-MS in cleaned/ground/homogenised samples mineralised with HNO₃/H₂O₂ [LoD=0.157 ng/g dry weight (dw)]. The data were compared with the levels of Pr described in 52 topsoil composite samples collected in the same year (2017-18).

Results: The levels of Pr were slightly higher in the samples collected from trees that grw in urban areas (median and ranges, in ng/g dw): 2.611 (0.714-47.603) and 2.450 (0.757-14.839). These results might be explained by the presence of Pr monitored in topsoils, in which no statistical differences were found between both main areas, detecting a wide distribution of this element across the city and in surrounding rural areas. Levels were much higher than the range reported in Pinus ponderosa bark samples (US; 1.85-2.69 ng/g dw) collected in an area in eastern Washington away from roads, to reduce the effect from traffic, suggesting some anthropic atmospheric contamination of Pr in Leicester city and surrounding areas, derived from different sources such as agricultural practices, waste disposal, metal recycling, vehicular/industrial emissions, and urbanisation. However, the toxic risks derived from the ingestion of and dermal contact with Pr present in topsoils in Leicester city is likely to be minimal.

Conclusions: The presence of Pr in air in Leicester could be affected by different anthropic sources that should be investigated to reduce its presence; studies should include the monitoring of the content of Pr in particulate matter in Leicester city.

Decades of conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan have inflicted widespread environmental degradation and displacement of local communities. This study employs advanced high-resolution satellite imagery analysis to investigate the intricate impact of prolonged conflict on land use management in Darfur, focusing on the assessment of afforestation activities and their implications for achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15—Life on Land. This research utilized PlanetScope time-series imagery to examine the El-Salam internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in Southern Darfur. Object-based image classification (OBIA) methods within QGIS 3.28.6 and Orfeo ToolBox 8.1.2 were applied for accurate image classification. Major land use and land cover (LULC) classes, including agricultural land, built-up, vegetation cover, bareland, water bodies, and dry wadi, were successfully identified through supervised classification with an overall accuracy ranging from 90.66% to 95.14%. The findings reveal a noteworthy increase in the percentage of vegetation cover, rising from 1.48% to 2.33% between 2010 and 2024, respectively, indicating a substantial change of 0.85% over the study period. Additionally, water bodies experienced a significant increase from no water bodies 0 to 0.03%, equivalent to (6.08) hectares. These improvements are linked to reforestation initiatives, where artificial water harvesting aquifers are built, and the considerable general increase in rainfall from 2014 to 2022. The statistics further show a rapid reduction in bareland areas from 58.43% to 42.40% between 2010 and 2024, respectively. This research significantly contributes to the existing knowledge on the positive environmental consequences of sustainable land use management, particularly in conflict-affected regions. The implications extend to the global sustainable development agenda, offering valuable insights into the restoration and preservation of terrestrial ecosystems within conflict zones, thereby addressing SDG 15: Life on Land. A future study is suggested to investigate in detail the drivers and consequences of the changes in conflict-affected communities.