In an ever-evolving world facing pressing environmental challenges, the intricate interplay between geography, sustainability, and telecoupling takes center stage. Geography studies have a critical role to play in accelerating the attainment of the SDGs and addressing challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and the provision of essential ecosystem services. Geography also offers a holistic perspective on the intricate relationships between human activities and the environment. Moreover, geography can act as a catalyst for promoting shared prosperity and overall well-being, while the concept of telecoupling provides a lens through which to understand complex global interactions.
Building on this vital connection, we extend a warm invitation to researchers, scholars, and practitioners worldwide to contribute their insights to a special issue of Global Sustainability dedicated to the theme of “Geography, Telecoupling, and Sustainability”.
Background and Scope:
While the field of geography provides an interdisciplinary lens through which to view human-environment interactions, the concept of telecoupling further enriches this perspective by emphasizing the interconnectedness of these systems across distances. Given that the ultimate causes of large-scale sustainability challenges are often distantly connected with their end effects (e.g., species loss in biodiversity hotspots driven by international trade), a greater understanding of how to address these challenges through the framework of geography and telecoupling is urgently needed. This special issue, "Geography, Telecoupling, and Sustainability," seeks to explore the multifaceted dimensions of the interplay between these two concepts and their implications for fostering resilient natural and social systems, thereby promoting sustainable global progress.
The special issue aims to delve into various areas that illustrate the symbiotic relationship between geography, telecoupling, and sustainability, including but not limited to:
- Application of the Telecoupling Concept and Framework in Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems: Employing the telecoupling concept and framework with technological systems that include geoanalytical tools on a broad range of topics such as sustainability issues, socio-ecological impacts caused by telecoupling, telecoupled agents and flows across systems and scales, as well as current progress, opportunities and challenges to telecoupling research in terrestrial and aquatic systems.
- Ecosystem Services and Landscape Management in Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems: Exploring the intricate connections between land use and natural resource management decisions, ecosystem functions, and the provisioning of essential services, and the implications for human well-being and ecological integrity in terrestrial and aquatic systems.
Submission Guidelines:
Guest Editors:
- Associate Prof. Le Yu, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. (leyu@tsinghua.edu.cn)
- Assistant Prof. Andrew K. Carlson, Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences and Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, 2295 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA (andrew.carlson@ufl.edu)
- Dr. Kelly Kapsar, Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 1405 S Harrison Rd, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA (kelly.kapsar@gmail.com)
- Associate Prof. Xin Chen, Institute of Loess Plateau, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030006, China. (xinchenthu@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn)
- Dr. Chengxiu Li, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. (chengxiuli@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn)