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Monitoring and assessment must underpin development of a new international agreement Increasing exploration and industrial exploitation of the vast and fragile deep-ocean environment for a wide range of resources (e.g., oil, gas, fisheries, new molecules, and soon, minerals) raises global concerns about potential ecological impacts ( 1 – 3 ). Multiple impacts on deep-sea ecosystems (>200 m below sea level; ∼65% of the Earth's surface is covered by deep ocean) caused by human activities may act synergistically and span extensive areas. Cumulative impacts could eventually cause regime shifts and alter deep-ocean life-support services, such as the biological pump or nutrient recycling ( 2 , 4 , 5 ). Although international law and national legislation largely ignore the deep sea's critical role in the functioning and buffering of planetary systems, there are promising developments in support of deep-sea protection at the United Nations and the International Seabed Authority (ISA). We propose a strategy that builds from existing infrastructures to address research and monitoring needs to inform governments and regulators.

This study aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2: Zero Hunger; SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation). Based on the industrial development and the DPSR (Drivers-Pressures-State-Responses) theory, 43 evaluation indicators were selected. Utilizing models including the Comprehensive Development Index, the Coupling Coordination Degree, and the Grey Relational Analysis, this study investigates the coupled coordination association level of agricultural economic development and water resources exploitation and utilization in Henan Province and its 17 prefecture-level cities over nearly two decades. The findings reveal that: (1) Over the past 20 years, both the comprehensive development index for the two systems have shown an upward trend. The growth of the agricultural economic development is primarily driven by Factor Input, while the level of water resources exploitation and utilization is chiefly influenced by Drivers. (2) Over the past two decades, the coupling coordination degree between the two systems also exhibited an upward trend. However, the asynchronous development of the two systems in eight cities resulted in unstable coordination. (3) Variables related to farmer welfare exhibited relatively high rankings in their influence on water resources exploitation and utilization, whereas variables associated with water resources endowment showed the lowest influence on agricultural economic development.

Due to rapid socioeconomic development, seeking the coordination of resources exploitation and the ecological environment has become an objective requirement for the healthy and sustainable development of the mining industry. This paper selects 23 indicators with which to construct an evaluation index system for mineral resources exploitation and the mining geological ecological environment of Shanxi Province from 2003 to 2015. It then establishes a development index model, a coupling degree model and a coupling coordination degree model. Using a time-series analysis, the comprehensive development level, coupling status and coupling coordination degree of the two systems are analyzed. The results are threefold. (1) The overall level of mineral resources exploitation improved, but, after 2012, the level dropped significantly. The ecological environment in the mining area has improved as a whole, but, due to the ecological fragility caused by long-term extensive mining and acute treatment, the state of the ecological environment fluctuates greatly. (2) The coupling degree between mineral resources exploitation and the mining ecological environment is stable, and it has been in the antagonistic stage for a long time. Although the degree of coupling coordination has improved, it remains at a low level. (3) Further improvement in the coordination between mining exploitation and the mining ecological environment in Shanxi Province has been restricted due to several indicators with greater weights. Recommendations to be considered by policy makers include insufficient sustainable development concepts, outstanding historical issues and the lack of guarantees for environmental protection funds.

As the mining depth of coal mines continues to increase, the problem of mine heat damage becomes increasingly prominent. In response to the heat damage problem in deep mines, this paper presents a novel approach of mine heat damage control and geothermal resource exploitation under the collaborative effect of extraction and ventilation. Taking Sanhejian Coal Mine in Xuzhou as the research object, numerical simulation is conducted using finite element simulation analysis software to analyze the evolution law of the temperature field of roadway surrounding rock and air in the roadway during the variation of different key factors. Additionally, in the process of continuous tunneling, the optimal cooling scheme for roadways at different locations is obtained. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Treating mine heat damage under pure ventilation has the advantage of rapid cooling speed. The temperature at the observation point in the roadway can be reduced to approximately 283 K at its lowest. However, the disadvantage lies in the large temperature difference before and after the roadway (no less than 7 K) and the need for continuous ventilation. (2) During the extraction process, reducing the average injection water temperature and decreasing the distance from the roadway can effectively enhance the effectiveness of mine heat damage control. Nevertheless, under pure extraction, the temperature reduction rate of roadway surrounding rock is relatively slow. When the distance between the roadway and the injection well does not exceed 30 m and the average injection water temperature does not exceed 190 K, the surrounding rock temperature can be reduced to below 303.15 K within one year. (3) The extraction-ventilation synergy method not only can effectively narrow the temperature difference before and after the roadway but also can improve the temperature reduction speed in the roadway to a certain extent. Moreover, the geothermal resources generated by extraction can also yield certain economic benefits. This research provides a new perspective for cooling the coal mining face of coal mines.

Aim While elevational gradients in species richness constitute some of the best depicted patterns in ecology, there is a large uncertainty concerning the role of food resource availability for the establishment of diversity gradients in insects. Here, we analysed the importance of climate, area, land use and food resources for determining diversity gradients of dung beetles along extensive elevation and land use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Location Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Taxon Scarabaeidae (Coleoptera). Methods Dung beetles were recorded with baited pitfall traps at 66 study plots along a 3.6 km elevational gradient. In order to quantify food resources for the dung beetle community in form of mammal defecation rates, we assessed mammalian diversity and biomass with camera traps. Using a multi‐model inference framework and path analysis, we tested the direct and indirect links between climate, area, land use and mammal defecation rates on the species richness and abundance of dung beetles. Results We found that the species richness of dung beetles declined exponentially with increasing elevation. Human land use diminished the species richness of functional groups exhibiting complex behaviour but did not have a significant influence on total species richness. Path analysis suggested that climate, in particular temperature and to a lesser degree precipitation, were the most important predictors of dung beetle species richness while mammal defecation rate was not supported as a predictor variable. Main conclusions Along broad climatic gradients, dung beetle diversity is mainly limited by climatic factors rather than by food resources. Our study points to a predominant role of temperature‐driven processes for the maintenance and origination of species diversity of ectothermic organisms, which will consequently be subject to ongoing climatic changes.

The exploitation of solid and liquid mineral deposits is a basic way to use rock mass in Poland. The degree of utilization of shallow rock mass areas—for any purpose other than exploitation of minerals—is low. Deeper areas are used to store natural gas, oil, and fuel; another option is underground waste storage. The use of rock mass in Poland in the future will be associated with the exploitation of minerals (including thermal waters), waste disposal, and storage of fuels and natural gas in the pore space of aquifers, hydrocarbon reservoirs, and salt deposits. Poland is characterized by complex geological structure, composed of three main geological units: the East European Craton, Western European Variscan Belt, and the Alpine-Carpathian chain. The aforementioned structures differ in geological structure, which affects the possibilities of underground space use. Most of the Polish Lowlands is prospective for the presence of thermal waters and raw mineral deposits. This area offers the best prospects for the development of waste disposal and storage of substances in the pore space, which can interfere with the other ways of underground space use. In order to properly exploit the potential of the rock mass and to avoid conflicts of interest, the appropriate land use has been suggested. Recommendations for future legislation in this area have been determined. They should—in case of a conflict of interest, associated with a number of ways of utilization (exploitation of mineral resources, thermal waters, underground storage, etc.)—determine which activities should be a priority.

The international seabed area (“the Area”) harbors abundant metal mineral resources that are critical to address global metal supply–demand and sustainable development. However, exploitation of mineral resources in the Area faces complex risks spanning politics, economy, technology, science, environment, society, industry, and law. No commercial-scale deep-sea mining operations have been conducted to date. Systematic risk identification and prioritization can inform strategic planning for stakeholders. This study employs literature analysis and an 80-expert questionnaire to identify key risk factors affecting mineral exploitation in the Area. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), we quantitatively assess the relative importance and weightings of these risks. Our results indicate that Level 1 risk groups prioritize (1) policy and public opinion risk, (2) extended continental shelf (ECS) delineation risk, (3) high sea marine protected areas (HSMPAs) establishment risk, and (4) mining area economic value risk. The five most critical Level 2 risk factors are (i) policy changes in contractor states, (ii) ECS-mining area boundary conflicts, (iii) environmental provisions in exploitation regulations at the international seabed (ER), (iv) ER implementation delays, and (v) mineral resource uncertainty. These findings provide actionable insights for contractors, policymakers, and stakeholders to optimize decision making in deep-sea mining projects.

Lithic raw material analysis is the key to understanding prehistoric foragers’ resource exploitation strategies, mobility patterns, cultural interactions and exchange networks. Previous geochemical study of obsidian artifacts from Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic sites on the Tibetan Plateau revealed possible human interactions in the Chang Tang and southern Tibet. However, obsidian is rare in sites on the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) and adjacent low elevation regions. To understand the lithic raw material economy and related human interactions on the NETP and the surrounding regions, here we analyze lithic raw materials from these regions through macroscopic rock type identification, Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis. We found that at least four varieties of lydite (a type of basaltic rock, Lydite A, B, C, and D) and three varieties of red jasper (Jasper A, B, and C) were used in these sites. The Northern Tibet volcanic belt in the central Tibetan Plateau and Alashan Gobi Desert may be the sources of the two most dominant materials, Lydite A and Jasper A. The maximum, “as the crow flies,” transportation distances are more than 900 km for Lydite A and 580 km for Jasper A among archaeological sites, indicating Epipaleolithic foragers in NETP and adjacent low elevation regions were either highly mobile or formed vast exchange networks. Long distance exploitation of lydite resources might have encouraged human occupation of the high central Tibetan Plateau in the early Holocene. In addition, the spatial distribution of Epipaleolithic sites sharing the same varieties of lydite and red jasper in the study area suggests that the river valleys connecting the Qilian Mountains, the Hexi Corridor and the Tengger Desert oases were important channels for human movements during Epipaleolithic period. Therefore, lithic raw material analysis here provides important information for resource exploitation and mobility strategies of Epipaleolithic foragers in NETP and surrounding regions.

Currently, the financial activities of the state cover all areas of the country's economic activity, including all monetary relations between all entities producing tangible and intangible assets within the country and foreign countries, as well as interstate relations and with all international funds. The state’s implementation of financial activities is aimed at its own provision of financial resources to fulfill its most important tasks: creating a material and technical base for the education and systematic increase of the “middle stratum” of society, increasing the material and cultural standard of living of the civilian population, ensuring the economic and military security of the country, promoting the strengthening of international cooperation. The exploitation of natural resources is seen as one of the ways in which terrorist organizations control and hold territory. This issue also relates to how terrorist organizations finance themselves through criminal activities and possible links to organized crime groups. Such criminal activities include extortion, smuggling, theft, illegal mining, kidnapping for ransom, corruption and environmental crimes. Since the main sources of extremism and terrorism are unresolved, constantly growing social contradictions and intertwined with them negatively influencing social processes, phenomena or conflicts in certain spheres of public life. And addressing the issues of countering the financing of terrorism today is the most important in the modern world.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change, decision-makers around the world look for alternatives to fossil resources. Among these alternatives is biomass, such as wood pulp, macroalgae, and grasses. Although refined biomass can replace oil, plastics, and petrochemicals within many industries, increased use of biomass may cause land-use changes, biodiversity loss, and disruption of ecosystems. On our path towards a fossil-free society, we must therefore combine intensified biomass production with conservation of critical natural resources. As these resources are often abundant in rural and coastal regions, the resource strategies of these regions are important for the environmental sustainability of this transition. Constructing a game of resource exploitation and conservation in rural regions, this paper models various scenarios for sustainable development and identifies the conditions under which these scenarios are most likely to occur. Based on a game theoretic analysis, three hypotheses are formulated on the costs and benefits that motivate rural regions to manage their biomass resources sustainably. These hypotheses shed light on dynamics that much of the existing literature seems to overlook. Thus, this paper holds novel insights that may contribute to theory development on environmentally sustainable resource exploitation at the regional level.