Global hidden spillover effects among concurrent green initiatives

Li An; Jianguo Liu; Qi Zhang; Conghe Song; Driss Ezzine-de-Blas; Jie Dai; Huijie Zhang; Rebecca Lewison; Eve Bohnett; Douglas Stow; Weihua Xu; Brett A Bryan

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.169880

Global hidden spillover effects among concurrent green initiatives

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Mar 20:917:169880. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.169880. Epub 2024 Jan 24.

Authors

Li An¹, Jianguo Liu², Qi Zhang³, Conghe Song⁴, Driss Ezzine-de-Blas⁵, Jie Dai⁶, Huijie Zhang⁷, Rebecca Lewison⁸, Eve Bohnett⁹, Douglas Stow¹⁰, Weihua Xu¹¹, Brett A Bryan¹²

Affiliations

¹ College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. Electronic address: anli@auburn.edu.
² Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823-5243, USA. Electronic address: liuji@msu.edu.
³ Department of Geography and Environment, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. Electronic address: qz@unc.edu.
⁴ Department of Geography and Environment, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. Electronic address: csong@email.unc.edu.
⁵ UPR Forêts et Sociétés, 4, MUSE, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: ezzine@cirad.fr.
⁶ Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA. Electronic address: jdai29@asu.edu.
⁷ Department of Geography, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, USA. Electronic address: hzhang9970@sdsu.edu.
⁸ Department of Biology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, USA. Electronic address: rlewison@sdsu.edu.
⁹ Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. Electronic address: evebohnett@ufl.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Geography, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, USA. Electronic address: stow@sdsu.edu.
¹¹ State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: xuweihua@rcees.ac.cn.
¹² School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia. Electronic address: b.bryan@deakin.edu.au.

PMID: 38278232
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.169880

Abstract

Concurrently implemented green initiatives to combat global environmental crises may be curtailed or even sacrificed given the ongoing global economic contraction. We collected empirical data and information about green initiatives from 15 sites or countries worldwide. We systematically explored how specific policy, intended behaviors, and gains of given green initiative may interact with those of other green initiatives concurrently implemented in the same geographic area or involving the same recipients. Surprisingly, we found that spillover effects were very divergent: one initiative could reduce the gain of another by 22 % ∼ 100 %, representing alarming losses, while in other instances, substantial co-benefits could arise as one initiative can increase the gain of another by 9 % ∼ 310 %. Leveraging these effects will help countries keep green initiatives with significant co-benefits but stop initiatives with substantial spillover losses in the face of widespread budget cuts, better meeting the United Nations' sustainable development goals.

Keywords: Concurrent green initiatives; Conservation effectiveness; Nature conservation; Payments for environmental services; Spillover effects; Sustainable development goals.