20
Avg score: 7.6
20
7 accepted
20
15 accepted
6.4
Idea scores
Cross-Sector Dependencies
Governments Say 10% of the Ocean Is Protected. MPAtlas Says 3.3%, and the Number Is Falling.
Quantify the gap between reported and effectively enforced marine protected area (MPA) coverage, and test whether the current trajectory can plausibly reach the 2030 30x30 target. The question is not whether governments are designating protected ocean area, but whether that designation corresponds to any enforced reduction in extractive activity.
Venezuela 5to Mayor Flarador de Gas del Mundo: 8.3 Mil Millones de Metros Cubicos en 2024 con Riesgo de Bomba de Metano
Documentar el impacto ambiental del gas flaring en Venezuela: 5to mayor flarador del mundo, 8.3 mil millones de m3 en 2024. El crudo venezolano es 6 veces mas intensivo en metano y 10 veces mas en flaring que el promedio mundial.
Biscayne Bay Water Quality Crisis: 2026 Dead Zones and Sewage Contamination
Document the ecological crisis in Biscayne Bay, where 2026 saw the largest dead zone on record, 429 square miles of seagrass loss, fecal bacteria exceeding safe levels at 15 beaches, and a 2020 fish kill of 27,000 fish. The research examines the causes, including failing sewage infrastructure and stormwater runoff.
Two Decades of Data Show Climate Change Is Transforming Biscayne Bay: Warmer, Saltier, More Acidic Waters Threaten Miami Ecosystems
Document the chemical transformation of Biscayne Bay over 20 years (2001-2021) based on 34 monitoring stations, showing rising temperatures, salinity, and ocean acidification that threaten South Florida ecosystems, fisheries, and coastal resilience.
Arco Minero del Orinoco: Devastacion Ambiental y Violacion de Derechos Indigenas en la Amazonia Venezolana
Documentar el impacto ambiental y social del Arco Minero del Orinoco, un proyecto de 112,000 km2 que ha generado deforestacion, contaminacion de mercurio, y desplazamiento de pueblos indigenas en la Amazonia venezolana.
Ocean Protection Is a Shell Game: 9.9% Designated, 3.3% Actually Enforced
Test whether the '30x30' ocean-protection area target is tracking the metric that predicts ecological outcomes, or just tracking designation paperwork. Compare designated-coverage statistics against implementation-and-enforcement statistics for the same MPA universe.
The Empty Forest Was the Cover Story: Aquiry and the Governance Cost of Archaeological Blindness
Assess how the 2026 Nature study on Aquiry earthworks changes the policy meaning of the Amazon: from empty wilderness to Indigenous-shaped civilizational landscape, and identify the governance failures that follow when climate, conservation, and land-rights systems ignore that history.
Economic specialization and heterogeneous temperature-economy relationships suggest net costs of climate change in Europe
Estimate how temperature shocks affect economic growth across European districts and industries, testing whether aggregate global temperature-growth relationships conceal local and sectoral heterogeneity.
Moderate global warming does not rule out extreme global climate outcomes
Identify plausible, spatially coherent, sector-specific extreme climate outcomes that may occur even at 2 °C global warming.
Global heat stress intensification and its expanding footprint on the human population
Quantify how global heat stress intensity, frequency, duration, nighttime heat, compound day-night events, and population exposure have changed since 1950.
Measurement, AI Agents, and the Credibility Gap in Climate Finance
Assess how measurement failures undermine climate finance impact claims and how AI/agentic systems plus better sensing can tighten the feedback loop between investment and verified outcomes.
Carbon Markets and Indigenous Rights: The Risk That Climate Finance Dispossesses Those Who Protect the Forest
To assess whether forest carbon markets are protecting or undermining Indigenous land rights, evaluate the safeguards in the Paris Agreement Article 6.4 mechanism, and identify the frameworks needed to ensure Indigenous communities benefit from carbon finance on their lands
Free Prior and Informed Consent in Practice: The Gap Between Indigenous Rights Law and Implementation on the Ground
To assess the implementation gap between Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) as established in international law and its actual practice in extractive and conservation projects, and identify the reforms needed to make FPIC effective
Indigenous Land Tenure and Biodiversity: The Evidence That Indigenous-Managed Lands Outperform State Protected Areas
To assess the comparative biodiversity outcomes of Indigenous-managed lands versus state-protected areas, evaluate the legal frameworks for Indigenous land tenure, and identify the financing mechanisms needed to support Indigenous-led conservation
Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Solutions: How Traditional Practices Are Shaping Modern Conservation
To evaluate the role of Indigenous knowledge systems in climate change adaptation and conservation, assess the evidence for their effectiveness, and identify frameworks for equitable integration of Indigenous practices into climate policy
Rewilding and Trophic Cascades: When Apex Predators Return, Ecosystems Heal Themselves
Evaluate scientific evidence for trophic cascade effects from apex predator reintroduction, focusing on Yellowstone wolf reintroduction and European rewilding outcomes, to assess whether rewilding is a cost-effective and scalable ecosystem restoration strategy.
The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Competing Demands in a Water-Stressed World
To analyze the competing demands of water across energy production, food systems, and municipal use, and evaluate integrated nexus governance approaches for equitable allocation
Biodiversity Finance Gap: How Blended Finance and Debt-for-Nature Swaps Could Close the $700B Annual Funding Shortfall
To analyze the global biodiversity finance gap and evaluate emerging financial mechanisms including blended finance, debt-for-nature swaps, biodiversity credits, and payment for ecosystem services as tools to close the annual funding shortfall
The Legal Landscape for Deep-Sea Mining in the Area: International Seabed Authority Regulation Gaps and Environmental Risks
To provide a comprehensive primer on the international legal framework governing deep-sea mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction, assess the regulatory gaps in the International Seabed Authority framework, and analyze environmental risks of proposed seabed extraction
2026 Global Biodiversity Horizon Scan Identifies 15 Emerging Issues for Conservation in the Decade Ahead
To analyze the UNEP-WCMC 2026 Global Horizon Scan's identification of 15 under-recognized threats and opportunities for biodiversity conservation, with particular focus on technological disruption, biodiversity credit markets, and the gap between conservation frameworks and climate-driven ecosystem change.