research on environmental issues

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Please click here to see any active alerts .

Environmental Topics

Epa environmental topics.

EPA's environmental topics guides you to the most popular pages in your topic of interest.

Find EPA Articles and News Releases related to popular topics.

Search the  A-Z Topic Index  for specific terms.

• Kreyòl ayisyen

• Criteria (NAAQS) Air Pollutants
• Particulate Matter (PM)
• Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions

Chemicals, Pesticides, and Toxics

• Chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
• Formaldehyde
• Managing Chemical Risks
• Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

Chemicals, Pesticides, and Toxics Topics

Environmental Information by Location

• Cleanups in My Community
• Environmental Justice in Your Community
• Radon Zones: Maps and Supporting Documents by State
• Toxic Chemical Releases

More Location-Specific Info

Greener Living

• Energy and the Environment
• Greener Products and Services
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Sustainability 

Greener Living Topics

• Children's Health Protection  
• Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Endocrine Disruption
• Human Health Risk Assessment
• Pesticides and Food: Healthy, Sensible Food Practices

Health Topics

Land, Waste, and Cleanup

• Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)
• Learn About Hazardous Waste

Land, Waste, and Cleanup Topics

• Citizen Science for Environmental Protection
• Climate Change Indicators
• Environmental Measurements and Modeling
• EPA Science Models and Research Tools (SMaRT) Search
• Research at EPA
• Research Grants

More Science Topics

• Drinking Water Basics
• Lakes and Rivers
• Local Water Quality Reports
• National Aquatic Resource Surveys 
• Wastewater Treatment

Water Topics

More Environmental Topics

• Climate Change
• Children's Health
• Environmental Justice
• ​ Pesticides

EPA Articles and News Releases

Recent EPA Perspectives Articles:

Urban Golf and the Partnerships for Progress

In many ways golf is more than just a game. There’s a special place, right down the street from our Region 3 office in Center City Philadelphia, that is reimaging how kids can experience greenspaces.

• Date: May 3, 2024
• By: Hunter Pates

For Local Communities, the Sky is the Limit

Local Foods, Local Places' community-driven approach unleashes local creative minds to envision innovative paths to overcome the complex legacies of social and environmental problems and inequities.

• Date: April 18, 2024
• By: John Foster

Supporting the Cancer Moonshot Effort at EPA

I learned that one of the best ways to fight cancer is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. EPA supports the Cancer Moonshot effort by understanding and preventing toxic and environmental exposures and preventing more cancers before they start.

• Date: April 4, 2024
• By: Danelle Lobdell

Recent EPA News Releases:

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $25 Million to Help Provide Small, Underserved, and Disadvantaged Communities with Clean and Safe Drinking Water

EPA News Release: Biden-Harris Administration Announces $25 Million to Help Provide Small, Underserved, and Disadvantaged Communities with Clean and Safe Drinking Water

• Release Date: May 21, 2024

EPA settles with Massachusetts solar company for Construction General Permit violations

Company agrees to pay penalties for stormwater discharges from construction activities

EPA News Release: EPA settles with Massachusetts solar company for Construction General Permit violations

EPA Region 7 Partners with AmeriCorps VISTA to Bring Green Service Opportunities to Midwest

Two St. Louis organizations will accept applications

EPA News Release: EPA Region 7 Partners with AmeriCorps VISTA to Bring Green Service Opportunities to Midwest

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan Hosts Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the National Environmental Museum and Education Center

EPA News Release: EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan Hosts Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the National Environmental Museum and Education Center

Subscribe or renew today

Every print subscription comes with full digital access

Science News

Environment.

‘The High Seas’ tells of the many ways humans are laying claim to the ocean

The book explains how the race for ocean resources from fish to ores to new medicines — the Blue Acceleration — is playing out.

A weaker magnetic field may have paved the way for marine life to go big

A new approach to fighting wildfires combines local knowledge and ai, more stories in environment.

Ximena Velez-Liendo is saving Andean bears with honey

By training beekeepers, biologist Ximena Velez-Liendo is helping rural agricultural communities of southern Bolivia coexist with Andean bears.

A rapid shift in ocean currents could imperil the world’s largest ice shelf

Roughly the size of Spain, the Ross Ice Shelf stabilizes major glaciers along Antarctica’s coast — and is at risk of retreating, a new study finds.

A new U.S. tool maps where heat will be dangerous for your health

The daily updated HeatRisk map uses color coding to show where the health threat from heat is highest and offers tips on how to stay safe.

Heat waves cause more illness and death in U.S. cities with fewer trees

There are usually fewer trees in neighborhoods with higher populations of people of color. Planting trees could save hundreds of lives every year.

‘On the Move’ examines how climate change will alter where people live

Journalist Abrahm Lustgarten explores which parts of the United States are most vulnerable to the effects of global warming and how people's lives might change.

Eavesdropping on fish could help us keep better tabs on underwater worlds

Scientists are on a quest to log all the sounds of fish communication. The result could lead to better monitoring of ecosystems and fish behavior.

How air pollution may make it harder for pollinators to find flowers

Certain air pollutants that build up at night can break down the same fragrance molecules that attract pollinators like hawk moths to primroses.

Ancient trees’ gnarled, twisted shapes provide irreplaceable habitats

Traits that help trees live for hundreds of years also foster forest life, one reason why old growth forest conservation is crucial.

Many but not all of the world’s aquifers are losing water

Many aquifers are quickly disappearing due to climate change and overuse, but some are rising because of improved resource management.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.

Not a subscriber? Become one now .

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal and Plant Diseases, Study Finds

Biodiversity loss, global warming, pollution and the spread of invasive species are making infectious diseases more dangerous to organisms around the world.

By Emily Anthes

Several large-scale, human-driven changes to the planet — including climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of invasive species — are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study.

Scientists have documented these effects before in more targeted studies that have focused on specific diseases and ecosystems. For instance, they have found that a warming climate may be helping malaria expand in Africa and that a decline in wildlife diversity may be boosting Lyme disease cases in North America.

But the new research, a meta-analysis of nearly 1,000 previous studies, suggests that these patterns are relatively consistent around the globe and across the tree of life.

“It’s a big step forward in the science,” said Colin Carlson, a biologist at Georgetown University, who was not an author of the new analysis. “This paper is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that I think has been published that shows how important it is health systems start getting ready to exist in a world with climate change, with biodiversity loss.”

In what is likely to come as a more surprising finding, the researchers also found that urbanization decreased the risk of infectious disease.

The new analysis, which was published in Nature on Wednesday, focused on five “global change drivers” that are altering ecosystems across the planet: biodiversity change, climate change, chemical pollution, the introduction of nonnative species and habitat loss or change.

The researchers compiled data from scientific papers that examined how at least one of these factors affected various infectious-disease outcomes, such as severity or prevalence. The final data set included nearly 3,000 observations on disease risks for humans, animals and plants on every continent except for Antarctica.

The researchers found that, across the board, four of the five trends they studied — biodiversity change, the introduction of new species, climate change and chemical pollution — tended to increase disease risk.

“It means that we’re likely picking up general biological patterns,” said Jason Rohr, an infectious disease ecologist at the University of Notre Dame and senior author of the study. “It suggests that there are similar sorts of mechanisms and processes that are likely occurring in plants, animals and humans.”

The loss of biodiversity played an especially large role in driving up disease risk, the researchers found. Many scientists have posited that biodiversity can protect against disease through a phenomenon known as the dilution effect.

The theory holds that parasites and pathogens, which rely on having abundant hosts in order to survive, will evolve to favor species that are common, rather than those that are rare, Dr. Rohr said. And as biodiversity declines, rare species tend to disappear first. “That means that the species that remain are the competent ones, the ones that are really good at transmitting disease,” he said.

Lyme disease is one oft-cited example. White-footed mice, which are the primary reservoir for the disease, have become more dominant on the landscape, as other rarer mammals have disappeared, Dr. Rohr said. That shift may partly explain why Lyme disease rates have risen in the United States. (The extent to which the dilution effect contributes to Lyme disease risk has been the subject of debate, and other factors, including climate change, are likely to be at play as well.)

Other environmental changes could amplify disease risks in a wide variety of ways. For instance, introduced species can bring new pathogens with them, and chemical pollution can stress organisms’ immune systems. Climate change can alter animal movements and habitats, bringing new species into contact and allowing them to swap pathogens .

Notably, the fifth global environmental change that the researchers studied — habitat loss or change — appeared to reduce disease risk. At first glance, the findings might appear to be at odds with previous studies, which have shown that deforestation can increase the risk of diseases ranging from malaria to Ebola. But the overall trend toward reduced risk was driven by one specific type of habitat change: increasing urbanization.

The reason may be that urban areas often have better sanitation and public health infrastructure than rural ones — or simply because there are fewer plants and animals to serve as disease hosts in urban areas. The lack of plant and animal life is “not a good thing,” Dr. Carlson said. “And it also doesn’t mean that the animals that are in the cities are healthier.”

And the new study does not negate the idea that forest loss can fuel disease; instead, deforestation increases risk in some circumstances and reduces it in others, Dr. Rohr said.

Indeed, although this kind of meta-analysis is valuable for revealing broad patterns, it can obscure some of the nuances and exceptions that are important for managing specific diseases and ecosystems, Dr. Carlson noted.

Moreover, most of the studies included in the analysis examined just a single global change drive. But, in the real world, organisms are contending with many of these stressors simultaneously. “The next step is to better understand the connections among them,” Dr. Rohr said.

Emily Anthes is a science reporter, writing primarily about animal health and science. She also covered the coronavirus pandemic. More about Emily Anthes

Explore the Animal Kingdom

A selection of quirky, intriguing and surprising discoveries about animal life..

Scientists say they have found an “alphabet” in the songs of sperm whales , raising the possibility that the animals are communicating in a complex language.

Indigenous rangers in Australia’s Western Desert got a rare close-up with the northern marsupial mole , which is tiny, light-colored and blind, and almost never comes to the surface.

For the first time, scientists observed a primate in the wild treating a wound  with a plant that has medicinal properties.

A new study resets the timing for the emergence of bioluminescence back to millions  of years earlier than previously thought.

Scientists are making computer models to better understand how cicadas  emerge collectively after more than a decade underground .

• Open supplemental data
• Reference Manager
• Simple TEXT file

People also looked at

Original research article, perceptions of local environmental issues and the relevance of climate change in nepal's terai: perspectives from two communities.

• 1 Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
• 2 Research Department, Institute for Social and Environmental Research Nepal (ISER-N), Bharatpur, Nepal

The direct and indirect impacts of global climate change entail serious consequences for global biophysical and social systems, including the health, well-being and sustainability of communities. These impacts are especially serious for vulnerable groups in economically developing societies. While climate change is a global phenomenon, it is at the local level that impacts are most felt, and from where responses to climate change are enacted. It is increasingly urgent that communities possess the capacity to respond to climate change, now and in the future. Community representations of climate-relevant issues are critical to underpinning responses. Environmental representations do not directly reflect actual physical conditions but are interpreted through social and cultural layers of understanding that shape environmental issues. This paper investigates environmental and climate-relevant perceptions within two communities in the Terai region of Nepal; the city of Bharatpur and the village of Kumroj in Chitwan Province. Following mixed findings on levels of climate change awareness in Nepal, we set out to explore perspectives on the environment and climate change awareness by conducting 30 qualitative interviews with local people. The study found that issues linked to sanitation and cleanliness were most important in both communities, while reports of temperature and weather changes were less common and typically linked to local causes rather than climate change. Imagined futures were also closely related to current environmental issues affecting communities and did not discuss climate change, though temperature and weather changes were anticipated. However, when talk of climate change was deliberately elicited, participants displayed their awareness, though this was rarely linked to local conditions. We conclude that, in light of other pressing local issues, climate change is yet to penetrate the environmental representations of some communities and there is a need to address the disconnect between local issues and global climate change. Making climate change relevant at the local level by connecting to salient local issues and co-benefits comprises an important step in bridging the gap between more global awareness and its relevance more locally, particularly for communities at risk.

Introduction

Climate change impacts are set to profoundly change global ecological and social systems, bringing about fundamental changes to human behavior ( Evans, 2019 ). The complexity of global climate systems makes it difficult to accurately predict the nature of climate change impacts, though a degree of certainty rests in knowing that fundamental lifestyle shifts commensurate with the scale of climate change will be required if we are to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C by 2100 ( Rogelj et al., 2018 ). In addition to average temperature increase, societies also face increases in the frequency of extreme weather events, air pollution and sea level rise, posing an array of physical threats to human health and well-being, both directly and indirectly ( Watts et al., 2018 ).

Consequently, the impacts of sudden natural disasters (such as shock, emotional distress and post-traumatic stress), and cumulative stresses over time (for example, changes to livelihoods, economic opportunities and social support) from climate change carry serious psychological impacts for those affected ( Clayton et al., 2015 ). These impacts are especially pronounced for citizens living in economically developing countries, particularly for those within developing countries who rely on natural resources to sustain their livelihoods ( Aryal et al., 2014 ).

In addition to continued mitigation, societies will be required to adapt to current and future environmental change. Adaptation in this context refers to a community's capacity to deal with changes, reduce vulnerability to risks, and improve the well-being of communities ( Bhatta et al., 2015 ). While action on climate change maintains a crucial global imperative ( Gupta, 2010 ), variability in environmental impacts and sociocultural differences at the local level also highlight the need to better understand the contexts within which responses to climate-relevant issues occur ( Adger, 2003 ). While global environmental issues such climate change are constructed in top–down ways through scientific, political and other cultural narratives ( Adger et al., 2013 ), they are also blended with and filtered through more vernacular, localized forms of understanding ( Byg and Salick, 2009 ).

In this paper we investigate environmental and climate-relevant perceptions in the context of two rural communities in the Terai (lowland) region of Nepal. Nepal is an economically developing country in South Asia that faces serious impacts from climate change including a predicted temperature increase of 2.8°C by 2060 and up to 4°C by 2090, snowpack melt, glacier retreat, shifting climatic zones, increased extreme weather events, increased periods of drought and erratic precipitation ( Becken et al., 2013 ). In a country where agriculture is the principle industry for 80% of citizens ( Paudel et al., 2019 ) and widespread poverty exists, many of Nepal's citizens are precariously positioned by climate change threats ( Leichenko and Silva, 2014 ).

Following Smit and Wandel (2006) , we take a bottom-up approach to environmental and climate-relevant perceptions at the community level. We discuss the findings from 30 qualitative interviews with community members, focusing on the role of subjective environmental perceptions relating to current and future environmental issues, including community perspectives on climate change, with a focus on the impacts for human well-being. While scientific measurement of ecological impacts provides the foundation for mitigation and adaptation, community perceptions are also critical to ensuring that policy interventions fit community understandings and avoid being misinterpreted or rejected by the community ( Leiserowitz, 2007 ). The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has also stipulated that local knowledge should be used to inform climate adaptation planning ( Carter, 2019 ).

In addition to comprising physical phenomena, environmental issues, including climate change, comprise important social, cultural, and political dimensions that mediate perceptions of the physical ( Hulme, 2009 ; Whitmarsh, 2011 ). These are both facilitated and constrained by cultural knowledge, expressed through social norms, practices, institutional structures and prescribed roles and ways of living. The extent to which climate-relevant communications, interventions and policy are received, understood and enacted by local communities therefore depends on the degree to which top-down standardized scientific narratives converge with, or diverge from the micro-contexts of localized forms of knowledge ( Zinn, 2004 ). Culturally-filtered observations and experiences of environmental conditions are a crucial way in which citizens understand environmental conditions and processes of change ( Bickerstaff, 2004 ; Hulme, 2012 ). Human cognitive biases also influence and distort environmental perceptions. For example, more unusual or memorable weather events tend to exert a stronger influence on perceptions ( Trenberth et al., 2015 ).

Furthermore, perspectives of global climate change may be constrained due to being beyond human perceptual capacity. This means that other locally-salient issues may be perceived as more immediate ( Weber, 2010 ). While people may attribute extreme weather events to global climate change, such interpretations depend on culturally-available narratives that construct such issues, whereas physical climate change is, arguably, only discernible over long time periods. Essentially, a single event cannot unequivocally be attributed directly to climate change, though an individual may or may interpret it as such, depending on their perspective ( Hulme, 2014 ). Similarly, interpretations of local environmental conditions have been found to influence more global climate-relevant understandings. For example, in one study, local perceptions of deforestation, urbanization and air pollution framed explanations of climate change ( Maharjan and Joshi, 2012 ). This suggests that people look for proximate and visible causes in the absence of wider understanding.

Nonetheless, studies have demonstrated evidence that communities who are more in touch with their surroundings are able to accurately detect environmental changes, such as seasonal temperature and weather fluctuations ( Gurung, 1989 ; Tiwari et al., 2010 ; Poudel and Duex, 2017 ; Uprety et al., 2017 ). Other research has found that while community members are accurate in their perceptions of some seasonal and weather-related changes, they are less accurate at perceiving others ( Myers et al., 2013 ). Environmental impacts also affect different groups within a country or region differently, and not always uniformly ( Gentle et al., 2014 ) and may even be experienced differently by different members of the same community ( Maharjan and Joshi, 2012 ).

Climate change awareness has been reported to be higher in economically developed countries than in economically developing nations, a pattern also found for countries within Asia ( Maharjan and Joshi, 2012 ). Other research has found educational attainment to be the strongest predictor of awareness ( Lee et al., 2015 ). Cultural differences are also evident in terms of climate change risk perceptions; in Latin America and Europe, comprehension of the anthropogenic origin of climate change has been found to be the strongest predictor, while in several Asian and African countries, perception of temperature increase locally was most influential ( Lee et al., 2015 ). Perceptions of temperature and weather change are widespread. Savo et al. (2016) conducted a meta-analysis of 10,660 change observations reported across 2,230 localities in 137 countries, which showed increases in temperature, and changes in seasons and rainfall patterns in 70% of localities in 122 countries.

Nepal is particularly susceptible to climate change, with change in the Himalaya accelerating beyond the global average ( Zomer et al., 2014 ). In the Terai agriculture is the principle economic activity, with around 80% of the population dependent on farming for their livelihoods. Therefore, climate change carries significant risks for the economy, which indirectly affect food production and security. The situation is exacerbated by widespread poverty; in 2010 over 25% of the population subsisted below the national poverty line ( Adhikari, 2018 ). Poorer groups within society are more likely to be exposed to climate stresses and possess fewer resources to adapt ( Gentle et al., 2014 ; Leichenko and Silva, 2014 ). Nepal is divided into three ecological regions comprising the Terai (lowland), hill and mountain regions, each of which is characterized by different ecological and climatic conditions. The Terai forms a fertile plain located in the south of the country where the majority of food production takes place, and is also the most densely populated region ( Paudel, 2012 ). Of relevance within Nepal, food shortages due to seasonal changes, infestations of new crop pests and a decline in soil productivity have been recorded ( Paudel, 2012 ).

Public awareness is seen as a major limitation to climate change adaptation within Nepal ( Withana and Auch, 2014 ). While some studies have found high levels of climate change awareness amongst Nepalese citizens ( Becken et al., 2013 ), other research has found awareness to be low ( Gallup, 2009 ). In a cross-national study of 5,060 households, Tanner et al. (2018) report that climate change awareness was low (<50% were aware of the phenomenon even if they had been aware of changes in the weather). Awareness in urban areas was lower than in rural areas (56% v 46%), and very low in mountain areas (63% had not heard of climate change). There were also significant proportions of citizens who did not perceive that the climate was changing. Maharjan and Joshi (2012) report that among the Chepang community only 11.8% of respondents had heard of climate change; of those, only 4.8% were able to relate the phenomenon to changes in weather patterns, temperature, rainfall, wind, floods, landslides, and environmental change.

Research on community perceptions of environmental and climate-relevant change in Nepal has recorded perceptions of warmer summers ( Tiwari et al., 2010 ; Uprety et al., 2017 ); milder winters ( Dahal, 2005 ; Maharjan and Joshi, 2012 ; Becken et al., 2013 ); more erratic rainfall ( Chapagain et al., 2009 ; Paudel, 2012 ; Becken et al., 2013 ; Devkota and Bhattarai, 2018 ); increased periods of drought ( Tanner et al., 2018 ); and more frequent foggy days ( Shrestha et al., 2018 ). However, community perceptions are not consensual. Maharjan and Joshi (2012) report that while 47.5% believed that summers were getting warmer, nearly 10% reported that summers were becoming cooler and 38% perceived no change. In addition, 21% believed that winters were getting colder while 22% believed that winters were becoming milder. Furthermore, 37% believed that there was less rain overall, while 13–17% perceived no change in rainfall. They attribute this to differences in “visual salience”; whereby rainfall is more conspicuous and facilitates perception, whereas temperature change is less directly observable.

With specific reference to the Terai region, Maharjan et al. (2011) interviewed farmers in the Western Terai, with 90% of respondents reporting increases in climate-related risks (erratic rainfall, flooding, droughts, riverbank erosion, windstorms, hailstorms, insect infestations). Tiwari et al. (2010) surveyed Terai communities in which over 75% of participants reported delayed onset of the monsoon and changes in flowering and fruiting time for some plant species. Meanwhile, Manandhar et al. (2011) found that more than two-thirds of farmers in the Terai claimed to have personally experienced evidence of climatic change.

As a result of perceived environmental change in the Terai, and in other regions livelihoods and lifestyles are adapting to changing conditions. Khanal et al. (2018) surveyed farming households in Nepal to gauge adaptation practices across the three ecological regions of Nepal, reporting that 91% of households had adopted at least one practice to minimize impacts of climate change. Adaptation may be more anticipatory or reactive and distinguished by duration, scale of implementation (i.e., more local or more widespread) and focus (e.g., behavioral, institutional, economic, technological, informational) ( Smit et al., 2000 ). In a study of climate change adaptation in the rural hill region of Nepal, Gentle et al. (2018) examined household responses in four villages. Adaptive responses to climate change in rural communities were found to be less coordinated and more reactive and unplanned rather than anticipated and coordinated.

Changes to agricultural practices constitute a primary focal point for adaptation and change. These have included changes in the times crops are sown and harvested ( Maharjan et al., 2011 ), switching to more climate resilient crop varieties and tree and plant species ( Maharjan et al., 2011 ; Paudel, 2016 ; Gahatraj et al., 2018 ), as well as increased use of pesticides, and income diversification ( Gentle et al., 2018 ). Climate change is also perceived as benefiting some crop species ( Rawal and Bharti, 2015 ). For example, mangos are being grown at higher altitudes than was possible in the past ( Chapagain et al., 2009 ).

Within villages, water practices were changing to conserve water resources ( Tiwari et al., 2010 ), and changes to diets have also been identified ( Tanner et al., 2018 ), with less rice being consumed due to the effects of climate on rice productivity ( Maharjan and Joshi, 2013 ). Two-story houses are increasingly being constructed for food storage and as refuge from flooding ( Maharjan and Joshi, 2013 ), while buildings are being oriented to withstand windstorms, incorporating single rather than double doors ( Maharjan and Joshi, 2013 ). Seasonal migration and resettlement becoming more common ( Prasain, 2018 ). People are also reported to be planting more trees and grasses on their own land as well as on communal land to protect communities from flooding, wind and dust ( Tiwari et al., 2010 ; Maharjan et al., 2017 ). Withana and Auch (2014) report that afforestation is viewed as the most effective climate change adaptation strategy by communities.

In summary, perceptions of environmental conditions are key to informing behavior, including the need to adapt to a changing climate. In the context of Nepal, adaptation is particularly salient and it is critical that communities respond to environmental risks in ways that ensure the well-being and futurity of those communities. Given that studies of climate-relevant perceptions have reported mixed findings in terms of awareness, we seek to clarify how Nepalese communities view environmental issues now and in the future. Such perceptions act as important indicators of how local communities make sense of what is happening in their surroundings.

Following our review of the literature, the following questions guide the study approach:

• How do communities in Nepal's Terai perceive their environment?

• How do they see that environment changing in the future?

• To what degree are local communities aware of climate change?

• What is the relative importance of climate change compared to other issues environmental affecting the community?

Materials and Methods

The following subsections describe the study design and procedure. Broadly, this comprised a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with residents in two communities in the Terai region of Nepal. Thirty interviews were conducted in total. 15 interviews were conducted with residents of the village of Kumroj, a small rural community bordering Chitwan National Park. Another 15 interviews were conducted with residents of Bharatpur, an urban community approximately 12 miles (20 km) away. For each group, we were interested in gauging perceptions of salient environmental issues, including climate change. We selected two different communities to explore the degree to which locally salient issues varied and informed discussions. Before commencing fieldwork, the study design was scrutinized and approved by the Research Ethics Committee in the School of Psychology at Cardiff University.

Participants

Fieldwork was conducted in January and February 2016. A purposive sampling strategy ( Silverman, 2015 ) was used to try to generate a range of different sociodemographic profiles within each community in terms of age, gender and ethnicity. All participants were aged 18+ and resided in either Bharatpur or Kumroj, both in the Chitwan district. Bharatpur has a population of 280,000 and is one of the largest and fastest growing cities in Nepal. While it is home to a number of small-scale processing industries, agriculture remains the biggest industry. Kumroj is a small town with a population of 8,000. Kumroj borders Chitwan National Park, the first National Park created in Nepal (in 1973). In recent years in-migration has increased pressure on land for settlement and agriculture. Increasing tourism has put additional pressure on the landscape. A number of community development initiatives have attempted to confer Kumroj as an ecological exemplar, with the creation of a community forest initiative and grant funding to encourage domestic biogas installation to reduce deforestation, launched on World Environment Day, 2013. Around 80% of households within Kumroj have installed bio-gas converters to reduce reliance on the forest for fuel.

To arrange fieldwork with local people in Kumroj, we contacted the offices of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) in Kathmandu, who had been involved in community development projects in Kumroj. Through WWF, we were able to negotiate access through local community leaders who helped us to recruit participants. Prior to our arrival, the study was advertised by word-of-mouth by community leaders, who identified potential members of the community willing to be interviewed. Extra care had to be taken in gaining access to participants, establishing contact and opening communicative spaces with the community, which could be damaged if pushed too quickly ( Wicks and Reason, 2009 ). The study was promoted as a “ lifestyle and behavior ” project and avoided making reference to the environment, as we wished to avoid recruiting only those members of the community whose motivations and values were strongly pro-environmental. At recruitment, a brief screening procedure was applied; individuals were screened to ensure that they were 18+ and aware of the broad purpose of the study and what would be required in terms of participation. We also purposefully recruited individuals to ensure that we had a roughly equal split in terms of gender, as well as diversity in terms of age, ethnicity, occupation, and income. See Table 1 for subsample demographics.

Table 1 . Subsample demographics.

To recruit our Bharatpur subsample, we collaborated with the Institute for Social and Environmental Research Nepal (ISER-N). ISER-N is a research and development institute that conducts applied research to inform policy-making and effective sustainable development initiatives across local communities. Using a similar method to the above, ISER-N acted as our guide and point of access to the local community and advertised and recruited a subsample of local people who had expressed an interest in discussing their lifestyles and behaviors.

Once participants had been identified, screened, and given further information about the study, they were invited to take part in an interview to discuss aspects of their day-to-day lifestyles and behaviors with the research team. Interviews were scheduled to take approximately one-and-a-half hours, but varied from 45 min to 2 h. A semi-structured interview method ( Galletta, 2013 ) was chosen in which a standard set of questions was covered while also allowing flexibility for follow-up questions and exploration of other issues of relevance to participants. Such flexibility is an advantage in cross-cultural settings as this allows for greater exploration of cultural factors underpinning issues of interest ( McIntosh and Morse, 2015 ; Hagaman and Wutich, 2017 ). All participants were required to give written informed consent prior to participation.

Questions in the interview protocol sought to contextualize environmental perspectives within people's wider everyday lives as far as possible. Questions broadly covered perceptions of the environment and the importance of environmental issues environmental problems (including climate change), engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior, the character, motivations for and consequences of behaviors, and comparisons with others in terms of acting in environmentally-friendly ways (see Supplementary Information ).

The majority of interviews took place at participants' homes. Discussions took place on seats or woven mats in the front yards of houses rather than inside the building itself. A small number of interviews were conducted in other locations, such as a local café, or community building in the case where the home could not be used. We relied heavily on our collaborators and local community leaders to manage interview arrangements in line with our concerns about accessing members of an unfamiliar culture and wishing not to transgress social boundaries. Because people's yards are the area of the home where a lot of day-to-day interaction takes place, providing socially appropriate spaces for interaction.

One of the disadvantages of holding interviews outside was that on some occasions the research team's presence would attract the curiosity of other family members, neighbors and other locals. The sudden presence of others could occasionally alter the dynamic of the interview interaction, particularly if the others who were present began talking or offering their own perspectives. On one or two occasions the research team had to ask bystanders to limit their contribution so as to allow the participant to speak. To a cultural outsider this would appear potentially problematic and non-conducive to an appropriate interview context, which led us to consider this and other ethical considerations in conducting interview research in different cultures.

Ethical Considerations in Conducting Interviews in Different Cultures

Researchers typically assume that the communities in which they work will be aware of the concept of research and its value, though for many communities research is something abstract, distanced and difficult to make sense of in relation to their ordinary lived experience. This came across clearly in working with each subsample. In Bharatpur, participants were familiar with ISER-N and, owing to participating in other cross-cultural research, were more comfortable with the researcher's presence than participants in Kumroj, who had not been so exposed to researchers and the research process. Further to this, bridging communicative spaces is not confined merely to issues of translation and word equivalence, but of more conceptual differences in terms of the ways that different cultures define reality and categorize their experience ( Fong, 2012 ). Language and culture are woven together in ways that require not only the translation of speech, but the translation of cultural meanings that are often concealed from those outside of that culture. In designing the interview protocol, we worked closely with our collaborators not only to ensure that questions were understandable, but that any cultural assumptions (for example, about the lifestyles, values, and practices of the community) were identified and addressed appropriately. All interview materials were double-translated.

Qualitative methods including interviews, also carry particular ethical implications in terms of power imbalance, where the discussion is primarily directed by the researcher ( King et al., 2018 ). Assumptions about the identity of the western researcher (typically white, middle-class, and educated) on the part of the research participant construct interactional dynamics before a word has been spoken. Similarly, the reflexive researcher will not only consider how their own identity might influence communication, but how their assumptions about the community they are researching enter into framing interactions. While researchers may seek to embark on research practices that are non-exploitative and non-oppressive, researchers are nonetheless complicit in systems of oppression and should be aware of their own privileges.

The interview team comprised a male researcher (lead author) and a female translator to minimize any gender imbalance that might affect trust and participant disclosure, especially for female participants ( Campbell and Wasco, 2000 ; Sikes, 2018 ). The translator also played an active role in facilitating each interview, asking additional questions and clarifying understanding, as opposed to simply translating questions and responses. It was felt that a combination of cultural insider and cultural outsider benefited the discussion; while the former helped to increase trust and disclosure, the latter encouraged more detailed exploration of issues that might otherwise be taken for granted by those familiar with those issues ( Dwyer and Buckle, 2009 ).

Conducting qualitative fieldwork in collaboration with translators can also compromise the quality and accuracy of the material generated. In an interview context, the translator adds an additional layer to the interaction. For example, the translator is likely to be more acquainted with the cultural nuances of the interaction than the researcher. Therefore, both the researcher and translator can affect the fieldwork process, as well as disrupting the flow of talk to allow for translation ( Van Teijlingen et al., 2011 ). When fully transcribed, interviews can also show disparity between participant responses and translated responses. van Teijlingen et al. suggest that a way round this is to allow the translator to conduct the interview and only relay main points to the researcher, though this can be impractical, as well as excluding the researcher.

Prior to the interviews, considerable time was spent in developing and pre-testing interview questions. After constructing an initial set of interview questions in English, these were double-translated and then reviewed by our collaborators in Nepal. This was invaluable in not only identifying significant weaknesses in conceptual equivalence between Nepali and English versions of the questions ( Larkin et al., 2007 ), but also in highlighting researchers' cultural assumptions inherent in questions relating to everyday life in “other” places. That is, while a translated question may be conceptually equivalent to the original, it still may not be understandable in another culture (e.g., where researchers from one culture assume that all participants in another culture will have the same access to resources, such as running water). Even when all care is taken with translation, translators may be unfamiliar with a particular geographical region or cultural group. Therefore, it is recommended that questions are pre-tested in the specific cultural contexts in which they will be used.

With reference to interview locations, our decision to hold interviews outside and not in a more private location was primarily guided by social conventions as well as pragmatism, though we acknowledge the active influence of the nature of the space within which such interactions take place ( Gagnon et al., 2015 ). As mentioned at the end of the previous section, on occasion others were present at interviews in ways that influenced participant responses and could have constrained disclosure or breached informal assumptions about confidentiality (though interview questions were not considered to cover personally sensitive topics). Conversely, in discussing lifestyle and behavior issues, the home sometimes served as an exemplar in which participants described their activities in the context of the physical surroundings, which enhanced disclosure. In addition, conducting interviews in familiar environments can reduce the power imbalance between researcher and research participant ( Gagnon et al., 2015 ).

Ethical considerations do not end at the point at which the interview concludes but influence ongoing reflections following the interview (such as translation, analysis, writing-up and dissemination) ( Hoover et al., 2018 ). Acknowledging that translation imposes an additional level of interpretation on the spoken word ( Caretta, 2015 ), we have tried insofar as possible to contextualize accounts based on participants' direct speech rather than translators' interpretations of what was said. At the end of each interview, participants were provided with a verbal and written debrief in Nepali, in which they were given the opportunity to get in touch with the research team through appointed members of the local community and in-country collaborators should they have any further questions or concerns once participation had ended.

Analytic Approach

All interviews were digitally audio-recorded and translated and transcribed at ISER-N. Written field notes were also taken throughout each interview relating to points of interest and things that might not be captured by the recorder. An “ in-interview ” system of translation was used whereby questions and responses were translated between English and Nepali by the translator. This method of translation was primarily used to aid communication within the interview itself. When the interview recordings were translated, the translators re-translated participants' responses, which appear alongside the in-interview translations in the transcripts. This was done as the task of translating what at times were lengthy utterances in the moment, could have led to omissions and gaps, whereas in translating participant responses from the recordings utterances could be replayed and listened to repeatedly for clarity, thus better capturing what was said.

An episodic narrative approach was used as an analytic framework by which to explore participants' accounts of environmentally-friendly perceptions and behaviors. This approach treats perceptions and experiences as lived narratives situated within the wider society and culture ( Flick, 2000 ; Jovchelovitch and Bauer, 2000 ). Narrative interviewing is interested in eliciting particular episodes or features of participants' lives and how they make sense of the world as embodied, culturally and spatially situated individuals ( Raulet-Croset and Borzeix, 2014 ). Interview audio files and transcripts were analyzed using NVivo 11, supplemented by written field notes.

Our analysis combined several methods, which we outline here. In line with the early stages of a grounded theory approach ( Timmermans and Tavory, 2012 ) we began by reading through transcripts to identify examples of talk that involved themes relating to health and well-being in the context of environmental issues. As much as possible, given inevitable researcher preconceptions and positions ( Caelli et al., 2003 ) we sought to identify general themes and provisional topics of interest, without imposing a predetermined framework. This manner of bottom-up or inductive analytic reading of the data allows for the broadest possible range of salient themes to be identified. Once we familiarized ourselves with the material through repeated readings, we then developed a system of codes to more precisely categorize these themes. In order to do so, we used a version of template analysis, which is suitable for identifying themes in research data that is commensurate with both essentialist and constructionist perspectives, and which enables a hybrid approach that utilizes both inductive and deductive techniques ( Brooks et al., 2015 ). Template analysis is a form of thematic analysis applied to qualitative data, that is sensitive both to emergent themes that are grounded in the data (i.e., not anticipated or predetermined by the researcher) as well as permitting predetermined codes or categories to be applied (i.e., in line with the researcher's interests and the existing literature). The coding framework was developed through an iterative process: through multiple readings of the research data and refinement of initial codes until further changes to the framework did not enhance it further. A further feature of template analysis is the development and application of a hierarchical coding approach, designed to shed light on the structure across the set of codes. In the case of the present study, this for example has led to higher-level codes such as “behavioral responses” beneath which we identify sub-codes such as “cleanliness” and “waste disposal.”

In the analysis that follows, we present extracts from interviews in both communities comprising perceptions of environmental issues. Where considering the themes identified within the data, we have illustrated this using a single typical extract and alluded to its occurrence in other participants' accounts within the text.

Community Perceptions of Current Environmental Conditions

We began by asking participants about the importance of environmental issues in their day-to-day lives and what the surrounding environment was like. Responses comprised both positive and negative evaluations of environmental conditions, though there was a greater range of issues forming the latter. To get some sense of the kinds of terms used to describe the local environment in each community, we created two word clouds using NVivo, which display the most frequently used words in discussing issues. The results of these are displayed in Figures 1 , 2 .

Figure 1 . Word cloud of the 75 most common words associated with present environmental conditions (Bharatpur participants).

Figure 2 . Word cloud of the 75 most common words associated with present environmental conditions (Kumroj participants).

Both communities used the same terms in discussing the environment, such as “ people ” and “ good .” In Bharatpur, “ better ” was also commonly used in talking about the environment, which may reflect the dominance of the issue of sanitation (see section Sanitation and Hygiene below). Negative words such as “ pollution,” “ smoke,” “ problem,” and “ dust” also came up relatively regularly, as did the word “ plastic .” Terms relating to hygiene and sanitation were also notable. These included “ cleanliness,” “ toilet ,” “ healthy,” and “ clean .” Meanwhile, in Kumroj, commonly used terms appeared congruent with the community's rural position. These included “ animals ,” “ jungle ,” “ wild ,” and “ forest .” Words such as “ polluted ,” “ concerned,” and “ worried” were also used. We now move on to discuss responses in more detail.

Sanitation and Hygiene

The primary way issue through which the environment was assessed in both communities, though particularly in Bharatpur, related to sanitation and the need to maintain a clean environment to reduce the risks of disease:

“ Previously, like ten to fifteen years ago people used to smoke, and there was open defecation everywhere, there weren't any toilets, so people used to get sick and the death rate also used to be very high, people used to be suffering by many kinds of disease, skin problems, allergies. Now currently almost every household has a toilet, and many organizations have been working on cleanliness. They have been providing various training and awareness programs regarding the clean environment. So now I would say, the environment is not so bad around here .” (Bharatpur, Interview A3).

In the above account, a positive assessment of environmental conditions is formulated by drawing a comparison between past and present sanitation and sanitary practices. Whereas, in the past, communities were affected by diseases resulting from unsanitary conditions, this had now changed, providing a positive indicator of the local environment as a whole.

In addition to health risks from open defecation, providing proper toilets in rural communities such as Kumroj also minimized other risks from wildlife, and the discomfort of adverse weather conditions:

“ If we don't have a toilet, then we may have to face many difficulties such as while going outside for toilet then we might get attacked from snake or when raining it would be hard to go the toilet. And if we openly defecate then it will pollute the environment and as result we may have to suffer from different diseases, so environment is the most important thing to survive for everyone and we can't imagine life without environment .” Kumroj, Interview B11).

For rural communities, development of sanitation was considered not only key to well-being, but also, implicitly, key to a good environment. Talk of sanitation in the context of evaluating the local environment also rested heavily on community awareness. What contributed to a lack of environmental quality in the past was not only that proper sanitation was unavailable, but that in the past, communities were less aware of the risks to health and well-being from poor sanitation. Risky sanitary practices were thus maintained as people did not know any better. In contrast, nowadays, communities were more aware of risks from inadequate sanitation and knew how to overcome issues such as contaminated drinking water. In this way, community awareness also contributed to positive judgements of environmental quality:

“ The e nvironment here is better in comparison to the past…These facilities didn't exist. There had been problems of drinking water taps. The same tap was used. It wasn't enough. In society, people had to drink water from wells. They had germs, smoke and dust .” (Bharatpur, Interview A10).

Similar to the accounts of the shift to a better environment through the development of toilet facilities and reduction in the practice of open defecation, an overall positive evaluation of the environment is constructed through comparisons of past and present. For many participants, issues of health, sanitation and hygiene formed the yardstick by which the overall environment was evaluated positively.

Waste and Pollution

While improvements in sanitation and hygiene across both communities provided a positive indicator of environmental quality, there was more ambivalence where participants discussed other issues indicative of environmental quality in their respective communities. For participants in both Bharatpur and Kumroj, distance from industrial development and proximity to green spaces were important factors associated with positive environmental assessments:

“ The environment around here is ok, there is no industry and factory so it is not that much polluted here and we are nearby jungle so we have greenery, yeah, it's good, it's fine .” (Kumroj, Interview B5).

As illustrated in the above account, environmental quality was implicitly understood as relating to human well-being, in terms of risks from pollution. Such a location for the community, close to the jungle and away from factories, led to evaluations that the environment was good. Conversely, accounts of pollution from other sources within the community itself, suggested a rather different environmental evaluation. At the same time as some participants positively evaluated the environment being relatively pollution-free, others constructed it as a polluted space due to the way that plastic waste was managed. The problem of plastic waste disposal came up most frequently in Bharatpur:

“… looking at increasing population, there can be very dangerous pollution. I feel that it will increase, yes, increasing. The use of plastics is increasing and there is no awareness regarding how to maintain cleanliness, how to save us from the problem. They have no such idea. Due to increasing population density, such symptoms are evident .” (Bharatpur, Interview A14).

Concerns about plastic waste were tied to other concerns about local population increase and the perception that there was a lack of awareness amongst the community in addressing the issue. Such accounts implied that there were no alternatives to using plastic, therefore the problem was in disposing of plastic waste that littered the environment and did not decompose. The main problem causing the pollution was not the presence of plastic waste, but the method used to manage and deal with waste plastic. This chiefly involved collecting the plastic and burning it in open fires. While this resolved the problem of plastic waste littering the community, participants were concerned that the smoke polluted the air and posed risks to health:

“ There is plastic around here and there. To dispose plastic, we need to burn it, and if we burn plastic it makes huge air pollution and affects people's health. The other day I argued with one person not to throw plastic. We must use firewood for cooking and because of that there is again smoke in the air, because of a lack of cooking gas. That's why it has been a very bad environment .” (Bharatpur; Interview A2).

In contrast to the previous extract constructing the local environment in positive ways as being relatively pollution-free, alternative perspectives such as the above led to very different evaluations of the local environment, with concomitant consequences for the health of the community. While the local community was aware of the contribution of existing informal plastic waste management practices to air pollution, it was nonetheless positioned as being powerless to change in ways that address air pollution as people are locked in to environmentally-damaging practices in order to manage waste and address basic needs. Similar to the need to use firewood for cooking due to shortages of cleaner alternatives, there were no alternatives and burning plastic waste was viewed as unavoidable. Essentially, such accounts lead to a very different evaluation of local environmental conditions.

Conversely, in Kumroj, a municipal system for collecting plastic waste had been in place for some time, therefore the community's method of dealing with plastic waste was not considered to threaten local environmental quality as much as problems such as poor sanitation:

“ People defecate wherever they want around the city area, there are toilets in here no toilets, so people openly defecated. So, I'm concerned about it…Otherwise, there is a facility to collect the waste from municipalities, the van comes and takes away waste. People collect the wastage plastic in sacks, then when the municipality van comes, then they take it away .” (Kumroj, Interview B6).

The account begins by constructing open defecation as the main issue threatening the environment in nearby Bharatpur, implying a negative assessment of the surroundings. This is contrasted with a more positive assessment where the speaker switches to talk about plastic waste management in Kumroj. Therefore, while plastic waste was a problem in both communities, in evaluating the local environment, the different ways in which plastic waste was managed were used to formulate contrasting assessments of environmental quality overall. These contrasting assessments may also connect to the wider importance of health and well-being, in which potential risks are offset by waste management practices in one community, but raised by plastic waste management practices in another.

Deforestation

While plastic waste did not negatively influence environmental assessments in Kumroj as it did in Bharatpur, there were, nonetheless, other issues affecting the community leading to negative environmental evaluations that were not reported in Bharatpur. For people in rural Kumroj, there was a closer felt connection to the neighboring forest as a source of environmental concerns. That is, forest conditions were more commonly invoked in environmental assessments by participants in Kumroj than in Bharatpur. The forest was seen as a valuable community resource, primarily as a source of firewood. Such talk occurred against a context of strikes and fuel shortages, further highlighting the importance of the forest as a source of firewood for local communities, which was being rapidly diminished due to increased demand:

“ We restored the forest with a lot of hard work. The strikes have already led to twenty-five percent of the forest to deforest and if this goes on, the forest will be completely deforested in a year or two. There is a new facility called biogas, we have that facility but, we have seventy-five percent biogas but people are poor and some bring the firewood from the forest, steal it and sell it… People have to survive. Having to die today and struggling for it tomorrow isn't going to work. If you have to survive today, you'll have to work for it today. And if they don't have any other way they'll go to the forest and steal the firewood .” (Kumroj, Interview B10).

Despite attempts to increase forest cover and reduce reliance on firewood by providing biogas converters within local communities, this did not address the wider problem of sustaining local people's livelihoods, which caused further deforestation and the potential loss of the forest altogether. From this perspective, the amount of forest cover formed an indicator of environmental quality. Furthermore, for participants in Kumroj, the environment was also judged based upon perceived changes in the amount of wildlife that could be observed locally:

“ I think the current environment is worse than the previous environment. I have noticed that the current environment is going down every day instead of going up. Because, previously when I used to go to the jungle I could see the wild animals very near, even sometimes outside of the jungle, but these days we have to go very deep into the jungle to search for the animals .” (Kumroj, Interview B14).

While the need for wood to sustain people's lives were commonly acknowledged within accounts of the pressures on forest resources in Kumroj, deforestation remained a significant concern.

Climate and Weather

While it was not foremost in terms of locally significant issues, participants in Bharatpur and Kumroj also referred to changes in climate and weather conditions in formulating their assessments of the local environment. These changes did not form the basis for positive evaluations of the local environment but appeared in negative or neutral assessments. Talk referred to a narrow range of changes. These mainly involved observations of temperature extremes in which summers were perceived to be increasingly hot, and winters increasingly cold. However, while these observations of climatic change were described causal factors were hardly mentioned. Furthermore, the phenomenon of global climate change was not spontaneously invoked in accounts:

“ I would say it's okay, so far Chitwan's environment is fine, although here is not much forest and plants. In winter it's very cold and summer is getting hotter .” (Bharatpur, Interview A6).

What appears initially as a positive assessment of the local environment is tempered by a perceived lack of forest cover and greenery in Bharatpur. In addition, the speaker adds the casual observation that winter and summer are increasingly subject to extreme temperatures, though no reason is offered as to why.

In addition to temperature changes, the other way in which the environment was judged was based on fluctuations in precipitation. In such accounts, there was consensus that rainfall was becoming more erratic and less predictable, and that rainfall overall was decreasing, including at the wettest times of the year. Again, no specific reasons were ventured as to why this was happening:

“ Yeah, I think sometimes, I think there's not enough or little rainfall during the rainy season .” (Bharatpur, Interview A1)

While changes in climate in terms of global averages cannot readily be detected by individuals ( Hulme, 2009 ), participants' observations appeared to reflect general climate trends. However, there was little concern expressed about temperature and precipitation changes, in comparison to other issues linked to health, cleanliness and well-being. Very occasionally, this type of issue was also linked to other perceived environmental problems. For example, one participant associated reductions in the amount of rain that fell to changes in forest cover:

“… we shouldn't be cutting down trees like we have been doing. We wouldn't get any rain if there weren't any trees .” (Kumroj, Interview B6).

The above account provides an isolated example of causation in relation to weather related changes. Even so, the role of climate change is not mentioned and rainfall change is attributed solely to the local problem of deforestation. While discussions of weather and climate were almost exclusively focused on the local area, an isolated reference was made to climate change in discussing the environment on a larger scale. One speaker spontaneously referred to broader patterns of global warming observed in changes beyond the local environment:

“… as you know because of the international global warming, now these days we have maximum cold, maximum hot, and impacts on ice and the change of snow fall trends…now there is very little snow fall in the mountains. If there is snow it melts so fast. These days we can see there are big storms, rainfall, everything has changed now. I think all the weather patterns have changed because of global warming. So, all those things make me concerned about the environment .” (Kumroj, Interview B13).

While an isolated example, the extract illustrates that climate change did arise in discussions of more local environmental conditions. Broader weather and temperature changes in Nepal corroborated observations at the local level, including temperature extremes and changes in rainfall.

In summary, assessments of the local environment were framed in different ways, leading to differences in the way that environment environmental conditions were evaluated. Assessments were framed based upon locally significant issues, which were both shared by, and individual to each community. Moreover, the most significant concerns were related to health and wellbeing. Next, we consider responses to the question of future environmental change.

Community Perceptions of Future Environmental Change

Following discussions over present environmental conditions, we then asked participants how the local environment might change in the future. Responses again comprised both positive and negative impressions, with a higher proportion of responses focused on the latter.

As previously, we created word clouds to get a sense of the sorts of terms that were used in imagining the future, and how these terms varied across communities. The results are shown in Figures 3 , 4 .

Figure 3 . Word cloud of the 75 most common words associated with future environmental conditions (Bharatpur participants).

Figure 4 . Word cloud of the 75 most common words associated with future environmental conditions (Kumroj participants).

Among participants in Bharatpur, the words “ waste ,” “ population,” and “ increasing ” came up most frequently in responses about future change. References to negative terms, such as “ pollution ” appeared less than in talk about existing conditions, though it appeared to be used relatively more frequently by participants in Kumroj. With reference to the latter community, the two most prominent words used in talking about the future were “ forest ” and “ people .” Other terms referred to environmental concerns looking to the future, including “ live ,”, “ less ,” “ important,” “ survive,” and “ disappear.” We now move on to discuss responses in more detail.

Future Deforestation

Across both communities, the most commonly reported issue in the future was that of population increase and its consequences, especially for those in Kumroj. As can be read from the analysis so far, population increase influenced environmental perceptions; and was something that was set to continue into the future. Population increase was not viewed in positive ways in either community. Instead, environmental impacts were predicted to increase as more people came to live in the Terai. Of these impacts, the pressure on local forests was most often mentioned. This tapped into the idea that the forest existed as a resource for local communities and that, as a resource, the forest was already being overused:

“ Well, um…I think, the population will increase, they may need more homes, more food, etcetera. For that, the increased population might destroy the green forest for their homes and for cultivating land. There might not be good management of the increased population. There may come disorder in the environment. There might be less wild animals, less trees and plants .” (Bharatpur, Interview A7).

In addition to providing raw materials in terms of firewood, as mentioned above, the need for land clearance to build settlements and provide food for newcomers compounded deforestation. If not well-managed, there were fears that this would eventually lead to the complete loss of the forest, both as a resource, and as a habitat for local flora and fauna. Such accounts appeared to be grounded in existing concerns about the exploitation of forest resources and served as a warning against continuing unchecked exploitation. In addition to its construction as a community resource and as a habitat for wildlife, in one or two discussions of future population increase, the forest was constructed as a safeguard against preventing other environmental impacts. For example, the forest protected the landscape from flooding and erosion:

“ Since the population and settlements are increasing, the forest is being cut down and people are settling in areas that were forest. More trees are being cut down to meet demand and brick factories are setting up and their chimneys pollute the air with lots of smoke. Because of less forest there could be floods and landslides, so this is the way the environment will be affected in future .” (Kumroj, Interview B11).

Further to the above, while participants were asked about environmental change in the future, discussions were typically grounded in perceptions of the present. Within the above extract, indications of future conditions linked to increased population and natural disasters are connected with conditions in the here and now, which are projected into an imagined future. It is assumed that present conditions will remain stable and consistent, with little expectation of change. As such, these accounts of the future highlight anxieties linked to present conditions, along with a sense of futility and helplessness that little will change. Conversely, issues such as sanitation did not really come up as future concerns, which likely reflects perceptions of sanitation improvements in the present, compared to the past.

Future Temperature Increases and Reduced Precipitation

Of relevance to climate change, rising temperatures, reduced rainfall and the loss of water resources also came up as potential future conditions locally. As found previously in accounts of present conditions, such talk tended to report conditions without elaborating on reasons as to what might contribute to causing them, or by offering opaque references to some unspoken (or non-understood) conditions or circumstances as “ having changed ”:

“ Yes, I think the environment might change. We even hear in the news that the heat or temperature has risen…we also have heard that because of some things the amount of rainfall has also decreased.” (Bharatpur, Interview A1).

The above narrative hints at climate change, though without any formal acknowledgment of the phenomenon. First of all, the speaker does not refer to direct experience of rising temperatures but formulates this information as something gathered from the media. Likewise, due to a set of unnamed causal factors labeled as “ some things ,” rainfall has also decreased, hinting at complexity. Furthermore, while the speaker begins by stating the belief that the environment could possibly change, the following discussion of climate-relevant change is grounded in changes that have already occurred, rather than changes that could happen in the future. As above, perceptions of future change are intimately connected to changes in the present. This is also confirmed in the next extract, in which a response to the question over future change is also constructed as an account of a present in which the environment locally had shifted from a state of stability to one of flux:

“ When it used to rain in Chure…that is in the mid hills, if we put some grains in the sun to dry then we wouldn't have time to collect them and bring them inside so quickly. The rain would have come, it used to rain quickly. But five to seven years after that there were floods and then other floods, and after that the climate started getting worse and worse. Nowadays what happens is we can see it raining in Chure but here is doesn't rain. So that is a very definite thing that I have noticed .” (Kumroj, Interview B13).

In this extract, rather than merely hearing about weather and temperature-related changes from secondary sources, evidence of environmental change could be found in the course of changes to practices that were arranged in line with previously stable and consistent weather patterns. As weather patterns had become less predictable, community practices had undergone changes, highlighting the impact of weather-related changes on the local community.

Local Community Perceptions of Climate Change

The previous sections have shown that while participants in both communities spoke about issues related to changes to temperature and weather, both now in the future, these issues were typically unelaborated beyond the reporting of changes when unelicited, and only rarely connected to wider global climate change. Yet these perceptions often paralleled broader climate change trends. In order to gauge the extent to which participants were aware of climate change, we then asked directly whether participants had heard of climate change or global warming.

Using NVivo, we began by mapping climate change themes from participants' accounts in both communities., which then formed basic nodes through which to understand the various ways in which participants in both communities talked about climate change. The conceptual map is shown in Figure 5 . We then looked at responses in more detail.

Figure 5 . Conceptual map of themes arising in participants' talk about climate change across both communities.

Changes in Temperature

Of the participants who were directly asked whether they had heard of climate change, only one or two had not, though nobody claimed to know more than a little. Responses were very similar across both communities. Nearly all participants in both communities referred to changes in temperature and/or weather locally. Extreme temperatures were the most commonly cited indicator, most often connected to hotter summers, but also less frequently linked to colder winters, as detailed above in the section on Climate and Weather. Generally, little was said beyond simply noticing change, though one important impact of temperature change in the Terai concerned the direct consequences for plant life:

“ Well…hmm…actually I don't know the reason of global warming. I have heard that the snow of the mountains is melting these days. If it melts it will be hotter. The vegetation will be dry and can't survive, I heard this. It means the temperature increase may affect every living thing on the earth .” (Bharatpur; Interview A7).

Such talk reflects the importance of agriculture for many communities in what is Nepal's primary agricultural region; while the direct impact on plants was highlighted, other impacts of temperature change were not. The speaker also claims to be unaware of the causes of global warming. However, they construct a link between snowmelt on the distant mountains and temperature rise more locally, with potential impacts for the planet.

Links between climate change and health were rare, however, one speaker explained that hotter temperatures brought new disease risks to humans:

“ What is there is that the rays of the sun, the layer between sun and the earth is what people call depleting nowadays, isn't it? This leads to an increase in heat. This heat has brought about different diseases. Like, mosquito bites cause various diseases. I have heard from the radio that climate change has adversely affected human beings .” (Bharatpur; Interview A14).

In explaining the causes of temperature rise that bring about health risks from flying insects, the speaker combines elements of ozone layer depletion and global warming. This reflects the way that lay understandings of climate change do not map neatly onto expert definitions, but often overlap with other environmental problems ( Rudiak-Gould, 2012 ).

Changes in Precipitation

Following changes in temperature, particularly in the summer months, changes in precipitation were the other main symptom linked to climate change in both communities. An example of this type of perception is provided in Section 3.1.3, though talk of erratic or reduced rainfall was framed locally and very nearly always unconnected with global climate change. However, when the issue of climate change was deliberately elicited by the interviewer, a greater degree of acknowledgment was given to the influence of the phenomenon on local changes particularly in relation to agriculture:

“ Because of global warming, there is not timely rainfall, nothing happens according to the growing seasons. For example, no rain in the rainy reason but it is (rainy) in winter time. Nothing occurring at the right time, I guess this is all the impact of climate change .” (Kumroj, Interview B13).

Because of global warming, regular patterns of precipitation and the seasons had been thrown into disarray. This was of particular importance in the Terai in terms of agriculture, and was the primary way in which such changes to established patterns were recognized. For others, while erratic weather had recently been observed, it was of little concern as the weather tended not to be consistent but changeable day-to-day:

“ Few years back there was heavy rain, but now there is very little rain, and the summer heat has increased since last year…I think it's not really concerning me because every day is different and going on in its own way, so I don't feel really concerned about it .” (Kumroj, Interview B12).

In general, accounts of changing temperature and weather were constructed in ways that assumed a transition from the stable and consistent natural patterns of the past, to a present in which established patterns had been disrupted. However, for those less concerned, changes were viewed as part of natural variability. Ultimately, when thinking about local conditions, climate change typically did not form a part of community perspectives unless introduced by the interviewer. The final section summarizes individual climate-relevant behavioral responses to the issues raised in talking about the environment.

Health and Well-Being Motivates Engagement in Climate-Relevant Behaviors

Because participants in Bharatpur and Kumroj often did not associate local issues with climate change, there was little talk of the need to adopt specific mitigation or adaptation behaviors. However, within each community one or two climate-relevant behaviors were raised in the course of discussing engagement in more general environmentally-relevant actions. For example, planting trees was widely practiced in both communities. Primarily, this was done to provide wood, create shade around homes and provide fruit. Trees were also considered important in preventing drought (see section on Climate and Weather) and other natural disasters such as flooding and erosion (see section Future Deforestation). In addition, a few participants framed climate-relevant behaviors as motivated by the need to safeguard health and well-being:

“ Trees I plant in the rainy season, so I plant yearly. Once I cut the old, then I plant new…Trees keep the environment clean and healthier. Trees inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen” (Bharatpur, Interview A6).

While there was no clear link made to climate change, participants acknowledged the value of reducing atmospheric carbon, which was understood as maintaining a “ clean and healthier ” environment. Essentially, such climate-relevant practices were understood not in accordance with received scientific conceptualisations of climate change, but through more pragmatic perspectives linked to health and well-being.

In Kumroj, the Nepalese government had tried to maintain forest stocks by encouraging villagers to purchase biogas converters through grant schemes. Several participants, mainly from Kumroj, had biogas converters. These were seen as advantageous as organic waste could be utilized for producing fuel and then used as a fertilizer. Food could also be cooked quicker without the need to light a fire, and it reduced the need to collect wood. While participants did not mention the link between biogas practices and climate change, one of the most important benefits of biogas was that it did not pollute the air and so reduced health risks linked to inhaling wood smoke:

“ It (biogas) is clean and the air is also clean. The utensils are also not black. Biogas is more hygienic. People can be safe from colds and coughs and smoke-related diseases .” (Kumroj; Interview B13).

Cleanliness is paramount to the importance of biogas in the above extract. The pollution emitted by burnt wood is illustrated with reference to the condition of cooking utensils, with the implication that the wider environment is being affected in a similar way. In contrast, biogas does not discolor cooking utensils, which illustrates the fuel's superiority in terms of minimizing health risks caused by woodsmoke.

This study set out to investigate community perceptions of environmental and climate-relevant issues within two communities in the Terai region of Nepal. Specifically, we sought to address 4 related research questions; (1) How do community members perceive their environment? (2) How do they see that environment changing in future? (3) To what degree are communities aware of climate change? (4) How important is climate change in comparison to other issues? A range of environmental and climate-relevant issues emerged within current and future perspectives. Perspectives were focused primarily on local issues rather than wider environmental conditions. Issues linked to health and well-being were of paramount importance, while climate change was hardly mentioned in either community, either as a current or future problem. However, there was common awareness of temperature and weather changes in the local climate, though the vast majority did not link these changes to climate change. We now move on to discuss the results of our analyses in more detail.

For participants in both communities, assessments of the local environment were commonly based on evaluations of a single locally-salient issue. Positive issues, such as improvements in sanitation over time, invariably resulted in positive overall evaluations of the environment overall. Conversely, pollution resulted in more negative overall assessments. This highlights the highly subjective nature of environmental perceptions and the way in which specific issues can achieve heightened significance in judgements of environmental quality.

Many of the environmental issues raised in both communities were related to health and well-being, including cleanliness, pollution, and deforestation. It may be the relative proximity of each community contributed to this overlapping of issues. It may also be because they represent basic environmental concerns common to many communities—keeping the environment clean, healthy, and pollution free. Similarities between communities may also be partly attributable to our sampling method (see section Study Limitations and Future Research) There were also some differences in issues between communities. While plastic waste was more of an issue in Bharatpur, deforestation came up more often in Kumroj—though neither issue was exclusive to each community.

Climate change as an issue came up only once spontaneously, implying that other local issues were more salient. However, temperature and weather changes analogous to climate change did come up in several interviews across both communities, though without attribution to climate change. There was also little consideration of causal factors beyond immediate local causes such as deforestation affecting precipitation, flooding, and land erosion. In line with Leichenko and Silva (2014) , it appeared that temperature and weather changes allied to global climate change were already being experienced, though such issues were more atomized and vernacular and sometimes merged with other environmental problems ( Rudiak-Gould, 2012 ). In line with previous work, community perspectives often drew on different issues without attempting to clearly categorize or explain them ( Lorenzoni et al., 2007 ). Xiao and Dunlap (2007) note how particular environmental cognitions can constrain others; it is therefore possible that, when issues are framed locally, wider frameworks of understanding are overlooked.

Perceptions of Future Environmental Change

Perceptions of future environmental change were closely linked to mental representations of current conditions and issues of anxiety and concern. This could be seen in the way that participants rarely spoke about sanitation with reference to environmental change in the future, as sanitation had improved within communities. However, concerns about issues linked to current population increase were projected into the future and anticipated to continue unabated. Previous work has found that existing perceptions of self and other can be elicited through projections of “possible selves” in the future ( Harrison, 2018 ). In the same way, communities' imagined environmental futures highlight salient issues within existing relationships between communities and their physical surroundings.

The Terai region has witnessed large increases in population over recent decades ( Population Reference Bureau, 2002 ), and this was linked to pollution, deforestation and pressure on natural resources. While predictions of temperature and weather emerged from the interviews, such impacts were less frequently mentioned than concerns over population growth, as found in other research (e.g., Butler et al., 2014 ). Before communities can interpret and respond to climate-relevant issues, it may therefore be necessary to address existing concerns characterized by visions of the present and the future. In addition, the analysis highlights the relevance of sociocultural arrangements and cultural practices that contribute to community perspectives. For example, tree-felling was understood sympathetically within wider contexts of survival and economic struggle, as well as fuel shortages that left no alternative but to take wood from the forest. Such perspectives serve to highlight the complex nature and wider structural relations sustaining environmentally damaging practices.

Awareness of Climate Change

Climate awareness was relatively unmentioned in discussing the local environment, echoing previous studies ( Gallup, 2009 ; Withana and Auch, 2014 ). We found little difference between awareness in Bharatpur and Kumroj. A potential reason for this is that the changes observed suggest broader shifts in temperature and weather affecting the wider region, rather than localized effects or micro-climates that might affect one community and not another. Other studies have also reported lower awareness in rural communities ( Tanner et al., 2018 ), though a lack of difference may be due to the higher levels of environmental awareness from NGO engagement in Kumroj. However, while most participants did not spontaneously discuss the issue of climate change, when directly questioned, all had at least heard of climate change and many were able to eloquently demonstrate a good degree of knowledge. Therefore, it may not have been that participants were unaware of climate change, but simply did not consider it a locally salient issue. Tanner et al. (2018) also found that climate change awareness was low, despite respondents observing changes to local weather and climate. It may be that communities look to more local explanations for climate-relevant issues, as was found in some discussions. Therefore, if received knowledge teaches that the lack of rain is due to local forests being depleted, why would communities look to wider, more nebulous phenomena as explanations? The kinds of issues that came up in talk of climate change broadly reflects other research on community perceptions of climate change in the Terai (e.g., Tiwari et al., 2010 ; Maharjan et al., 2011 ). The apparent disjuncture between local experience and climate change suggests that the latter may lack relevance for local communities as long as environmental changes can be attributed to more local causal factors. It also suggests two kinds of climate change; a distanced, abstract climate change, and a more experiential, locally-grounded one. Within communities facing such impacts there is a need for a nuanced understanding that blends both. Howe et al. (2013) remark that local perceptions, such as temperature change, can positively bias perceptions of more abstract global climate change, which in turn can generate greater awareness and the capacity to respond to reduce risks to communities. As communities appear to be aware that the local climate is changing in a variety of ways, it is necessary to translate this awareness beyond the local. Reciprocally, more global perspectives need to connect with the concerns and interests of communities at the local level to make climate change more relevant to people's everyday lives. Bain et al. (2016) discuss evidence for initiatives promoting public engagement designed to generate support on the basis of considerations that are independent of climate change, including health and the creation of benevolent communities.

Study Limitations and Future Research

The use of a single qualitative methodological approach utilizing a small sample can only provide a partial insight into climate-relevant and environmental issues confronting the communities studied. Qualitative interview methods rely heavily on participants being able to recall and clearly convey their thoughts in the limited context of the interview interaction. Managing interview interactions in a cross-cultural setting remains a significant challenge and it is possible that the framing of questions could have influenced responses, such as precluding the discussion of global climate change by not deliberately eliciting the topic early in the interviews. Triangulation using other methods and larger samples might help to clarify these qualitative findings. Convergence in perspectives between communities may be attributable to our sampling method. While we categorized Bharatpur as the urban counterpart to rural Kumroj, most participants lived on the edges of the city close to the countryside, which may have generated perceptions that were more aligned with a rural, rather than an urban perspective. Future research might further investigate the apparent disparity between awareness of climate change more generally, and a lack of acknowledgment of climate change in discussions of environmental conditions at the local level. Drawing attention to this gap might also serve to elicit more comprehensive community perspectives and rule out potential shortcomings of a single methodological approach.

Data Availability

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this manuscript will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.

Ethics Statement

This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Ethics Policy, Cardiff University School of Psychology. The protocol was approved by the Cardiff University School of Psychology Ethics Committee. All subjects gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Author Contributions

NN, IC, and RM conducted fieldwork with the assistance and guidance of LW and SC. NN was primarily responsible for analysis and authorship of the paper, with significant contributions in both areas from the other authors. All authors agree to be accountable for the content of the work.

This project was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) as part of the CASPI Project (no. 336665).

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Ugan Manandhar of WWF Nepal and the staff of ISER-Nepal for their valued collaboration on this project. Thanks also to Jyotsna Shrestha (independent translator) for help in designing the study and assisting with the translation of interviews in Kumroj, and Bishnu Adhikari, who assisted with fieldwork translation in Bharatpur. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Krishnan Ghimire of ISER-Nepal, who was instrumental in supporting the research.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2019.00060/full#supplementary-material

Adger, W. N. (2003). Social capital, collective action, and adaptation to climate change. Econ. Geogr. 79, 387–404. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2003.tb00220.x

CrossRef Full Text

Adger, W. N., Barnett, J., Brown, K., Marshall, N., and O'Brien, K. (2013). Cultural dimensions of climate change impacts and adaptation. Nat. Clim. Change 3, 112–117. doi: 10.1038/nclimate1666

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Adhikari, B. (2018). The State of economic development in Nepal. Int. J. Soc. Sci. Manage. 5, 43–45. doi: 10.3126/ijssm.v5i1.19029

Aryal, S., Cockfield, G., and Maraseni, T. N. (2014). Vulnerability of Himalayan transhumant communities to climate change. Clim. Change 125, 193–208. doi: 10.1007/s10584-014-1157-5

Bain, P. G., Milfont, T. L., Kashima, Y., Bilewicz, M., Doron, G., Garð*arsdóttir, R. B., et al. (2016). Co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action around the world. Nat. Clim. Change 6, 154–157. doi: 10.1038/nclimate2814

Becken, S., Lama, A. K., and Espiner, S. (2013). The cultural context of climate change impacts: perceptions among community members in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal. Environ. Dev. 8, 22–37. doi: 10.1016/j.envdev.2013.05.007

Bhatta, L. D., van Oort, B. E. H., Stork, N. E., and Baral, H. (2015). Ecosystem services and livelihoods in a changing climate: understanding local adaptations in the Upper Koshi, Nepal. Int. J. Biodivers. Sci. Ecosyst. Serv. Manage. 11, 145–155. doi: 10.1080/21513732.2015.1027793

Bickerstaff, K. (2004). Risk perception research: socio-cultural perspectives on the public experience of air pollution. Environ. Int. 30, 827–840. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2003.12.001

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Brooks, J., McCluskey, S., Turley, E., and King, N. (2015). The utility of template analysis in qualitative psychology research. Qual. Res. Psychol. 12, 202–222. doi: 10.1080/14780887.2014.955224

Butler, J. R. A., Skewes, T., Mitchell, D., Pontio, M., and Hills, T. (2014). Stakeholder perceptions of ecosystem service declines in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea: is human population a more critical driver than climate change? Mar. Policy 46, 1–13. doi: 10.1016/j.marpol.2013.12.011

Byg, A., and Salick, J. (2009). Local perspectives on a global phenomenon - climate change in Eastern Tibetan villages. Glob. Environ. Change 19,156–166. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.01.010

Caelli, K., Ray, L., and Mill, J. (2003). ‘Clear as mud’: toward greater clarity in generic qualitative research. Int. J. Qual. Methods 2, 1–13. doi: 10.1177/160940690300200201

Campbell, R., and Wasco, S. M. (2000). Feminist approaches to social science: epistemological and methodological tenets. Am. J. Commun. Psychol. 28, 773–791. doi: 10.1023/A:1005159716099

Caretta, M. A. (2015). Situated knowledge in cross-cultural, cross-language research: a collaborative reflexive analysis of researcher, assistant and participant subjectivities. Qual. Res. 15, 489–505. doi: 10.1177/1468794114543404

Carter, L. (2019). Indigenous Pacific Approaches to Climate Change. Palgrave Studies in Disaster Anthropology. Champaign. IL: Palgrave Pivot.

Chapagain, B. K., Subedi, R., and Paudel, N. S. (2009). Exploring local knowledge of climate change: some reflections. J. For. Livelihood 8, 108–112.

Google Scholar

Clayton, S., Devine-Wright, P., Stern, P. C., Whitmarsh, L., Carrico, A., Steg, L., et al. (2015). Psychological research and global climate change. Nat. Clim. Change 5, 640–646. doi: 10.1038/nclimate2622

Dahal, N. (2005). Perceptions in the Himalayas. Tiempo 56, 19–24.

Devkota, R. P., and Bhattarai, U. (2018). Assessment of climate change impact on floods from a techno-social perspective. J. Flood Risk Manage. 11, S186–S196. doi: 10.1111/jfr3.12192

Dwyer, S. C., and Buckle, J. L. (2009). The space between: on being an insider-outsider in qualitative research. Int. J. Qual. Methods 8, 54–63. doi: 10.1177/160940690900800105

Evans, G. W. (2019). Projected behavioral impacts of global climate change. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 70, 449–474. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103023

Flick, U. (2000). “Episodic interviewing,” in Qualitative Researching With Text, Image and Sound , eds M. W. Bauer and G. Gaskell (London: Sage), 75–92.

Fong, M. (2012). “The nexus of language, communication, and culture,” in Intercultural Communication: A Reader , 13th Edn, eds L. A. Samovar, R. E. Porter, and E. R. McDaniel (Belmont CA: Wadsworth), 83–94.

Gagnon, M., Jacob, J. D., and McCabe, J. (2015). Locating the qualitative interview: reflecting on space and place in nursing research. J. Res. Nurs. 20, 203–215. doi: 10.1177/1744987114536571

Gahatraj, S., Jha, R. K., and Singh, O. P. (2018). Impacts of climate change on rice production and strategies for adaptation in Chitwan, Nepal. J. Agric. Nat. Resour. 1, 114–121. doi: 10.3126/janr.v1i1.22226

Galletta, A. (2013). Mastering the Semi-structured Interview and Beyond: From Research Design to Analysis and Publication . New York, NY: New York University Press.

Gallup (2009). High Risk, Low Awareness of Climate Change in Nepal . Available online at: https://news.gallup.com/poll/124658/high-risk-low-awareness-climate-change-nepal.aspx (accessed November20, 2018).

Gentle, P., Thwaites, R., Race, D., and Alexander, K. (2014). Differential impacts of climate change on communities in the middle hills region of Nepal. Nat. Hazards 74, 815–836. doi: 10.1007/s11069-014-1218-0

Gentle, P., Thwaites, R., Race, D., Alexander, K., and Maraseni, T. (2018). Household and community responses to impacts of climate change in the rural hills of Nepal. Clim. Change . 147, 267–282. doi: 10.1007/s10584-017-2124-8

Gupta, J. (2010). A history of international climate change policy. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Clim. Change 1, 636–653. doi: 10.1002/wcc.67

Gurung, S. M. (1989). Human perception of mountain hazards in the Kakani-Kathmandu area: experiences from the middle mountains of Nepal. Mt. Res. Dev. 9, 353–364. doi: 10.2307/3673584

Hagaman, A. K., and Wutich, A. (2017). How many interviews are enough to identify metathemes in multisited and cross-cultural research? Another perspective on Guest, Bunce, and Johnson's (2006) landmark study. Field Methods 29, 23–41. doi: 10.1177/1525822X16640447

Harrison, N. (2018). Using the lens of ‘possible selves’ to explore access to higher education: a new conceptual model for practice, policy, and research. Soc. Sci. 7:209. doi: 10.3390/socsci7100209

Hoover, S. M., Strapp, C. M., Ito, A., Foster, K., and Roth, K. (2018). Teaching qualitative research interviewer skills: a developmental framework for social justice psychological research teams. Qual. Psychol. 5:300. doi: 10.1037/qup0000101

Howe, P. D., Markowitz, E. M., Lee, T. M., Ko, C. Y., and Leiserowitz, A. (2013). Global perceptions of local temperature change. Nat. Clim. Change 3:352. doi: 10.1038/nclimate1768

Hulme, M. (2009). Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hulme, M. (2012). Telling a different tale: literary, historical and meteorological readings of a Norfolk heatwave. Clim. Change 113, 5–21. doi: 10.1007/s10584-012-0400-1

Hulme, M. (2014). Attributing weather extremes to ‘climate change’: a review. Prog. Phys. Geogr. 38, 499–511. doi: 10.1177/0309133314538644

Jovchelovitch, S., and Bauer, M. W. (2000). “Narrative interviewing,” in Qualitative Researching With Text, Image and Sound , eds M. Bauer and G. Gaskell (London: Sage), 57–74.

Khanal, U., Wilson, C., Lee, B. L., and Hoang, V. N. (2018). Climate change adaptation strategies and food productivity in Nepal: a counterfactual analysis. Clim. Change 148, 575–590. doi: 10.1007/s10584-018-2214-2

King, N., Horrocks, C., and Brooks, J. (2018). Interviews in Qualitative Research . London: Sage.

Larkin, P. J., Dierckx de Casterlé, B., and Schotsmans, P. (2007). Multilingual translation issues in qualitative research: reflections on a metaphorical process. Qual. Health Res. 17, 468–476. doi: 10.1177/1049732307299258

Lee, T. M., Markowitz, E. M., Howe, P. D., Ko, C. Y., and Leiserowitz, A. A. (2015). Predictors of public climate change awareness and risk perception around the world. Nat. Clim. Change 5, 1014–1020. doi: 10.1038/nclimate2728

Leichenko, R., and Silva, J. A. (2014). Climate change and poverty: vulnerability, impacts, and alleviation strategies. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Climate Change 5, 539–556. doi: 10.1002/wcc.287

Leiserowitz, A. (2007). Public Perception, Opinion and Understanding of Climate Change - Current Patterns, Trends and Limitations . New York, NY: United Nations Development Programme.

Lorenzoni, I., Nicholson-Cole, I., and Whitmarsh, L. (2007). Barriers perceived to engaging with climate change among the UK public and their policy implications. Glob. Environ. Change 17, 445–459. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2007.01.004

Maharjan, K. L., and Joshi, N. P. (2012). Climate Change, Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods in Developing Countries With Reference to Nepal . Hiroshima International Center for Environment Cooperation (HICEC), IDEC, Hiroshima University.

Maharjan, K. L., and Joshi, N. P. (2013). Effect of Climate Variables on Yield of Major Food-Crops in Nepal: A Time-Series Analysis . Available online at: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/35379/1/MPRA_paper_35379.pdf 12/11/18 (accessed November 30, 2018).

Maharjan, S. K., Maharjan, K. L., Tiwari, U., and Sen, N. P. (2017). Participatory vulnerability assessment of climate vulnerabilities and impacts in Madi Valley of Chitwan district, Nepal. Cogent Food Agric. 3:1310078. doi: 10.1080/23311932.2017.1310078

Maharjan, S. K., Sigdel, E. R., Sthapit, B. R., and Regmi, B. R. (2011). Tharu community's perception on climate changes and their adaptive initiations to withstand its impacts in Western Terai of Nepal. Int. NGO J. 6, 35–42. doi: 10.5897/NGO10.003

Manandhar, S., Vogt, D. S., Perret, S. R., and Kazama, F. (2011). Adapting cropping systems to climate change in Nepal: a cross-regional study of farmers' perception and practices. Reg. Environ. Change 11, 335–348. doi: 10.1007/s10113-010-0137-1

McIntosh, M. J., and Morse, J. M. (2015). Situating and constructing diversity in semi-structured interviews. Glob. Qual. Nurs. Res. 2, 1–12. doi: 10.1177/2333393615597674

Myers, T. A., Maibach, E. W., Roser-Renouf, C., Akerlof, K., and Leiserowitz, A. A. (2013). The relationship between personal experience and belief in the reality of global warming. Nat. Clim. Chang. 3, 343–348. doi: 10.1038/nclimate1754

Paudel, B., Zhang, Y., Yan, J., Rai, R., and Li, L. (2019). Farmers' perceptions of agricultural land use changes in Nepal and their major drivers. J. Environ. Manage. 235, 432–441. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.01.091

Paudel, M. N. (2012). Adaptation mechanisms in agriculture for climate change in Nepal. Hydro Nepal J. Water Energy Environ. 11, 81–85. doi: 10.3126/hn.v11i1.7219

Paudel, M. N. (2016). Consequences of climate change in agriculture and ways to cope up its effect in Nepal. Agron. J. Nepal 4, 25–37. doi: 10.3126/ajn.v4i0.15514

Population Reference Bureau (2002). Population Growth Continues to Hinder Nepal's Economic Progress . Available online at: https://www.prb.org/populationgrowthcontinuestohindernepalseconomicprogress/ (accessed February 11, 2019).

Poudel, D. D., and Duex, T. W. (2017). Vanishing springs in Nepalese mountains: assessment of water sources, farmers' perceptions, and climate change adaptation. Mt. Res. Dev. 37, 35–47. doi: 10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-16-00039.1

Prasain, S. (2018). Climate change adaptation measure on agricultural communities of Dhye in Upper Mustang, Nepal. Clim. Change 148, 279–291. doi: 10.1007/s10584-018-2187-1

Raulet-Croset, N., and Borzeix, A. (2014). Researching spatial practices through commentated walks: “On the move” and “walking with”. J. Org. Ethnogr. 3, 27–42. doi: 10.1108/JOE-11-2012-0046

Rawal, D. S., and Bharti, L. (2015). Identification of crop species vulnerable to projected climate change in three agro-ecological zones of the Koshi river basin, Nepal. J. Hill Agric. 6, 233–243. doi: 10.5958/2230-7338.2015.00050.6

Rogelj, J., Popp, A., Calvin, K. V., Luderer, G., Emmerling, J., Gernaat, D., et al. (2018). Scenarios towards limiting global mean temperature increase below 1.5 C. Nat. Clim. Change 8, 325–334. doi: 10.1038/s41558-018-0091-3

Rudiak-Gould, P. (2012). Promiscuous corroboration and climate change translation: a case study from the Marshall Islands. Glob. Environ. Change 22, 46–54. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.09.011

Savo, V., Lepofsky, D., Benner, J. P., Kohfeld, K. E., Bailey, J., and Lertzman, K. (2016). Observations of climate change among subsistence-oriented communities around the world. Nat. Clim. Change 6, 462–473. doi: 10.1038/nclimate2958

Shrestha, S., Moore, G. A., and Peel, M. C. (2018). Trends in winter fog events in the Terai region of Nepal. Agric. For. Meteorol. 259, 118–130. doi: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.04.018

Sikes, P. (2018). “Working together for critical research ethics,” in Researching Ethically Across Cultures: Issues of Knowledge, Power and Voice , eds A. Robinson-Pant and N. Singal (Abingdon: Routledge), 92–112.

Silverman, D. (2015). Interpreting Qualitative Data . London: Sage.

Smit, B., Burton, I., Klein, R. J., and Wandel, J. (2000). “An anatomy of adaptation to climate change and variability,” in Societal Adaptation to Climate Variability and Change , eds S. M. Kane and G. W. Yohe (Dordrecht: Springer Science + Media), 223–251.

Smit, B., and Wandel, J. (2006). Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Glob. Environ. Change 16, 282–292. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.03.008

Tanner, T., Acharya, S., and Bahadur, A. (2018). Perceptions of climate change: applying assessments to policy and practice . Available online at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas_Tanner2/publication/324246811_Perceptions_of_climate_change_Applying_assessments_to_policy_and_practice/links/5ac71156a6fdcc8bfc7f9038/Perceptions-of-climate-change-Applying-assessments-to-policy-and-practice.pdf (accessed November 16, 2018).

Timmermans, S., and Tavory, I. (2012). Theory construction in qualitative research: from grounded theory to abductive analysis. Sociol. Theory 30, 167–186. doi: 10.1177/0735275112457914

Tiwari, K. R., Awasthi, K. D., Balla, M. K., and Sitaula, B. K. (2010). Local people's perception on climate change, its impact and adaptation practices in Himalaya to Terai regions of Nepal . Available online at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nsc_research/48/ (accessed November 20, 2018).

Trenberth, K. E., Fasullo, J. T., and Shepherd, T. G. (2015). Attribution of climate extreme events. Nat. Clim. Change 5, 725–730. doi: 10.1038/nclimate2657

Uprety, Y., Shrestha, U. B., Rokaya, M. B., Shrestha, S., Chaudhary, R. P., Thakali, A., et al. (2017). Perceptions of climate change by highland communities in the Nepal Himalaya. Clim. Dev. 9, 649–661. doi: 10.1080/17565529.2017.1304886

Van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, B., Porter, M., Simkhada, P., Pitchforth, E., and Bhatta, P. (2011). Qualitative research and its place in health research in Nepal. Kathmandu Univ. Med. J. 9, 301–305. doi: 10.3126/kumj.v9i4.6350

Watts, N., Amann, M., Ayeb-Karlsson, S., Belesova, K., Bouley, T., Boykoff, M., et al. (2018). The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: from 25 years of inaction to a global transformation for public health. Lancet 391, 581–630. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32464-9

Weber, E. U. (2010). What shapes perceptions of climate change?. Wiley Interdisc. Rev. Clim. Change 1, 332–342. doi: 10.1002/wcc.41

Whitmarsh, L. (2011). Scepticism and uncertainty about climate change: dimensions, determinants and change over time. Glob. Environ. Change 21, 690–700. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.01.016

Wicks, P. G., and Reason, P. (2009). Initiating action research: challenges and paradoxes of opening communicative space. Action Res. 7, 243–263. doi: 10.1177/1476750309336715

Withana, N. R. P., and Auch, E. (2014). Perceptions of climate change risk to forest ecosystems: a case study of Patale community forestry user group, Nepal. Int. J. Environ. Ecol. Geol. Geophys. Eng. 8, 565–572.

Xiao, C., and Dunlap, R. E. (2007). Validating a comprehensive model of environmental concern cross nationally: a U.S.-Canadian comparison. Soc. Sci. Q. 88, 471–493. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00467.x

Zinn, A. (2004). Social Contexts and Responses to Risk Network (SCARR). Literature Review: Sociology and Risk. Working Paper . Available online at: http://www.kent.ac.uk/scarr/papers/Sociology%20Literature%20Review%20WP1.04%20Zinn.pdf (accessed November 20, 2018).

Zomer, R. J., Trabucco, A., Metzger, M. J., Wang, M., Oli, K. P., and Xu, J. (2014). Projected climate change impacts on spatial distribution of bioclimatic zones and ecoregions within the Kailash sacred landscape of China, India, Nepal. Clim. Change 125, 445–460. doi: 10.1007/s10584-014-1176-2

Keywords: climate change, environment, perception, community, local, Nepal, culture

Citation: Nash N, Capstick S, Whitmarsh L, Chaudhary I and Manandhar R (2019) Perceptions of Local Environmental Issues and the Relevance of Climate Change in Nepal's Terai: Perspectives From Two Communities. Front. Sociol. 4:60. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2019.00060

Received: 11 March 2019; Accepted: 22 July 2019; Published: 20 August 2019.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2019 Nash, Capstick, Whitmarsh, Chaudhary and Manandhar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Nick Nash, nashn1@cardiff.ac.uk

This article is part of the Research Topic

Climate Change and Society

Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Full Topic List

Regions & Countries

Publications

• Our Methods
• Short Reads
• Tools & Resources

Read Our Research On:

Climate, Energy & Environment

How americans view future harms from climate change in their community and around the u.s..

A majority of Americans believe climate change is causing harm to people in the U.S. today and 63% expect things to get worse in their lifetime.

How Republicans view climate change and energy issues

Americans continue to have doubts about climate scientists’ understanding of climate change, why some americans do not see urgency on climate change.

Just 12% of Republicans and Republican leaners say dealing with climate change should be a top priority for the president and Congress.

The share of Americans who say climate scientists understand very well whether climate change is occurring decreased from 37% in 2021 to 32% this year.

Growing share of Americans favor more nuclear power

A majority of Americans (57%) say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity in the country, up from 43% who said this in 2020.

As the Earth’s temperature continues to rise, climate change remains a lower priority for some Americans, and a subset of the public rejects that it’s happening at all. To better understand the perspectives of those who see less urgency to address climate change, the Center conducted a series of in-depth interviews designed to provide deeper insight into the motivations and views of those most skeptical about climate change.

What the data says about Americans’ views of climate change

Two-thirds of Americans say the United States should prioritize developing renewable energy sources over expanding the production of fossil fuels.

How Americans view electric vehicles

About four-in-ten Americans (38%) say they’re very or somewhat likely to seriously consider an electric vehicle (EV) for their next vehicle purchase.

Majorities of Americans Prioritize Renewable Energy, Back Steps to Address Climate Change

Large shares of Americans support the U.S. taking steps to address global climate change and prioritize renewable energy development in the country. Still, fewer than half are ready to phase out fossil fuels completely and 59% oppose ending the production of gas-powered cars.

Younger evangelicals in the U.S. are more concerned than their elders about climate change

Evangelical Protestant adults under 40 are more likely than older evangelicals to say climate change is an extremely or very serious problem.

How Religion Intersects With Americans’ Views on the Environment

Most U.S. adults – including a solid majority of Christians and large numbers of people who identify with other religious traditions – consider the Earth sacred and believe God gave humans a duty to care for it. But highly religious Americans are far less likely than other U.S. adults to express concern about warming temperatures around the globe.

REFINE YOUR SELECTION

Research teams.

1615 L St. NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 USA (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax (+1) 202-419-4372 |  Media Inquiries

Research Topics

• Email Newsletters

ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of  The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Copyright 2024 Pew Research Center

Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Environmental Science and Pollution Research (ESPR) serves the international community in all broad areas of environmental science and related subjects with emphasis on chemical compounds.

• Covers all areas of Environmental Science and related subjects.
• Publishes on the natural sciences, but also includes the impacts of legislation, regulation, and the economy on pollution control.
• Safeguards international and interdisciplinary character through a global network of editorial board members.
• Official publication of the EuCheMS Division of Chemistry and the Environment.
• Authors from participating institutions can publish Open Choice at no cost.
• Philippe Garrigues

Societies and partnerships

Latest issue

Volume 31, Issue 21

Latest articles

Continuous warming drives the colonization dynamics of periphytic ciliate fauna in marine environments.

• Suihan Song
• Henglong Xu

Long, short, and medium terms wind speed prediction model based on LSTM optimized by improved moth flame optimization algorithm

• Jianzhou Wang
• Menggang Kou

Analyzing greenhouse gas emissions and influencing factors of 247 actual wastewater treatment plants in China using emission factor and operational data integrated methods (ODIM)

• Hongchen Wang

Experimental investigation on dynamic deformation characteristics of the overlying strata in backfilling strip mining at different time scales

• Xiaojun Zhu
• Xiaoyu Yang

Sustainable Zn 2+ removal using highly efficient, novel, and cost-effective chitosan-magnetic biochar composite

• Khandgave Santosh Sopanrao
• Inkollu Sreedhar

Journal updates

Meet the editors.

Learn more about the ESPR editors!

Special Issues

We invite you to browse through recently published special issues of Environmental Science and Pollution Research: Click here to get an overview of ESPR issues! All manuscripts will be  peer reviewed as usual  and following the  journal's policies , with final decisions made by the Editor-in-Chief.

Special Issue Proposal Form

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Advancement in Wast Recycling and Environmental Technology (WRET-2024)

Journal information.

• Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
• Biological Abstracts
• CAB Abstracts
• Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)
• Current Contents/Agriculture, Biology & Environmental Sciences
• EI Compendex
• Engineering Village – GEOBASE
• Google Scholar
• INIS Atomindex
• Japanese Science and Technology Agency (JST)
• OCLC WorldCat Discovery Service
• Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)
• Semantic Scholar
• TD Net Discovery Service
• UGC-CARE List (India)

Rights and permissions

Editorial policies

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Research Topics & Ideas: Environment

100+ Environmental Science Research Topics & Ideas

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. Here, we’ll explore a variety research ideas and topic thought-starters related to various environmental science disciplines, including ecology, oceanography, hydrology, geology, soil science, environmental chemistry, environmental economics, and environmental ethics.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the environmental sciences. This is the starting point though. To develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. Also be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to develop a high-quality research topic from scratch.

Overview: Environmental Topics

• Ecology /ecological science
• Atmospheric science
• Oceanography
• Soil science
• Environmental chemistry
• Environmental economics
• Environmental ethics
• Examples  of dissertations and theses

Topics & Ideas: Ecological Science

• The impact of land-use change on species diversity and ecosystem functioning in agricultural landscapes
• The role of disturbances such as fire and drought in shaping arid ecosystems
• The impact of climate change on the distribution of migratory marine species
• Investigating the role of mutualistic plant-insect relationships in maintaining ecosystem stability
• The effects of invasive plant species on ecosystem structure and function
• The impact of habitat fragmentation caused by road construction on species diversity and population dynamics in the tropics
• The role of ecosystem services in urban areas and their economic value to a developing nation
• The effectiveness of different grassland restoration techniques in degraded ecosystems
• The impact of land-use change through agriculture and urbanisation on soil microbial communities in a temperate environment
• The role of microbial diversity in ecosystem health and nutrient cycling in an African savannah

Topics & Ideas: Atmospheric Science

• The impact of climate change on atmospheric circulation patterns above tropical rainforests
• The role of atmospheric aerosols in cloud formation and precipitation above cities with high pollution levels
• The impact of agricultural land-use change on global atmospheric composition
• Investigating the role of atmospheric convection in severe weather events in the tropics
• The impact of urbanisation on regional and global atmospheric ozone levels
• The impact of sea surface temperature on atmospheric circulation and tropical cyclones
• The impact of solar flares on the Earth’s atmospheric composition
• The impact of climate change on atmospheric turbulence and air transportation safety
• The impact of stratospheric ozone depletion on atmospheric circulation and climate change
• The role of atmospheric rivers in global water supply and sea-ice formation

Topics & Ideas: Oceanography

• The impact of ocean acidification on kelp forests and biogeochemical cycles
• The role of ocean currents in distributing heat and regulating desert rain
• The impact of carbon monoxide pollution on ocean chemistry and biogeochemical cycles
• Investigating the role of ocean mixing in regulating coastal climates
• The impact of sea level rise on the resource availability of low-income coastal communities
• The impact of ocean warming on the distribution and migration patterns of marine mammals
• The impact of ocean deoxygenation on biogeochemical cycles in the arctic
• The role of ocean-atmosphere interactions in regulating rainfall in arid regions
• The impact of ocean eddies on global ocean circulation and plankton distribution
• The role of ocean-ice interactions in regulating the Earth’s climate and sea level

Tops & Ideas: Hydrology

• The impact of agricultural land-use change on water resources and hydrologic cycles in temperate regions
• The impact of agricultural groundwater availability on irrigation practices in the global south
• The impact of rising sea-surface temperatures on global precipitation patterns and water availability
• Investigating the role of wetlands in regulating water resources for riparian forests
• The impact of tropical ranches on river and stream ecosystems and water quality
• The impact of urbanisation on regional and local hydrologic cycles and water resources for agriculture
• The role of snow cover and mountain hydrology in regulating regional agricultural water resources
• The impact of drought on food security in arid and semi-arid regions
• The role of groundwater recharge in sustaining water resources in arid and semi-arid environments
• The impact of sea level rise on coastal hydrology and the quality of water resources

Topics & Ideas: Geology

• The impact of tectonic activity on the East African rift valley
• The role of mineral deposits in shaping ancient human societies
• The impact of sea-level rise on coastal geomorphology and shoreline evolution
• Investigating the role of erosion in shaping the landscape and impacting desertification
• The impact of mining on soil stability and landslide potential
• The impact of volcanic activity on incoming solar radiation and climate
• The role of geothermal energy in decarbonising the energy mix of megacities
• The impact of Earth’s magnetic field on geological processes and solar wind
• The impact of plate tectonics on the evolution of mammals
• The role of the distribution of mineral resources in shaping human societies and economies, with emphasis on sustainability

Topics & Ideas: Soil Science

• The impact of dam building on soil quality and fertility
• The role of soil organic matter in regulating nutrient cycles in agricultural land
• The impact of climate change on soil erosion and soil organic carbon storage in peatlands
• Investigating the role of above-below-ground interactions in nutrient cycling and soil health
• The impact of deforestation on soil degradation and soil fertility
• The role of soil texture and structure in regulating water and nutrient availability in boreal forests
• The impact of sustainable land management practices on soil health and soil organic matter
• The impact of wetland modification on soil structure and function
• The role of soil-atmosphere exchange and carbon sequestration in regulating regional and global climate
• The impact of salinization on soil health and crop productivity in coastal communities

Topics & Ideas: Environmental Chemistry

• The impact of cobalt mining on water quality and the fate of contaminants in the environment
• The role of atmospheric chemistry in shaping air quality and climate change
• The impact of soil chemistry on nutrient availability and plant growth in wheat monoculture
• Investigating the fate and transport of heavy metal contaminants in the environment
• The impact of climate change on biochemical cycling in tropical rainforests
• The impact of various types of land-use change on biochemical cycling
• The role of soil microbes in mediating contaminant degradation in the environment
• The impact of chemical and oil spills on freshwater and soil chemistry
• The role of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in shaping water and soil chemistry
• The impact of over-irrigation on the cycling and fate of persistent organic pollutants in the environment

Topics & Ideas: Environmental Economics

• The impact of climate change on the economies of developing nations
• The role of market-based mechanisms in promoting sustainable use of forest resources
• The impact of environmental regulations on economic growth and competitiveness
• Investigating the economic benefits and costs of ecosystem services for African countries
• The impact of renewable energy policies on regional and global energy markets
• The role of water markets in promoting sustainable water use in southern Africa
• The impact of land-use change in rural areas on regional and global economies
• The impact of environmental disasters on local and national economies
• The role of green technologies and innovation in shaping the zero-carbon transition and the knock-on effects for local economies
• The impact of environmental and natural resource policies on income distribution and poverty of rural communities

Topics & Ideas: Environmental Ethics

• The ethical foundations of environmentalism and the environmental movement regarding renewable energy
• The role of values and ethics in shaping environmental policy and decision-making in the mining industry
• The impact of cultural and religious beliefs on environmental attitudes and behaviours in first world countries
• Investigating the ethics of biodiversity conservation and the protection of endangered species in palm oil plantations
• The ethical implications of sea-level rise for future generations and vulnerable coastal populations
• The role of ethical considerations in shaping sustainable use of natural forest resources
• The impact of environmental justice on marginalized communities and environmental policies in Asia
• The ethical implications of environmental risks and decision-making under uncertainty
• The role of ethics in shaping the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable future for the construction industry
• The impact of environmental values on consumer behaviour and the marketplace: a case study of the ‘bring your own shopping bag’ policy

Examples: Real Dissertation & Thesis Topics

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various environmental science-related degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• The physiology of microorganisms in enhanced biological phosphorous removal (Saunders, 2014)
• The influence of the coastal front on heavy rainfall events along the east coast (Henson, 2019)
• Forage production and diversification for climate-smart tropical and temperate silvopastures (Dibala, 2019)
• Advancing spectral induced polarization for near surface geophysical characterization (Wang, 2021)
• Assessment of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter and Thamnocephalus platyurus as Tools to Monitor Cyanobacterial Bloom Development and Toxicity (Hipsher, 2019)
• Evaluating the Removal of Microcystin Variants with Powdered Activated Carbon (Juang, 2020)
• The effect of hydrological restoration on nutrient concentrations, macroinvertebrate communities, and amphibian populations in Lake Erie coastal wetlands (Berg, 2019)
• Utilizing hydrologic soil grouping to estimate corn nitrogen rate recommendations (Bean, 2019)
• Fungal Function in House Dust and Dust from the International Space Station (Bope, 2021)
• Assessing Vulnerability and the Potential for Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in Sudan’s Blue Nile Basin (Mohamed, 2022)
• A Microbial Water Quality Analysis of the Recreational Zones in the Los Angeles River of Elysian Valley, CA (Nguyen, 2019)
• Dry Season Water Quality Study on Three Recreational Sites in the San Gabriel Mountains (Vallejo, 2019)
• Wastewater Treatment Plan for Unix Packaging Adjustment of the Potential Hydrogen (PH) Evaluation of Enzymatic Activity After the Addition of Cycle Disgestase Enzyme (Miessi, 2020)
• Laying the Genetic Foundation for the Conservation of Longhorn Fairy Shrimp (Kyle, 2021).

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are quite specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. To create a top-notch research topic, you will need to be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you’ll need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Need more help?

If you’re still feeling a bit unsure about how to find a research topic for your environmental science dissertation or research project, be sure to check out our private coaching services below, as well as our Research Topic Kickstarter .

Need a helping hand?

You Might Also Like:

10 Comments

research topics on climate change and environment

I wish to learn things in a more advanced but simple way and with the hopes that I am in the right place.

Thank so much for the research topics. It really helped

the guides were really helpful

Research topics on environmental geology

Thanks for the research topics….I need a research topic on Geography

hi I need research questions ideas

I want the research on environmental planning and management

I want a topic on environmental sustainability

It good coaching

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Print Friendly

Along with Stanford news and stories, show me:

• Student information
• Faculty/Staff information

We want to provide announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below.

Looking toward the year ahead, people might want to make some resolutions that support the environment. But what actions actually make a difference? And what is a reasonable goal to attain? We asked those questions to some of Stanford’s sustainability experts, who very much believe that we can each contribute to a better world through relatively simple acts.

“Our individual choices matter for ourselves, our communities, and our planet,” said Desiree LaBeaud , professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine . “By getting aligned with our deep values and intentionally making sustainable choices in our behavior, we simultaneously improve our own well-being and serve as a role model for others around us.”

Alongside LaBeaud, the following tips are courtesy of Nicole Ardoin , the Emmett Family Faculty Scholar and an associate professor of Environmental Behavioral Sciences in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability (SDSS); Alison Bowers, senior research associate in the Ardoin Social Ecology Lab ; Barbara Erny , adjunct clinical associate professor of allergy and immunology at Stanford Medicine; and Ellen Oh, director of interdisciplinary arts programs in the Office of the Vice President for the Arts.

1. Reduce, reuse, then recycle

The three Rs are actually in order of best practice. “People should try to focus more on reducing and reusing, rather than recycling,” advised Ardoin, citing a recent Nature Sustainability article about people’s bias toward recycling.

LaBeaud, for her part, reuses hard-to-avoid plastics – like those that bread and tortillas are sold in – to separate and carry produce rather than using the store’s plastic produce bags.

Recognizing the growing understanding of the impact of clothing waste on the environment, Bowers recommends shopping at secondhand or thrift stores.

2. Turn waste into art

“Just like Denning Visiting Artist Jean Shin , recycle/reuse cast-off materials to make art projects,” said Oh. Shin worked with LaBeaud’s nonprofit, HERI in Kenya and across Stanford, including LaBeaud’s lab, to make large-scale sculptures from plastic waste. Sea Change was unveiled on Earth Day 2023 in the center of Diani-Ukunda in south coastal Kenya, and Plastic Planet was presented in May 2023 in the lobby of the Stanford School of Medicine’s Biomedical Innovations Building.

Not only does this type of art keep materials from landfill, it can also help people reflect on and elevate sustainability topics. For more on the intersection of art and the environment, catch up on this discussion with artists Kim Anno and Gao Ling on art as a tool for environmental justice , which happened at Stanford’s O’Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm in spring.

3. Flex your power

Stanford research encourages electric vehicle (EV) users to charge their EVs in the daytime and at work. In places with solar and wind power, there tends to be excess electricity available during the day. And charging at work can avoid overwhelming local, neighborhood grids. “We were able to show that, with less home charging and more daytime charging, the Western U.S. would need less generating capacity and storage, and it would not waste as much solar and wind power,” said lead author Siobhan Powell, mechanical engineering PhD ’22, in a press release about the work.

Even without an EV, the same idea applies to household appliances. “I save energy by washing dishes and clothes in the daytime when energy needs are less and power is less expensive,” said LaBeaud.

4. Eat more plants

Recent Stanford research on food-related carbon footprints found that a ground beef hamburger patty has a carbon footprint that’s eight to 10 times higher than a chicken patty and around 20 times higher than a vegetarian patty. To reduce meat consumption, Erny recommends starting by replacing beef once a week with a plant-based protein source, shrinking your portions of meat, adding legumes and nuts to your meals, and experimenting with plant-forward culturally traditional recipes.

Additionally, a new Stanford Medicine-led trial of identical twins comparing vegan and omnivore diets found that a vegan diet improves overall cardiovascular health.

5. Cut down on food waste

“There is never enough emphasis on food, which is responsible for 37% of U.S. greenhouse emissions,” said Erny. She added that 40% of edible food in the U.S. is wasted, and the majority of that is food wasted by consumers. Erny’s tips to address this include bringing your own carry-out container to restaurants, planning meals to avoid over buying, getting creative with leftovers, and being sure to compost food scraps.

6. Get in touch with nature – even if you’re indoors

“Spending time in nature-rich settings can help build a sense of place, which research indicates can support a range of pro-environmental behavior,” said Ardoin. “And time in nature has a host of personal benefits, such as improved physical and mental health,” offered Bowers. A 2022 study , which Ardoin co-authored, suggests that even the presence of natural materials – like wood furniture instead of plastic – and of a window can help with stress reduction.

You don’t need to travel far to achieve these benefits, Ardoin and Bowers added, because they can accrue from visiting urban nature settings such as pocket parks, as well as interacting with street trees and even indoor plants.

7. Take the train

If you’re hesitant about trying out train travel, take inspiration from the journey of sustainability scientist Kim Nicholas , environment and resources (E-IPER) PhD ’09 and former visiting scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. In lieu of a traditional wedding, she planned a cross-continent train trip with her husband-to-be. “If you’re someone who flies and drives frequently, especially long distances, your carbon footprint is materially important to addressing the climate crisis,” said Nicholas. She recommends reducing overconsumption, particularly of transport, which, she explained “for the wealthy, and especially the top 1%, is about 60% of our total footprint.”

8. Use your voice

Discuss your sustainability goals and concerns with friends, neighbors, and even local leadership. “Talking about sustainability issues within your social networks and seeking out social connections based on a shared interest in sustainability can be an important step toward making a difference,” said Ardoin. In this vein, working with local parks and schools, Ardoin’s Social Ecology Lab developed the Dear Planet Earth project, an initiative designed to encourage reflection on our place in a changing planet and inspire action.

Ardoin noted that leveraging collective action is key to effectively addressing a range of sustainability challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss, among others.

Recognizing that these topics can be hard to broach, Erny offered the following advice: “Talk about climate change as it relates to human health. It is often the most accepted way of communicating about the issue.”

Many of our experts also stressed the importance of voting with the environment in mind. “Consider candidates’ stances on sustainability and environmental issues when voting,” suggested Bowers.

“All changes start with one spark, one person doing the right thing. It is how societies advance themselves,” said LaBeaud. She also offered the following quote from anthropologist Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Ardoin is also a senior fellow at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and an affiliate at the Precourt Institute for Energy. Erny is also a faculty fellow at the Center for Innovation in Global Health (CIGH) . LaBeaud is also a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, a faculty fellow at CIGH, and a member of Stanford Bio-X and the Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) .

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts

Articles in 2023

Climate change impacts on Antarctic krill behaviour and population dynamics

Krill are food sources for megafauna, are drivers of carbon export and are being impacted by sea-ice declines and changing climate conditions. This Review examines changes in krill populations, habitats and behaviour in the Southern Ocean, and discusses their potential drivers and implications for fishery management in the future.

• So Kawaguchi
• Angus Atkinson
• Devi Veytia

Publisher Correction: Non-perennial segments in river networks

• Thibault Datry
• Andrew J. Boulton
• Klement Tockner

Towards scientific forecasting of magmatic eruptions

Volcanic eruptions are major natural hazards, but forecasting their activity remains challenging. This Review discusses scientific and monitoring approaches used to forecast magmatic eruptions.

• Valerio Acocella
• Maurizio Ripepe
• Erouscilla Joseph

The physical mechanisms of induced earthquakes

Induced earthquakes can occur during several industrial activities, including geothermal developments and underground storage. This Review discusses the current physics-based understanding of induced earthquakes and the implications for forecasting, monitoring, seismic hazard and risk assessments and mitigation strategies.

• Mohammad J. A. Moein
• Cornelius Langenbruch
• Serge Shapiro

Disaster risk communication requires dissemination, dialogue and participation

Disaster risk communication traditionally focuses on authorities conveying hazard and risk information to at-risk populations, with little consideration of local community knowledge. To enable risk reduction and resilience, disaster management must forge partnerships with local communities and empower citizen-led initiatives.

• I. S. Stewart
• E. Yahya Menteşe

Non-perennial segments in river networks

Non-perennial segments of rivers undergo cycles of flowing, non-flowing and dry phases, influencing ecosystem dynamics and services across the river network. This Review describes the occurrence, ecology and future of these intermittent and ephemeral flows and highlights the importance of protecting these segments.

Controversies of carbon dioxide removal

Various methods of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) are being pursued in response to the climate crisis, but they are mostly not proven at scale. Climate experts are divided over whether CDR is a necessary requirement or a dangerous distraction from limiting emissions. In this Viewpoint, six experts offer their views on the CDR debate.

• Kevin Anderson
• Holly Jean Buck

Climate change impacts on crop yields

Warmer temperatures, increased CO 2 concentrations and changing water availability affect cereal crop production. This Review examines changes in crop yield in response to these variables and discusses adaptation strategies.

• Ehsan Eyshi Rezaei
• Heidi Webber
• Dilys Sefakor MacCarthy

Publisher Correction: Evidence and attribution of the enhanced land carbon sink

• Sophie Ruehr
• Trevor F. Keenan
• César Terrer

Ghost forests stand apart

An article in Soil & Environmental Health finds ghost forests are distinct from freshwater forested wetlands and salt marshes.

• Laura Zinke

Mitigating ghost fishing

An article in Marine Policy assessed the abundance and causes of discarded fishing gear in Kerala, India, to help inform fishing debris management practices.

The anthropogenic salt cycle

Widespread use of salts in food, construction, road deicing and industry is driving salinization of water, soil and air. This Review describes the anthropogenic salt cycle, compares it with natural processes and examines its environmental consequences.

• Sujay S. Kaushal
• Gene E. Likens
• Megan A. Rippy

Halloween-like solar storm impacts

An article in Space Weather estimates that an event like the Halloween solar storm of 2003 could cause large economic losses in the aviation sector if it occurred in the present day.

Environmental impacts and remediation of dye-containing wastewater

Wastewater dyes from textile, food and pharmaceutical industries are a major environmental concern. This Review discusses the environmental impacts of dye-containing wastewater and explores both conventional and emerging remediation strategies.

• Jiuyang Lin
• Bart Van der Bruggen

Author Correction: Irrigation in the Earth system

• Sonali McDermid
• Mallika Nocco
• Tokuta Yokohata

Mechanisms of tropical Pacific decadal variability

Several mechanisms have been put forward to explain tropical Pacific decadal variability, the contributions of which are debated. This Review outlines the different drivers of tropical Pacific decadal variability, summarizing that tropical pycnocline adjustment to wind forcing and Rossby wave activity is likely the dominant mechanism, albeit with uncertainty.

• Antonietta Capotondi
• Shayne McGregor
• Tongtong Xu

Genesis and evolution of kimberlites

Kimberlites are rare volcanic rocks with unusually deep origins. This Review explores the origin and evolution of kimberlite melts and their insights into mantle composition and dynamics.

• Andrea Giuliani
• Max W. Schmidt
• Yana Fedortchouk

Darkening clouds after restrictions in maritime sulfur emissions

An article in Atmos. Chem. Phys . found that reductions in maritime sulfur emissions led to less reflective clouds above a major shipping corridor, with potential implications for regional warming.

Greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation in rice agriculture

Rice paddies account for a large proportion of total agricultural methane and nitrous oxide emissions. This Review outlines the characteristics, changes and mitigation options for these emissions, highlighting the benefits of water and organic matter management.

• Xiangchen Zhu

Jointly advancing infrastructure and biodiversity conservation

Infrastructure development and biodiversity conservation are often planned and executed in isolation. However, outcomes from these efforts are interlinked, with coordinated actions required to jointly address sustainability challenges. Natural infrastructure — encompassing a spectrum of natural to conventional solutions — is key to the infrastructure–biodiversity connection and should be brought into large-scale application.

• S. Kyle McKay
• Seth J. Wenger
• Todd S. Bridges

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

• Comments This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
• Climate Change
• Policy & Economics
• Biodiversity
• Conservation

Get focused newsletters especially designed to be concise and easy to digest

• ESSENTIAL BRIEFING 3 times weekly
• TOP STORY ROUNDUP Once a week
• MONTHLY OVERVIEW Once a month
• Enter your email *
• Name This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

15 Biggest Environmental Problems of 2024

While the climate crisis has many factors that play a role in the exacerbation of the environment, some warrant more attention than others. Here are some of the biggest environmental problems of our lifetime, from deforestation and biodiversity loss to food waste and fast fashion.

1. Global Warming From Fossil Fuels

2023 was the hottest year on record , with global average temperatures at 1.46C above pre-industrial levels and 0.13C higher than the eleven-month average for 2016, currently the warmest calendar year on record. The year was marked by six record-breaking months and two record-breaking seasons.

What’s more, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels have never been so high . After being consistently around 280 parts per million (ppm) for almost 6,000 years of human civilisation, CO2 levels in the atmosphere are now well above 420 ppm, more than double what they were before the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Rick Spinrad, the steady annual increase is a “direct result of human activity,” mainly from the burning of fossil fuels for transportation and electricity generation but also from cement manufacturing, deforestation , and  agriculture .

This is undoubtedly one of the biggest environmental problems of our lifetime: as greenhouse gas emissions blanket the Earth, they trap the sun’s heat, leading to global warming.

Increased emissions of greenhouse gases have led to a rapid and steady increase in global temperatures, which in turn is  causing catastrophic events all over the world – from Australia and the US experiencing some of the most devastating bushfire seasons ever recorded, locusts swarming across parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, decimating crops, and a heatwave in Antarctica that saw temperatures rise above 20C for the first time. S cientists are constantly warning that the planet has crossed a series of tipping points that could have catastrophic consequences, such as  advancing permafrost melt in Arctic regions, the Greenland ice sheet melting at an unprecedented rate, accelerating sixth mass extinction , and increasing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest , just to name a few.

The climate crisis is causing tropical storms and other weather events such as hurricanes, heatwaves and flooding to be more intense and frequent than seen before. However, even if all greenhouse gas emissions were halted immediately, global temperatures would continue to rise in the coming years. That is why it is absolutely imperative that we start now to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, invest in renewable energy sources, and phase our fossil fuels as fast as possible.

You might also like: The Tipping Points of Climate Change: How Will Our World Change?

2. Poor Governance

According to economists like Nicholas Stern, the climate crisis is a result of multiple market failures .

Economists and environmentalists have urged policymakers for years to increase the price of activities that emit greenhouse gases (one of our biggest environmental problems), the lack of which constitutes the largest market failure, for example through carbon taxes, which will stimulate innovations in low-carbon technologies.

To cut emissions quickly and effectively enough, governments must not only massively increase funding for green innovation to bring down the costs of low-carbon energy sources, but they also need to adopt a range of other policies that address each of the other market failures. 

A national carbon tax is currently implemented in 27 countries around the world , including various countries in the EU, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Ukraine and Argentina. However, according to the 2019 OECD Tax Energy Use report, current tax structures are not adequately aligned with the pollution profile of energy sources. For example, the OECD suggests that carbon taxes are not harsh enough on coal production, although it has proved to be effective for the electricity industry. A carbon tax has been effectively implemented in Sweden ; the carbon tax is U$127 per tonne and has reduced emissions by 25% since 1995, while its economy has expanded 75% in the same time period. 

Further, organisations such as the United Nations are not fit to deal with the climate crisis: it was assembled to prevent another world war and is not fit for purpose. Anyway, members of the UN are not mandated to comply with any suggestions or recommendations made by the organisation. For example, the Paris Agreement , a historic deal within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), says that countries need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly so that global temperature rise is below 2C by 2100, and ideally under 1.5C. But signing on to it is voluntary, and there are no real repercussions for non-compliance. Further, the issue of equity remains a contentious issue whereby developing countries are allowed to emit more in order to develop to the point where they can develop technologies to emit less, and it allows some countries, such as China, to exploit this. 

3. Food Waste

A third of the food intended for human consumption – around 1.3 billion tons – is wasted or lost. This is enough to feed 3 billion people. Food waste and loss account for approximately one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions annually ; if it was a country, food waste would be the third-largest emitter  of greenhouse gases, behind China and the US. 

Food waste and loss occurs at different stages in developing and developed countries; in developing countries, 40% of food waste occurs at the post-harvest and processing levels, while in developed countries, 40% of food waste occurs at the retail and consumer levels. 

At the retail level, a shocking amount of food is wasted because of aesthetic reasons; in fact, in the US, more than 50% of all produce thrown away in the US is done so because it is deemed to be “too ugly” to be sold to consumers- this amounts to about 60 million tons of fruits and vegetables. This leads to food insecurity , another one of the biggest environmental problems on the list. 

You might also like: How Does Food Waste Affect the Environment?

4. Biodiversity Loss

The past 50 years have seen a rapid growth of human consumption, population, global trade and urbanisation, resulting in humanity using more of the Earth’s resources than it can replenish naturally. 

A 2020 WWF report found that the population sizes of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians have experienced a decline of an average of 68% between 1970 and 2016. The report attributes this biodiversity loss to a variety of factors, but mainly land-use change, particularly the conversion of habitats, like forests, grasslands and mangroves, into agricultural systems. Animals such as pangolins, sharks and seahorses are significantly affected by the illegal wildlife trade, and pangolins are critically endangered because of it. 

More broadly, a recent analysis has found that the sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating. More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and are likely to be lost within 20 years; the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. The scientists say that without the human destruction of nature, this rate of loss would have taken thousands of years. 

In Antarctica, climate change-triggered melting of sea ice is taking a heavy toll on emperor penguins and could wipe out entire populations by as early as 2100 , according to 2023 research.

You might also like: The Remarkable Benefits of Biodiversity

5. Plastic Pollution

In 1950, the world produced more than 2 million tons of plastic per year . By 2015, this annual production swelled to 419 million tons and exacerbating plastic waste in the environment. 

A report by science journal, Nature, determined that currently, roughly 14 million tons of plastic make their way into the oceans every year, harming wildlife habitats and the animals that live in them. The research found that if no action is taken, the plastic crisis will grow to 29 million metric tons per year by 2040. If we include microplastics into this, the cumulative amount of plastic in the ocean could reach 600 million tons by 2040.

Shockingly, National Geographic found that 91% of all plastic that has ever been made is not recycled, representing not only one of the biggest environmental problems of our lifetime, but another massive market failure. Considering that plastic takes 400 years to decompose, it will be many generations until it ceases to exist. There’s no telling what the irreversible effects of plastic pollution will have on the environment in the long run. 

You might also like: 8 Shocking Plastic Pollution Statistics to Know About

6. Deforestation

Every hour, forests the size of 300 football fields are cut down. By the year 2030, the planet might have only 10% of its forests; if deforestation isn’t stopped, they could all be gone in less than 100 years. 

The three countries experiencing the highest levels of deforestation are Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest – spanning 6.9 million square kilometres (2.72 million square miles) and covering around 40% of the South American continent – is also one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems and is home to about three million species of plants and animals . Despite efforts to protect forest land, legal deforestation is still rampant, and about one-third of global tropical deforestation occurs in Brazil’s Amazon forest, amounting to 1.5 million hectares each year . 

Agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, another one of the biggest environmental problems appearing on this list. Land is cleared to raise livestock or to plant other crops that are sold, such as sugar cane and palm oil . Besides for carbon sequestration, forests help to prevent soil erosion, because the tree roots bind the soil and prevent it from washing away, which also prevents landslides. 

You might also like: 10 Deforestation Facts You Should Know About

7. Air Pollution 

One of the biggest environmental problems today is outdoor air pollution .

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that an estimated 4.2 to 7 million people die from air pollution worldwide every year and that nine out of 10 people breathe air that contains high levels of pollutants. In Africa, 258,000 people died as a result of outdoor air pollution in 2017, up from 164,000 in 1990, according to UNICEF . Causes of air pollution mostly comes from industrial sources and motor vehicles, as well as emissions from burning biomass and poor air quality due to dust storms. 

According to a 2023 study, air pollution in South Asia – one of the most polluted areas in the world – cuts life expectancy by about 5 years . The study blames a series of factors, including a lack of adequate infrastructure and funding for the high levels of pollution in some countries. Most countries in Asia and Africa, which together contribute about 92.7% of life years lost globally due to air pollution, lack key air quality standards needed to develop adequate policies. Moreover, just 6.8% and 3.7% of governments in the two continents, respectively, provide their citizens with fully open-air quality data.

In Europe, a recent report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) showed that more than half a million people living in the European Union died from health issues directly linked to toxic pollutants exposure in 2021.

More on the topic: Less Than 1% of Global Land Area Has Safe Air Pollution Levels: Study

8. Melting Ice Caps and Sea Level Rise

The climate crisis is warming the Arctic more than twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet. Today, sea levels are rising more than twice as quickly as they did for most of the 20th century as a result of increasing temperatures on Earth. Seas are now rising an average of 3.2 mm per year globally and they will continue to grow up to about 0.7 metres by the end of this century. In the Arctic, the Greenland Ice Sheet poses the greatest risk for sea levels because melting land ice is the main cause of rising sea levels.

Representing arguably the biggest of the environmental problems, this is made all the more concerning considering that last year’s summer triggered the loss of 60 billion tons of ice from Greenland, enough to raise global sea levels by 2.2mm in just two months . According to satellite data, the Greenland ice sheet lost a record amount of ice in 2019: an average of a million tons per minute throughout the year, one of the biggest environmental problems that has cascading effects. If the entire Greenland ice sheet melts, sea level would rise by six metres .

Meanwhile, the Antarctic continent contributes about 1 millimetre per year to sea level rise, which is one-third of the annual global increase. According to 2023 data, the continent has lost approximately 7.5 trillion tons of ice since 1997 . Additionally, the last fully intact ice shelf in Canada in the Arctic recently collapsed, having lost about 80 square kilometres – or 40% – of its area over a two-day period in late July, according to the Canadian Ice Service .  

Sea level rise will have a devastating impact on those living in coastal regions: according to research and advocacy group Climate Central, sea level rise this century could flood coastal areas that are now home to 340 million to 480 million people , forcing them to migrate to safer areas and contributing to overpopulation and strain of resources in the areas they migrate to. Bangkok (Thailand), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Manila (Philippines), and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) are among the cities most at risk of sea level rise and flooding.

You might also like: Two-Thirds of World’s Glaciers Set to Disappear by 2100 Under Current Global Warming Scenario

9. Ocean Acidification

Global temperature rise has not only affected the surface, but it is the main cause of ocean acidification . Our oceans absorb about 30% of carbon dioxide that is released into the Earth’s atmosphere. As higher concentrations of carbon emissions are released thanks to human activities such as burning fossil fuels as well as effects of global climate change such as increased rates of wildfires, so do the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed back into the sea. 

The smallest change in the pH scale can have a significant impact on the acidity of the ocean. Ocean acidification has devastating impacts on marine ecosystems and species, its food webs, and provoke irreversible changes in habitat quality . Once pH levels reach too low, marine organisms such as oysters, their shells and skeleton could even start to dissolve. 

However, one of the biggest environmental problems from ocean acidification is coral bleaching and subsequent coral reef loss . This is a phenomenon that occurs when rising ocean temperatures disrupt the symbiotic relationship between the reefs and algae that lives within it, driving away the algae and causing coral reefs to lose their natural vibrant colours. Some scientists have estimated coral reefs are at risk of being completely wiped by 2050. Higher acidity in the ocean would obstruct coral reef systems’ ability to rebuild their exoskeletons and recover from these coral bleaching events. 

Some studies have also found that ocean acidification can be linked as one of the effects of plastic pollution in the ocean. The accumulating bacteria and microorganisms derived from plastic garbage dumped in the ocean to damage marine ecosystems and contribute towards coral bleaching.

10. Agriculture 

Studies have shown that the global food system is responsible for up to one-third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, of which 30% comes from livestock and fisheries. Crop production releases greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide through the use of fertilisers . 

60% of the world’s agricultural area is dedicated to cattle ranching , although it only makes up 24% of global meat consumption. 

Agriculture not only covers a vast amount of land, but it also consumes a vast amount of freshwater, another one of the biggest environmental problems on this list. While arable lands and grazing pastures cover one-third of Earth’s land surfaces , they consume three-quarters of the world’s limited freshwater resources.

Scientists and environmentalists have continuously warned that we need to rethink our current food system; switching to a more plant-based diet would dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the conventional agriculture industry. 

You might also like: The Future of Farming: Can We Feed the World Without Destroying It?

11. Food and Water Insecurity

Rising temperatures and unsustainable farming practices have resulted in increasing water and food insecurity.

Globally, more than 68 billion tonnes of top-soil is eroded every year at a rate 100 times faster than it can naturally be replenished. Laden with biocides and fertiliser, the soil ends up in waterways where it contaminates drinking water and protected areas downstream. 

Furthermore, exposed and lifeless soil is more vulnerable to wind and water erosion due to lack of root and mycelium systems that hold it together. A key contributor to soil erosion is over-tilling: although it increases productivity in the short-term by mixing in surface nutrients (e.g. fertiliser), tilling is physically destructive to the soil’s structure and in the long-term leads to soil compaction, loss of fertility and surface crust formation that worsens topsoil erosion.

With the global population expected to reach 9 billion people by mid-century, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) projects that global food demand may increase by 70% by 2050 . Around the world, more than 820 million people do not get enough to eat. 

The UN secretary-general António Guterres says, “Unless immediate action is taken, it is increasingly clear that there is an impending global food security emergency that could have long term impacts on hundreds of millions of adults and children.” He urged for countries to rethink their food systems and encouraged more sustainable farming practices. 

In terms of water security, only 3% of the world’s water is freshwater , and two-thirds of that is tucked away in frozen glaciers or otherwise unavailable for our use. As a result, some 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year. By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. 

You might also like: Global Food Security: Why It Matters in 2023

12. Fast Fashion and Textile Waste

The global demand for fashion and clothing has risen at an unprecedented rate that the fashion industry now accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions, becoming one of the biggest environmental problems of our time. Fashion alone produces more greenhouse gas emissions than both the aviation and shipping sectors combined , and nearly 20% of global wastewater, or around 93 billion cubic metres from textile dyeing, according to the UN Environment Programme.

What’s more, the world at least generated an estimated 92 million tonnes of textiles waste every year and that number is expected to soar up to 134 million tonnes a year by 2030. Discarded clothing and textile waste, most of which is non-biodegradable, ends up in landfills, while microplastics from clothing materials such as polyester, nylon, polyamide, acrylic and other synthetic materials, is leeched into soil and nearby water sources. Monumental amounts of clothing textile are also dumped in less developed countries as seen with Chile’s Atacama , the driest desert in the world, where at least 39,000 tonnes of textile waste from other nations are left there to rot.

This rapidly growing issue is only exacerbated by the ever-expanding fast fashion business model, in which companies relies on cheap and speedy production of low quality clothing to meet the latest and newest trends. While the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action sees signatory fashion and textile companies to commit to achieving net zero emission by 2050, a majority of businesses around the world have yet to address their roles in climate change.

While these are some of the biggest environmental problems plaguing our planet, there are many more that have not been mentioned, including overfishing, urban sprawl, toxic superfund sites and land use changes. While there are many facets that need to be considered in formulating a response to the crisis, they must be coordinated, practical and far-reaching enough to make enough of a difference. 

You might also like: Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact

13. Overfishing

Over three billion people around the world rely on fish as their primary source of protein. About 12% of the world relies upon fisheries in some form or another, with 90% of these being small-scale fishermen – think a small crew in a boat, not a ship, using small nets or even rods and reels and lures not too different from the kind you probably use . Of the 18.9 million fishermen in the world, 90% of them fall under the latter category.

Most people consume approximately twice as much food as they did 50 years ago and there are four times as many people on earth as there were at the close of the 1960s. This is one driver of the 30% of commercially fished waters being classified as being ‘overfished’. This means that the stock of available fishing waters is being depleted faster than it can be replaced.

Overfishing comes with detrimental effects on the environment, including increased algae in the water, destruction of fishing communities, ocean littering as well as extremely high rates of biodiversity loss.

As part of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 14) , the UN and FAO are working towards maintaining the proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels. This, however, requires much stricter regulations of the world’s oceans than the ones already in place. In July 2022, the WTO banned fishing subsidies to reduce global overfishing in a historic deal. Indeed, subsidies for fuel, fishing gear, and building new vessels, only incentivise overfishing and represent thus a huge problem. 

You might also like: 7 Solutions to Overfishing We Need Right Now

14. Cobalt Mining

Cobalt is quickly becoming the defining example of the mineral conundrum at the heart of the renewable energy transition . As a key component of battery materials that power electric vehicles (EVs), cobalt is facing a sustained surge in demand as decarbonisation efforts progress. The  world’s largest cobalt supplier is the Democratic Republic of Congo  (DRC), where it is estimated that up to a fifth of the production is produced through artisanal miners.

Cobalt mining , however, is associated with  dangerous workers’ exploitation and other serious environmental and social issues. The environmental costs of cobalt mining activities are also substantial. Southern regions of the DRC are not only home to cobalt and copper, but also large amounts of uranium. In mining regions, scientists have made note of high radioactivity levels. In addition, mineral mining, similar to other industrial mining efforts, often produces pollution that leaches into neighbouring rivers and water sources. Dust from pulverised rock is known to cause breathing problems for local communities as well.

15. Soil Degradation

Organic matter is a crucial component of soil as it allows it to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Plants absorb CO2 from the air naturally and effectively through photosynthesis and part of this carbon is stored in the soil as  soil organic carbon (SOC). Healthy soil has a minimum of 3-6% organic matter. However, almost everywhere in the world, the content is much lower than that.

According to the United Nations, about 40% of the planet’s soil is degraded . Soil degradation refers to the loss of organic matter, changes in its structural condition and/or decline in soil fertility and it is often the result of human activities, such as traditional farming practices including the use of toxic chemicals and pollutants. If business as usual continued through 2050, experts project additional degradation of an area almost the size of South America. But there is more to it. If we do not change our reckless practices and step up to preserve soil health, food security for billions of people around the world will be irreversibly compromised, with an estimated 40% less food  expected to be produced in 20 years’ time despite the world’s population projected to reach 9.3 billion people.

Featured image by Earth.Org Photographer Roy Mangersnes

This story is funded by readers like you

Our non-profit newsroom provides climate coverage free of charge and advertising. Your one-off or monthly donations play a crucial role in supporting our operations, expanding our reach, and maintaining our editorial independence.

About EO | Mission Statement | Impact & Reach | Write for us

Water Shortage: Causes and Effects

International Day of Forests: 10 Deforestation Facts You Should Know About

13 Major Companies Responsible for Deforestation

Hand-picked stories weekly or monthly. We promise, no spam!

• Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Boost this article By donating us $100, $50 or subscribe to Boosting $10/month – we can get this article and others in front of tens of thousands of specially targeted readers. This targeted Boosting – helps us to reach wider audiences – aiming to convince the unconvinced, to inform the uninformed, to enlighten the dogmatic.

Green infrastructure plans need to consider historical racial inequalities

Urban planners increasingly are interested in green infrastructure projects for the health and climate benefits they bring to cities. But without attention to historical development patterns and existing power structures, such projects may not benefit all residents equally and may exacerbate social and racial inequalities, says a group of researchers and practitioners of nature-based solutions for urban areas.

The researchers outlined their recommendations for a justice-oriented approach to urban greening projects in a paper published in the journal Urban Forestry and Urban Greening .

"For the environmental and ecological questions, we have a pretty good handle on what we need to do. The questions that are the hardest and the most important for people to tackle are how to work well with communities, particularly marginalized communities," said Rebecca Walker, a co-lead author of the paper and a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The other lead authors of the paper are Kate Derickson, a professor of geography, environment and society at the University of Minnesota and the co-director of the CREATE Initiative to address equitable access to environmental amenities; and Maike Hamann, a lecturer in development and sustainability at the Centre for Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

Green infrastructure can benefit the ecosystem in multiple ways, such as flood and heat mitigation, carbon storage and sequestration, and opportunities for recreation and improvement in mental and physical health, said the researchers. But urban landscapes are unequal in the distribution of environmental benefits and harms.

For example, water quality standards for rivers in St. Louis, Missouri, reflect the city's racial geographies, with waterways in white neighborhoods historically managed for recreation and those in Black neighborhoods historically managed for industrial uses. Today the water quality standards for bodies of water in white neighborhoods remain higher than for those in Black neighborhoods, according to the paper.

"Plans must contend with the histories of discriminatory policies and practices that produced underlying inequalities, and be attentive to the ways that contemporary efforts might reproduce or undermine the structures driving inequities in urban greenspace. This is true for new greenspace developments, as well as changes to existing urban nature," the researchers wrote.

A variety of disciplines need to contribute to urban green infrastructure, including those that ask questions about the social implications of ecological and economic projects, they said.

"If they are already disproportionately located near more advantaged communities, as we invest and expand in those areas, the inequities get doubled down," Walker said.

Among the factors that planners should consider is the scale of a project and how a particular community might be affected by a project, the researchers said. For example, a wetlands mitigation program in Mississippi allowed developers to fill in wetlands in one location while buying wetland mitigation credits elsewhere. Residents of the small, Black community of Turkey Creek, Mississippi, argued that the practice harmed their neighborhood, which was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, by removing wetlands that could absorb stormwater.

"This suggests that … attempting to address large-scale issues (such as global climate change) cannot be done equitably without careful attention to local-scale issues (such as neighborhood flooding)," the researchers wrote.

Their research emphasizes the importance of building relationships with communities and accepting uncertainty about the outcomes of their work. While Derickson and Walker were working with a community on water quality and flooding issues, the community members repeatedly raised concerns about gentrification related to green infrastructure solutions. The researchers shifted their focus and developed an antigentrification toolkit offering ways to invest in urban greening without driving displacement of residents. Being open to ambiguity in defining a problem led to a new opportunity for their work to lead to justice-oriented policies, they said.

Finally, the researchers advocate for an approach that promotes modest projects that address the needs and priorities of a community's residents and allows them to help shape the projects over large developer-oriented infrastructure investments.

"While the uptake of urban green infrastructure represents a promising development in urban sustainability and development practices, it cannot be assumed that these projects will benefit all residents or promote urban equity. Indeed, the history of urban development and infrastructure projects shows that there is a tendency for such projects to consolidate benefits for powerful groups, often at the expense of the vulnerable or marginalized," the researchers wrote.

• Sustainability
• Environmental Issues
• Air Quality
• Urbanization
• Land Management
• Environmental Policies
• Disaster Plan
• Urban planning
• Sustainable land management
• Environmental impact assessment
• Energy development
• Timeline of environmental events
• Environmental engineering
• Social inequality

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau . Original written by Jodi Heckel. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Kate Derickson, Rebecca Walker, Maike Hamann, Pippin Anderson, Olumuyiwa Bayode Adegun, Adriana Castillo-Castillo, Anne Guerry, Bonnie Keeler, Liz Llewellyn, Austin Matheney, Nontsikelelo Mogosetsi-Gabriel, Seema Mundoli, Sumetee Pahwa Gajjar, Nadia Sitas, Linjun Xie. The intersection of justice and urban greening: Future directions and opportunities for research and practice . Urban Forestry & Urban Greening , 2024; 95: 128279 DOI: 10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128279

Cite This Page :

Explore More

• Stopping Flu Before It Takes Hold
• Cosmic Rays Illuminate the Past
• Star Suddenly Vanish from the Night Sky
• Dinosaur Feather Evolution
• Warming Climate: Flash Droughts Worldwide
• Record Low Antarctic Sea Ice: Climate Change
• Brain 'Assembloids' Mimic Blood-Brain Barrier
• 'Doomsday' Glacier: Catastrophic Melting
• Blueprints of Self-Assembly
• Meerkat Chit-Chat

Trending Topics

Strange & offbeat.

Engineering student works to improve water infrastructure

Tolulope odunola is driven to make an impact in developing communities.

After earning her bachelor's degree in civil engineering at a premier university in Nigeria, Tolulope Odunola became fascinated by the world of hydrology and water systems and set off to continue her education in environmental engineering.

She came to the University of Cincinnati for her master's degree, and the experience left such an impact she stayed for her doctorate, working under the guidance of Patrick Ray, associate professor of environmental engineering.

Odunola was named Graduate Student Engineer of the Month by the College of Engineering and Applied Science. 

Why did you choose UC?

My journey to the University of Cincinnati was quite an interesting one. I grew up in Nigeria and after earning a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, I was convinced that I needed both the exposure and improved skillset that an overseas graduate education would provide. The University of Cincinnati was not on my list initially, but upon recommendation, I browsed through the school's website and faculty profiles in my program of choice. 

After I arrived at UC, I was captivated by the beautiful architecture on campus and the diversity of nationalities represented here.

Tolulope Odunola, Graduate Student Engineer of the Month

Tolulope Odunola

My quick survey of the university revealed that UC held much promise for my development academically and careerwise, so I did not delay in submitting my application for a master's degree in environmental engineering .

I applied to UC a few days before the deadline in 2019 and I am so glad I made the right choice. After I arrived, I was captivated by the beautiful architecture on campus and the diversity of nationalities represented here. 

Why did you choose your field of study?

I am pursuing my doctorate in environmental engineering after obtaining my master's degree in the same program in 2022. I have a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, and the little story of how I ended up in the field of engineering begins when I was in high school. Back then, I enjoyed science and mathematics, but I also loved fine arts and technical drawing, so I wanted a discipline that combined both innovative creativity and computation prowess. I explored the field of environmental design first and considered architecture, but I eventually decided on civil engineering, in part due to the broader scope of the field. 

As an undergraduate student, I learned about the environmental aspects of civil engineering. With time, water and environmental engineering began to stand out to me amongst other areas of specialization. I observed that there was still much room to contribute to the practice of environmental engineering in Nigeria, as well as to improve the standards, management, and sustainability practices of water resources and waste management systems. By the final year of my undergraduate program, I decided I would go onto graduate school to learn more about environmental engineering and gain skills in the area. This is how I ended up at UC in the Water Systems Analysis group under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Ray. 

Briefly describe your research work. What problems do you hope to solve?

Under the guidance of Dr. Patrick Ray, Tolulope Odunola has presented her research at several conferences, including the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.

My research is focused on improving the economic evaluation of water resource projects under changing climate conditions.

My goal is to make significant contributions to decision science. The design, planning and operation of water projects like irrigation dams and water supply networks is affected by climate change because the amount of water that will be available in the future for such projects is uncertain.

While climate science has advanced in recent years, there is still room for improvement to standard economic evaluation using climate vulnerability assessment methodologies.

My research aims to provide decision makers in water resources engineering with robust analysis frameworks, tools, and decision metrics for confident investment decisions under climate uncertainty. I am also exploring spatial and distributional equity considerations in economic evaluation under climate change.

Odunola is advised by Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, Patrick Ray.

Research at UC has been positively demanding and rewarding. I am thankful for my adviser, Patrick Ray , who introduced me to the world of development projects planning, climate vulnerability assessment and decision science.

I have enjoyed working on practical projects, learning new skills, and collaborating with multidisciplinary project teams. For instance, I was funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation for three years which introduced me to the work culture in a typical development agency.

I have learned to present my research to a non-technical audience and to understand and be considerate of different perspectives of water engineering systems modeling under climate change. I have had to think like an economist, an urban planner and an agronomist while building my hydrological models and approaching scenario analysis under climate change, for example.

I would say this is one of the blessings of graduate school — it eliminates myopic approaches to anything in life, research included. 

What are some of the most impactful experiences during your time at UC?

I have been privileged to attend and present at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting several times as well as the American Society of Civil Engineers' EWRI Congress. These conferences inspired and encouraged me to work harder on my research and make significant contributions to both science and industry. There was also the additional advantage of visiting and touring new cities during the conferences. 

Traveling for work and presentation sessions at the Millennium Challenge Corporation office in Washington, D.C., had a huge impact on me. I once toured D.C. with my family as a teenager. To return almost a decade later for work as a graduate student was amazing, to say the least. As you can expect, I took a selfie with a caption of my thoughts on the busy morning streets of D.C. and shared it with my family back home in Nigeria. 

What are a few of your accomplishments of which you are most proud?

Winning the Outstanding Student Presentation Award for the Hydrology Section at the AGU Fall Meeting in 2023, and the 2024 People's Choice Award at the University of Cincinnati's three-minute thesis competition are definitely at the top of my list.

I also have been a two-time recipient of the American Water Works Association Ohio Chapter Graduate Scholarship. Recently, I was awarded the Graduate Student Government Research Fellowship.

I am deeply grateful for the honor that accompanies these feats, but equally important and impactful was the process leading up to these awards during which I developed my research dissemination, writing, and presentation skills. 

When do you expect to graduate? What are your plans after earning your degree?

I aim to graduate within the next year and my plan is the same as it was in the fall of 2019 when I arrived at UC: to make an impact in human communities, one sustainable water resource project at a time. I look forward to being employed in the water industry as a water resource analyst and planner, and specifically I hope to work in an international development or foreign aid agency to provide developing countries with water infrastructure that is robust to uncertainties such as climate change. 

Do you have any other hobbies or involvements you'd like to share?

Outside of research, I enjoy reading historical fiction novels, creative writing, and exploring the beauty of nature. UC has also afforded me many leadership opportunities.

First, with the Nigerian Students' Association where I served as Secretary and three-time Electoral Committee Chairperson. Also, I have served for two tenures as the Vice President of my department's Graduate Student Association.

Plus, I had growth, leadership, and ministry opportunities by serving with Every Nation here at UC. I will always be grateful for the relationships I have made as a graduate student at UC; my church family, research group colleagues, Nigerian friends who made Cincinnati a home away from home, and several others too numerous to mention!

Featured image at top:  Tolulope Odunola is studying ways to improve the infrastructure that provides clean drinking water. He was named UC's Graduate Student Engineer of the Month by the College of Engineering and Applied Science. Photo/Pixabay

Interested in becoming an engineering Bearcat?

Check out the graduate programs offered by the College of Engineering and Applied Science. 

• Student Experience
• College of Engineering and Applied Science
• Chemical and Environmental Engineering
• Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management

Related Stories

Engineering students showcase capstone projects at ceas expo.

May 6, 2022

Graduating engineering undergraduates from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering and Applied Science gathered for the inaugural CEAS Expo in April to showcase their senior capstone projects to more than 500 attendees, including faculty, staff, alumni and industry representatives. The event, organized by the college and CEAS Tribunal student government, was held in downtown Cincinnati at the Duke Energy Convention Center.

Engineering students present senior capstone projects digitally

April 24, 2020

Engineering students present at third annual Expo

April 24, 2024

This spring, senior students at the University of Cincinnati's College of Engineering and Applied Science came together to present their final capstone projects at the third annual CEAS Expo. College faculty, staff, alumni and industry professionals attended the event to witness the innovation that is created at CEAS.