The commitment to protect 30% of the Earth’s terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas by 2030 under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has seen growing attention paid to ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OECMs) to help achieve this target. However, there are a number of misconceptions of OECMs that commonly arise. We explore these misconceptions to aid in ensuring that OECMs are employed to meet their full potential.

Most modern dietary guidelines recommend limiting lard and animal fats due to their potential link to metabolic diseases. Nevertheless, emerging evidence suggests that lard may not significantly contribute to diabetes and that moderate lard intake could even benefit lipid metabolism. This commentary suggests a reevaluation of lard’s classification as a “bad actor” in the context of diabetes, urging colleagues to give greater consideration to and empirically validate this intriguing hypothesis.

The world has changed since Europe’s ambitious climate package was designed. Here’s how the agreement should evolve.

This paper is a call to action. By publishing concurrently across journals like an emergency bulletin, we are not merely making a plea for awareness about climate change. Instead, we are demanding immediate, tangible steps that harness the power of microbiology and the expertise of researchers and policymakers to safeguard the planet for future generations.

An eloquent requiem for nature risks leaving the reader feeling helpless rather than energized.

Plastics pollution, persistent chemical contamination and inadequately treated wastewater are three key aspects that hinder access to safe and affordable water for all. This Comment argues that a strong priority on pollution avoidance, research for remediation, and tighter regulation and monitoring must be implemented to make progress.

A framework for governments to define their domestic energy transition mineral needs, sources, and contributions to the global energy transition can improve domestic policies around the world and enable greater national and global coordination to avoid supply crises and resource conflicts.

The nascent Biodiversity Credit Market (BCM) aims to boost biodiversity funding but mirrors the flawed carbon credit market. To ensure success, BCM should (1) use dynamic baselines with control sites, (2) monitor the populations dynamics of a large array of vertebrate and invertebrate species, and (3) assign credits through an independent, transparent, and cost-effective validation process.

The impacts of armed conflict on biodiversity have long been neglected. A United Nations meeting hosted by Colombia is a golden opportunity to begin changing that.

Climate change is one of humankind’s biggest challenges, leading to more frequent and intense climate extremes, including heatwaves, wildfires, hurricanes, ocean acidification, and increased extinction rates. Nanotechnology already plays an important role in decarbonizing critical processes. Still, despite the technical advances seen in the last decades, the International Energy Agency has identified many sectors that are not on track to achieve the global climate mitigation goals by 2030. Here, a multi-stakeholder group of nanoscientists from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors discuss four high-potential application spaces where nanotechnologies could accelerate progress: batteries and energy storage; catalysis; coatings, lubricants, membranes, and other interface technology; and capture of greenhouse gases. This Comment highlights opportunities and current gaps for those working to minimize the climate crisis and provides a framework for the nanotechnology community to answer the call to action on this global issue.

Electricity access statistics used to track progress against the Sustainable Development Goal 7.1 set by the United Nations have significant uncertainties, which may bring into question the electrification status of at least 87.2 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, we call for a re-evaluation of the definitions of electricity access used by international organizations and the methodologies applied to calculate them.

The UN wants to put communities at the heart of its data-collection efforts in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. Now governments must step up.

Extreme weather has made 2023 virtually certain to be the warmest year on record, signaling unprecedented climate and biodiversity crises. Brazil, the world’s most biodiverse country, with two hotspots and complex social and economic layers, has experienced escalating environmental degradation over the past years. Alarming rates of native vegetation loss, wildfires, severe and prolonged droughts, and heatwaves have adversely impacted several Brazilian ecosystems and societies. Despite the country’s decisive role in global carbon neutrality, bridging the gap between Brazil’s discourse on the international stage and its concrete actions at home remains a significant challenge. This correspondence, a collective plea from scientists across various sectors, underscores the urgent imperative for national engagement and commitment to halt and mitigate these crises. We aim to catalyze a robust international public debate, influencing Brazilian decision-makers to chart a concrete sustainable pathway. Aligned with global initiatives, we emphasize the crucial interplay between national and international efforts in combating climate change and the conservation of biodiversity and socio-biodiversity.

The world should redouble its efforts on the SDGs, not abandon them. Here’s how to progress the United Nations’ agenda towards 2050.

As the United Nations convenes its second High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance, urgent global action is needed. This Focus issue draws attention to pressing challenges of bacterial antimicrobial resistance and underscores the need for fast and coordinated international efforts.

Antibacterial drug resistance is a critical global health issue that affects countries across all economic levels, though it disproportionately affects populations in low- and middle-income countries. Infection and resistance rates vary considerably, necessitating tailored interventions to meet the specific demands of each area. This underscores the need for global solidarity and national accountability in effectively addressing antibacterial drug resistance.

Improving access to antibiotics will save lives and reduce the rise and spread of drug-resistant infections. Instead of traditional ‘last mile’ global health solutions, global leaders need to support efforts to develop suitable antibiotics and their rational use, ensuring that countries have the capacity to make them available.

For women with kidney disease of childbearing age, kidney care should feature discussions of pregnancy, including informed counseling and support. Health disparities between regions with different levels of income are undeniable, but special care programs aimed at the early identification and management of patients at risk can greatly decrease the magnitude of the problem.

Climate-resilient development provides a framework to address the interlinked challenges of climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. We discuss how these global goals can be translated to the local scale so that local governments, businesses, communities and citizens can help to implement them.

Unsupportive university policies force parents to make choices about how to feed their baby. Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi, an expert in employment law and advocate for parental rights in the UK, tells us why this needs to change.

This year, 49% of the world will go to the polls. Political support for science-informed policy is not a given. Maria Caffrey, a whistleblower who defended scientific integrity under the Trump administration, offers advice on media engagement during this time.

Driven by carbon neutral targets, proton exchange membrane water electrolysis is becoming a hot technology due to its capability to convert fluctuating power into green hydrogen. Unfortunately, despite tremendous resources invested in fundamental research, only very few research outcomes have successfully translated into the development of industrial-scale electrolysers.

A UNESCO report laments the lack of progress in making science more collaborative. Greater awareness could aid efforts to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Scientists encounter pressure to validate their research work, leading to varied benchmarks and methods for performance assessment in the broad energy research field. Interlaboratory studies help highlight discrepancies in reported figures of merit, underscoring the need for standardized protocols, transparent reporting, and detailed analysis for fair comparisons. Here, we discuss this topic, focusing on battery materials.

The data are clear: taking sex and gender into account in research and using that knowledge to change health care could benefit billions of people.

Rich nations’ fixation on forests as climate offsets has resulted in the needs of those who live in or make a living from these resources being ignored. A broader view and more collaboration between disciplines is required.

Achieving inclusive and sustainable ocean economies, long-term climate resilience and effective biodiversity conservation requires urgent and strategic actions from local to global scales. We discuss fundamental changes that are needed to allow equitable policy across these three domains.

As artificial intelligence transforms the global economy, researchers need to explore scenarios to assess how it can help, rather than harm, the climate.

A United Nations-backed agreement to end plastic pollution is within reach — but only if scientists, civil society and businesses unite against powerful vested interests.

Tackling plastic pollution needs scientists to be in the negotiating room at upcoming talks.

Wildfires have increased in frequency and intensity due to climate change and have had severe impacts on the built environment worldwide. Moving forward, models should take inspiration from epidemic network modeling to predict damage to individual buildings and understand the impact of different mitigations on the community vulnerability in a network setting.

Forests are spatially and temporally dynamic, such that forest degradation is best quantified across whole landscapes and over the long term. The European Union’s forest degradation policy, which focuses on contemporary primary forest conversion to plantations, ignores other globally prevalent forestry practices that can flip forests into a degraded state.

Sustainability of African weather and climate information can only be ensured by investing in improved scientific understanding, observational data, and model capability. These requirements must be underpinned by capacity development, knowledge management; and partnerships of co-production, communication and coordination.

Four scientists reflect on how to foster a more sustainable relationship between water and society amid complex and wide-ranging challenges.

Equality is essential for sustainability. The science is clear — people in more-equal societies are more trusting and more likely to protect the environment than are those in unequal, consumer-driven ones.

Black women at universities are seldom heard. Institutions need to listen and take action.

The European Society of Endocrinology (ESE), representing 20,000 endocrinologists, is concerned about the effect of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on endocrine health, particularly thyroid and gonadal function. The policy strategies of the ESE aim to minimize overall exposure of humans to EDCs and to stimulate funding for research at the level of the European Union.

Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, with over 25% of these occurring in the African region. Multi-drug resistant strains which do not respond to first-line antibiotics continue to emerge, putting at risk numerous public health strategies which aim to reduce incidence and mortality. Here, we speak with Professor Valerie Mizrahi, world-leading researcher and former director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town, regarding the tuberculosis burden in South Africa. We discuss the challenges faced by researchers, the lessons that need to be learnt and current innovations to better understand the overall response required to accelerate progress.

Hurricane Otis yields lessons for researchers and policymakers on how to reduce risks in the face of inequality.

From governance to climate impacts, the world’s urban environments face many difficulties. A new journal,Nature Cities, aims to bring together researchers who are rising to the challenge.

Without rapid change, the World Health Organization’s goals for tackling cervical cancer by 2030 will be missed. Four experts share ways to move the needle.

Collaboration is key to making plastic use greener as soon as possible. Our experience yields tips on how to set up industry–academic partnerships.

Transformation narratives in water and sanitation emphasize public health and gender equality, yet miss a critical foundational perspective: planetary sustainability.

Where host communities are marginalized by industry practices, energy social science researchers must ensure that their research does not doubly exacerbate extractive practices. Place-based reflexivity provides a set of principles and concrete practices for researchers to avoid extractive relations with host communities and promote contextually relevant and democratic processes in pursuit of a just transition.

Health systems have adopted models of integrated care to better align services around the needs of aging populations. The results are encouraging, but inconsistent. Although they are untested, recent approaches — such as the WHO’s ‘Integrated Care for Older People’ — that are explicitly person-centered suggest that more-radical reform may be possible.

Studies of the microbes living on and in our bodies are conducted mainly in a few rich countries, squandering opportunities to improve the health of people globally.

The Sustainable Development Goals promise to leave no one behind. Yet recent global actions have pushed disadvantaged groups further behind, writes Magda Robalo Correia e Silva.

China faces urgent challenges associated with population aging. In this Comment, we summarize China’s adoption of long-term care insurance and underscore its importance for social and economic wellbeing. We provide recommendations for a future of sustainable and healthy aging in China.

Pallett et al. discuss the impact of human conflict on development of antimicrobial resistance. They overview approaches to limit the spread of antimicrobial resistance, using the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as an example of the challenges and opportunities.

Participants in the Convention on Biological Diversity’s processes for implementing the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework need clarity on what makes biodiversity information useful to national decision-makers. Here we present seven preconditions of useful biodiversity information and describe how these can be supported through regional support centres and south–south cooperation.

Scientific institutions must create roles so that researchers can provide the deep public engagement necessary to respond effectively to the escalating impacts of climate change.

Assessing global mean temperature rise using the average warming over the previous one or two decades will delay formal recognition of when Earth breaches the Paris agreement’s 1.5 °C guard rail. Here is what’s needed to avoid the wait.

Putting the specific needs of individuals and communities at the heart of HIV/AIDS care, by harnessing behavioural science, is key to building on the progress already been made.

California governor Gavin Newsom’s delegation is building on existing research and policy initiatives with China, showing that effective climate action can happen below the national level.

From classrooms to laboratories and conferences, working in chemistry presents huge challenges to disabled, chronically ill and neurodivergent people. Some simple fixes can help to shift the dial.

Finance for coping with the harms of climate change must be disbursed swiftly and pragmatically. The world’s largest existing climate fund for supporting climate mitigation and adaptation provides lessons.

Compensating for the devastating impacts of heatwaves, hurricanes and floods after they occur is too slow. With climate risks accelerating, the world must predict who needs funds and when.

From floods to wildfires, and tsunamis to volcanic eruptions, early-warning systems can stop natural hazards becoming human disasters. But more joined-up thinking is urgently needed.

Continued efforts to maintain the ban on chemical weapons depend on nations sharing information to further build trust and global safety.

Upholding human rights can ensure that environmental policy is driven by facts and evidence, not denialism, greed and profit.

Access to clean energy is essential to sustainable human development. We thus have a responsibility and an opportunity to meet the global goal of ending energy poverty by 2030. We propose the creation of a new Mission Energy Access programme to support this aim.

First Nations peoples in Australia face systemic inequities in access to kidney transplantation. The National Indigenous Kidney Transplant Taskforce was established to address these. It has provided support to clinicians to implement and evaluate innovative practices and developed strategies to address biases in the structures and models of care that create barriers to wait-listing.

Ada Lovelace was a visionary who first recognized the potential of computer programming. Almost two centuries on, six women in computer science and technology reflect on their experiences in the field.

Repeated outbreaks increase the risk of a Nipah strain emerging that is better at spreading.

This year marks the mid-point for the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including Sustainable Development Goal 14 (‘Life below water’). We asked a range of researchers working across marine science, conservation, policy and implementation to reflect on priorities for action on ocean health and biodiversity over the next seven years.

This year marks the mid-point for the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including Sustainable Development Goal 15 ‘Life on land’. We asked a range of researchers, working across biodiversity science, conservation, policy and implementation, to reflect on priorities for action on conserving terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems over the next seven years.

Research into vaccines, crop seeds and other innovations for low- or middle-income nations could be rewarded by offering longer patent coverage for profitable, non-essential inventions.

With a changing climate and a growing population, the world increasingly needs more-productive and resilient crops. But improving them requires a knowledge of what actually works in the field.

Better integration of climate action and sustainable development can help enhance the ambition of the next nationally determined contributions, as well as implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Governments should use this year as an opportunity to emphasize the links between climate and sustainable development.

Improving sanitation technology and service is imperative for everyone, in every country.

Digital transformation offers unprecedented opportunities for advancing healthcare, but also raises complex ethical and legal challenges. Emerging drivers of health disparity termed ‘digital determinants of health’ call for purposeful, equity-focused strategies to ensure that technological innovation benefits all without exacerbating disparities.

The production of sustainable plant-based foods is not simply a question of which process has the lowest environmental impact in the food chain. We have to consider that different degrees of processing might result in different degrees of plant protein nutritional quality in the final food product.

The alarmingly slow progress on water-related goals and targets jeopardizes the entire sustainable development agenda. In March 2023, the United Nations (UN) convened the first UN Water Conference in nearly 50 years to create momentum and accelerate progress. The outcome of the conference will feed into the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which will be held in New York on July 10–19, 2023.Nature Water asked five experts about the challenges to meet the goals and where we need to go from here.

Record-high ocean temperatures, combined with a confluence of extreme climate and weather patterns, are pushing the world into uncharted waters. Researchers must help communities to plan how best to reduce the risks.

The UN SDGs will only improve human health if they are accompanied by systemic change that addresses global power imbalances.

Progress towards universal access to safe drinking water and nutritious food has been moving forward at a slower than desired rate. Computational tools can help accelerate progress towards these goals, but solutions need to be open source, and designed, developed and implemented in a participatory manner.

Rapid urban expansion presents a major challenge to delivering the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Urban populations are forecast to increase by 2.2 billion by 2050, and business as usual will condemn many of these new citizens to lives dominated by disaster risk. This need not be the case. Computational science can help urban planners and decision-makers to turn this threat into a time-limited opportunity to reduce disaster risk for hundreds of millions of people.

As we approach the half-way point in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, we discuss how computational science could help in reaching some of these goals by 2030.

Drilling down into why the UN Sustainable Development Goals are so hard to achieve, and showing policymakers pathways to follow, will help the planet and save lives.

The United Nations has ambitious aims to end poverty and clean up the planet by 2030. See whether you know how the world is faring on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Not one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals looks set to be achieved by 2030. But deadlines can help focus the mind, and scientists should double down on their work to support the goals.

Behind the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a stirring tale of people overcoming huge odds against hostile institutions.

Principles underpinning the 2030 Agenda — indivisibility, integration and universality — can safeguard against inaction or unsustainable practices but have not yet come into effect. We propose measures to strengthen alignment with them as the world gears up to accelerate implementation at the 2023 SDG Summit.

Health outcomes, ending poverty and greening the environment are boosted when power is shared between the genders.

As Africa emerges from the COVID pandemic, combating infectious diseases must be a priority — along with treating non-communicable and mental health conditions.

A few powerful nations are undermining progress towards global ocean sustainability. Scientists can help hold them to account.

Investment in a new tuberculosis vaccine is a landmark step forward, but continued efforts to advance treatments, diagnostics and biosocial issues are needed to meet targets to end the epidemic by 2035.

Sustainability cannot be achieved without climate action, and vice versa. What’s needed is a fight on both fronts.

In April 2023, leading experts met with members of US Congress to discuss strategies to ensure global food security. Following on from this, Pamela Ronald emphasizes the role that plant genetics has in achieving these goals.

The world is consuming more efficiently, but still using more stuff. More-concerted efforts to change both consumer and producer behaviour are needed.

In a rapidly urbanizing world, what happens in cities matters — and sustainability success stories show what can be achieved when researchers and policymakers work together.

Those urging world leaders to take action on inequality should study why earlier efforts did not translate to changes in policy.

Researchers have a big role in unlocking funds for sustainability and ensuring that companies’ pledges are credible.

Researchers advocating reform of the world’s main measure of growth have an opportunity to participate in the process that sets the rules.

Research challenges the myth that clean energy acts as a brake on global economic development.

Holistic approaches to water and land management practised by Indigenous communities worldwide hold the key to a more sustainable future, say co-organizers of the Global Indigenous Youth Summit on Climate Change.

Climate change is making water stress worse for billions worldwide. Scaling up both new and traditional solutions must be a priority.

Halting the loss of jobs and knowledge from small-scale producers requires investing in rural sustainability, addressing poverty and inequity and ensuring the economic gains stay local. The benefits would be shared globally.

The forthcoming UN summit marks the halfway point to 2030 and presents an important milestone in global efforts to address various challenges, including those related to climate change and environmental preservation. The UN SDGs include several related to microorganisms and climate change. Microbiology research is key to understanding and mitigating climate change, and in maintaining the health of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (SDGs 13, 14 and 15).

Strong multidisciplinary support and political commitment have helped Spain become one of the countries most likely to eliminate hepatitis C. In this Comment, we set out six key elements of the Spanish elimination effort that can serve as a model elsewhere and the remaining barriers to overcome.

Cardiovascular health is essential to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG3.4. Barriers include inequalities and a lack of political will and prioritization. A comprehensive approach is needed to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease and to achieve SDG3.4. The World Heart Federation addresses the determinants of cardiovascular disease and mobilizes the global community through roadmaps, roundtables and advocacy.

Data gaps are hindering progress on the Sustainable Development Goal for education and lifelong learning. Modest funding will help to fill them.

Infectious diseases markedly influence progress towards the SDGs. Pandemics and global inequity have hindered progress towards the health targets, highlighting humanity’s interconnectedness and shared vulnerability to new infectious agents. Enhanced global collaboration and partnerships in training, surveillance, research and innovation are essential to reach the health SDGs by 2030.

Non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries can be tackled with integrated health systems interventions that consider multimorbidity, supported by patient involvement and new technologies.

Eighteen million children have received no routine vaccines — prioritizing them will save lives and build health infrastructure.

Climate change must be embedded in funding strategies and medical curricula, with research being best conducted in the countries most affected.

Tailored community engagement led or co-led by the community can build trust with underserved communities to deliver health equity.

The COVID pandemic knocked back progress towards improving public health. Without addressing the underlying social and economic causes of ill health, it could completely stall.

Rare-earth elements that are crucial for clean-energy technologies are jealously fought over. Policies and programmes to encourage recycling and recovery could reduce tensions.

How can ocean governance and science be made more equitable and effective? The majority of the world’s ocean-dependent people live in low to middle-income countries in the tropics (i.e., the ‘tropical majority’). Yet the ocean governance agenda is set largely on the basis of scientific knowledge, funding, and institutions from high-income nations in temperate zones. These externally driven approaches undermine the equity and effectiveness of current solutions and hinder leadership by the tropical majority, who are well positioned to activate evidence-based and context-specific solutions to ocean-sustainability challenges. Here, we draw together diverse perspectives from the tropics to propose four actions for transformational change that are grounded in perspectives, experiences, and knowledge from the tropics: 1. Center equity in ocean governance, 2. Reconnect people and the ocean, 3. Redefine ocean literacy, and 4. Decolonize ocean research. These actions are critical to ensuring a leading role for the tropical majority in maintaining thriving ocean societies and ecosystems.

Fossil fuels should be used sparingly, in the areas where they contribute most to human welfare.

Hundreds of millions of people are going hungry as conflicts affect food supplies. There is also growing evidence that food producers are exploiting the situation to increase their profits.

Factors ranging from COVID-19 to Russia’s war in Ukraine are increasing extreme poverty. Finding effective solutions starts with agreeing on how to measure what poverty means.

With each IPCC report, the science basis around climate change increases extensively in terms of scope, depth, and complexity. In converting this knowledge into societal climate action, research organisations face the challenge of reforming the ways they structure themselves, generate solutions, and communicate scientific findings to stakeholders. Here we present a mission-driven approach to guide those efforts.

Three approaches that aim to cut the harms of agriculture — land sharing, rewilding and organic farming — risk driving up food imports and causing environmental damage overseas. An alternative approach is both effective and cheaper.

There is no planet B, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are heading for the rocks. Researchers around the world must do their bit to change that.

The human microbiome has a crucial role in global health, with implications for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Understanding and harnessing the potential of the microbiome, while recognizing its link to the global ecosystem, can drive innovative strategies for improved public health, and promote sustainable development.

The mounting environmental pressure on coral reefs calls for a rapid push towards innovative actions. Nanotechnology could help understand and protect present-day reefs to ensure their survival.

These interventions for women and girls improve population health and boost the economy.

Increasing the capacity of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is an effective strategy to enhance food security while simultaneously reducing the carbon and nitrogen footprint of agriculture. Nanotechnology offers several pathways to enhance BNF successfully.

Agricultural sciences have for too long ignored traditional and local knowledge about crop plants and how best to grow them. That must change if the world is to ensure future food security.

Wealthy countries can create prosperity while using less materials and energy if they abandon economic growth as an objective.

HIV remains a major global health issue, with the burden of the epidemic disproportionately falling on low- and middle-income countries. Progress in HIV prevention, most notably pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), has been slow to reach those most in need.

Wealthy countries must take responsibility for the people most injured by climate change.

Wildfires are increasing globally, with several recent catastrophic wildfires linked to climate change. Here, we consider the negative impact of the toxic contaminants arising from these fires on the immune system, with a focus on how wildfire pollution can exacerbate inflammatory diseases.

Sustainable Development Goal 17 focuses on partnerships that can enable the achievement of other SDGs. In this comment the authors examine the obstacles to the success of SDG 17 and suggest measures to overcome these.

Behavioural science can enhance ocean sustainability by providing insights into illegal fishing. Current enforcement criminalizes small-scale fishers and fails to address root causes, letting large-scale illegal fishing off the hook. Efforts to address illegal fishing would benefit from more holistic behavioural research.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a rapidly growing public health problem, especially in disadvantaged populations. Major political interventions are required to mitigate the social and socioeconomic inequities that contribute to the development and progression of CKD and its disproportionate impact on low and middle-income countries.