In the face of growing environmental pressures, enzymes are emerging as powerful and versatile tools for combating pollution. With their exceptional specificity, ability to function under mild conditions, and minimal environmental impact, enzymes offer a sustainable alternative to traditional remediation methods. They can effectively break down and neutralize a wide range of pollutants—including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, dyes, and microplastics—without generating toxic by-products. Innovations such as enzyme immobilization, microbial consortia, and hybrid technologies have significantly enhanced their stability and performance in real-world conditions. Advances in protein engineering and the use of artificial intelligence now enable the design of tailor-made enzymes with improved resilience and substrate range. Enzymes also play a vital role in the circular economy by transforming waste into valuable secondary raw materials, biofuels, and biodegradable products. While challenges remain in scaling up these technologies and reducing costs, the potential of enzyme-based biotechnologies is immense, positioning them as a promising path toward environmentally friendly and efficient solutions for pollution control, resource recovery, climate-resilient development, and as a cornerstone of future environmental strategies.

The importance of coastal and marine ecosystems has been extensively explored due to their capacity to supply ecosystem services and thus contribute to human wellbeing. Nevertheless, these are some of the most anthropogenically impacted ecosystems globally. It is necessary to fully account for the contribution of nature and integrate this information into countries’ socio-economic dynamics. The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting—Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) was adopted by the United Nations in 2021 as a statistical standard to integrate the contribution of ecosystems and their services into the national accounts system. Since its adoption, the SEEA-EA has been increasingly implemented worldwide. However, its application in the coastal and marine environment is still limited. This is especially true when assessing ecosystem condition. As a relatively new topic within the SEEA-EA, there are many uncertainties within the community on how to assess marine ecosystem condition. The lack of standard guidelines makes it more difficult. This opinion article explored the three main challenges that hinder the operationalisation of assessing ecosystem condition. Specifically, the challenges of defining meaningful ecosystem condition variables in terms of representativeness and data availability. Then, the article explored the difficulties in rescaling condition variables into indicators by correctly defining appropriate reference conditions. Finally, it examined the challenges of calculating the condition index unbiasedly using indicator weights. Overall, there are still many critical challenges that need to be addressed. For this, it is essential to define clear guidelines and best practices for the community to accurately and meaningfully assess the condition of coastal and marine ecosystems.

The performance of cement-based materials is affected by physicochemical processes occurring at the nanoscale. As a result, incorporating nanomaterials into civil engineering applications to develop nano-modified cement-based materials has emerged as a promising research area. Significant efforts in nanotechnology have focused on exploring the unique behaviors and properties of materials at the nanoscale. In past decades, numerous research efforts have aimed to boost the properties of materials based on cement, using various nanomaterials while investigating the mechanisms behind nano-reinforcement. This work offers a detailed review of the newer advancements in nano-engineered cementitious materials. It first examines the fundamental properties and dispersion techniques of commonly used nanomaterials, such as nanotubes and graphene, in cementitious systems. Subsequently, it reviews the evolution of such composites in terms of workability, mechanical performance, and durability. Lastly, the study highlights the existing challenges in this research field and offers insights for future developments.

The widespread contamination of agricultural soils with microplastics (MPs), primarily resulting from plastic mulching and organic amendments, has transformed these systems into long-term sinks for plastic particles. This perspective synthesizes current knowledge on the transport and impacts of MPs across the soil-plant-human continuum. We underscore the pathways by which MPs infiltrate crops via root uptake and foliar deposition, accumulate in edible tissues, and ultimately reach humans through dietary exposure. The associated health risks, including gastrointestinal accumulation, systemic inflammation, endocrine disruption, and the co-transport of adsorbed toxic pollutants, raise pressing concerns for food safety and public health. Moving beyond presence-based assessments, we integrate field-relevant effect thresholds with polymer-specific sorption behaviors to predict cascading impacts along the exposure pathway. Furthermore, we propose a transdisciplinary Soil-Plant-Food (SPF) governance framework that emphasizes actionable strategies for source reduction, process interception, and endpoint regulation. We further call for harmonized monitoring protocols, the establishment of maximum residue limits, and the development of targeted mitigation technologies to enable evidence-based risk management and protect food security and human health.

In the context of rapid urbanization and increasing demand for decentralized wastewater treatment, membrane-based technologies offer high effluent quality with a reduced footprint. Direct microfiltration (DMF) is a promising approach for simplified wastewater treatment. In this study, a lab-scale DMF system was operated for 65 h at an initial flux of 20 LMH to evaluate membrane fouling behavior with actual sewage. The results showed that the trans-membrane pressure (TMP) followed a typical three-stage fouling pattern, with a TMP jump between hours 10 and 15 at a fouling rate of 16 kPa/hour, sharply reducing permeate flux. Analysis of fouling resistance revealed that cake resistance (Rc) accounted for 94% of the total resistance, while membrane (Rm) and irreversible fouling (Rf) contributed only 2% and 4%, respectively, highlighting the dominant role of cake formation. These findings suggest that DMF systems are feasible for municipal sewage treatment at fluxes around 20 LMH. Finally, mitigation strategies such as backflushing, pretreatment and chemical cleaning to control early-stage fouling should be further investigated.

This review addresses the critical issue of microplastic (MP) pollution in aquatic environments, with an emphasis on the potential role of MPs as vectors for pathogens. The persistence of MPs, resulting from their strong resistance to degradation, poses major global environmental and public-health challenges. Their inherent stability and large surface area promote pathogen adhesion, rendering MPs a favorable medium for the adsorption and transport of both pollutants and microorganisms. This review first explores the key physicochemical properties of MPs and the decisive factors that influence pathogen adhesion to MP surfaces. It then examines the environmental impacts and associated health risks of MP pollution in marine and freshwater ecosystems, along with its implications for human exposure through the food chain. A critical analysis and discussion of the multiple dimensions of MPs as potential vectors for pathogens highlight the urgent need to implement advanced waste-management strategies and water-treatment technologies. Furthermore, the review emphasizes the necessity of an integrated research approach to elucidate the mechanisms and impacts of MPs as pathogen carriers in aquatic ecosystems.

This opinion paper examines the rapidly evolving landscape of climate-related litigation against states and public entities, analyzing how these legal challenges are reshaping climate governance and accountability mechanisms. Drawing on landmark cases from diverse jurisdictions, this analysis traces the evolution of legal arguments—from early rights-based claims to emerging doctrines centered on fiduciary obligations and intergenerational equity. The analysis would explore courts’ shifting interpretations of governmental climate obligations, highlighting the transition from viewing climate action as discretionary policy to recognizing it as a legally enforceable duty. This work critically evaluates litigation’s effectiveness as a climate action tool compared with other regulatory approaches, identifying both its catalytic potential and inherent limitations. By synthesizing recent judicial developments, this work aims to provide timely insights for policymakers, legal practitioners, and climate advocates on how litigation is influencing climate policy, driving regulatory innovation, and potentially accelerating the transition to more ambitious climate action.

The accelerating global transition towards a circular economy necessitates a fundamental rethinking of how we assess environmental impacts, particularly through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Traditional LCA frameworks are largely linear, assessing the environmental burdens of products from cradle to grave. However, in an era where circularity is a policy goal and industrial practice, there is a growing need to reformulate LCA to effectively capture closed-loop systems, multiple product life cycles, and dynamic material flows. This opinion paper outlines the critical frontiers in LCA research and practice needed to address materials circularity, highlighting methodological innovations, integration challenges, and the role of digital technologies in enabling circular thinking within life cycle frameworks. The paper is based on peer-reviewed studies from four academic databases, using the keywords: “Life Cycle Assessment”, “Circular Economy”, “food valorization”, “food loss”, and “food waste”. Findings reveal that while several circularity indicators have emerged, traditional LCA often fails to account for avoided emissions, particularly in perishable goods.

Urban green spaces (UGS) are crucial for delivering ecosystem services (ES), enhancing urban resilience, and enhancing public well-being. However, despite increased awareness and policy attention, the management of UGS continues to face significant challenges. This work synthesises findings from literature published between January 2010 and September 2025 addressing the limitations affecting UGS management in urban contexts, with a world coverage. A total of 40 documents were assessed. The analysis identifies a set of recurrent themes such as improper planning and management (42.5% of the documents), lack of supporting data (30.0%), accessibility and environmental equity issues (including gentrification risks) (17.5%), competing land use demands (15.0%), fragmented governance and inter-institutional silos (15.0%), financial and human resource constraints (12.5%), limited stakeholder participation (12.5%), or resistance to bottom-up approaches (7.5%). Despite contextual variations, shared principles emerge across case studies, including the importance of co-governance, multifunctionality, participatory planning, and integrated decision-making. Addressing these systemic barriers will require long-term investment, intersectoral collaboration, and planning cultures that prioritise equity, adaptability, and local capacity. The findings underscore the importance of cross-sector coordination, equitable access, and context-sensitive approaches in supporting transformative change in UGS planning and management. The review concludes by outlining research gaps and suggesting priorities for policy and practice that align with environmental sustainability and social justice goals. A final section proposes measures to address the highlighted issues in an integrated way, oriented towards the definition of a UGS sustainable management framework.

Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs) are tools that promote risk prevention and impact mitigation and recovery from disturbances by placing nature at the centre. In recent years, NBSs have been increasingly used to prevent extreme natural events, such as forest fires and hydrological or geomorphological processes, that pose risks. In this sense, the implementation of these measures allows for the sustainable management of the natural environment. Choosing one management approach over another requires consideration of the available natural resources, as well as the effectiveness and sustainability of each option. In the context of global change, NBSs can play a key role in enabling ecosystems to adapt naturally to the disturbances expected in the coming decades.

Wildfires play a central role in shaping the landscapes and ecosystems in Brazil by considerably affecting biogeochemical cycles, soil properties, and vegetation dynamics. In this study, the pyrogeography of Brazilian biomes, wildfire occurrences from 1999 to 2024, the primary environmental consequences of fires in each biome, and key challenges related to fire policy in Brazil are elucidated. The analysis of public data from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has revealed that 80% of fires occur in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes due to the expansion of agricultural frontiers, mainly during dry winter and spring seasons. Their effects of such fires on ecosystems vary with vegetation type, topography, and burn severity, influencing soil properties, hydrological processes, carbon stocks, and erosion. Fire policies in Brazil have structural and institutional limitations such as a limited state presence in remote areas and resource shortages. The implementation of Integrated Fire Management (IFM) in protected areas incorporates prescribed burning and traditional knowledge based on ecological monitoring; however, these efforts remain fragmented and lack national integration. The future of fire management in Brazil focuses on coordinating science, public policy, and local engagement; expanding remote sensing; supporting local brigades; and promoting strategies tailored to the ecological and cultural conditions of different regions. To address the complex dynamics of illegal fires driven by agricultural expansion and apply controlled ecologically oriented burns for conservation, technically informed solutions, social participation, and public action grounded in territorial realities are essential.

The pervasive presence of emerging contaminants (ECs), including pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, dyes, and personal care products in water systems, poses a critical threat to environmental and public health. Conventional treatment methods often fail to remove these pollutants efficiently due to high costs, energy intensity, and limited selectivity. This review highlights the transformative potential of nature-based hybrid adsorbents, which synergistically combine biopolymers such as chitosan and alginate, agricultural wastes including banana peel and rice husk, and biochar with functional components like metal oxides, enzymes, or magnetic nanoparticles. These systems achieve relatively high removal efficiencies, often exceeding 90%, and record-breaking adsorption capacities, such as 586 mg/g for lead and 394 mg/g for pharmaceuticals, far surpassing conventional alternatives. By leveraging low-cost, renewable materials, they reduce operational expenses by 30-80% and minimise energy use and secondary waste. Furthermore, their integration within the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus supports resource recovery, water reuse, and progress toward multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals. Remaining challenges, including scalability, regeneration stability, and the ecological safety of nano-enhanced adsorbents, are critically addressed, with forward-looking insights into AI-assisted design and circular economy integration. Ultimately, this work highlights how bridging natural bioresources with advanced hybrid engineering can redefine sustainable water treatment paradigms.

Nanomaterials have been an area of great research for the pollution control in recent decades due to their beneficial properties such as higher efficiency, low cost, easier fabrication, and higher surface area. Nanocarbons have been considered as a promising nanomaterial in remediation of emerging pollutants. Pharmaceutical compounds are one of the major products of healthcare which are present in different environments including water resources. These compounds include several categories of chemicals and medicines such as antibiotics, analgesics, antidepressants, hormones, and anticonvulsants. These pharmaceutical compounds enter the environment through sources such as pharmaceutical effluents, hospital waste, livestock farming, landfill leachate, and aquaculture industry. Considering the environmental and human health concerns associated with these pharmaceutical contaminants, the presented review is focused on understanding the mechanisms of pharmaceuticals removal through carbon-based nanomaterials by the processes such as adsorption and catalysis. In addition, it explores the factors which affect the removal efficiency of the pharmaceuticals by nanocarbons. Moreover, recent advances and emerging technologies such as hybrid materials and composites, smart and responsive nanocarbon systems, membrane technologies and artificial intelligence for predictive performance have been discussed. The review article also provides the information on critical challenges and future perspectives in the research area.

Background: Ecotoxicology increasingly faces complex mixtures and multilevel responses that single-compound, single-species assays cannot capture. Aim and objectives: To synthesize recent evidence (2022-2024) on integrative ecotoxicology (combining biomarkers, omics, computational models, and bioindicators) with emphasis on pharmaceuticals and nanoplastics, and to outline gaps and a practical framework for research and policy. Methods: A PRISMA-guided search was conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Springer Link (2022-2024). Duplicates were removed in Mendeley; screening used Rayyan with PICO-style inclusion/exclusion. The qualitative synthesis was complemented by bibliometric mapping (VOSviewer) to visualize thematic co-occurrences. Results: Fifty-two articles met criteria. Across aquatic and terrestrial models, integrative designs consistently revealed sublethal effects (oxidative stress, AChE inhibition, dysregulated apoptosis, teratogenicity) and molecular pathway disruption identified by transcriptomics/proteomics/metabolomics. Computational approaches (Bayesian networks; multivariate models) improved risk prioritization. Case studies showed synergism (e.g., nanoplastics-diclofenac) and highlighted soil interfaces (biochar-mediated metal speciation; earthworm biomarkers). Conclusions: Integrative ecotoxicology strengthens causal inference across biological levels and supports One Health and regulatory decision-making. Priority needs include standardized multi-level designs, mixture-aware endpoints, cross-matrix comparability (wáter-sediment-soil), FAIR data pipelines, and translation to policies (e.g., effluent standards, product stewardship). A concise research framework for policy formulation is proposed that links problem formulation, mixture-aware testing, omics-based pathways, and decision analysis.

Microplastics have raised serious environmental and health concerns worldwide due to their widespread presence as a common pollutant in aquatic environments. This study offers a comprehensive examination of microplastic pollution in river basins in Vietnam, drawing on global studies to assess its potential impact on water resources. The results indicate that microplastic pollution is present in significant concentrations in surface water, sediments, Aquatic organisms, and mangrove ecosystems throughout Vietnam, particularly in coastal areas such as Da Nang and Thanh Hoa, as well as in urban rivers like the Saigon River, with the highest concentration found being 519,000 pieces per cubic meter of water. Urban runoff, wastewater, and plastic waste from domestic, manufacturing, and tourism activities are important sources of emissions. High concentrations of microplastics, primarily fibers and debris such as nylon, PE, and PP, are highly persistent and bioaccumulate in Aquatic organisms, posing potential problems due to the presence of chemical additives. Comparative data from around the world also show similar environmental risks, including microplastic consumption by marine life, possible impacts on ecosystem function, biodiversity, and ultimately human health risks through the food chain. The study also highlights the importance of improving waste management, enhancing pollution monitoring, and implementing sustainable measures to mitigate microplastic pollution in various areas of Vietnam.

Pharmaceuticals are contaminants of emerging concern due to their ineffective removal in wastewater treatment plants and largely unknown effects on the ecosystem. Specifically, statins are a class of blood-lipid lowering agents that are the most prescribed drug class in the United States. High concentrations of statins have been reported in water systems ranging from fresh water to wastewater. Exposure studies are frequently conducted on aquatic organisms; however, terrestrial organisms must also be assessed for accumulation of pharmaceuticals as treated wastewater is frequently used to irrigate farm fields, introducing contaminants to a greater number of species. Earthworms, specifically Eisenia hortensis, are frequently used as bioindicators of soil contamination. However, they have not been assessed as a bioindicator of pharmaceuticals in the environment, which this work seeks to address. Benchtop matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) was optimized and employed to visualize statin localization in longitudinal sections of Eisenia hortensis following an exposure period to atorvastatin, lovastatin, or simvastatin. All three statins were detected successfully by MSI. Lovastatin and simvastatin were ubiquitously distributed, providing evidence for both dermal absorption and ingestion of contaminated soil. Atorvastatin localized to the intestinal wall, differing from the other two analytes likely due to differences in logP values. This work suggests that Eisenia hortensis is a suitable bioindicator of statins in the environment.

Coral reefs biodiversity and productivity are currently in decline due to the impacts of human activities, especially those associated with chemical pollutants, including metals. In this context, iron (Fe) contamination of coastal waters associated with land runoff and disasters associated with mining activities has drawn attention around the globe, especially in the Southern Atlantic coast. Fe is an essential metal involved in photosynthesis, respiration, and oxidative metabolism, which can thus influence parameters associated with photosynthesis and the activity of ATPases. Therefore, we evaluated the acute and chronic effects of Fe on the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II and carbonic anhydrase and Ca²⁺-ATPase activities in three corals species: Mussismilia harttii, Siderastrea sp., and Millepora alcicornis. Corals were maintained in control condition (no Fe addition in seawater) and acutely (4 days—laboratory conditions) or chronically (up to 28 days—mesocosm conditions) exposed to different increments of Fe (0.1, 0.3, and 0.9 mg L⁻¹) in seawater. The tested concentrations were selected based on the range of total and dissolved Fe concentrations observed in seawater in reef environments of the South Atlantic Ocean after the collapse of the Fundão mine dam occurred in Mariana (state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil) in 2015. In the acute and chronic experiments, three and four replicates were performed for each experimental condition, respectively. In the acute exposure, all biological parameters were measured after 4 days of exposure. In the chronic exposure, the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II was measured at 5, 10, 17, and 24 days of exposure while enzyme activities were analyzed at 14 and 28 days of exposure. Results indicated that the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II was decreased by 20.5% (p < 0.05) in Mi. alcicornis exposed for 17 days to 0.1 mg L⁻¹ Fe, when compared to the control condition at the same experimental time. Along the experimental time, it was decreased (p < 0.05) by 19.8% and 20.9% in Mu. harttii exposed for 24 days to 0.3 and 0.9 mg L⁻¹ Fe, respectively. In Mu. harttii, carbonic anhydrase activity was reduced by 31.7% after acute exposure of corals to 0.3 mg L⁻¹ Fe and increased by 102.4% when they were exposed to 0.9 mg L⁻¹ Fe. Also, carbonic anhydrase activity was reduced (p < 0.05) by 62.1% and 54.5% in Mi. alcicornis exposed for 14 days to 0.3 and 0.9 mg L⁻¹ Fe, respectively. After 28 days of Fe exposure, no significant change is CA activity was observed in the three species of corals. Furthermore, Ca²⁺-ATPase activity of the three coral species was not altered by the Fe increments in seawater, regardless of the exposure time. Overall, our findings indicates that exposure to increments of Fe in seawater influenced the health- (maximum quantum yield of photosystem II) and growth-related (carbonic anhydrase activity) biomarkers evaluated. The observed effects were specific to the three coral species tested and highlight the need to test the impacts of the seawater contamination with Fe over longer exposure periods than those tested in the present study.