Soil ecosystem service (SES) approaches evidence the importance of soil for human well-being, contribute to improving dialogue between science and decision-making and encourage the translation of scientific results into public policies. Herein, through systematic review, we assess the state of the art of SES approaches in tropical regions. Through this review, 41 publications were identified; while most of these studies considered SES, a lack of a consistent framework to define SES was apparent. Most studies measured soil natural capital and processes, while only three studies undertook monetary valuation. Although the number of publications increased (from 1 to 41), between 2001 and 2019, the total number of publications for tropical regions is still small. Countries with the largest number of publications were Brazil ( n = 8), Colombia ( n = 6) and Mexico ( n = 4). This observation emphasizes an important knowledge gap pertaining to SES approaches and their link to tropical regions. With global momentum behind SES approaches, there is an opportunity to integrate SES approaches into policy and practice in tropical regions. The use of SES evaluation tools in tropical regions could transform how land use decisions are informed, mitigating soil degradation and protecting the ecosystems that soil underpins.

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest has undergone adverse land-use change due to deforestation for urbanization and agriculture. Numerous restoration initiatives have been taken to restore its ecosystem services. Deforested areas have been restored through active intervention or natural regeneration. Understanding the impact of those different reforestation approaches on soil quality should provide important scientific and practical conclusions on increasing forest cover in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome. However, studies evaluating active planting versus natural regeneration in terms of soil recovery are scarce. We evaluate soil dynamics under those two contrasting strategies at an early stage (<10 years). Reforestation was conducted simultaneously on degraded lands previously used for cattle grazing and compared to an abandoned pasture as a reference system. We examined soil physicochemical properties such as: pH, soil organic matter content, soil moisture, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Mn, Cu, Al, and soil texture. We also present the costs of both methods. We found significant differences in restored areas regarding pH, Na, Fe, Mn content, and the cost. Soil moisture was significantly higher in pasture. Our research can contribute to better decision-making about which restoration strategy to adopt to maximize restoration success regarding soil quality and ecosystem services in the tropics.

Understanding perception about nature is paramount to understanding human behavior and decision making on the environment. We performed a survey-based study in Brazil and Poland to better understand the perception of land sparing for nature and the perceived value of nature. The countries were selected by intentional sampling and given their importance for local and global biodiversity conservation, and complex socio-ecological context of conservation versus agroforestry business. We performed an online questionnaire (N = 1030) in Brazil and face-to-face interviews in Poland (N = 322). We found that Brazilian respondents demonstrated more pro-environmental attitudes than Polish survey participants. Regarding the question: “How much nature that is left should be spared?”, nearly 51% of Brazilians answered “everything”, compared with 13% of Polish respondents. Just under half of the respondents from Poland (45.6%) indicated that half of the nature that is left should be spared. Brazilian respondents also perceived the intrinsic value of nature to a greater extent compared with Polish respondents; in total, 76% of Brazilians respondents entirely agreed that “Nature, its plants and animals have a value on their own, independent of their usefulness for us” versus 25% of Polish respondents. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the leverage points driving pro-environmental attitudes in both countries.

Understanding the perception of Sustainable Development can help to identify misconceptions surrounding the concept in order to design better education plans and public policies on this subject. Evaluating the perception of sustainability issues by focusing on the young generation as is an important proxy to imagine what the future holds for in terms of addressing sustainable development. We conducted 177 in-person interviews on a heterogeneous group of students and random volunteers in four cities in Poland to assess their perception of Sustainable Development. The vast majority (89.3%) of the respondents were familiar with the term ‘Sustainable Development’. However, part of them (57%) associated it only to the human and social development dimensions and its institutions, whereas 17.5% related it with its environmental aspects. The results supported by the literature review highlight challenges concerning the path towards a comprehensive perception of Sustainable Development and hence the achievement of the SDGs. Based on these results, we identify opportunities and incentives to bring Poland towards 2030 Agenda.

A abordagem dos serviços ecossistêmicos tem ganhado destaque no campo da conservação ambiental nas últimas décadas por evidenciar a conexão entre o bem-estar humano e as funções dos ecossistemas. No entanto, críticas têm apontado que a predominância de avaliações utilitaristas e monetárias ignora os valores socioculturais e afetivos atribuídos à natureza por diferentes grupos sociais. Este artigo discute a dimensão relacional na valoração dos serviços ecossistêmicos a partir das experiências dos quilombos Cafundá Astrogilda e Dona Bilina, no Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca (RJ). A pesquisa adotou uma metodologia interpretativista e sentipensante, combinando pesquisa-ação, entrevistas e vivência territorial para compreender as percepções e valores das comunidades quilombolas em relação à natureza. A partir das experiências investigadas, constatamos que a abordagem dos serviços ecossistêmicos deve ultrapassar a métrica utilitarista e monetária. O reconhecimento da centralidade dos valores relacionais — como cuidado, reciprocidade, ancestralidade e espiritualidade — na relação dessas comunidades com a floresta é um imperativo para a conservação. Ao evidenciar as práticas e valores que percebem a natureza como princípio de vida, território de vínculos espirituais e fonte de saberes, esta pesquisa inaugura um terreno para uma abordagem mais integrada e plural no campo. Essa perspectiva não apenas contribui para a adoção de práticas de conservação mais justas e conectadas aos modos de vida tradicionais, mas se estabelece como um ato de subversão ao colonialismo intelectual, capaz de influenciar as políticas sociais e as decisões institucionais relacionadas à resolução de conflitos socioambientais com base no reconhecimento da diversidade cultural e epistêmica.