Particulate matter (PM) is a vital pollutant that severely impacts human health, ecosystem well-being, and climate systems. In this review, the importance of vertical profiling is considered for understanding PM behavior between different layers of the atmosphere, and it includes modern techniques used such as meteorological towers and building methods, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), aircraft, and satellite-based aerosol optical depth measurements. A systematic review was conducted, sourcing 150 articles published between 2000 and 2023, using relevant keywords such as Particulate Matter, Vertical Profiling, Environmental Impacts, and Climate Change from databases like Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Key findings illustrate the vertical variations in PM levels associated with interactions among urban environments, meteorology, and specific atmospheric processes such as cloud formation, radiative forcing, and long-distance transport of pollutants. PM's effects on biodiversity, nutrient cycles, and ecosystem stability are also discussed. The environmental impacts of PM deposition, including biodiversity loss, nutrient cycling disruption, and ecosystem destabilization, elucidate widespread chronic anthropogenic particulate causes of long-term ecological damage around the globe. The study also examines relevant regulatory frameworks, specifically air quality standards, and policies, underpinning mitigation strategies. This review discusses how PM pollution is an increasingly alarming health risk. It reiterates the importance of demanding effective regulations on the local and global levels to counteract detrimental environmental and climatic consequences. This review clearly shows the immediate threats of PM. It should form a wake-up call to develop more effective monitoring tools and stringent regulatory measures against this omnipresent pollutant.

Ethiopia's vulnerability to climate change is exacerbated by high poverty rates, rapid population growth, increasing prevalence of vector-borne diseases, and heavy reliance on rain-fed agriculture. This narrative review aims to compile existing data on the impacts of climate extremes on the physical environment, public health, and livelihoods in Ethiopia, thereby highlighting the significance of this region for such a study. Data were sourced from peer-reviewed journal articles from databases like PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, as well as reports and other unpublished documents. Results show that Ethiopia is facing increasing frequency, severity, duration, and timing of climate-related extreme events. Key challenges include environmental degradation, reduced crop yields, recurring floods, droughts, famines, increased heat waves, and spread of infectious diseases. Average daily rainfall is projected to decrease from 2.04 mm (1961-1990) to 1.97 mm (2070-2099), indicating a worsening climate trend. Moreover, the average annual temperature has risen by 1.3 degrees C since 1960, at a rate of 0.28 degrees C per decade. Flood records indicate a sharp rise, with 274 flood incidents recorded in 2020, causing extensive damage, including an annual soil loss of 1 billion tons in the Ethiopian highlands, reducing land productivity by 2.2% annually. Droughts from 1964 to 2023 affected 96.5 million people, reduced GDP by 4%, decreased agricultural output by 12%, and increased inflation rates by 15%. The regions of Afar, Somali, Gambella, and Benshangul Gumuz exhibit extreme vulnerability to health impacts due to rising temperatures. Addressing climate extremes is critical to mitigate their adverse effects on Ethiopia's environment, public health, and livelihoods.

On 1-3 May 2023, severe hydro-meteorological events occurred in the Italian Emilia-Romagna region. Such events caused extensive flooding, landslides, isolation of many areas, evacuation of many families, and severe damage to infrastructure, agriculture, buildings, and essential services. Several municipalities were affected, thousands of civilians had to be evacuated, and losses of life occurred. The consequences beyond the recorded immediate impacts on infrastructure and life were impressive, and extended to the regional economy, specifically in the Fruit Valley, where, in addition to immediate yield losses, long-term damage to orchard production is expected due to persistent flooding. The civil and cultural building heritage has also been heavily affected, both in the countryside and in inhabited centers. Some of the damage, direct and indirect, caused by flooding on buildings will also see an evolution in the medium- to long-term that needs to be addressed. This paper analyzes the manifold aspects of such an atmospheric phenomenon and its impacts to understand the potential increasing occurrence of similar events in the climate change context.

The fate of black biodegradable mulch film (MF) based on starch and poly(butylene-adipate-co-terephthalate)-co- terephthalate) (PBAT) in agricultural soil is investigated herein. Pristine (BIO-0) and UV-aged film samples (BIO-A192) were buried for 16 months at an experimental field in southern Italy. Visual, physical, chemical, morphological, and mechanical analyses were carried out before and after samples burial. Film residues in the form of macro- and microplastics in soil were analyzed at the end of the trial. Progressive deterioration of both pristine and UV-aged samples, with surface loss and alterations in mechanical properties, occurred from 42 days of burial. After 478 days, the apparent surface of BIO-0 and BIO-A192 films decreased by 57 % and 66 %, respectively. Burial determined a rapid depletion of starch from the polymeric blend, especially for the BIO-A192, while the degradation of the polyester phase was slower. Upon burial, an enrichment of aromatic moieties of PBAT in the film residues was observed, as well as microplastics release to soil. The analysis of the MF degradation products extracted from soil (0.006-0.008 % by mass in the soil samples) revealed the predominant presence of adipate moieties. After 478 days of burial, about 23 % and 17 % of the initial amount of BIO-0 and BIO-A192, respectively, were extracted from the soil. This comprehensive study underscores the complexity of biodegradation phenomena that involve the new generation of mulch films in the field. The different biodegradability of the polymeric components, the climate, and the soil conditions that did not strictly meet the parameters required for the standard test method devised for MFs, have significantly influenced their degradation rate. This finding further emphasizes the importance of implementing field experiments to accurately assess the real effects of biodegradable MFs on soil health and overall agroecosystem sustainability.

In this study, the sustainability of the electrokinetic remediation soil flushing (EKSFs) process integrated without and with adsorption barriers (EKABs) have been evaluated for the treatment of four soils contaminated with Atrazine, Oxyfluorfen, Chlorosulfuron and 2,4-D. To this purpose, the environmental effects of both procedures (EKSFs and EKABs) have been determined through a life cycle assessment (LCA). SimaPro 9.3.0.3 was used as software tool and Ecoinvent 3.3 as data base to carry out the inventory of the equipment of each remediation setup based on experimental measurements. The environmental burden was quantified using the AWARE, USEtox, IPPC, and ReCiPe methods into 3 Endpoint impact categories (and damage to human health, ecosystem and resources) and 7 Midpoints impact categories (water footprint, global warming potential, ozone depletion, human toxicity (cancer and human non-cancer), freshwater ecotoxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity). In general terms, the energy applied to treatment (using the Spanish energy mix) was the parameter with the greatest influence on the carbon footprint, ozone layer depletion and water footprint accounting for around 70 % of the overall impact contribution. On the other hand, from the point of view of human toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity of soil treatments with 32 mg kg(-1) of the different pesticides, the EKSF treatment is recommended for soils with Chlorosulfuron. In this case, the carbon footprint and water footprint reached values around 0.36 kg of CO2 and 114 L of water per kg of dry soil, respectively. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed assuming different scenarios.

Fertilizer-intensive agriculture leads to emissions of reactive nitrogen (Nr), posing threats to climate via nitrous oxide (N2O) and to air quality and human health via nitric oxide (NO) and ammonia (NH3) that form ozone and particulate matter (PM) downwind. Adding nitrification inhibitors (NIs) to fertilizers can mitigate N2O and NO emissions but may stimulate NH3 emissions. Quantifying the net effects of these trade-offs requires spatially resolving changes in emissions and associated impacts. We introduce an assessment framework to quantify such trade-off effects. It deploys an agroecosystem model with enhanced capabilities to predict emissions of Nr with or without the use of NIs, and a social cost of greenhouse gas to monetize the impacts of N2O on climate. The framework also incorporates reduced-complexity air quality and health models to monetize associated impacts of NO and NH3 emissions on human health downwind via ozone and PM. Evaluation of our model against available field measurements showed that it captured the direction of emission changes but underestimated reductions in N2O and overestimated increases in NH3 emissions. The model estimated that, averaged over applicable U.S. agricultural soils, NIs could reduce N2O and NO emissions by an average of 11% and 16%, respectively, while stimulating NH3 emissions by 87%. Impacts are largest in regions with moderate soil temperatures and occur mostly within two to three months of N fertilizer and NI application. An alternative estimate of NI-induced emission changes was obtained by multiplying the baseline emissions from the agroecosystem model by the reported relative changes in Nr emissions suggested from a global meta-analysis: -44% for N2O, -24% for NO and +20% for NH3. Monetized assessments indicate that on an annual scale, NI-induced harms from increased NH3 emissions outweigh (8.5-33.8 times) the benefits of reducing NO and N2O emissions in all agricultural regions, according to model-based estimates. Even under meta-analysis-based estimates, NI-induced damages exceed benefits by a factor of 1.1-4. Our study highlights the importance of considering multiple pollutants when assessing NIs, and underscores the need to mitigate NH3 emissions. Further field studies are needed to evaluate the robustness of multi-pollutant assessments.

Non-technical summary Oil palm has been criticized for being an environmentally unfriendly oil crop. In recent decades, oil palm plantations have extended into conservation landscapes, causing severe environmental damage and harming biodiversity. Nevertheless, oil palm remains a highly productive oil crop from which most of the world's vegetable oil is produced. Therefore, measuring the environmental impact of oil palm plantations and identifying suitable land to support its sustainable development is crucial.Technical summary To meet the rising global palm oil demand sustainably, we tracked annual land cover changes in oil palm plantation and mapped areas worldwide suitable for sustainable oil palm cultivation. From 1982 to 2019, 3.6 Mha of forests were converted to oil palm plantations. Despite a recent decline in overall conversion, the shift from forest to oil palm plantations has become increasingly more common over the last decade, rising from 14.1 to 34.5% between 2009 and 2019. During 1982-2019, 2.23 Mha of peatland and 0.1 Mha of protected areas were converted for oil palm plantations. The potential sustainable land amounts to 103.5-317.9 Mha (Asia: 44.6-105.1 Mha, Africa: 34.7-96.4 Mha, and Latin America: 35.2-116.5 Mha). Future oil palm expansion is anticipated to take place in countries like Brazil, Nigeria, Colombia, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ghana, where more sustainable land is available for cultivation. Malaysia, on the other hand, is about to exceed the area of sustainable cultivation, and further expansion is not recommended. These findings can advance our understanding of the environmentally damaging impacts of oil palm and enhance the feasibility of sustainable oil palm development.Social media summary How should suitable land be chosen for the establishment of oil palm plantations to support the sustainable development of the oil palm plantation industry?

The Industrial Revolutions (IRs) have dramatically reshaped the industrial landscape by introducing automated production and technological advancements. While these revolutions have driven substantial socioeconomic changes in society, organizations, and government relationships, they have also had significant environmental impacts. These include air, water, and soil pollution, habitat loss, deforestation, resource depletion, food insecurity, and water scarcity. Despite these challenges, IRs hold potential for mitigating environmental damage, such as reducing carbon emissions, soil and water contamination, and resource consumption. Moreover, developing sensors and networks can offer critical insights into environmental changes, aiding the implementation of adaptation and mitigation strategies. This comprehensive review provides a state-of-the-art evaluation of IRs and their environmental interactions, proposing strategies for future environmental policies. It is a valuable resource for future studies and proposals on the digital transformation associated with IRs and their environmental impacts.

The village de Encantadas (VEIM) has been suffering from a situation of beach erosion. The problem is a result of the confluence of physical and anthropic phenomena; it is a present condition inherited from the increase in the incidence and intensity of physical and human variables in recent periods. Cumulatively, the sedimentary stock deficit has resulted in soil loss towards the interior of the village, causing damage such as the loss of circulation, mobility, and transit space, as well as the deterioration of residential and, mainly, commercial buildings. The impacts suffered have mobilized organized social groups from the local community, and based on their request, a technical visit was carried out followed by conversations and guidance. A report of this experience is presented, aiming to subsidize further technical referrals regarding the identified problems.