Big events, little change: Extreme climatic events have no region-wide effect on Great Barrier Reef governance.

Extreme climatic events trigger changes in ecosystems with potential negative impacts for people. These events may provide an opportunity for environmental managers and decision-makers to improve the governance of social-ecological systems, however there is conflicting evidence regarding whether these actors are indeed able to change governance after extreme climatic events. In addition, the majority of research to date has focused on changes in specific policies or organizations after crises. A broader investigation of governance actors' activities is needed to more fully understand whether or not crises trigger change. Here we demonstrate the use of a social network analysis of management and decision-making forums (e.g. meetings, partnerships) to reveal the effects of an extreme climatic event on governance of the Great Barrier Reef over an eight-year period. To assess potential shifts in action, we examine the topics of forums and the relative participation and influence of diverse governance actors before, during, and after two back-to-back mass coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017. Our analysis reveals that there is little change in the topics that receive attention, and in the relative participation and influence of different actor groups in the region. Our research demonstrates that network analysis of forums is useful for analyzing whether or not actors' activities and priorities evolve over time. Our results provide empirical evidence that governance actors struggle to leverage extreme climate events as windows of opportunity and further research is needed to identify alternative opportunities to improve governance.

COVID-19 impacts on coastal communities in Kenya.

COVID-19 is continuing to have far-reaching impacts around the world, including on small-scale fishing communities. This study details the findings from 39 in-depth interviews with community members, community leaders, and fish traders in five communities in Kenya about their experiences since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, 2020. The interviews were conducted by mobile phone between late August and early October 2020. In each community, people were impacted by curfews, rules about gathering, closed travel routes, and bans on certain activities. Fish trade and fisheries livelihoods were greatly disrupted. Respondents from all communities emphasized how COVID-19 had disrupted relationships between fishers, traders, and customers; changed market demand; and ultimately made fishing and fish trading livelihoods very difficult to sustain. While COVID-19 impacted different groups in the communities-i.e., fishers, female fish traders, and male fish traders-all experienced a loss of income and livelihoods, reduced cash flow, declining food security, and impacts on wellbeing. As such, although small-scale fisheries can act as a crucial safety net in times of stress, the extent of COVID-19 disruptions to alternative and informal livelihoods stemmed cash flow across communities, and meant that fishing was unable to fulfil a safety net function as it may have done during past disruptions. As the pandemic continues to unfold, ensuring that COVID-19 safe policies and protocols support continued fishing or diversification into other informal livelihoods, and that COVID-19 support reaches the most vulnerable, will be critical in safeguarding the wellbeing of families in these coastal communities.

Steroid oestrogens in the environment: an Australian perspective.

Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) have been in the scientific spotlight since the 1980s. However, there has been much less research reported in Australia than in other developed countries and little information is known about how these compounds interact with native Australian species compared to European and North American fauna. This is of concern because Australia has distinct wildlife and environments that face increasing intensity and frequency of extreme, climatic events compared to northern hemisphere countries. Since oestrogenic compounds cannot be prevented from entering wastewater their management and removal must occur at wastewater treatment plants. Biological treatment is the most effective tool in this regard; however the financial and environmental costs must be balanced with the environmental benefit to effectively plan treatment options. Since standard risk assessment models and procedures developed internationally are unlikely to translate well to Australian ecosystems, new, novel and localised research on both the monitoring and assessment of EDCs in Australian wastewater and receiving aquatic environments is recommended. This includes the development of relevant bioassays and application of treatment technologies that reflect the local community and climate.