Submission Deadline: 31st January 2026
Humanity is faced with biodiversity collapse, climate chaos, pollution, and the inequitable distribution of over-exploited global resources. These crises affect the integrity, resilience and sustainability of ecosystems, including social-ecological systems, and the health of human populations that are dependent upon the air, land, sea and fresh waters. Nature and biodiversity conservation work is essential but not adequate to arrest and reverse these ominous trends; major investments in large-scale ecosystem restoration and environmental education are urgently required as well.
There is broad awareness of the need for conservation and restoration initiatives that explicitly support both environmental and human health, and advocacy for the same outcomes under many different labels. In the environmental sciences, proponents of biological conservation, environmental conservation, ecological conservation, and ecosystem restoration are all fighting for the same cause, but sometimes compete for scarce funding and are occasionally hindered from being truly multidisciplinary due to disciplinary differences in priorities. In the health sciences, environmental health, eco-health, conservation medicine, one health, and planetary health are in a somewhat analogous situation. To make things worse, the environmental sciences and health sciences tend to be, but in fact should not be, separate in this context.
Our journal now seeks to document and share examples of the intersection between healthy environments and people. This theme explores integrative solutions providing examples of practical, on the ground conservation and ecosystem restoration projects toward an ultimate shared target regardless of labeling – arresting and reversing the environmental disasters of the Anthropocene and their human health and wellbeing consequences. We do not seek theoretical frameworks or semantic discussions, but rather empirical studies that provide evidence at any scale (local to global) that contribute to a sustainable future for all living beings. We seek a broad coverage of biogeographic, socioeconomic, and cultural examples, that are pertinent to our international readership.
Example Topics:
*Practical examples of ecosystem conservation and restoration projects that focus on improving the health of both ecosystems and the people dependent upon them
*Identification of opportunities for ecosystem conservation and restoration that would improve the health of both ecosystems and the people dependent upon them
*Successes, failures and perspectives that inform understanding and implementation of such conservation and restoration projects
Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Nicholas Polunin, Newcastle University, School of Natural & Environmental Sciences, UK and Foundation for Environmental Conservation, Switzerland
Guest Editors: Dr James Aronson, Ecological Health Network, USA, and Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri, USA. Prof. Philip Weinstein, University of Adelaide, School of Public Health, Australia and Ecological Health Network, USA; Prof. Shuai Wang, Beijing Normal University, Department of Geography, China
Assistant Guest Editors: Prof. Angus Cook, University of Western Australia, School of Population and Global Health, Australia; Eve Allen, Ecological Health Network, USA; Dr Adam Cross, Ecological Health Network, USA and Curtin University, Perth, Australia; Dr Jessica Stanhope, University of Adelaide, School of Public Health, and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Rheumatology Unit, Woodville, Australia
Submission Guidelines: Research Papers (≤ 6,000 words, including references) and Reports (≤ 4,000 words, including references) presenting new information are of particular interest, but systematic Subject Reviews (≤ 8,000 words), forward-looking Perspectives (≤ 4,000 words) and Comments (≤ 2,000 words) may be relevant. Manuscripts need to abide by the Author Instructions (bit.ly/3XznYmM), be submitted via the web site (bit.ly/46brR5r) and select the ‘Conservation and Restoration for Healthy Environments and People’ theme. All manuscripts are subject to equally rigorous screening and peer-review as non-thematic submissions. Abiding by the schedule of dates below will facilitate access to the thematic issue, otherwise they may be stand-alone papers.
Publishing fee: an article processing charge for Open Access publication but corresponding authors at institutions with agreements with Cambridge University Press (see bit.ly/3we0doY) and in the Cambridge Open Equity Initiative (see bit.ly/3CtL1dM) are eligible for discounts or waivers. For this theme, those ineligible will be able to obtain Open Access for one year after publication.
Important Dates: manuscript submission deadline 31 January 2026; submission of final revised paper 31 July 2026.