This case study examines how smallholder coffee producers can overcome the economic and environmental challenges from dominant production structures of agrochemical application and the sale of unprocessed beans at low, market-determined prices. This study is guided by the questions posed by local coffee farmers themselves: How can one successfully shift away from wasteful and harmful practices to those that support the health of the family, community, and environment? We track how El Toledo Coffee Farm in Costa Rica has harnessed natural systems and knowledge sharing, facilitated by international travel to transform challenges into opportunities. Here, we highlight how this family-run coffee farm has (1) implemented agroecological methods, (2) harnessed economic benefits of processing organic coffee and developing innovative products from coffee fruits, and (3) examine psychological factors that have made these transformations possible. By examining the development of integrated coffee production from three distinct academic perspectives, we found that mental flexibility and receptiveness to new ideas, combined with an appreciation of sustainable, traditional practices and values, have spawned various beneficial agroecological practices. These ideas and practices were often initiated by interactions with visitors to the farm, supporting the idea that globalization can foster sustainable food systems and promote collective ecological action through knowledge transfer and shared concern for local environments and communities. The mentality of embracing challenges as opportunities to invest in healthy soils and agroforestry and expand their business model by offering tours and varied products replicates ecological resilience attained through diversity.

Terrestrial ecosystems in Iceland have undergone tremendous alterations and degradation ever since the Norse first settled there in 870 C.E. Soon after recognizing the value of their land, the Norse tried to restore the damage they had done. Initial environmental protection efforts like these eventually gave way to a deep-rooted Icelandic environmentalism in the early 1900s that was both resolute and idealistic. A widespread ecological movement in the 1970s then later brought forth an ideological shift: calls for Icelandic environmental policy to be more heavily rooted in the sciences. Nevertheless, there are a number of nonscientific factors still contributing to the development of current land conservation policies and practices in Iceland. This article analyzes two case studies: The first considers the development of the 2004–2008 Nature Conservation Strategy of Iceland, while the second examines reforestation policy regarding nonnative Alaskan Nootka Lupin. Both cases speak to these nonscientific factors and how they are intrinsically embedded in environmental policy development in Iceland. These factors include the issues of conceptual clarity (or lack thereof), aesthetic values, conflicting interests, and personal values. Anthropogenically induced environmental impacts have been continually and increasingly felt all across the globe. This case study is therefore not only timely, but it also exemplifies how environmental policy may be developed in responses to these impacts.

Fisheries management is both an ecological and a social venture. After all, to achieve sustainable fish stocks, fisheries managers must gain the compliance, if not cooperation, of industry stakeholders. In New England (United States), this process is further complicated by sociocultural and political institutions around individual choice and mistrust of government. These challenges have been especially evident during Donald Trump’s candidacy and presidential administration, since a significant part of his political appeal is based on anti-government, anti-elite, and individualist ideologies. At the same time, a number of fishing communities in New England have side-stepped mistrust of the government and science through the creation of bridge organizations that connect industry stakeholders directly to sustainable practices. This article explores both the particular challenges posed by American norms around governance and individualism and the success of bridge organizations in overcoming the sustainability limitations set by those norms. Based on interviews with fisheries stakeholders like Ole, Stevie, and Jim (conducted between 2015 and 2019), this research explores identity built around individualism against the backdrop of the Trump administration and considers whether sustainability can once again be a part of what it means to be a “good fisherman” in New England. Ultimately, the paper contends that, in spite of deeply rooted norms around individualism and distrust of political and scientific authority, organizations that bridge fisheries stakeholders and fisheries managers can help to integrate sustainability practices into New England fishing communities.

Water scarcity commonly motivates managed aquifer recharge projects, but other factors can motivate recharge efforts, including in relatively water-rich areas. Surface water quality regulation has been a major driving force behind a large-scale recharge project in development in Virginia’s Coastal Plain region, where nutrient pollution from agricultural and urban sources has degraded the Chesapeake Bay’s ecosystems, leading state and federal regulators to require dischargers to reduce their nutrient contributions to the watershed over time. Hampton Roads Sanitation District is pursuing the Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow, an innovative, multi-benefit initiative designed to address both nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and regional groundwater overdraft in the Coastal Plain. When fully implemented, the initiative is expected to recharge approximately 100 million gallons per day of drinking-water quality, treated municipal wastewater into the Potomac Aquifer System through injection facilities located at five of the District’s wastewater treatment plants. As a result, the District expects to reduce its nutrient discharges from those plants by approximately 90%, enabling it to meet its own mandated nutrient limits while also generating nutrient credits that it can trade to other dischargers. Modeling suggests that the initiative will increase regional water pressure within the confined aquifer system, helping to combat groundwater overdraft and its negative impacts, including aquifer compaction and related land subsidence, falling water levels in wells, and saltwater intrusion. This case study provides insights into the influence of institutional context on managed aquifer recharge and on multi-benefit water resource projects more generally.

San Antonio Water Systems (SAWS) developed its H2Oaks aquifer storage and recovery project in response to pumping restrictions set on its primary source of water supply, the Edwards Aquifer. The H2Oaks project pumps water from the Edwards Aquifer during wet years and transports it to the H2Oaks project site, where it is injected into the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer for storage. Stored water is withdrawn to meet municipal demand when restrictions on Edwards Aquifer pumping are in place. Although created for the purpose of securing supplies for SAWS, the H2Oaks project became a centerpiece for regional water management. Storage is used during drought to mitigate impacts on pumping while ensuring minimum springflows needed to protect endangered species in the Edwards aquifer. Currently, the project stores over 176,000 acre-feet of water. This case study traces the development of the H2Oaks project from the passage of the Edwards Aquifer Act to the project’s current implementation. The H2Oaks project demonstrates the potential for groundwater recharge projects to store water as protection against drought conditions. It also demonstrates how storage by one entity can support water management needs across the broader community of water users.

The Heyborne Ponds Recharge Project is a multibenefit project that simultaneously seeks to promote wildlife conservation, to address threatened and endangered species recovery, to support recreation, and to facilitate water availability for agriculture. The project delivers water from the South Platte River to recharge ponds to provide habitat for migrating birds while concurrently providing a mechanism for water to infiltrate into the alluvial aquifer and return to the river at a later time. This temporal shift in the timing of flows in the river provides several benefits. Under Colorado law, groundwater users can pump out of priority only if they augment surface water flows. Further, Colorado has interstate commitments to augmenting downstream flows in the Platte River. Multiple-benefit projects such as Heyborne Ponds represent an untapped opportunity for diverse interests to work together in implementing managed aquifer recharge.

Decades of groundwater overuse in the Pajaro Valley have contributed to an estimated groundwater overdraft of 12,100 acre-feet per year (AFY) in the basin. In response, the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency adopted a pilot groundwater recharge program, called Recharge Net Metering (ReNeM). ReNeM encourages development of infiltration projects on private or public land by offering a rebate on groundwater pumping fees based on the net increase in infiltration. The rebate uses the following equation: Rebate = W 50 x (Inf tot − Inf inc ), where Inf inc is the incidental infiltration that would have occurred without the project, Inf tot is total measured infiltration, and W 50 represents the proportion (50%) of the pumping fee assessed to the landowner based on location. The goal of Pajaro Valley’s ReNeM pilot program is to infiltrate 1,000 AFY to the aquifer by creating and operating infiltration projects at multiple sites. This effort will help reduce groundwater overdraft and associated undesirable consequences (seawater intrusion, disconnection with surface water, and degradation to water quality). This case study analyzes the local conditions and institutions that make the ReNeM pilot program feasible, including previously established groundwater pumping fees, metered wells, and the existence of third-party certifiers able to verify the results of project sites. The ReNeM pilot has enabled increased recharge by creating new incentives that have drawn PV Water, landowners, and tenant farmers to develop recharge projects. The ReNeM pilot is the first and thus far only application of this approach, but the methods used by ReNeM may have potential applicability elsewhere. This potential will hinge on whether the pilot can prove the effectiveness of the rebate scheme and demonstrate measurable benefits in the Pajaro Valley.

For decades, the city of Albuquerque, NM, relied solely on groundwater for its municipal water supply. However, concerns about long-term sustainability of its local groundwater resources spurred the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (the Water Authority) to pursue a groundwater recharge project which could serve as a drought reserve for future municipal use. Aided by new favorable state groundwater recharge legislation and funding, the Water Authority developed the Bear Canyon Recharge Project. The project utilizes portions of the Water Authority’s Colorado River water that is unused in a given year, delivering the water to an unlined arroyo channel where it infiltrates into local aquifers. As the first groundwater recharge project successfully implemented in New Mexico, the Bear Canyon Recharge Project required significant local effort to navigate the institutional and regulatory necessities that arose in implementing an onstream recharge project. The project illustrates that state support can be necessary but not sufficient for local implementation of groundwater recharge and points the way for other water utilities in the state who may be looking to implement groundwater recharge projects.

The Arizona Water Banking Authority (AWBA) was established in 1996 to make full use of Arizona’s Colorado River entitlement. It aims to address groundwater depletion in central Arizona and to protect Colorado River water users against future shortages due to interannual variability in water availability. Each year, the AWBA pays the costs to deliver any of the state’s unused entitlement to Colorado River water into central and southern Arizona and to store that water underground. The AWBA stores water on behalf of Central Arizona Project municipal subcontractors, other mainstream municipal Colorado River water rights holders, and tribal entities. Through its interstate banking agreements, the AWBA can also store water on behalf of the states of Nevada and California. Water stored by the AWBA is accounted for using Arizona’s statutorily created system of long-term storage credits (LTSCs), which allow future pumping of stored water within the same hydrologic basin. During shortage conditions in the Lower Basin of the Colorado River, the AWBA will distribute the LTSCs, enabling recipients to pump groundwater that otherwise would not be permitted. In this way, the AWBA serves as a unique insurance mechanism against shortages for users of Colorado River water in Arizona and the Lower Basin. To date, the AWBA’s focus has been on storage, yet in the coming years, its activities will shift to recovery, and it will need to confront additional challenges associated with matching supplies with demands and limitations on water available for recharge.