ICTA - Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals

The Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) is a multidisciplinary centre that promotes academic research and postgraduate education on environmental sciences. It aims to improve our understanding of global environmental change, and the nature and causes of environmental problems. In addition, it studies policies, strategies and technologies to foster a transition to a sustainable economic and societal model.

The ICTA-UAB addresses major global environmental and sustainability challenges related to anthropogenic climate and global change. Researchers at ICTA-UAB undertake advanced research in specific areas of environmental science, divided into three general areas, namely “Earth and life sciences”, “Social environmental sciences” and “Technology, environment and society”.

About the Unit of Excellence María de Maeztu ICTA-UAB is the only research centre in environmental sciences to be identified as a Unit of Excellence by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), the highest institutional recognition of scientific research in Spain.

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Latest additions:
2026-03-24
17:12
17 p, 2.1 MB From grains to berries : causes and consequences of crop portfolio changes in four mountain agroecosystems in the Iberian Peninsula / Benyei, Petra (Instituto de Economía, Geografía y Demografía) ; Aceituno Mata, Laura (Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid) ; Blanch-Ramirez, Joana (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Franco, Laura (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Levy, Laura (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Perdomo-Molina, Antonio (Universidad de La Laguna) ; Calvet Mir, Laura (Institut Metròpoli)
In the face of ongoing crop homogenization, preserving crop diversity is crucial for maximizing ecological interactions and reducing the risk of total crop failure. This study focuses on remote European mountain agroecosystems, where significant crop diversity reservoirs still exist. [...]
2025 - 10.1007/s10460-025-10726-z
Agriculture and human values, Vol. 42 (March 2025) , p. 1267-1283  
2026-03-24
16:12
16 p, 2.8 MB The operational municipal solid waste management policy focuses on identifying waste generation behavior across multiple levels in mega cities, a case study / Alimoradiyan, Hamed (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Hajinezhad, Ahmad (University of Tehran. Department of Renewable Energies and Environmental Engineering) ; Yousefi, Hossein (University of Tehran. Department of Renewable Energies and Environmental Engineering) ; Giampietro, Mario (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
The results of an effort to create a thorough framework that efficiently arranges and combines quantitative data characterizing the performance of Urban Waste Management Systems (UWMS) across a range of scales and dimensions are presented in this study. [...]
2025 - 10.1007/s43621-025-01685-w
Discover Sustainability, Vol. 6 (2025) , art. 750  
2026-03-23
21:12
12 p, 1.1 MB Practical and Ethical Issues in Big Data and Machine Learning Forecasts of Zambian Community Forestry Engagement / Pienkowski, Thomas (University of Kent. Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology) ; Mills, Morena (Imperial College London. Centre for Environmental Policy) ; Clark, Matt (Imperial College London. Centre for Environmental Policy) ; Moombe, Kaala (The Center for International Forestry Research (Zambia)) ; Chilufya, Henry (Independent (Zambia)) ; Sfyridis, Alexandros (Imperial College London. Centre for Environmental Policy) ; Sze, Jocelyne Shimin (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Olsson, Erik (Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science. Conservation International (US)) ; Jørgensen, Andreas Christ Sølvsten (Imperial College London. Department of Mathematics)
Approaches integrating geospatial "big data" and machine learning will likely be increasingly used to predict conservation-related human behavior, such as patterns of local engagement, in socioecological systems. [...]
2026 - 10.1111/con4.70022
Conservation letters, Vol. 19, Num. 2 (March-April 2026) , art. e70022  
2026-03-23
18:14
18 p, 5.6 MB Where have all the farmers gone? Spatial-temporal transformations of peri-urban agriculture in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona / Langemeyer, Johannes (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciències de la Computació) ; Gervasi, Gabriele (Università degli Studi di Siena) ; Ventura, Sergi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Villalba, Gara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Urban expansion exerts pressure on peri-urban agriculture, leading to the displacement of agricultural activities and a loss of local food provision and vital ecosystem services. This study examines the spatial-temporal transformations of peri-urban agriculture in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, a region that has experienced significant agricultural decline in recent decades. [...]
2026 - 10.5751/ES-16730-310135
Ecology and society, Vol. 31, Num. 1 (March 2026) , art. 35  
2026-03-24
17:12
1 p, 243.9 KB Corrigendum to "Unlearning through spirituality : Mongolian and Western animistic traditions as pathways to enhance sustainability / Segura, Jesse (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Gerber, Julien-Francois (Erasmus University Rotterdam) ; Sekulova, Filka Tsvetkova (Universitat de Barcelona)
The authors regret that the citation Dovchin, S. , 2024. Mining, multilingualism and marginalization in Inner Mongolia. J. Socioling. 28 (1), 45-63. is the incorrect citation, and it should be Dovchin, U. [...]
2026 - 10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104350
Environmental Science & Policy, Vol. 177 (March 2026) , art. 104350  
2026-03-23
17:12
14 p, 10.3 MB Species-specific differential dissolution morphology of selected coccolithophore species : an experimental study / Langer, Gerald (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Probert, Ian (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Sorbonne University) ; Young, Jeremy R. (University College London) ; Ziveri, Patrizia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Coccolith dissolution in the water column is an important process in the marine carbon cycle. Identifying dissolution in water column samples has been difficult due to a lack of experimental reference datasets showing dissolution morphologies. [...]
2026 - 10.5194/bg-23-1795-2026
Biogeosciences, Vol. 23, Num. 5 (March 2026) , p. 1795-1808  
2026-03-20
16:12
15 p, 4.7 MB "Made in Germany"? : Labour, wages and carbon footprints of consumption and production of the motor vehicles industry / Pérez-Sánchez, Laura (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Aguilar-Hernandez, Glenn A. (Leiden University)
Production is fragmented in global production networks, and consumption relies on global markets. Their impacts and profits are unevenly distributed in the international division of labour. Such complexity and entanglement call for footprint approaches that capture these regional and sectoral distributions. [...]
2026 - 10.1016/j.spc.2026.02.011
Sustainable Production and Consumption, Vol. 65 (June 2026) , p. 16-30  
2026-03-19
19:12
11 p, 3.6 MB Visitor perceptions and motivations as drivers of cultural ecosystem services in urban forests : A case study from Helsinki, Finland / Wang, Yuan (University of Helsinki. Department of Environmental Sciences) ; Vierikko, Kati Hannele (Finnish Environment Institute (Helsinki, Finlàndia)) ; Langemeyer, Johannes (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Lehtimäki, Jenni (Finnish Environment Institute (Helsinki, Finlàndia)) ; Johan Kotze, D. (University of Helsinki. Department of Environmental Sciences) ; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciències de la Computació
Cultural Ecosystem Services are gaining increasing attention as motivators for nature conservation and environmental stewardship. However, most assessments focus on tangible, easily measured aspects such as recreation, while more intangible CES-like inspiration, spirituality, or sense of place-and their underlying drivers remain poorly understood. [...]
2026 - 10.1016/j.ecoser.2026.101817
Ecosystem services, Vol. 78 (April 2026) , art. 101817  
2026-03-18
16:12
10 p, 1.1 MB Leveraging circular nutrients to improve the sustainability of peri-urban agriculture / Mendoza Beltran, Angelica (Sphera Solutions GmbH) ; Toboso-Chavero, Susana (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Arosemena Polo, Juan David (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Romero Lestido, Adriana Lucia (Cetaqua Barcelona) ; Villalba, Gara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Agriculture in the urban periphery (peri-UA) can potentially reduce its environmental impact through nutrient recovery from municipal solid and water waste, promoting local crops and displacing some dependency on imports. [...]
2026 - 10.1038/s42949-025-00333-6
npj Urban Sustainability, Vol. 6 (January 2026) , art. 27  
2026-03-18
18:12
12 p, 3.6 MB Climate change, extractivist infrastructure and environmental conflicts at the Northern Sea-Polar Silk Road intersection / Hanacek, Ksenija (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Apostolopoulou, Evangelia (Imperial College London) ; Kröger, Markus (University of Helsinki) ; Banerji, Sujai (University of Helsinki) ; Dunlap, Alexander (Boston University) ; Landau, Arielle (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Martínez Alier, Joan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals) ; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals
This study employs a political ecology lens to analyze the interconnections between extractive and infrastructural developments, reported climate change impacts and the experiences of affected communities in socio-environmental conflicts along the Northern Sea-Polar Silk Road. [...]
2026 - 10.1016/j.erss.2026.104600
Energy research & social science, Vol. 133 (March 2026) , art. 104600  
Focus on:
The Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (56)
Environmental and Climate Economics (ECE) (89)
Integrated Assessment: Sociology, Technology and the Environment (IASTE) (65)
Integrated Earth System Dynamics Laboratory (IESD) (27)
Observatori de la Tordera (15)
Sustainability and Environmental Protection (Sostenipra) (151)