World Solve

Seagrass meadows are highly effective at storing carbon and supporting marine life, but they continue to decline due to pollution, dredging, and coastal development. Restoring them at a pace that matches their loss remains an unresolved challenge.

Bycatch, the unintentional capture of dolphins, sea turtles, and other non-target species in fishing gear, remains a significant driver of population decline for several marine species. Designing gear that fully prevents this remains technically unresolved.

Arctic wetlands store significant amounts of carbon that can be released as methane when they thaw, potentially creating a feedback loop that accelerates warming further. Preventing or slowing this release remains beyond current technological capability.

Biodegradable packaging alternatives exist but often don't yet match the protective qualities of traditional plastic needed to keep food safe and fresh for the same duration. Closing this performance gap remains an unresolved materials science challenge.

Sharks reproduce much more slowly than most fish, making their populations especially vulnerable to overfishing and slow to recover even after protective measures are introduced. Enforcing sustainable limits globally remains an unresolved challenge.

As temperatures rise, alpine species are forced to migrate to higher elevations, but many eventually run out of mountain left to climb, risking extinction. Protecting these increasingly squeezed ecosystems remains an unresolved conservation priority.

Many e-waste recycling operations, particularly in lower-income countries, expose workers to toxic materials with inadequate safety protections. Making this growing industry both effective and safe for workers remains an unresolved labor and environmental issue.

Excess nitrogen from agricultural fertilizer washes into rivers and eventually the ocean, fueling algae blooms that deplete oxygen and create dead zones where marine life can't survive. Reducing this runoff while maintaining crop yields remains an unresolved balancing act.

Dams provide clean energy and water management benefits but can block the migration routes that many freshwater fish species depend on to reproduce. Designing infrastructure that serves both human and ecological needs remains an unresolved engineering challenge.

Aggressive logging can strip forest soil of the nutrients and structure it needs to regenerate tree cover, sometimes leading to long-term land degradation. Making logging practices consistently sustainable remains an unresolved global industry challenge.

As temperatures rise, mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects are expanding into regions that were previously too cold for them to survive, introducing new health and ecological risks. Tracking and responding to this shift remains an unresolved public health and conservation challenge.

Many reforestation projects plant fast-growing single species rather than rebuilding complex, biodiverse forest ecosystems, which limits their true ecological value. Making these projects genuinely restorative rather than just visually green remains an unresolved challenge.

Larger plastic debris eventually breaks down into microplastics that are ingested by marine life and can work their way up the food chain to humans. Preventing this breakdown process or removing microplastics at scale remains technically unresolved.

Certification programs for sustainable palm oil exist, but enforcement gaps still allow rainforest clearing to continue for new plantations in various producing regions. Making sustainability certification genuinely effective at preventing this remains unresolved.

River dolphins are highly sensitive to pollution and habitat disruption, and several populations have declined sharply as rivers become more polluted and fragmented by development. Reversing this decline remains an unresolved conservation priority.

River deltas provide fertile land for millions of people but are increasingly eroding due to upstream dam construction and rising sea levels reducing natural sediment replenishment. Protecting these critical, densely populated areas remains an unresolved challenge.

Heavy metal contamination can persist in soil for decades, affecting both agricultural productivity and human health in nearby communities. Effective, affordable soil remediation at scale remains an unresolved environmental challenge.

Many cities' stormwater systems combine sewage and rainwater runoff, and heavy storms can cause this combined overflow to discharge untreated into nearby waterways. Fully separating and managing this runoff remains a costly, unresolved infrastructure challenge.

Freshwater mussels play an important role in filtering water and supporting aquatic ecosystems, but they're highly sensitive to pollution and warming, and many populations are declining as a result. Protecting this often overlooked species remains an unresolved conservation issue.

Conventional cotton farming uses significant water and pesticides, and while more sustainable methods exist, they remain a small share of overall global production. Scaling sustainable practices to become the industry norm remains unresolved.