Bridging scale-mismatch: Managing neglected anthropogenic stresses on environmental sustainability on the Tibet Plateau

Global plateau regions face intensifying anthropogenic activities, yet sustainability efforts are frequently constrained by uncertainties in stress assessment and mismatches between governance scales and environmental processes. To address this gap, we developed an integrated multi-source framework to assess anthropogenic stress, overcoming the limitations of traditional single-factor approaches. Empirical evidence from the Tibet Plateau indicates that although overall stress levels remain low, high-intensity stress exhibits notable clustering. This spatial heterogeneity is identified as the fundamental driver of governance scale mismatches. We further reveal compounded spatial and hierarchical mismatches between governance units and stressor distribution, evidenced by 48.6% of township units displaying stress levels that diverge from their aggregated county-level assessments. These mismatches are particularly acute in agro-pastoral areas and are further exacerbated by temporal mismatches driven by seasonal visits. Scenario simulations based on Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) indicate that current moderate policies are insufficient to curb rising stress. Conversely, a transformation to the strictest synergistic governance mode is required, which is projected to reduce anthropogenic stress by 50.5% on the plateau. Finally, we propose a novel plateau-adapted cross-scale synergistic governance paradigm, offering a pathway to strengthen regional resource and environmental sustainability while contributing to the global sustainability agenda. • A novel integrated framework quantifies multi-source anthropogenic stress on plateau sustainability. • Anthropogenic stress on the Tibet Plateau exhibits extreme spatial heterogeneity, triggering scale mismatches in environmental governance. • Inter-scale diagnostics identify agro-pastoral stressors as underestimated and maximally scale-sensitive. • Cross-scale synergistic governance reduces anthropogenic stress by 50.5%.