The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 13 letter word DEFORESTATION
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
D
E
F
O
R
E
S
T
A
T
I
O
N
More clues leading to the result DEFORESTATION
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "environmental change//" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case environmental change// = deforestation.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does DEFORESTATION mean?
DEFORESTATION noun- The process of destroying a forest and replacing it with something else, especially with an agricultural system.
- A transformation to eliminate intermediate data structures within a program.