| 1. |
- Alfredsson, Eva, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
-
Why achieving the Paris Agreement requires reduced overall consumption and production
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Sustainability. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1548-7733. ; 14
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Technological solutions to the challenge of dangerous climate change are urgent and necessary but to be effective they need to be accompanied by reductions in the total level of consumption and production of goods and services. This is for three reasons. First, private consumption and its associated production are among the key drivers of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, especially among highly emitting industrialized economies. There is no evidence that decoupling of the economy from GHG emissions is possible at the scale and speed needed. Second, investments in more sustainable infrastructure, including renewable energy, needed in coming decades will require extensive amounts of energy, largely from fossil sources, which will use up a significant share of the two-degree carbon budget. Third, improving the standard of living of the world’s poor will consume a major portion of the available carbon allowance. The scholarly community has a responsibility to put the issue of consumption and the associated production on the research and policy agenda.
|
|
| 2. |
- Luederitz, Christopher, et al.
(författare)
-
Learning through Evaluation: A Tentative Evaluative Scheme for Sustainability Transition Experiments
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - 0959-6526. ; 169, s. 61-76
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transitions towards sustainability are urgently needed to address the interconnected challenges of economic development, ecological integrity, and social justice, from local to global scales. Around the world, collaborative science-society initiatives are forming to conduct experiments in support of sustainability transitions. Such experiments, if carefully designed, provide significant learning opportunities for making progress on transition efforts. Yet, there is no broadly applicable evaluative scheme available to capture this critical information across a large number of cases, and to guide the design of transition experiments. To address this gap, the article develops such a scheme, in a tentative form, drawing on evaluative research and sustainability transitions scholarship, alongside insights from empirical cases. We critically discuss the scheme's key features of being generic, comprehensive, operational, and formative. Furthermore, we invite scholars and practitioners to apply, reflect and further develop the proposed tentative scheme – making evaluation and experiments objects of learning.
|
|
| 3. |
- Svenfelt, Åsa, 1968-
(författare)
-
Two strategies for dealing with uncertainty in social-ecological systems
- 2010
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The scale of environmental problems is increasing. Globalisation and trade haveweakened the links between the ecosystems in which goods are produced and thecommunities in which they are consumed. This, combined with variability anddynamics in ecological and social systems, means that there are great uncertaintiesabout production conditions and about the impact on humans and theenvironment of decisions made at different levels in society. In order to achievesustainable management of ecosystems, more knowledge is needed when possible.In other cases, strategies for dealing with the uncertainties are needed. This thesis,in which ecological and social systems are regarded as integrated, analyses twostrategies for dealing with uncertainties in such social-ecological systems andthereby improving the potential for sustainable management of these systems.The strategies are i) Using futures studies as a method and ii) creating a tighterfeedback loop between society and ecosystems.Of the five studies included in this thesis, Papers I and II explore possibilities toreduce uncertainties through better feedback between ecosystems and society in aglobalised food system. A tighter feedback loop between society and ecosystemscould increase the potential of society to detect negative environmental impacts ofdifferent activities, respond to such signals (feedback) and make changes thatreduce the negative consequences. Papers III, IV and V develop methods andanalyse the use of futures studies as a tool for managing uncertainty inenvironmental policy processes, specifically the Swedish environmental qualityobjectives. It is difficult and sometimes impossible to predict future developmentsand there are also uncertainties because social-ecological systems are constantlychanging, sometimes in unexpected ways. In addition, the apparently most likelydevelopments may not be the most desirable. Futures studies are used in PapersIII-V to deal with these types of uncertainties. Within the context of these futuresstudies, methods for working together with stakeholders to identify actions andchanges needed to achieve environmental goals are also developed and tested.The results show that the potential exists to reduce certain types of uncertainty byreducing the distance between production and consumption (through localisedfood systems and institutions which transmit feedback). Another conclusion isthat a local food market (farmers’ market), which represents a direct link betweenproduction and consumption, could reduce a sense of uncertainty aboutproduction conditions for individual consumers, through the establishment oftrust in their relationship with the producer. However, only a few examples ofincreased ecological knowledge or increased knowledge about productionconditions were found among these consumers. The results also show that futuresstudies were able to serve as a framework for analysing environmental policyprocesses (the environmental quality objectives), as they provide a long-termperspective and help manage uncertainty by increased knowledge of alternativeactions in relation to several possible developments. Futures studies as ananalytical tool can also help identify partnerships and stakeholders that arenecessary to promote change in order to achieve environmental goals.
|
|
