| 1. |
- Folke, Carl, et al.
(författare)
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Reconnecting to the biosphere
- 2011
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 40:7, s. 719-738
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere, with a significant imprint on the Earth System, challenging social-ecological resilience. This new situation calls for a fundamental shift in perspectives, world views, and institutions. Human development and progress must be reconnected to the capacity of the biosphere and essential ecosystem services to be sustained. Governance challenges include a highly interconnected and faster world, cascading social-ecological interactions and planetary boundaries that create vulnerabilities but also opportunities for social-ecological change and transformation. Tipping points and thresholds highlight the importance of understanding and managing resilience. New modes of flexible governance are emerging. A central challenge is to reconnect these efforts to the changing preconditions for societal development as active stewards of the Earth System. We suggest that the Millennium Development Goals need to be reframed in such a planetary stewardship context combined with a call for a new social contract on global sustainability. The ongoing mind shift in human relations with Earth and its boundaries provides exciting opportunities for societal development in collaboration with the biosphere-a global sustainability agenda for humanity.
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| 2. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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Can web crawlers revolutionize ecological monitoring?
- 2010
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Ingår i: Frontiers in ecology and the environment. - : Wiley. - 1540-9295. ; 8:2, s. 99-104
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite recent advances, ecosystem service monitoring is limited by insufficient data, the complexity of social–ecological systems, and poor integration of information that tracks changes in ecosystems and economic activities. However, new information and communication technologies are revolutionizing the generation of, and access to, such data. Can researchers who are interested in ecological monitoring tap into these increased flows of information by “mining” the internet to detect “early-warning” signs that may signal abrupt ecological changes? Here, we explore the possibility of using web crawlers and internet-based information to complement conventional ecological monitoring, with a special emphasis on the prospects for avoiding “late warnings”, that is, when ecosystems have already shifted to less desirable states. Using examples from coral reef ecosystems, we explore the untapped potential, as well as the limitations, of relying on web-based information to monitor ecosystem services and forewarn us of negative ecological shifts.
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| 3. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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Planetary Boundaries - Exploring the Challenges for Global Environmental Governance
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A range of studies from Earth system scientists argue that human activities drives multiple, interacting effects that cascade through the Earth system. Recent contributions state and quantify nine, interacting «planetary boundaries» with possible threshold effects. This article provides an overview of the Earth system governance challenges that follow from this notion of multiple, interacting and possibly non-linear «planetary boundaries». Here we discuss four interrelated global governance challenges, as well as some possible ways to address them in future research. The four identified challenges are related to 1) the interplay between Earth system science and global policies; 2) the capacity of international institutions to deal with individual planetary boundaries, as well as interactions between them; 3) the role of international organizations in dealing with planetary boundaries interactions; and 4) the role of Earth system governance in framing social-ecological innovations.
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| 4. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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'Planetary boundaries' - exploring the challenges for global environmental governance
- 2012
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Ingår i: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 1877-3435 .- 1877-3443. ; 4:1, s. 80-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A range of studies from Earth system scientists argue that human activities drive multiple, interacting effects that cascade through the Earth system. Recent contributions state and quantify nine, interacting 'planetary boundaries' with possible threshold effects. This article provides an overview of the global governance challenges that follow from this notion of multiple, interacting and possibly non-linear 'planetary boundaries'. Here we discuss four interrelated global environmental governance challenges, as well as some possible ways to address them. The four identified challenges are related to, first, the interplay between Earth system science and global policies, and the implications of differences in risk perceptions in defining these boundaries; second, the capacity of international institutions to deal with individual 'planetary boundaries', as well as interactions between them; third, the role of international organizations in dealing with 'planetary boundaries' interactions; and fourth, the role of global governance in framing social ecological innovations.
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| 5. |
- Galaz, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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Polycentric systems and interacting planetary boundaries : Emerging governance of climate change—ocean acidification—marine biodiversity
- 2012
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Ingår i: Ecological Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-8009 .- 1873-6106. ; 81, s. 21-32
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Planetary boundaries and their interactions pose severe challenges for global environmental governance due to their inherent uncertainties and complex multi-scale dynamics. Here we explore the global governance challenge posed by planetary boundaries interactions by focusing on the role of polycentric systems and order, a theoretical field that has gained much interest in the aftermath of claims of a stagnant UN-process. In the first part we work toward a clarification of polycentric order in an international context, and develop three propositions. We then present a case study of the emergence of international polycentricity to address interacting planetary boundaries, namely the climate change, ocean acidification and loss of marine biodiversity complex. This is done through a study of the Global Partnership on Climate, Fisheries and Aquaculture (PaCFA) initiative. As the case study indicates, a range of mechanisms of polycentric order (ranging from information sharing to coordinated action and conflict resolution) operates at the international level through the interplay between individuals, international organizations and their collaboration patterns. While polycentric coordination of this type certainly holds potential, it is also vulnerable to internal tensions, unreliable external flows of funding, and negative institutional interactions.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Westley, Frances, et al.
(författare)
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Tipping toward sustainability : emerging pathways of transformation
- 2011
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 40:7, s. 762-780
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores the links between agency, institutions, and innovation in navigating shifts and large-scale transformations toward global sustainability. Our central question is whether social and technical innovations can reverse the trends that are challenging critical thresholds and creating tipping points in the earth system, and if not, what conditions are necessary to escape the current lock-in. Large-scale transformations in information technology, nano-and biotechnology, and new energy systems have the potential to significantly improve our lives; but if, in framing them, our globalized society fails to consider the capacity of the biosphere, there is a risk that unsustainable development pathways may be reinforced. Current institutional arrangements, including the lack of incentives for the private sector to innovate for sustainability, and the lags inherent in the path dependent nature of innovation, contribute to lock-in, as does our incapacity to easily grasp the interactions implicit in complex problems, referred to here as the ingenuity gap. Nonetheless, promising social and technical innovations with potential to change unsustainable trajectories need to be nurtured and connected to broad institutional resources and responses. In parallel, institutional entrepreneurs can work to reduce the resilience of dominant institutional systems and position viable shadow alternatives and niche regimes.
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