| 1. |
- Acosta García, Nicolas, 1986, et al.
(author)
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Disagreeing well in an unparadigmatic field: a response to Bodin (2021)
- 2023
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 18, s. 1049-1052
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In a recent opinion article, sustainability researcher Örjan Bodin claims that a shift leftward in sustainability science has rendered certain topics and research methods taboo, thus inhibiting the field’s ability to contribute to achieving Agenda 2030. In this response, we problematise Bodin’s framing of sustainability science, arguing he has misrepresented the field as “normal” rather than acknowledging its unparadigmatic character. It is precisely the unparadigmatic character of sustainability sciences (plural emphasised) that allows the field to begin addressing the wicked problems of our time. The question is then how to “disagree well” and assure quality in this unparadigmatic field.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Johnn, et al.
(author)
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Socio-techno-ecological transition dynamics in the re-territorialization of food production : the case of wild berries in Sweden
- 2024
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent geopolitical and economic crises underline the need for a European transition towards a more sustainable food system. Scholars and policymakers have called for a re-territorialization of food production to strike a better balance between local, regional and global value chains. This paper explores the role of re-territorialization through an analysis of the emergence, development and current transformation of the Swedish wild berry value chain. The analysis combines the multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions with a socio-techno-ecological system approach and draws on interviews, informal conversations, participant observations and a range of secondary sources. The resulting case narrative shows how processes of de-territorialization may result in regimes that fail to address sustainability potential and problems. It also highlights that processes of re-territorialization challenge established regimes by promoting niches that represent different, albeit complementary, value chain configurations. Apart from a rich empirical narrative that brings useful knowledge to stakeholders to the Swedish wild berry value chain, the paper contributes to the theoretical understanding re-territorialization, shows how the ecological dimension can be accounted for with the multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions and presents a number of general policy implications.
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| 3. |
- Angeler, David
(author)
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Panarchy theory for convergence
- 2023
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 18, s. 1667-1682
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Coping with surprise and uncertainty resulting from the emergence of undesired and unexpected novelty or the sudden reorganization of systems at multiple spatiotemporal scales requires both a scientific process that can incorporate diverse expertise and viewpoints, and a scientific framework that can account for the structure and dynamics of interacting social-ecological systems (SES) and the inherent uncertainty of what might emerge in the future. We argue that combining a convergence scientific process with a panarchy framework provides a pathway for improving our understanding of, and response to, emergence. Emergent phenomena are often unexpected (e.g., pandemics, regime shifts) and can be highly disruptive, so can pose a significant challenge to the development of sustainable and resilient SES. Convergence science is a new approach promoted by the U.S. National Science Foundation for tackling complex problems confronting humanity through the integration of multiple perspectives, expertise, methods, tools, and analytical approaches. Panarchy theory is a framework useful for studying emergence, because it characterizes complex systems of people and nature as dynamically organized and structured within and across scales of space and time. It accounts for the fundamental tenets of complex systems and explicitly grapples with emergence, including the emergence of novelty, and the emergent property of social-ecological resilience. We provide an overview of panarchy, convergence science, and emergence. We discuss the significant data and methodological challenges of using panarchy in a convergence approach to address emergent phenomena, as well as state-of-the-art methods for overcoming them. We present two examples that would benefit from such an approach: climate change and its impacts on social-ecological systems, and the relationships between infectious disease and social-ecological systems.
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| 4. |
- Arias Schreiber, Milena, 1965, et al.
(author)
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Swimming upstream: community economies for a different coastal rural development in Sweden
- 2020
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 15, s. 63-73
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- © 2019, The Author(s). The EU Blue Growth agenda is being implemented at a time when European coastal fisheries and traditional fishing communities are struggling to survive or have already vanished from areas where they used to flourish. Driven by the strong conviction that current disadvantaged and vulnerable coastal fishers still have a central role to play in rural development, local level initiatives are calling for a different future for this fishery sector. The participants in these initiatives insist that coastal fisheries should not be driven to extinction, despite their low economic profitability and thus minimal contribution to economic growth compared to large-scale enterprises. Through participatory observation and informal interviews, we investigate one of these local level initiatives on the Swedish Baltic Sea coast and analyse how it aligns with a community economies’ project based on a different economic perspective. We describe first the primary activities carried out by the initiative and follow by an examination on what drove it, how it has been maintained, and how it might spread. We conclude on the potentials of the community economies framework and project to advance a Blue degrowth agenda based on difference and not necessarily less.
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| 5. |
- Ayers, James, 1983-, et al.
(author)
-
Intrapersonal capacities for sustainability : a change agent perspective on the ‘inner dimension’ of sustainability work
- 2023
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 18:3, s. 1181-1197
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An ongoing discussion in education for sustainable development (ESD) research has focused on defining a list of agreed upon sustainability competencies required for the work of sustainability change agents. This discussion has included the consideration of an ‘Intrapersonal’ perspective that considers the role of inner qualities in change agents and how this impacts their ability to implement sustainability. While many researchers have looked at the ‘inner dimension’ of sustainability work, the identification and function of an ‘Intrapersonal’ competence remains in question. Utilizing practitioner responses, this paper identifies eight Intrapersonal capacities that change agents described as beneficial to their implementation of sustainability. These capacities are the ability to: Hold complexity, Foster a learner’s mindset, Deeply value others, Let be, Show up as one’s full self, Regulate and manage the self, Persist with lightness and Ensure one’s wellbeing. The study provides insights into the identification of the capacities and their relationship to a wider Intrapersonal research field. It also discusses the implications this perspective has on education for sustainable development should it consider incorporating such capacities into teaching and learning. While much literature in the field is of conceptual nature, this paper offers an empirical contribution by including the voice and perspective of change agents to the Intrapersonal discussion. © 2023, The Author(s).
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| 6. |
- Basnet, Shyam, et al.
(author)
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Organic agriculture in a low-emission world : exploring combined measures to deliver a sustainable food system in Sweden
- 2023
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 18:1, s. 501-519
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the EU, including Sweden, organic farming is seen as a promising pathway for sustainable production, protecting human health and animal welfare, and conserving the environment. Despite positive developments in recent decades, expanding organic farming to the Swedish national target of 30% of farmland under organic production remains challenging. In this study, we developed two scenarios to evaluate the role of organic farming in the broader context of Swedish food systems: (i) baseline trend scenario (Base), and (ii) sustainable food system scenario (Sust). Base describes a future where organic farming is implemented alongside the current consumption, production and waste patterns, while Sust describes a future where organic farming is implemented alongside a range of sustainable food system initiatives. These scenarios are coupled with several variants of organic area: (i) current 20% organic area, (ii) the national target of 30% organic area by 2030, and (iii) 50% organic area by 2050 for Sust. We applied the ‘FABLE (Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-use and Energy) Calculator’ to assess the evolution of the Swedish food system from 2000 to 2050 and evaluate land use, emissions and self-sufficiency impacts under these scenarios. Our findings show that expanding organic farming in the Base scenarios increases the use of cropland and agricultural emissions by 2050 compared to the 2010 reference year. However, cropland use and emissions are reduced in the Sust scenario, due to dietary changes, reduction of food waste and improved agricultural productivity. This implies that there is room for organic farming and the benefits it provides, e.g. the use of fewer inputs and improved animal welfare in a sustainable food system. However, changing towards organic agriculture is only of advantage when combined with transformative strategies to promote environmental sustainability across multiple sections, such as changed consumption, better production and food waste practices.
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| 7. |
- Bengtsson, Magnus, et al.
(author)
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Transforming systems of consumption and production for achieving the sustainable development goals : moving beyond efficiency
- 2018
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In: Sustainability Science. - : SPRINGER JAPAN KK. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 13:6, s. 1533-1547
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The United Nations formulated the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in 2015 as a comprehensive global policy framework for addressing the most pressing social and environmental challenges currently facing humanity. In this paper, we analyse SDG 12, which aims to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Despite long-standing political recognition of this objective, and ample scientific evidence both on its importance and on the efficacy of various ways of promoting it, the SDGs do not provide clear goals or effective guidance on how to accomplish this urgently needed transformation. Drawing from the growing body of research on sustainable consumption and production (SCP), the paper identifies two dominant vantage pointsone focused on promoting more efficient production methods and products (mainly through technological improvement and informed consumer choice) and the other stressing the need to consider also overall volumes of consumption, distributional issues, and related social and institutional changes. We label these two approaches efficiency and systemic. Research shows that while the efficiency approach contains essential elements of a transition to sustainability, it is by itself highly unlikely to bring about sustainable outcomes. Concomitantly, research also finds that volumes of consumption and production are closely associated with environmental impacts, indicating a need to curtail these volumes in ways that safeguard social sustainability, which is unlikely to be possible without a restructuring of existing socioeconomic arrangements. Analysing how these two perspectives are reflected in the SDGs framework, we find that in its current conception, it mainly relies on the efficiency approach. On the basis of this assessment, we conclude that the SDGs represent a partial and inadequate conceptualisation of SCP which will hamper implementation. Based on this determination, this paper provides some suggestions on how governments and other actors involved in SDGs operationalisation could more effectively pursue SCP from a systemic standpoint and use the transformation of systems of consumption and production as a lever for achieving multiple sustainability objectives.
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| 8. |
- Berg, Håkan, et al.
(author)
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Recognizing wetland ecosystem services for sustainable rice farming in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
- 2017
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 12:1, s. 137-154
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The increased rice production in the Mekong Delta during the last two decades has improved agricultural income and reduced poverty, but it has also had negative impacts on the environment and human health. This study shows that integrated rice-fish farming and integrated pest management strategies provide sustainable options to intensive rice farming, because of a more balanced use of multiple ecosystem services that benefit the farmers' health, economy and the environment. The study investigates and compares farming strategies among 40 rice and 20 rice-fish farmers in two locations in the Mekong Delta. Production costs and income are used to compare the systems' financial sustainability. The farmers' perception on how their farming practices influence on ecosystem services and their livelihoods are used as an indication of the systems' ecological and social sustainability. Although rice-fish farmers used lower amount of pesticides and fertilisers than rice farmers, there were no statistical differences in their rice yields or net income. Rice was seen as the most important ecosystem service from rice fields and related wetlands, but also several other ecosystem services, such as water quality, aquatic animals, plants, habitats, and natural enemies to pests, were seen as important to the farmers' livelihoods and wellbeing. All farmers perceived that there had been a general reduction in all these other ecosystem services, due to intensive rice farming during the last 15 years, and that they will continue to decline. The majority of the farmers were willing to reduce their rice yields slightly for an improved quality of the other ecosystem services.
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| 9. |
- Bergmann, Matthias, et al.
(author)
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Transdisciplinary sustainability research in real-world labs: success factors and methods for change
- 2021
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 16:2, s. 541-564
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The transdisciplinary research mode has gained prominence in the research on and for sustainability transformations. Yet, solution-oriented research addressing complex sustainability problems has become complex itself, with new transdisciplinary research formats being developed and tested for this purpose. Application of new formats offers learning potentials from experience. To this end, we accompanied fourteen research projects conceptualized as real-world labs (RwLs) from 2015 to 2018. RwLs were part of a funding program on ‘Science for Sustainability’ in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. Here, we combine conceptual and empirical work to a structured collection of experiences and provide a comprehensive account of RwLs. First, we outline characteristics of RwLs as transformation oriented, transdisciplinary research approach, using experiments, enabling learning and having a long-term orientation. Second, we outline eleven success factors and concrete design notes we gained through a survey of the 14 RwLs: (1) find the right balance between scientific and societal aims, (2) address the practitioners needs and restrictions, (3) make use of the experimentation concept, (4) actively communicate, (5) develop a ‘collaboration culture’, (6) be attached to concrete sites, (7) create lasting impact and transferability, (8) plan for sufficient time and financial means, (9) adaptability, (10) research-based learning, and (11) recognize dependency on external actors. Characteristics and success factors are combined to illustrate practical challenges in RwLs. Third, we show which methods could be used to cope with challenges in RwLs. We conclude discussing the state of debate on RwLs and outline future avenues of research.
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| 10. |
- Bitoun, R. E., et al.
(author)
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A methodological framework for capturing marine small-scale fisheries' contributions to the sustainable development goals
- 2024
-
In: SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 19, s. 1119-1137
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Small-scale fisheries (SSF) receive increasing international attention for landing around 40% of global marine fisheries catches and employing millions of people globally. Their contributions to food security and poverty alleviation, especially in developing countries, make it relevant to consider them when discussing sustainable development goals (SDGs). Achieving SDGs by supporting SSF means understanding fisheries in their broader context, from the health of marine ecosystems to social and economic features such as employment, public health, culture, and the effects of global change. Social-ecological relationships in SSF are complex and poorly understood, thus challenging the identification of policies that could improve and preserve the contributions of SSF to sustainable development. Here, we developed an expert-based rapid appraisal framework to identify and characterize the relationships between SSF and SDGs. The framework serves as a diagnostic tool for identifying strengths and gaps in SSF potential in enhancing SDG achievement in data-limited situations. Our structured approach extends beyond SDG 14 and target 14.b, offering insights into SSF's contributions to 11 other SDGs. As a proof of concept, we illustrate the approach and its potential contributions in two case studies in Madagascar. The method effectively captured the multiple dimensions of the SSF through the SDG lens, providing a contextually relevant understanding of how global UN goals can be achieved locally. Further research is needed to define mechanisms for aggregating and reporting the multiple, case-specific contributions of SSF to monitor progress toward the SDGs at national and global levels.
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| 11. |
- Boda, Chad
(author)
-
Values, science, and competing paradigms in sustainability research: furthering the conversation
- 2021
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Nature. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; :16
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sustainability science is fundamentally a problem-driven and solutions-oriented science which necessitates engagement with questions of interdisciplinarity and normativity. Nagatsu et al. (2020) recently investigated the significance of these peculiar characteristics and produce a useful and timely overview of the problems facing sustainability science, as a science. Perhaps the most crucial and crosscutting challenge they identify regards the need for researchers to justify the particular values guiding sustainability research. In the spirit of advancing Nagatsu et al.’s agenda for further developing the role of values in sustainability science, I argue two things. First, that there are in practice several active and competing approaches to dealing with the problem of normativity in sustainablity science that provide options to researchers. Second, that this unresolved tension at the core of sustainability science points to a more overarching problem, namely the need to more explicitly identify coherent, competing research paradigms within the field.
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| 12. |
- Bodin, Örjan
(author)
-
Has sustainability science turned left?
- 2021
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 16:6, s. 2151-2155
-
Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- As the urgent need for societies to steer towards sustainability is becoming increasingly apparent, sustainability science as a research community is facing difficult challenges successfully navigating the intensifying and often harsh political debates. An important line of conflict is (still) between the political left and right, although other conflicts are gaining increasing attention. As private corporations are stepping up their conservation agendas and non-governmental organizations are increasingly embracing market mechanisms to achieve healthier ecosystems, the scholarly community of sustainability science appears to be turning more to the political left. To navigate these entangled scientific and political landscapes, accomplishing constructive debates emphasizing the value of nurturing a broad spectra of viewpoints should be given higher priority in all forums where issues of sustainability are discussed.
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| 13. |
- Boonstra, Wiebren Johannes, et al.
(author)
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Human responses to social-ecological traps
- 2016
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 11:6, s. 877-889
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Social-ecological (SE) traps refer to persistent mismatches between the responses of people, or organisms, and their social and ecological conditions that are undesirable from a sustainability perspective. Until now, the occurrence of SE traps is primarily explained from a lack of adaptive capacity; not much attention is paid to other causal factors. In our article, we address this concern by theorizing the variety of human responses to SE traps and the effect of these responses on trap dynamics. Besides (adaptive) capacities, we theorize desires, abilities and opportunities as important additional drivers to explain the diversity of human responses to traps. Using these theoretical concepts, we construct a typology of human responses to SE traps, and illustrate its empirical relevance with three cases of SE traps: Swedish Baltic Sea fishery; amaXhosa rural livelihoods; and Pamir smallholder farming. We conclude with a discussion of how attention to the diversity in human response to SE traps may inform future academic research and planned interventions to prevent or dissolve SE traps.
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| 14. |
- Brent, Zoe W., et al.
(author)
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The Blue Fix : What's driving blue growth?
- 2020
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; , s. 31-43
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article explores the politics behind the promise of ‘blue growth’. Reframing it as a ‘blue fix’, we argue that the blue growth discourse facilitates new opportunities for capital accumulation, while claiming that this accumulation is compatible with social and ecological aims as well. The blue fix is made up of three underlying sub-fixes. First of all, the conservation fix quenches the social thirst for action in the face of climate change. Here we see how protecting marine areas can be an important part of mitigating climate change, but in practice, gains at the national level are overshadowed by the ongoing expansion of offshore drilling for oil and gas. Second, the protein fix satisfies the growing global demand for healthy food and nutrition through the expansion of capital-intensive large-scale aquaculture, while ignoring the negative socio-ecological impacts, which effectively squeeze small-scale capture fishing out, while industrial capture fishing remains well positioned to expand into as well as supply industrial aquaculture with fish feed from pelagic fish. And third, an energy fix offers a burst of wind energy and a splash of new deep-sea minerals without disturbing the familiar and persistent foundation of oil and gas. This dimension of the blue fix emphasizes the transition to wind and solar energy, but meanwhile the deep sea mining for minerals required by these new technologies launches us into unknown ecological territories with little understood consequences. The synergy of these three elements brought together in a reframing of ocean politics manifests as a balancing act to frame blue growth as ‘sustainable’ and in everyone’s interest, which we critically analyze and discuss in this article.
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| 15. |
- Brink, Ebba, et al.
(author)
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On the road to research municipalities : Analysing transdisciplinarity in municipal ecosystem services and adaptation planning
- 2018
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 13:3, s. 765-784
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Transdisciplinary research and collaboration is widely acknowledged as a critical success factor for solution- oriented approaches that can tackle complex sustainability challenges, such as biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate-related hazards. In this context, city governments’ engagement in transdisciplinarity is generally seen as a key condition for societal transformation towards sustainability. However, empirical evidence is rare. This paper presents a self-assessment of a joint research project on ecosystem services and climate adaptation planning (ECOSIMP) undertaken by four universities and seven Swedish municipalities. We apply a set of design principles and guiding questions for transdisciplinary sustainability projects and, on this basis, identify key aspects for supporting university–municipality collaboration. We show that: (1) selecting the number and type of project stakeholders requires more explicit consideration of the purpose of societal actors’ participation; (2) concrete, interim benefits for participating practitioners and organisations need to be continuously discussed; (3) promoting the ‘inter’, i.e., interdisciplinary and inter-city learning, can support transdisciplinarity and, ultimately, urban sustainability and long-term change. In this context, we found that design principles for transdisciplinarity have the potential to (4) mitigate project shortcomings, even when transdisciplinarity is not an explicit aim, and (5) address differences and allow new voices to be heard. We propose additional guiding questions to address shortcomings and inspire reflexivity in transdisciplinary projects.
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| 16. |
- Brossmann, Johannes, et al.
(author)
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Living degrowth? Investigating degrowth practices through performative methods
- 2020
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 15:3, s. 917-930
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Degrowth scholarship argues for multi-scalar transformations beyond the growth-oriented economic paradigm to achieve long-term socio-ecological sustainability. While the literature on degrowth has grown substantially, little has been said about how these transformations are understood in practice. By drawing upon practice theory and using performative methods, this paper explores the ways in which degrowth scholars and practitioners experience and understand degrowth. It provides a preliminary account of living degrowth by portraying a diverse range of interrelated practices grouped in five spheres: (1) rethinking society, (2) acting political, (3) creating alternatives, (4) fostering connections, and (5) unveiling the self. Drawing upon the spheres of practices, we conceptualize living degrowth as an endeavour that aims to transform current problems into imagined futures in multiple realms. The practices of living degrowth are concerned with theoretical, political, material, economical, social and personal dimensions of world and life. This points to the importance for sustainability science to investigate and foster transformations in all domains and at all levels, reaching from the outer to the inner and vice versa.
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| 17. |
- Bryant, Jayne, et al.
(author)
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Learning as a key leverage point for sustainability transformations : a case study of a local government in Perth, Western Australia
- 2021
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 16:3, s. 795-807
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper presents a case study about embedding sustainability into a local government in Perth, Western Australia, through the introduction of a sustainability policy and the accompanying education and culture change program. This longitudinal case study describes the approach and impact of the program initiated and delivered by internal officers between 2011 and 2016. The use of personal experience, document review and staff interviews present an ethnography of a bureaucracy that casts some light upon the seldom seen inner workings of a local government organisation as it introduced a sustainability program over a period of more than 5 years. The case study provides evidence of the potential power of learning as a key leverage point for transformational sustainability change.
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| 18. |
- Butz, Christoph, et al.
(author)
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Towards defining an environmental investment universe within planetary boundaries
- 2018
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 13:4, s. 1031-1044
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Science is increasingly able to identify precautionary boundaries for critical Earth system processes, and the business world provides societies with important means for adaptive responses to global environmental risks. In turn, investors provide vital leverage on companies. Here, we report on our transdisciplinary science/business experience in applying the planetary boundaries framework (sensu Rockstrom et al., Ecol Soc 14, 2009) to define a boundary-compatible investment universe and analyse the environmental compatibility of companies. We translate the planetary boundaries into limits for resource use and emissions per unit of economic value creation, using indicators from the Carnegie Mellon University EIO-LCA database. The resulting precautionary 'economic intensities' can be compared with the current levels of companies' environmental impact. This necessarily involves simplifying assumptions, for which dialogue between biophysical science, corporate sustainability and investment perspectives is needed. The simplifications mean that our translation is transparent from both biophysical and financial viewpoints, and allow our approach to be responsive to future developments in scientific insights about planetary boundaries. Our approach enables both sub-industries and individual companies to be screened against the planetary boundaries. Our preliminary application of this screening to the entire background universe of all investable stock-listed companies gives a selectivity of two orders of magnitude for an investment universe of environmentally attractive stocks. We discuss implications for an expanded role of environmental change science in the development of thematic equity funds.
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| 19. |
- Böhme, Jessica, et al.
(author)
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Sustainable lifestyles: towards a relational approach
- 2022
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 17:5, s. 2063-2076
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The concept of sustainable lifestyles is said to have reached the limits of its usefulness. As commonly understood, it impedes an effective response to our increasingly complex world, and the associated societal challenges. In this context, the emerging paradigm of relationality might offer a way forward to renew our current understanding and approach. We explore this possibility in this study. First, we systematize if, and how, the current dominant social paradigm represents a barrier to sustainable lifestyles. Second, we analyze how a relational approach could help to overcome these barriers. On the basis of our findings, we develop a Relational Lifestyle Framework (RLF). Our aim is to advance the current knowledge by illustrating how sustainable lifestyles are a manifestation of identified patterns of thinking, being, and acting that are embedded in today’s “socioecological” realities. The RLF revitalizes the field of sustainable lifestyle change, as it offers a new understanding for further reflection, and provides new directions for policy and transformation research.
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| 20. |
- Care, O., et al.
(author)
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Creating leadership collectives for sustainability transformations
- 2021
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 16:2, s. 703-708
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Enduring sustainability challenges requires a new model of collective leadership that embraces critical reflection, inclusivity and care. Leadership collectives can support a move in academia from metrics to merits, from a focus on career to care, and enact a shift from disciplinary to inter- and trans-disciplinary research. Academic organisations need to reorient their training programs, work ethics and reward systems to encourage collective excellence and to allow space for future leaders to develop and enact a radically re-imagined vision of how to lead as a collective with care for people and the planet.
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| 21. |
- Collste, David, et al.
(author)
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Policy coherence to achieve the SDGs : using integrated simulation models to assess effective policies
- 2017
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 12:6, s. 921-931
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Coherently addressing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals requires planning tools that guide policy makers. Given the integrative nature of the SDGs, we believe that integrative modelling techniques are especially useful for this purpose. In this paper, we present and demonstrate the use of the new System Dynamics based iSDG family of models. We use a national model for Tanzania to analyse impacts of substantial investments in photovoltaic capacity. Our focus is on the impacts on three SDGs: SDG 3 on healthy lives and well-being, SDG 4 on education, and SDG 7 on energy. In our simulations, the investments in photovoltaics positively affect life expectancy, years of schooling and access to electricity. More importantly, the progress on these dimensions synergizes and leads to broader system-wide impacts. While this one national example illustrates the anticipated impact of an intervention in one specific area on several SDGs, the iSDG model can be used to support similar analyses for policies related to all the 17 SDGs, both individually and concurrently. We believe that integrated models such as the iSDG model can bring interlinks to the forefront and facilitate a shift to a discussion on development grounded in systems thinking.
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| 22. |
- Constantino, S. M., et al.
(author)
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Cognition and behavior in context : a framework and theories to explain natural resource use decisions in social-ecological systems
- 2021
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; :16, s. 1651-1671
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The complex, context-dependent, and dynamic nature of human behavior is increasingly recognized as both an important cause of sustainability problems and potential leverage for their solution. Human beings are diverse, as are the social, ecological, and institutional settings in which they are embedded. Despite this recognition and extensive knowledge about human decision-making in the behavioral sciences, empirical analysis, formal models, and decision support for sustainability policy in natural resource management often either neglect human behavior or are based on narrow and overly simplistic assumptions. Integrating insights from behavioral sciences into sustainability research and policy remains a challenge. This is in part due to the abundance and fragmentation of theories across the social sciences and in part the challenges of translating research across disciplines. We provide a set of tools to support the integration of knowledge about human behavior into empirical and model-based sustainability research. In particular, we (i) develop a process-oriented framework of embedded human cognition (Human Behavior-Cognition in Context or HuB-CC), (ii) select an initial set of 31 theories with the potential to illuminate behavior in natural resource contexts and map them onto the framework, and (iii) suggest pathways for using the framework and mapping to encourage trans-disciplinary investigations, identify and compare theories, and facilitate their integration into empirical research, formal models, and ultimately policy and governance for sustainability. Our theory selection, framework, and mapping offer a foundation—a “living” platform—upon which future collaborative efforts can build to create a resource for scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of social sciences and natural resource management.
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| 23. |
- Cooke, Benjamin, et al.
(author)
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Dwelling in the biosphere : exploring an embodied human-environment connection in resilience thinking
- 2016
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 11:5, s. 831-843
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Resilience has emerged as a prominent paradigm for interpreting and shaping human-environment connections in the context of global environmental change. Resilience emphasizes dynamic spatial and temporal change in social-ecological systems where humans are inextricably interwoven with the environment. While influential, resilience thinking has been critiqued for an under-theorized framing of socio-cultural dynamics. In this paper, we examine how the resilience concepts of planetary boundaries and reconnecting to the biosphere frame human-environment connection in terms of mental representations and biophysical realities. We argue that focusing solely on mental reconnection limits further integration between the social and the ecological, thus countering a foundational commitment in resilience thinking to social-ecological interconnectedness. To address this susceptibility we use Tim Ingold's 'dwelling perspective' to outline an embodied form of human-environment (re)connection. Through dwelling, connections are not solely produced in the mind, but through the ongoing interactivity of mind, body and environment through time. Using this perspective, we position the biosphere as an assemblage that is constantly in the making through the active cohabitation of humans and nonhumans. To illustrate insights that may emerge from this perspective we bring an embodied connection to earth stewardship, given its growing popularity for forging local to global sustainability transformations.
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| 24. |
- Dijk, M., et al.
(author)
-
Sustainability assessment as problem structuring: three typical ways
- 2017
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 12:2, s. 305-317
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sustainability assessment (SA) is an increasingly popular term referring to a broad range of approaches to align decision-making with the principles of sustainability. Nevertheless, in public and private sectors sustainability results are still disappointing, and this paper reflects on this problem and proposes a way forward. We argue that, because sustainability issues are generally wicked problems (i.e. a ‘complex of interconnected factors in a pluralistic context’), effective assessments need to be reflexive about the definition of the issue and about the criteria for sustainable solutions. Based on a distinction of policy problems, we characterize SA as a form of problem structuring, and we distinguish three typical ways of problem structuring, corresponding to three different ways of integrating reflexivity in the assessment. We illustrate these routes in three examples. We discuss the way reflexivity is integrated in each example by discussing the mix of methods, SA process and epistemological balance. Rather than merely calling for more st akeholder participation, our aim is to call for more reflexivity integrated into the SA approach, and we conclude by proposing a process map for reflexive sustainability assessment to support this.
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| 25. |
- Dornelles, André Zuanazzi, et al.
(author)
-
Transformation archetypes in global food systems
- 2022
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 17:5, s. 1827-1840
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Food systems are primary drivers of human and environmental health, but the understanding of their diverse and dynamic co-transformation remains limited. We use a data-driven approach to disentangle different development pathways of national food systems (i.e. ‘transformation archetypes’) based on historical, intertwined trends of food system structure (agricultural inputs and outputs and food trade), and social and environmental outcomes (malnutrition, biosphere integrity, and greenhouse gases emissions) for 161 countries, from 1995 to 2015. We found that whilst agricultural total factor productivity has consistently increased globally, a closer analysis suggests a typology of three transformation archetypes across countries: rapidly expansionist, expansionist, and consolidative. Expansionist and rapidly expansionist archetypes increased in agricultural area, synthetic fertilizer use, and gross agricultural output, which was accompanied by malnutrition, environmental pressures, and lasting socioeconomic disadvantages. The lowest rates of change in key structure metrics were found in the consolidative archetype. Across all transformation archetypes, agricultural greenhouse gases emissions, synthetic fertilizer use, and ecological footprint of consumption increased faster than the expansion of agricultural area, and obesity levels increased more rapidly than undernourishment decreased. The persistence of these unsustainable trajectories occurred independently of improvements in productivity. Our results underscore the importance of quantifying the multiple human and environmental dimensions of food systems transformations and can serve as a starting point to identify potential leverage points for sustainability transformations. More attention is thus warranted to alternative development pathways able of delivering equitable benefits to both productivity and to human and environmental health.
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| 26. |
- Eliasson, Karin, 1984-, et al.
(author)
-
Transformations towards sustainable food systems: contrasting Swedish practitioner perspectives with the European Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy
- 2022
-
In: Sustainability Science. - Tokyo, Japan : Springer. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 17, s. 2411-2425
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study explores features of food system transformations towards sustainability in the Farm to Fork Strategy in relation toperspectives of Swedish food system practitioners. Transformations towards sustainable food systems are essential to achievethe United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and the need for more sustainable food systems has been recognised in the European GreenDeal and its Farm to Fork Strategy. The Swedish ambition to act as a global leader in achieving the 2030 Agenda and theEuropean Commission’s aspiration for Europe to lead global food system transformations offer a critical opportunity to studytransformational processes and agents of change in a high-income region with externalised environmental and sustainabilityimpacts. Drawing on theories of complex systems transformations, this study identifies features of food system transformations,exploring places to intervene and examines the roles, responsibilities, and agency related to these changes. The resultsof this study provide three main conclusions highlighting (i) alignment of high-level policy and the perspectives of nationalpractitioners at the paradigm level, especially concerning how food is valued, which is a crucial first step for transformationalprocesses to come about (ii) a lack of clarity as well as diversity of pathways to transform food systems although commonobjectives are expressed, and (iii) governance mechanisms as enablers for a diversity of transformations. Moreover, theseprocesses must acknowledge the contextual and complex nature of food systems and the level of agency and power of actors.
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| 27. |
- Elmqvist, Thomas, et al.
(author)
-
Urban tinkering
- 2018
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 13:6, s. 1549-1564
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cities are currently experiencing serious, multifaceted impacts from global environmental change, especially climate change, and the degree to which they will need to cope with and adapt to such challenges will continue to increase. A complex systems approach inspired by evolutionary theory can inform strategies for policies and interventions to deal with growing urban vulnerabilities. Such an approach would guide the design of new (and redesign of existing) urban structures, while promoting innovative integration of grey, green and blue infrastructure in service of environmental and health objectives. Moreover, it would contribute to more flexible, effective policies for urban management and the use of urban space. Four decades ago, in a seminal paper in Science, the French evolutionary biologist and philosopher Francois Jacob noted that evolution differs significantly in its characteristic modes of action from processes that are designed and engineered de novo (Jacob in Science 196(4295):1161-1166, 1977). He labeled the evolutionary process tinkering, recognizing its foundation in the modification and molding of existing traits and forms, with occasional dramatic shifts in function in the context of changing conditions. This contrasts greatly with conventional engineering and design approaches that apply tailor-made materials and tools to achieve well-defined functions that are specified a priori. We here propose that urban tinkering is the application of evolutionary thinking to urban design, engineering, ecological restoration, management and governance. We define urban tinkering as:A mode of operation, encompassing policy, planning and management processes, that seeks to transform the use of existing and design of new urban systems in ways that diversify their functions, anticipate new uses and enhance adaptability, to better meet the social, economic and ecological needs of cities under conditions of deep uncertainty about the future.This approach has the potential to substantially complement and augment conventional urban development, replacing predictability, linearity and monofunctional design with anticipation of uncertainty and non-linearity and design for multiple, potentially shifting functions. Urban tinkering can function by promoting a diversity of small-scale urban experiments that, in aggregate, lead to large-scale often playful innovative solutions to the problems of sustainable development. Moreover, the tinkering approach is naturally suited to exploring multi-functional uses and approaches (e.g., bricolage) for new and existing urban structures and policies through collaborative engagement and analysis. It is thus well worth exploring as a means of delivering co-benefits for environment and human health and wellbeing. Indeed, urban tinkering has close ties to systems approaches, which often are recognized as critical to sustainable development. We believe this concept can help forge much-closer, much-needed ties among engineers, architects, evolutionary ecologists, health specialists, and numerous other urban stakeholders in developing innovative, widely beneficial solutions for society and contribute to successful implementation of SDG11 and the New Urban Agenda.
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| 28. |
- Enqvist, Johan, 1982-, et al.
(author)
-
Against the current : rewiring rigidity trap dynamics in urban water governance through civic engagement
- 2016
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 11:6, s. 919-933
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper investigates how the agency of local residents can affect persistent and unsustainable practices in urban water supply governance. Using a case study from Bangalore, India, we analyze a social-ecological trap which developed after a shift to external water provision paired with rapid urbanization. The reluctance of forsaking initial investments in infrastructure and competence, and the subsequent loss of the local network of lakes built for harvesting rainwater, reinforced dependence on external sources while undermining groundwater levels in the city. These feedbacks made water scarcity a structurally persistent feature of Bangalore. This situation started to change when local residents recently started organizing to preserve and restore Bangalore's lakes. By entering collaborative management agreements with municipal authorities, these lake groups have restored and established effective protection of five lakes. Through a case study of this civic engagement we show that the lake restorations have the potential to counteract trap mechanisms by restoring ecological functions, and by reducing water scarcity as groundwater levels rise and authorities are relieved from maintenance and monitoring tasks. Importantly, these lake groups have also created opportunities for over a dozen similar groups to form across the city. This demonstrates that social movements can be an important source of change in social-ecological traps.
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| 29. |
- Enqvist, Johan, 1982-, et al.
(author)
-
Sustainable water tariffs and inequality in post-drought Cape Town : exploring perceptions of fairness
- 2023
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 18:2, s. 891-905
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fair allocation of diminishing natural resources is increasingly central to sustainability. This includes the allocation of costs related to providing access, such as dams, pipes and pumps delivering clean water. Water tariffs are often designed to both recover these costs, meet social needs of water services to the poor, and incentivise conservation in dry times. However, strained public finances, prolonged droughts and economic inequality can undermine these goals and force prioritisations that many see as unfair. This happened in Cape Town, South Africa, during its 2015–2018 water crisis. This study investigates what residents in three different socioeconomic contexts view as fair water tariffs 1 year after the crisis. Using Q method, we describe five distinct perspectives on fairness: ‘the Insurer’, ‘the Individualist’, ’the Bureaucrat’, ‘the Humanitarian’, and ‘the Prepper’. These, we argue, can help distinguish between different ideas of what fairness implies, and what is required to promote it. We exemplify this by examining how viewpoints might have been shaped by specific communities’ experiences during and after the apartheid state’s discriminatory segregation policies. Using distributive, procedural and interactional interpretations of fairness, we discuss how the complex layers of poverty, inequality, mistrust, privilege and discrimination might produce different experiences and ideas of who should pay for and benefit from water services. Using these insights, we also reflect on the merits of tariffs that emphasise cost recovery and resource conservation over social needs, and the risks this poses for growing informal settlements in climate-stressed cities of the global South.
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| 30. |
- Essebo, Maja
(author)
-
Storying COVID-19 : fear, digitalisation, and the transformational potential of storytelling
- 2022
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; :17, s. 555-564
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Stories are being increasingly recognised for their potential as creators, not only depicters, of change. As such, they are receiving greater interest within sustainability science, not least in the approaches specifically focused on transformative processes of co-creation. But while highly powerful, stories are confined by both inherent and external frameworks that, if not acknowledged, limit their transformative potential. This paper addresses two such critical issues—fear and digitalisation—and discusses the ways in which they influence how and with what effects stories can be told. It uses the COVID-19 pandemic as illustration of storytelling processes and outlines some of the ways in which we can, and cannot, draw parallels between pandemic and climate change storytelling.
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| 31. |
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| 32. |
- Gabrielsson, Sara, et al.
(author)
-
Living without buffers-illustrating climate vulnerability in the Lake Victoria basin
- 2013
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 8:2, s. 143-157
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity are essential, albeit theoretically vague, components of climate vulnerability. This has triggered debate surrounding how these factors can be translated into, and understood in, an empirical context subject to present and future harm. In this article, which draws on extensive fieldwork in the Lake Victoria Basin of Kenya and Tanzania, we illustrate how exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity play out in the context of climate vulnerability and discuss how they interact in situ. Using a mixed methods approach including survey data, rainfall data and a suite of participatory methods, such as focus groups and interactive mapping of seasonal calendars, we identify how climate-induced stressors affect smallholder farmers' well-being and natural resources. Drawing on the seasonal calendar as a heuristic, and climate vulnerability terminology, we illustrate when, where and how these climate-induced stressors converge to constrain farmers' livelihoods. Our analysis indicates that farmers in the basin face a highly uncertain future with discernible, but differentiated, adaptation deficits due to recurring, and potentially worsening, patterns of hardship.
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| 33. |
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| 34. |
- Green, Jonathan M. H., et al.
(author)
-
Research priorities for managing the impacts and dependencies of business upon food, energy, water and the environment
- 2017
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 12:2, s. 319-331
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Delivering access to sufficient food, energy and water resources to ensure human wellbeing is a major concern for governments worldwide. However, it is crucial to account for the 'nexus' of interactions between these natural resources and the consequent implications for human wellbeing. The private sector has a critical role in driving positive change towards more sustainable nexus management and could reap considerable benefits from collaboration with researchers to devise solutions to some of the foremost sustainability challenges of today. Yet opportunities are missed because the private sector is rarely involved in the formulation of deliverable research priorities. We convened senior research scientists and influential business leaders to collaboratively identify the top forty questions that, if answered, would best help companies understand and manage their food-energy-water-environment nexus dependencies and impacts. Codification of the top order nexus themes highlighted research priorities around development of pragmatic yet credible tools that allow businesses to incorporate nexus interactions into their decision-making; demonstration of the business case for more sustainable nexus management; identification of the most effective levers for behaviour change; and understanding incentives or circumstances that allow individuals and businesses to take a leadership stance. Greater investment in the complex but productive relations between the private sector and research community will create deeper and more meaningful collaboration and cooperation.
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| 35. |
- Haga, Chihiro, et al.
(author)
-
Modeling desirable futures at local scale by combining the nature futures framework and multi-objective optimization
- 2023
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057.
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Envisioning positive scenarios that recognize the multiple values of nature is fundamental for designing transformative changes in local socio-ecological systems. This study developed a protocol with three specifications for operationalizing the Nature Futures Framework (NFF) in a landscape scenario analysis using a multi-objective optimization framework composed of: (1) exploring nature-positive futures, (2) seeking alternative pathways for targets satisfying visions of plural values, and (3) screening key direct drivers to achieve the targets. This research conducted a case study of a rural landscape in northeastern Japan. First, 110 strategies of landscape management options were simulated from 2015 to 2100 using a forest landscape model, LANDIS-II. The simulation developed a data frame of four integrated indicators of the NFF values for each year and strategy. Second, nature-positive strategies were screened using the common values. Pareto optimal strategies were then identified to obtain equally good solutions. Finally, the key response options to achieve good nature-positive futures were identified using decision tree analysis. Our protocol identified (1) multiple, but few nature-positive and Pareto optimal strategies that satisfied NFF visions, (2) nature-positive, but not Pareto optimal strategies, and (3) non-nature-positive strategies. In most Pareto optimal strategies, the maximized value perspectives changed over time. Our protocol also identified key response options to achieve three different NFF value perspectives in the case study area: (1) clear or selective cutting in forestry and (2) solar PV installation on abandoned pastureland in agriculture and energy sectors. We discussed the implication for local landscape management, localizing NFF narratives to develop future scenarios and modeling practice of NFF. The protocol does not depend on a specific model and indicator. Thus, our scalable protocol can be applied to scenarios and model practices in any region to support envisioning plausible, feasible, and positive futures, and designing future stakeholder collaboration.
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| 36. |
- Haider, L. Jamila, 1987-, et al.
(author)
-
The undisciplinary journey : early-career perspectives in sustainability science
- 2018
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 13:1, s. 191-204
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The establishment of interdisciplinary Master’s and PhD programs in sustainability science is opening up an exciting arena filled with opportunities for early-career scholars to address pressing sustainability challenges. However, embarking upon an interdisciplinary endeavor as an early-career scholar poses a unique set of challenges: to develop an individual scientific identity and a strong and specific methodological skill-set, while at the same time gaining the ability to understand and communicate between different epistemologies. Here, we explore the challenges and opportunities that emerge from a new kind of interdisciplinary journey, which we describe as ‘undisciplinary.’ Undisciplinary describes (1) the space or condition of early-career researchers with early interdisciplinary backgrounds, (2) the process of the journey, and (3) the orientation which aids scholars to address the complex nature of today’s sustainability challenges. The undisciplinary journey is an iterative and reflexive process of balancing methodological groundedness and epistemological agility to engage in rigorous sustainability science. The paper draws upon insights from a collective journey of broad discussion, reflection, and learning, including a survey on educational backgrounds of different generations of sustainability scholars, participatory forum theater, and a panel discussion at the Resilience 2014 conference (Montpellier, France). Based on the results from this diversity of methods, we suggest that there is now a new and distinct generation of sustainability scholars that start their careers with interdisciplinary training, as opposed to only engaging in interdisciplinary research once strong disciplinary foundations have been built. We further identify methodological groundedness and epistemological agility as guiding competencies to become capable sustainability scientists and discuss the implications of an undisciplinary journey in the current institutional context of universities and research centers. In this paper, we propose a simple framework to help early-career sustainability scholars and well-established scientists successfully navigate what can sometimes be an uncomfortable space in education and research, with the ultimate aim of producing and engaging in rigorous and impactful sustainability science.
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| 37. |
- Hakkarainen, Viola, et al.
(author)
-
On the other end of research : exploring community-level knowledge exchanges in small-scale fisheries in Zanzibar
- 2020
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 15:1, s. 281-295
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sustainability science has increasingly adopted more action-oriented approaches in an attempt to mobilise and implement a broad knowledge base to sustain human wellbeing and promote sustainable development. There is an increasing recognition of the importance of knowledge exchange (KE) between scientists and end users of research for enhancing social, environmental and economic impacts of research. Here, we explore the process of KE through close observation of two cases of KE between external PhD researchers and local actors in small-scale fisheries at the community level in Zanzibar, Tanzania. First, we address context by examining perceptions of research held by actors at community level and patterns of interactions and flows of benefits between external researchers and local actors including fisheries managers, local research institute as well as fishers and traders. Second, we unpack experiences of actors engaged in the cases of KE. The study draws attention to KE processes in the Global South and actors outside decision-making processes in fisheries management. The study concludes that as KE is a complex and dynamic process and that (i) history and relationships between actors shape the outcomes of KE, (ii) KE includes more than knowledge-based processes and outcomes because multiple incentives of different actors shape KE and how it is experiences and (iii) knowledge-based outcomes of KE are complex and unpredictable as different actors create their own meaning from shared information. The results exemplify the inevitably complex and unpredictable nature of KE processes and their outcomes, and provide insight into how KE can contribute to science–society relationships.
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| 38. |
- Hara, Yuji, et al.
(author)
-
Assessing urban agriculture potential : a comparative study of Osaka, Japan and New York city, United States
- 2018
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 13:4, s. 937-952
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study, we examined urban agricultural production potential in New York city (NYC) in the United States and Osaka in Japan in a comparative study not only due to their similarities in population and region size but also differences in historical geographies and urban formation processes. We utilized available high-resolution land-use-and land-cover data to map and empirically compare size, land use, and spatial patterns of sites of current urban agriculture as well as land areas with potential for expanding urban agriculture. By linking current vegetable production data, and potential future urban agriculture land with per capita vegetable consumption data, we were able to estimate the total potential population that could be supported by locally produced vegetables. Our results showed that by scaling up current vegetable production in existing NYC community gardens, potential agricultural productivity on other underutilized or vacant land was 0.26 kg/m(2)/year for NYC. For Osaka, existing rice and dry fields could produce in comparison 0.54 and 0.74 kg/m(2)/year, respectively. By combining potential urban and peri-urban vegetable production measures with estimated needed vegetable caloric intake per person per year, we show that the current vegetable production levels in Osaka can feed approximately 0.50 million people. However, if the region maximizes existing underused speculative dry fields, urban and peri-urban agriculture could feed approximately 3.4 million people per year. In NYC, current vegetable production in community gardens is estimated to feed only 1700 people per year. However, if NYC maximized all available urban vacant lots and other open spaces, potential vegetable production could provide food annually for 0.55 million people. We discuss how though both community gardens in NYC and remaining rice and dry fields in Osaka have been out of formal city planning with clear land-use definition in zoning, these agricultural practices have nonetheless emerged as important sources of local food production and nutrition on the one hand, and sites of social benefit on the other.
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| 39. |
- Harmáčková, Zuzana V., et al.
(author)
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Linking multiple values of nature with future impacts : value-based participatory scenario development for sustainable landscape governance
- 2022
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 17:3, s. 849-864
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Reaching sustainable and just futures for people and nature requires tackling complex social-ecological challenges across multiple scales, from local to global. Pathways towards such futures are largely driven by people's decisions and actions, underpinned by multiple types of motivations and values. Thus, understanding the link between potential futures and the values underpinning them represents a key question of current sustainability research, recently embraced by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Particularly the understanding of causal chains leading from values to futures across different contexts and scales is vital to identify which sustainability pathways to collectively pursue. In this study, we build on a transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation process in an array of local case studies in protected areas in the Czechia (Central Europe). We apply the Life Framework of Values and the Three Horizons framework in an innovative value-based participatory scenario building process to explore the relationships between (1) multiple types of values, (2) actions taken by different types of stakeholders, and (3) their potential impacts on nature, nature's contributions to people (including ecosystem services) and good quality of life. The resulting local-scale value-based pathways show the complex relationship between multiple types of values for nature and potential future trajectories. Finally, we reflect on the utility of value-based participatory scenario planning as a means to strengthen sustainable governance. We highlight that if participatory deliberation of values is to support decision-making processes, its design needs to carefully reflect local context and institutional set-up.
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| 40. |
- Hedelin, Beatrice, 1974-
(author)
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Complexity is no excuse : Introduction of a research model for turning sustainable development from theory into practice
- 2019
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Tokyo. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 14:3, s. 733-749
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An overarching research model is introduced here that can support research for turning sustainable development (SD) from theory into practice. The model describes how existing and future theories, and empirical knowledge related to SD can be utilised to establish explicit linkages—steps—between fundamental SD principles and specific studied practices. The research model is intended to support planning, design and communication of a range of research endeavours such as individual studies, larger projects and research programmes. It internalises a number of insights from the current stock of SD literature such as explicitly linking local solutions to general SD principles, the need to embrace complexity and to use theory, the need for interdisciplinarity, and acknowledging SD as both substance and process. The model and its utilisation are explained and illustrated here by reference to a research example from river basin planning. The model is a critical and constructive attempt to establish structure and strategy in relation to the overwhelming complexity of the sustainability challenge—a challenge which urgently calls for reflective and effective research approaches.
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| 41. |
- Hedlund, Johanna, et al.
(author)
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Challenges for environmental governance : policy issue interdependencies might not lead to collaboration
- 2023
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 18:1, s. 219-234
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Policy actors address complex environmental problems by engaging in multiple and often interdependent policy issues. Policy issue interdependencies imply that efforts by actors to address separate policy issues can either reinforce (‘win–win’) or counteract (‘trade-off’) each other. Thus, if interdependent issues are managed in isolation instead of being coordinated, the most effective and well-balanced solution to the underlying problem might never be realised. This study asks if reinforcing and counteracting interdependencies have different impacts on perception and collaboration. Our empirical study of collaborative water governance in the Norrström basin, Sweden, shows that policy actors often avoid collaborating when the policy issues exhibit reinforcing interdependencies. Our evidence indicates a perceived infeasibility of acting on reinforcing interdependencies. We also find that actors do not consider counteracting interdependencies (‘trade-offs’) at all when they engage in collaboration. Further, even though actors were aware of counteracting and reinforcing interdependencies, our analyses suggest they might be less aware of the former. These findings illustrate that actors either avoid each other due to policy issue interdependencies or, at best, ignore existing interdependencies when engaging in collaboration. Our study highlights the importance of problem perception in accomplishing integrated solutions to complex environmental problems, and of how understandings of different types of interdependencies shape collaboration in environmental governance.
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| 42. |
- Henriksson, Patrik J. G., et al.
(author)
-
Unpacking factors influencing antimicrobial use in global aquaculture and their implication for management : a review from a systems perspective
- 2018
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 13:4, s. 1105-1120
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Global seafood provides almost 20% of all animal protein in diets, and aquaculture is, despite weakening trends, the fastest growing food sector worldwide. Recent increases in production have largely been achieved through intensification of existing farming systems, resulting in higher risks of disease outbreaks. This has led to increased use of antimicrobials (AMs) and consequent antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in many farming sectors, which may compromise the treatment of bacterial infections in the aquaculture species itself and increase the risks of AMR in humans through zoonotic diseases or through the transfer of AMR genes to human bacteria. Multiple stakeholders have, as a result, criticized the aquaculture industry, resulting in consequent regulations in some countries. AM use in aquaculture differs from that in livestock farming due to aquaculture's greater diversity of species and farming systems, alternative means of AM application, and less consolidated farming practices in many regions. This, together with less research on AM use in aquaculture in general, suggests that large data gaps persist with regards to its overall use, breakdowns by species and system, and how AMs become distributed in, and impact on, the overall social-ecological systems in which they are embedded. This paper identifies the main factors (and challenges) behind application rates, which enables discussion of mitigation pathways. From a set of identified key mechanisms for AM usage, six proximate factors are identified: vulnerability to bacterial disease, AM access, disease diagnostic capacity, AMR, target markets and food safety regulations, and certification. Building upon these can enable local governments to reduce AM use through farmer training, spatial planning, assistance with disease identification, and stricter regulations. National governments and international organizations could, in turn, assist with disease-free juveniles and vaccines, enforce rigid monitoring of the quantity and quality of AMs used by farmers and the AM residues in the farmed species and in the environment, and promote measures to reduce potential human health risks associated with AMR.
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| 43. |
- Heras, María, et al.
(author)
-
Realising potentials for arts-based sustainability science
- 2021
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 16:6, s. 1875-1889
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In recent years, a profusion of methods, practices, and experiences has emerged in the interface between arts and sustainability science. Drawing from two strong currents within sustainability science, namely, the emphasis on transdisciplinary approaches and the need to move towards societal transformations, such hybrid approaches seemingly contribute with unique methods to sustainability research. Despite repeated claims from sustainability scientists about art’s role in sustainability transformations, joint analyses with artists and practitioners are still rare. We conveyed a collaborative and exploratory workshop with scientists, artists, and practitioners from the fields of education, public engagement, and activism to identify the potentials for arts-based sustainability research. Participants were invited to facilitate and trial various artistic practices from disciplines of performative, literary, narrative, audio-visual and plastic arts. In this paper, we present five key areas identified in the workshop, where arts-based methods can significantly contribute to sustainability research: embracing more-than-cognitive aspects of knowledge, improving communication, grappling with power dynamics, shifting relationships to nature, and facilitating futures visioning. Workshop participants also identified challenges related to power dynamics, tensions across paradigms, and implementation conditions, providing insights into how to leverage arts’ potential to respond to global environmental challenges while boosting societal transformations. We then discuss research questions identified that address challenges and limitations for arts-based research in sustainability. Overall, these results suggest there are yet untapped resources and experiences within the field of arts-based sustainability science. (Audio-visual abstract available on S1).
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| 44. |
- Hernández‑Morcillo, Monica, et al.
(author)
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Scanning the solutions for the sustainable supply of forest ecosystem services in Europe
- 2022
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 17:5, s. 2013-2029
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Forests are key components of European multifunctional landscapes and supply numerous forest ecosystem services (FES) fundamental to human well-being. The sustainable provision of FES has the potential to provide responses to major societal challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, or rural development. To identify suitable strategies for the future sustenance of FES, we performed a solution scanning exercise with a group of transdisciplinary forest and FES experts from diferent European regions. We identifed and prioritized ffteen major challenges hindering the balanced provision of multiple FES and identifed a series of potential solutions to tackle each of them. The most prominent challenges referred to the increased frequency and impacts of extreme weather events and the normative mindset regarding forest management. The respective solutions pointed to the promotion of forest resilience via climate-smart forestry and mainstreaming FES-orientedmanagement through a threefold strategy focusing on education, awareness raising, and networking. In a subsequent survey,most solutions were assessed as highly efective, transferable, monitorable, and with potential for being economically efcient. The implementation of the solutions could have synergistic efects when applying the notion of leverage points. Sevenemerging pathways towards the sustainable supply of FES have been identifed. These pathways build on each other and areorganized based on their potential for transformation: (1) shifting forest management paradigms towards pluralistic ecosystem valuation; (2) using integrated landscape approaches; (3) increasing forest resilience; (4) coordinating actions betweenforest-related actors; (5) increasing participation in forest planning and management; (6) continuous, open, and transparentknowledge integration; and (7) using incentive-based instruments to support regulating and cultural FES. These pathwayscan contribute to the implementation of the new EU Forestry Strategy to support the balanced supply of multiple FES.
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| 45. |
- Isgren, Ellinor, et al.
(author)
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Sustainability science must challenge common sense : A response to Bodin (2021)
- 2022
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 17:6, s. 2643-2645
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this comment, we respond to the claim of (Bodin, Sustain Sci 16: 2151–2155, 2021) that sustainability science, as a research community, has begun to “lean to the left” in a problematic manner. On one hand, we remain unconvinced by the examples cited as indications for this tendency, and argue for caution in making such judgements. On the other hand, we hold that that there may be reasons for seemingly “left leaning” positions which are scientific rather than purely political or ideological. Finally, we urge sustainability scientists to take heed of social theorists’ insights regarding the pitfalls of common sense analysis. This can better enable open and reflexive debate on the field’s development as well as the challenges it seeks to address.
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| 46. |
- Isgren, Ellinor, et al.
(author)
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Sustainability science must challenge common sense: a response to Bodin (2021)
- 2022
-
In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 17, s. 2643-2645
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this comment, we respond to the claim of (Bodin, Sustain Sci 16: 2151–2155, 2021) that sustainability science, as a research community, has begun to “lean to the left” in a problematic manner. On one hand, we remain unconvinced by the examples cited as indications for this tendency, and argue for caution in making such judgements. On the other hand, we hold that that there may be reasons for seemingly “left leaning” positions which are scientific rather than purely political or ideological. Finally, we urge sustainability scientists to take heed of social theorists’ insights regarding the pitfalls of common sense analysis. This can better enable open and reflexive debate on the field’s development as well as the challenges it seeks to address.
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| 47. |
- Jack, Tullia, et al.
(author)
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How individuals make sense of their climate impacts in the capitalocene : mixed methods insights from calculating carbon footprints
- 2024
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In: Sustainability Science. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 19:3, s. 777-791
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many people want to play their part to tackle climate change, but often do not know where to start. Carbon Footprint (CF) Calculators pose potential for helping individuals situate themselves in climate impacting systems of which they are a part. However, little is currently known about whether and how individuals who complete CF calculators understand their CF in the context of climate change. This article explores how people make sense of their CFs and locate themselves in the capitalocene. It draws on theories of social practices, environmental ethics, valuation, and knowledge-use to analyse data from 500+ Danes who completed a CF calculator (https://carbonfootprint.hi.is) and interviews with 30 Danes who were asked to complete the CF calculator. In this article, we describe how Danes’ CFs are impacted, looking at how survey respondents rate importance of mitigating climate change, importance of personal actions, and importance of public steering, as well as disposable income, living space, and family type. We also show how interviewees reflect over their consumption activities and possibilities. Those with high income nearly always had high CF but felt like they had little agency to change the system and rather justified their high-emitting practices such as flying, while those with low CF felt they had more agency in the system. The results show that high-CF individuals resist voluntary reduction of their emissions despite the presence of environmental ethics. Thus, we conclude that systemic solutions have the foremost capacity to reduce carbon emissions.
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| 48. |
- Jerneck, Anne, et al.
(author)
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Structuring Sustainability Science
- 2011
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 6:1, s. 69-82
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is urgent in science and society to address climate change and other sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, depletion of marine fish stocks, global ill-health, land degradation, land use change and water scarcity. Sustainability science (SS) is an attempt to bridge the natural and social sciences for seeking creative solutions to these complex challenges. In this article, we propose a research agenda that advances the methodological and theoretical understanding of what SS can be, how it can be pursued and what it can contribute. The key focus is on knowledge structuring. For that purpose, we designed a generic research platform organised as a three-dimensional matrix comprising three components: core themes (scientific understanding, sustainability goals, sustainability pathways); cross-cutting critical and problem- solving approaches; and any combination of the sustainability challenges above. As an example, we insert four sustainability challenges into the matrix (biodiversity loss, climate change, land use changes, water scarcity). Based on the matrix with the four challenges, we discuss three issues for advancing theory and methodology in SS: how new synergies across natural and social sciences can be created; how integrated theories for understanding and responding to complex sustainability issues can be developed; and how theories and concepts in economics, gender studies, geography, political science and sociology can be applied in SS. The generic research platform serves to structure and create new knowledge in SS and is a tool for exploring any set of sustainability challenges. The combined critical and problem- solving approach is essential.
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| 49. |
- Jerneck, Anne
(author)
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Taking gender seriously in climate change adaptation and sustainability science research : views from feminist debates and sub-Saharan small-scale agriculture
- 2018
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 13:2, s. 403-416
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- People, places, and production contributing the least to climate change will suffer the most. This calls for adaptation as a key climate change response. But adaptation is surrounded by problems. Finance is uncertain and fragmented, mainstreaming into development is complicated, and technical solutions often overshadow existing social relations and institutions. From a gender perspective, and as a critical research initiative to support the building of sustainability science as an umbrella field, this article raises three pertinent questions on adaptation in the global South: what is its purpose, how can development inform it, and what institutions in terms of rights and responsibilities are core to it? Focusing on sub-Saharan small-scale agriculture, three main points emerge. Regarding the purpose, adaptation should be a transformative pathway out of poverty, ill-health, and food insecurity. Regarding development, adaptation can learn from how development theory, policy, and practice have addressed women, gender, and environment in varied settings and debates. Regarding core institutions, adaptation must address gender regimes that regulate access to, use of, and control over resources, especially those defining land distribution, labour division, and strategic decision-making power. To conclude, I propose gender-informed research questions for further inquiry.
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| 50. |
- Jiménez-Aceituno, Amanda, et al.
(author)
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Local lens for SDG implementation : lessons from bottom-up approaches in Africa
- 2020
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 15:3, s. 729-743
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Anthropocene presents a set of interlinked sustainability challenges for humanity. The United Nations 2030 Agenda has identified 17 specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a way to confront these challenges. However, local initiatives have long been addressing issues connected to these goals in a myriad of diverse and innovative ways. We present a new approach to assess how local initiatives contribute to achieving the SDGs. We analyse how many, and how frequently, different SDGs and targets are addressed in a set of African initiatives. We consider goals and targets addressed by the same initiative as interacting between them. Then, we cluster the SDGs based on the combinations of goals and targets addressed by the initiatives and explore how SDGs differ in how local initiatives engage with them. We identify 5 main groups: SDGs addressed by broad-scope projects, SDGs addressed by specific projects, SDGs as means of implementation, cross-cutting SDGs and underrepresented SDGs. Goal 11 (sustainable cities & communities) is not clustered with any other goal. Finally, we explore the nuances of these groups and discuss the implications and relevance for the SDG framework to consider bottom-up approaches. Efforts to monitor the success on implementing the SDGs in local contexts should be reinforced and consider the different patterns initiatives follow to address the goals. Additionally, achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda will require diversity and alignment of bottom-up and top-down approaches.
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