Exploring bioproduction systems in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes in Asia through solution scanning using the Nature Futures Framework
AbstractSocial –ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) are an essential source of livelihood for people worldwide; however, they are experiencing challenges due to climate and ecological systems’ change affecting their bioproduction mechanisms. These externally influenced drivers challenge thei r relevance, which calls for the revitalization of these systems focusing on sustainable use and management of resources with increased socio-ecological resilience and improved economic viability. In response, this study was conducted by reviewing the literature on 90 bioproduction systems in SEPLS across three c...
Source: Sustainability Science - May 10, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Beyond synergies: understanding SDG trade-offs, equity and implementation challenges of sectoral climate change mitigation options
AbstractMitigation actions needed to achieve the ambitions of the Paris agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C or below 2 °C have to align with sustainable development. In the near term, this implies a better understanding of context-specific challenges in integrating sustainability with climate policies during the designing, planning, implementation and financing stages. Through a review of selected studies across regions, this paper draws out conclusions focussing on mitigation–sustainable development goal (SDG) trade-offs, with implications on costs and equity for different development contexts. St...
Source: Sustainability Science - May 10, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Governance paradox: implications from Japan ’s national parks for managing complex protected areas
AbstractHerein, we discuss the governance implications for emerging protected areas with complexity in the 2020s by analyzing public –private partnership frameworks in Japan’s national parks. First, we summarize previous literature to elucidate the characteristics of Japan’s national park management as “weak government” represented by a lack of administrative resources and weak regulatory power. Second, we identify the weak implementation of two legal public–private partnership frameworks from questionnaires and interviews: the Park Management Organization and the Scenic Area Protection Agreement. We discuss th...
Source: Sustainability Science - May 9, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Bringing the Nature Futures Framework to life: creating a set of illustrative narratives of nature futures
AbstractTo halt further destruction of the biosphere, most people and societies around the globe need to transform their relationships with nature. The internationally agreed vision under the Convention of Biological Diversity —Living in harmony with nature—is that “By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people”. In this context, there are a variety of debates between alternative per spectives on how to achieve this vision. Yet, scenarios and models that are able to explore these deba...
Source: Sustainability Science - May 4, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Carbon, cash, cattle and the climate crisis
AbstractWhile society increasingly demands emissions abatement from the livestock sector, farmers are concurrently being forced to adapt to an existential climate crisis. Here, we examine how stacking together multiple systems adaptations impacts on the productivity, profitability and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of livestock production systems under future climates underpinned by more frequent extreme weather events. Without adaptation, we reveal that soil carbon sequestration (SCS) in 2050 declined by 45 –133%, heralding dire ramifications for CO2 removal aspirations associated with SCS in nationally determined contr...
Source: Sustainability Science - May 2, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Just Transition on air quality governance: a case study of heavy-duty diesel truck protests in Taiwan
This study finds that the key social contextual factor in Taiwan’s transportation industry was the labor relations of license-leasing. The drivers’ protest began with a lack of procedural justice, and communication occurred only after the law was passed. There was insufficient regard for procedural justice, and although the drivers were concerned, the new rule would significantly impact their right to work and life. Furthermore, the drivers felt disrespected and even carried the stigma of creating environmental pollution. The art icle assumes that the results should be different if the governance mechanism can handle t...
Source: Sustainability Science - May 2, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
From reflection diaries to practical guidance for transdisciplinary research: learnings from a Kenyan air pollution project
In this study, we used a conceptual TDR framework as the basis to examine and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our approach in a project exploring air pollution in an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Reflection diaries exploring experiences of participation in the project were undertaken by the project team (comprising academic and community partners) at multiple time points throughout the project. These reflection diaries played an important role in evaluation and for providing space for team learning. Diaries were thematically coded according to the TDR framework to explore aspects of the project that worke...
Source: Sustainability Science - April 19, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
International collaboration in climate technology innovation: the Italian experience in Mission Innovation
AbstractTechnology innovation is critical for an effective, long-term global response to climate change. International collaboration is a pillar for building a suitable environment that can enable and sustain the growth of both mitigation and adaptation technologies. In this article, the Italian experience in the participation at “Mission Innovation”, an international collaboration initiative instituted at COP21 to foster research in energy technology, is described. A set of recommendations to policymakers for the setting up of a successful international innovation initiative is proposed. (Source: Sustainability Science)
Source: Sustainability Science - April 18, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Discrepant implicit and explicit attitudes toward climate change: implications for climate change communications
AbstractIn order to better engage individuals in the progress of carbon neutrality, public attitude toward the issue of climate change is a fundamental question. In recent decades, burgeoning research has implied the distinctive effect of implicit attitude on behaviors from explicit attitude. However, the majority of research on attitudes toward climate change has focused on explicit attitude. This research fills this gap by exploring individuals ’ implicit attitudes toward climate change in two aspects—overall evaluation (positive or negative) and attribution of (anthropogenic or natural progress) climate change, whic...
Source: Sustainability Science - April 18, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Reasoning by analogy and the transdisciplinarian ’s circle: on the problem of knowledge transfer across cases in transdisciplinary research
AbstractIn their 2018 paper, Carolina Adler, Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn, Thomas Breu, Urs Wiesmann, and Christian Pohl propose that transferability of knowledge across cases in transdisciplinary research should be thought of in terms of arguments by analogy. We aim to advance this discussion about transferability by examining it in the light of recent ideas about knowledge transfer, extrapolation, and external validity in the philosophy of science. We problematise Adler et al. ’s proposal by identifying the ‘transdisciplinarian’s circle’, due to which even knowledge that could be of use in other projects may be identif...
Source: Sustainability Science - April 13, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
How do past global experiences of coal phase-out inform China ’s domestic approach to a just transition?
AbstractChina produces nearly half of the world ’s coal and more than half of the global coal-fired electricity. Its CO2 emissions are higher than the combined volumes of the next three world regions —the US, Europe, and India. China has announced a net-zero commitment by 2060. This timeline creates enormous pressure to maintain energy security while phasing down coal use. Despite the localized nature of China’s coal production with nearly 80% of its thermal coal industry concentrated in fou r provinces, the dependencies are complex and extensive. Large-scale changes to energy systems will result in a range of social...
Source: Sustainability Science - April 12, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Leveraging plural valuations of mangroves for climate interventions in Indonesia
AbstractMangrove forests are globally significant blue carbon sinks that remain critically under-governed and under threat. In Indonesia, the rapid rate of mangrove loss over the past three decades, combined with the promise of these carbon-dense ecosystems to mitigate climate change impacts, has catalyzed the world ’s largest replanting program. Institutional and ideological divisions between advocates of conservation and commodification approaches to mangrove governance, however, have historically compromised Indonesia’s ability to meet its climate commitments. Market valuations of mangroves as blue carbo n have furt...
Source: Sustainability Science - April 8, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Exploring “big picture” scenarios for resilience in social–ecological systems: transdisciplinary cross-impact balances modeling in the Red River Basin
In this study, we aimed to explore big-picture scenarios of a river basin under climate change by characterizing future change as emergent from interactions between diverse efforts to build resilience and a complex, cross-scale SES. To do so, we facilitated a transdisciplinary scenario modeling process structured by the cross-impact balances (CIB) method, a semi-quantitative method that applies systems theory to generate internally consiste nt narrative scenarios from a network of interacting drivers of change. Thus, we also aimed to explore the potential for the CIB method to surface diverse perspectives and drivers of ch...
Source: Sustainability Science - April 1, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Embedding animals within a definition of sustainability
AbstractCurrent definitions of sustainability and sustainable development are problematic. They reinforce the dominant capitalist paradigm of economic growth as a goal —a system which has contributed in no uncertain terms to the current state of the planet—and they exclude animals as moral entities. We propose that sustainability is primarily an ethical issue which connects people, the planet on which we live, and the animals and other organisms which inhabit it. Our definition of sustainability states that in all decisions and actions on any scale, from the individual to the institutional, we should minimise our immed...
Source: Sustainability Science - April 1, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
Towards an institutional “landscape” view of modern money creation mechanisms and some reflections on their ecological significance
AbstractIn recent years, a number of different strands within heterodox economic thinking have successfully provided more empirically robust and sociologically informed analyses of how money gets created. However, there is a tendency within these analyses to discuss the different money creation theories and institutional practices in isolation, inhibiting a broader audience from grasping the whole institutional picture. By integrating contemporary heterodox theories and the latest empirical evidence, this article therefore attempts to develop a “landscape” view of modern money creation that visualizes and explains the ...
Source: Sustainability Science - March 31, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: research
