Working the boundary: science –policy interactions and uneven knowledge politics in IPBES
AbstractThe rising demand for policy-relevant knowledge has supported the emergence of global boundary organizations at the science –policy interface. By synthesizing environmental knowledge for policy-makers, boundary organizations influence how we know and govern sustainability challenges. Therefore, it is essential to better understand what happens in and through these organizations. This paper examines the very practices t hat configure science–policy relations in global boundary organizations by studying the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Through Science a...
Source: Sustainability Science - November 5, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Where limits to growth are tangible: the olive sector in Ja én and its bioeconomic future
AbstractThe olive sector in Ja én in the South of Spain serves as an example of what happens when a centuries-old bio-based economy reaches its biophysical limits. The Andalusian Bioeconomy Strategy seeks to reform the sector by modernizing it, i.e. investing in technological innovation and increasing the efficiency of mechaniza tion. This paper first considers recent data on the olive sector in Jaén before comparing its historical evolution with the demands of the 2018 Andalusian Bioeconomy Strategy. The comparison yields several results: first, the history of olive cultivation in the province is characterized by a stro...
Source: Sustainability Science - November 3, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
The bioeconomy and its untenable growth promises: reality checks from research
In conclusion, we argue that bioeconomy research should adopt a broader perspective that considers transitions toward bio-based processes and resources as but one element in a comprehensive soci al–ecological transformation of current modes of production and living, and that understanding the dynamics of societal conflict around that transformation is crucial for assessing the social possibility of bioeconomy visions. (Source: Sustainability Science)
Source: Sustainability Science - November 1, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
The elephant in the room is really a cow: using consumption corridors to define sustainable meat consumption in the European Union
This article presents a conceptual framework to define “sustainable meat consumption” based on the concept of consumption corridors (CCs). A CC is the space between a minimum (the floor) and maximum (the ceiling) consumption level, which allows everybody to satisfy their needs without compromising others’ ability to meet their own. Embedded in a powerful set of principles (recognizing universal needs; tackling both over and under-consumption; framing food as a common good; promoting public participation; and addressing environmental justice and planetary sustainability), CCs are attuned to the Green Deal’s ambition...
Source: Sustainability Science - October 27, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
An extractive bioeconomy? Phosphate mining, fertilizer commodity chains, and alternative technologies
This article analyses the evolution of nutrient flows in this system from a historical-theoretical perspective and focuses specifically on the nutrient phosphorus, derived from the raw material phosphate rock. Classified as a “low-cost bulk commodity” for decades, since 2007 phosphate rock has become a strategic resource in the context of the crisis of cheap nutrient supply (2007–2013), a period of unusually high fertilizer prices. By analyzing state and private actor strategies in Germany and Brazil to adapt to th is new situation, it becomes clear that the control over flows of phosphorous is increasingly contested...
Source: Sustainability Science - October 26, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Integration of knowledge systems in urban farming initiatives: insight from Taipei Garden City
This study argues that in-between spaces and actors, who can cut across different fora, are vital to make urban farming interventions happen. Nonetheless, we also question the extent to which embodied and experiential knowledge is sufficient to support environmentally and socially appropriate outcomes for attaining urban sustainability. (Source: Sustainability Science)
Source: Sustainability Science - October 22, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Enabling collective agency for sustainability transformations through reframing in the Xochimilco social –ecological system
AbstractCollective agency, the capacity of individuals to mobilise according to shared goals, is crucial for social –ecological transformation. However, in stagnant situations, where individuals in a social–ecological system tend to resist transformation due to interests in the status quo, the emergence of collective agency faces numerous barriers. This research asks how to design and implement spaces and met hodologies that help to address such barriers. We posit that these spaces and methodologies ought to facilitate processes to reframe shared perceptions of social–ecological situations through: (1) questioning do...
Source: Sustainability Science - October 19, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Pathways to sustainable land use and food systems in Canada
AbstractMeeting global sustainability targets under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement requires paying attention to major land-use sectors such as forestry and agriculture. These sectors play a large role in national emissions, biodiversity conservation, and human well-being. There are numerous possible pathways to sustainability in these sectors and potential synergies and trade-offs along those pathways. This paper reports on the use of a model for Canada ’s land use to 2050 to assess three different pathways (one based on current trends and two with differing levels of ambition fo...
Source: Sustainability Science - October 17, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Correction: Projecting population distribution under depopulation conditions in Japan: scenario analysis for future socio-ecological systems
(Source: Sustainability Science)
Source: Sustainability Science - October 17, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Flexibility for intergenerational justice in climate resilience decision-making: an application on sea-level rise in the Netherlands
AbstractTo adapt to a changing climate, decision-makers design, evaluate, and implement measures that have an implication of justice on citizens in the present and well into the future. Decision-makers are often required to make decisions without certainty of the consequences and understanding their effects on intergenerational justice. Thus, managing the impacts of climate change requires novel decision-aiding approaches that consider climate impacts ’ temporal and spatial heterogeneity and the uncertainty in climate predictions, preferences, and values. We reviewed the literature on the extent to which principles of in...
Source: Sustainability Science - October 12, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Towards coherence on sustainability in education: a systematic review of Whole Institution Approaches
AbstractOrienting societies towards sustainability requires comprehensive learning of how to think, act and live within a safe and just space for humanity. Approaching sustainability as a core paradigm of quality education in the twenty-first century, Education for Sustainable Development necessitates an integrated view on learning. For educational organizations, Whole Institution Approaches (WIAs) to sustainability emphasize that all learning is embedded within its socio-physical contexts. Although the core objective —to “walk the talk” on sustainability—is theoretically well established, questions remain regardin...
Source: Sustainability Science - October 6, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
How can diverse national food and land-use priorities be reconciled with global sustainability targets? Lessons from the FABLE initiative
AbstractThere is an urgent need for countries to transition their national food and land-use systems toward food and nutritional security, climate stability, and environmental integrity. How can countries satisfy their demands while jointly delivering the required transformative change to achieve global sustainability targets? Here, we present a collaborative approach developed with the FABLE —Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land, and Energy—Consortium to reconcile both global and national elements for developing national food and land-use system pathways. This approach includes three key features: (1) global targets,...
Source: Sustainability Science - October 5, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Correction: How public catering accelerates sustainability: a German case study
(Source: Sustainability Science)
Source: Sustainability Science - October 1, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Disagreeing well in an unparadigmatic field: a response to Bodin (2021)
AbstractIn 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 misr epresented 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 qu...
Source: Sustainability Science - September 28, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
Managing biodiversity in the Anthropocene: discussing the Nature Futures Framework as a tool for adaptive decision-making for nature under climate change
AbstractConservation approaches to social-ecological systems have largely been informed by a framing of preserving nature for its instrumental societal benefits, often ignoring the complex relationship of humans and nature and how climate change might impact these. The Nature Futures Framework (NFF) was developed by the Task Force on scenarios and models of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services as a heuristic approach that appreciates the diverse positive values of nature and its contribution to people. In this overview, we convene a group of experts to discuss the NFF as a to...
Source: Sustainability Science - September 21, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: research
