Just Transformations to Sustainability

Bennett, Nathan; Blythe, Jessica; Cisneros‐Montemayor, Andrés M.; Singh, Gerald G.; Sumaila, U. Rashid

doi:10.3390/su11143881

Cited by 216 publications

(152 citation statements)

References 140 publications

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“…At the same time, history has shown that past coal transitions have often had severe negative socioeconomic consequences on the affected regions due to poor management [1]. Consequently, literature has put an increasing focus on the just transition towards sustainable social-ecological systems [2][3][4][5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Resilience of German Lignite Regions in Transition

et al. 2019

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This paper recalls the development of the German lignite regions Rhineland and Lusatia since 1945 to allow for a better understanding of their situation in 2019. We analyze their economic resilience, defined as adaptive capacity, using Holling’s adaptive cycle model. We find that the Rhineland is currently in the conservation phase, while Lusatia experiences a reorganization phase following the economic shock of the German reunification. Key policy recommendations for the upcoming coal phase-out are to foster innovation within the Rhineland’s infrastructures to avoid overconnection, and to expand digital and transportation infrastructure in Lusatia so that the structurally weak region can enter the exploitation phase. Future policymaking should take into consideration the differences between the two regions in order to enable a just and timely transition during which lasting adaptive capacity can be built.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Resilience of German Lignite Regions in Transition

et al. 2019

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“…But these indicators cannot identify why target goals have not been accomplished, whether or how they do or do not do justice to the social and cultural context in which they are applied, and how newly emerging social dynamics affect indicators. Nor do they provide means for resolving conflicting values and making balanced trade-offs [9][10][11].…”

Section: Insufficiency Of Sustainability Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the Indicators: Improving Science, Scholarship, Policy and Practice to Meet the Complex Challenges of Sustainability

et al. 2020

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Many teams have developed a wide range of numerical or categorical indicators of progress in the implementation of the SDG targets. But these indicators cannot identify why target goals have not been accomplished, whether or how they do or do not do justice to the social and cultural context in which they are applied, and how newly emerging social dynamics affect indicators. Nor do they provide means for resolving conflicting values and making balanced trade-offs. Our starting point in examining why we have not been successful in progressing towards sustainability is that the sustainability conundrum is primarily a societal, rather than an environmental problem. Our present emphasis is to maintain our way of life while minimizing its impact, hoping that such a minimization strategy would make the world more sustainable. Reducing for example the extent of pollution but keeping the same industries alive would not be sufficient for a transformation towards sustainability. Instead we should ask “How did we come to this point and what practices, in our societies and in our science, need to change to make progress towards sustainability?” To answer these questions, one needs to go much further back than usual in the history of western societies to identify the societal, scientific, technological and environmental co-evolutionary dynamics that have brought us to the current conundrum. And the fact that most societal challenges are of the “wicked” kind, as well as the need to decide among many societal options and many future pathways that may lead to positive results require that we seriously engage in using “Complex Systems” approaches. It is up to our scientific community to identify these pathways, and we need to move fast!

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“…For example, when conflicts over how to allocate the costs of mitigating climate change stall negotiation, increasing costs for all, the impasse can be overcome by explicit appeal to fairness (Gampfer, 2014). This sense of fairness is a common theme in discussions of environmental equity and justice (Bennett, Blythe, Cisneros-Montemayor, Singh, & Sumaila, 2019)-often supporting the underdog in disputes over the allocation of environmental costs and benefits-and arguably underpins the call to give animals equal rights (Regan & Singer, 1989). Indeed, the Nature Needs Half campaign (natureneedshalf.org) makes an explicit appeal to fairness when advocating that, to reduce anthropogenic stress on biodiversity, people allocate to nonhumans an equal share of land and energy flows.…”

Section: Fair Sharesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperative conservation: Seven ways to save the world

Curry

Hare

Hepburn

et al. 2019

Conservat Sci and Prac

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The world faces serious environmental problems. To solve them we must work together. Fortunately, humans are a very cooperative species. We have faced a range of cooperative problems in the past, and have evolved and invented a range of cooperative solutions to them—kin altruism, mutualism, reciprocity, heroism, deference, fairness, and property rights. Here, we illustrate how each of these solutions can be pressed into the service of conservation goals. Unlocking this potential will require overcoming conservationists' current cycloptic focus on only one type of cooperative problem (the prisoner's dilemma) and one type of solution (reciprocity). Only then will policy makers be able draw on the full range of cooperative dispositions and design more systematic and effective environmental interventions.

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Just Transformations to Sustainability

Cited by 216 publications

References 140 publications

Economic Resilience of German Lignite Regions in Transition

Economic Resilience of German Lignite Regions in Transition

Beyond the Indicators: Improving Science, Scholarship, Policy and Practice to Meet the Complex Challenges of Sustainability

Cooperative conservation: Seven ways to save the world

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