On the discovery and enactment of positive socio-ecological tipping points: insights from energy systems interventions in Bangladesh and Indonesia

Abstract

Notions, such as leverage points, sensitive interventions, social tipping points, transformational tipping points, and positive tipping points, are increasingly attracting attention within sustainability science. However, they are also creating confusion and unresolved questions about how to apply these concepts when dealing with urgent global challenges such as rapid decarbonisation. We propose a relational methodology aimed at helping how to identify and support the emergence of positive ‘Social-Ecological Tipping Points’ (SETPs) that could bring about sustainability transformations. Our approach emphasises the need to pay attention to processes of social construction and to time dynamics. In particular, in a given social-ecological system, three key moments need to be considered: (1) The building of transformative conditions and capacities for systemic change, (2) A tipping event or intervention shifting the system towards a different trajectory or systems’ configuration, and (3) the structural effects derived from such transformation. Furthermore, we argue that the discovery and enactment of positive SETPs require considering multiple ontological, epistemological, and normative questions that affect how researchers and change agents define, approach, and assess their systems of reference. Our insights are derived from examining the implementation of household renewable energy systems at regional level in two rural areas of Indonesia and Bangladesh.

[Retracted] The Dialectic and Coupling of Three Paradigms in the Process of Art Rural Construction: Environment, Culture, and Industry

“…As a result, agricultural productivity was greatly reduced, and private houses and schools were once vacant [ 17 ]. By holding the art festival, the local area has realized the transformation from the traditional agriculture to the cultural tourism industry and has also set up a demonstration of “artistic revitalization of the countryside” in the world [ 18 ]. In South Korea, in the middle of the last century, immigrants from civil war gathered in Gamcheon-dong and built a large number of shantytowns.…”

Beyond “blah blah blah”: exploring the “how” of transformation

“…In their article, “On the discovery and enactment of positive socio-ecological tipping points: insights from energy systems interventions in Bangladesh and Indonesia,” David Tabara and colleagues ( 2021 ) consider how positive “Social-Ecological Tipping Points” (SETPs) can bring about transformations, including how multiple ontological, epistemological, and normative questions influence how researchers and change agents define, approach, and assess their systems. Their starting point is that there are multiple understandings of systems, and they are always socially, politically, culturally, and historically constructed.…”

Social tipping points and adaptation limits in the context of systemic risk: Concepts, models and governance

“…Social tipping points are framed as points in dynamic systems, where a small change in the underlying elements or actors' behavior triggers an abrupt irreversible change in the social system (Milkoreit et al, 2018;van Ginkel et al, 2020), of which outcome may be both negative and positive (Tàbara et al, 2022). Social systems do not adhere to universal rules and laws as natural systems commonly do; people make choices that are prone to behavioral biases, shaped by cultural contexts, change with new information and social influences (Noll et al, 2021) and are diverse (Hochrainer-Stigler et al, 2020a).…”