Karen O'Brien, Susanne Moser, Ioan Fazey and others from Future Earth's Transformations Knowledge-Action Network discuss mobilising research around the social challenge of a 1.5°C target for climate action.
2. Why do we need a
transformation in
global governance for
sustainability?
3. “The earth operates well outside the normal state
exhibited over the past 500,000 years. ...
Human activities could … trigger severe consequences
for Earth’s environment …
… potentially switching the Earth System to alternative
modes of operation that may prove irreversible and
inhospitable to humans.” 2001 Amsterdam Declaration of the
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
Sustainability: An Accelerating Global Crisis
7. Calls for Action
2011 Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global
Sustainability urgently called for “strengthening
earth system governance”.
The 2012 State of the Planet Declaration called
for “[f]undamental reorientation and
restructuring of national and international
institutions … and … to move to effective earth
system governance.”
International Council for Science in 2012
requested governments to fundamentally
“overhaul” the entire UN system.
8. Earth System
Governance Project
A “Core Project” of “Future Earth”, launched in 2009
Main global research network on environmental
governance
Developed through a 2-year global consultation and
review process
~250 researchers and 12 institutes in closer network
~2500 researchers in broader network
450,000 unique URL visits in 2014
9. Governance reform at all levels:
Local through global
Global governance
National governance
Local governance
•9
11. 11
A Global Alliance of Research Centres
Australian National University, Australia
Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Colorado State University, United States
University of Ghana, Ghana
Keio University, Japan
Lund University, Sweden
Norwich, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Slovak Academy, Slovak Republic
Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden
University of Toronto, Canada
Utrecht University, Netherlands
VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands
Yale University, USA
International Project Office hosted by
Lund University, Sweden
12. We organize and endorse numerous
workshops and conferences
Flagships are our annual Earth System
Governance open science conferences.
Conferences and other events
13. Book Series with MIT Press
Special Issues of journals
Peer Reviewed Working Paper series
Publications
14.
15. 15
Agency
→ The key agents in governance
Architecture
→ Institutional arrangements in earth system governance
Accountability and Legitimacy
→ Conditions for democratic earth system governance
Allocation and Access
→ Who gets what in earth system governance
Adaptiveness
→ Adaptation, resilience, social learning
Research Framework
17. Frequently Asked Misconceptions
Earth system governance is
– … not about world government;
– … not about governing the earth
system – it is about governing
societal interactions with the
earth system;
– … not necessarily technocratic,
top-down, and centralized;
18. •18
Effective global governance for
sustainability will be polycentric,
involve private and public actors, and
integrate local and global governance
processes.