Inequality and the Biosphere

Hamann, Maike; Berry, Kevin; Chaigneau, Tomas; Curry, Tracie; Heilmayr, Robert; Henriksson, Patrik; Hentati‐Sundberg, Jonas; Jina, Amir; Lindkvist, Emilie; Lopez-Maldonado, Yolanda; Nieminen, Emmi; Piaggio, Matí­as; Qiu, Jiangxiao; Rocha, Juan Carlos; Schill, Caroline; Shepon, Alon; Tilman, Andrew R.; Bijgaart, Inge van den; Wu, Tong

doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-102017-025949

Cited by 124 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 137 publications

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“…Global economic development has generated prosperity but also inequality, at the expense of the environment [75][76][77] . Now, a rising awareness of the finite capacity of the planet creates prospects for change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transnational corporations and the challenge of biosphere stewardship

et al. 2019

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Sustainability within planetary boundaries requires concerted action by individuals, governments, civil society and private actors. For the private sector, there is concern that the power exercised by transnational corporations generates, and is even central to, global environmental change. Here, we ask under which conditions transnational corporations could either hinder or promote a global shift towards sustainability. We show that a handful of transnational corporations have become a major force shaping the global intertwined system of people and planet. Transnational corporations in agriculture, forestry, seafood, cement, minerals, and fossil energy cause environmental impacts and possess the ability to influence critical functions of the biosphere. We review evidence of current practices and identify six observed features of change towards 'Corporate Biosphere Stewardship', with significant potential for upscaling. Actions by transnational corporations, if combined with effective public policies and improved governmental regulations, could substantially accelerate sustainability efforts. MAIN TEXT Consolidation among corporations, whereby a small number of companies control a large market share of the overall output or sales for a particular product or product type (i.e. oligopoly or, at the extreme, monopoly), is a well-known 1,2 and predictable 3,4 feature of economic development 5. Some 10% of the world's corporations generate 80% of all profits globally 6. A handful of transnational companies (TNCs) in the information technology sector control 90% or more of the global market share of search engines, operating systems, and social media 7. Three investor firms manage over 90% of all assets under management in passive equity funds 8 , and retailers, which form the interface between consumers and global supply chains, also show high levels of concentration 9,10. Such dominance is variously explained by increasing share of returns from growth going to capital rather than labour, the ability of TNCs to navigate regulatory systems opportunistically across multiple jurisdictions, and their capacity to create barriers to entry for smaller firms 11 .

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transnational corporations and the challenge of biosphere stewardship

et al. 2019

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“…The major challenges currently facing the world, including persistent poverty, rising inequalities, biodiversity loss, and climate change, are increasingly recognized as the emergent outcomes of complex social and ecological interactions [1][2][3][4]. Climate change, for example, is recognized as one of the major threats to global health because it affects disease patterns, water and nutrition security, and the severity and frequency of extreme weather events [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harnessing Insights from Social-Ecological Systems Research for Monitoring Sustainable Development

et al. 2019

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The United Nations’ Agenda 2030 marks significant progress towards sustainable development by making explicit the intention to integrate previously separate social, economic and environmental agendas. Despite this intention, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were adopted to implement the agenda, are fragmented in their formulation and largely sectoral. We contend that while the design of the SDG monitoring is based on a systems approach, it still misses most of the dynamics and complexity relevant to sustainability outcomes. We propose that insights from the study of social-ecological systems offer a more integrated approach to the implementation of Agenda 2030, particularly the monitoring of progress towards sustainable development outcomes. Using five key features highlighted by the study of social-ecological systems (SESs) relevant to sustainable development: (1) social-ecological feedbacks, (2) resilience, (3) heterogeneity, (4) nonlinearity, and (5) cross-scale dynamics. We analyze the current set of SDG indicators based on these features to explore current progress in making them operational. Our analysis finds that 59% of the indicators account for heterogeneity, 33% for cross-scale dynamics, 23% for nonlinearities, and 18% and 17%, respectively, for social-ecological feedbacks and resilience. Our findings suggest limited use of complex SES science in the current design of SDG monitoring, but combining our findings with recent studies of methods to operationalize SES features suggests future directions for sustainable development monitoring for the current as well as post 2030 set of indicators.

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“…Third, future research could also examine the relationship between social inequality and ecosystem collapse in other ecosystems. Much research has focused on the interactions between inequality and environmental degradation generally, with several pathways and feedback loops beginning to be identified, though much of the research on this topic is on the national or subnational scale, and focuses on economic inequality in particular (Hamann et al 2018). Boyce's (1994) hypothesis that greater inequalities of power and wealth lead to greater environmental degradation seems relevant in this case.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding inaction in confronting ecosystem collapse: community perspectives from California’s Salton Sea

Buck¹

2020

E&S

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Species loss is well-known as a defining challenge of our era. But in an era of increasing anthropogenic stressors, several ecosytems are at risk of collapsing because of human pressures. In the emergent literature on ecosystem collapse, few studies have focused on how ecosystem collapse is experienced by the communities living through it. In this paper I explore how communities understand ecosystem collapse, and possible ways of managing it, through a study of California's largest lake. The Salton Sea is at an ecological tipping point where it is rapidly shrinking and becoming more saline. This paper draws on 30 semistructured interviews in the Coachella and Imperial valleys around the lake, as well as observation of community meetings and archival material, to explore the following: How do people living around the Salton Sea view its collapse, including the failure to stop it? What measures do they see as having the potential to avert its collapse? These interviews indicate a clear understanding of the imminent decline, and a variety of conjectures about why nothing has been done, attributing this to its peripherality, power inequalities, the professionalization of Salton Sea solutions, and systematic incapacity on the part of the state of California. Respondents also surfaced three potential alternative pathways for restoration, as well as insights into the challenges of implementing them. The story of the Salton Sea, an ecosystem collapse in progress with no real action, may be repeated around the world, including in high-income jurisdictions like California, and it is important to understand the political and social contexts that determine whether or not a major effort is made to prevent collapse.

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Inequality and the Biosphere

Cited by 124 publications

References 137 publications

Transnational corporations and the challenge of biosphere stewardship

Transnational corporations and the challenge of biosphere stewardship

Harnessing Insights from Social-Ecological Systems Research for Monitoring Sustainable Development

Understanding inaction in confronting ecosystem collapse: community perspectives from California’s Salton Sea

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Inequality and the Biosphere

Cited by 124 publications

References 137 publications

Transnational corporations and the challenge of biosphere stewardship

Transnational corporations and the challenge of biosphere stewardship

Harnessing Insights from Social-Ecological Systems Research for Monitoring Sustainable Development

Understanding inaction in confronting ecosystem collapse: community perspectives from California&#8217;s Salton Sea

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Understanding inaction in confronting ecosystem collapse: community perspectives from California’s Salton Sea