Transforming scholarship to co-create sustainable futures

Abstract

The critical challenge facing humanity is the increasingly urgent need to find and implement pathways that lead humankind into a new stage of dynamic equilibrium that promotes the co-evolution of natural and cultural systems. We address this challenge for scientific and scholarly research communities and the transformations in roles, resources, actors, and institutions of scholarship (encompassing natural and social sciences, humanities, and arts), which can contribute substantially and effectively to codesigning solutions for coping with unsustainable practices and systemic risks. Our perspective builds upon a series of four workshops to identify and address global sustainability challenges at a regional scale. It is anchored in the view that nature and society are inextricably interwoven, that planetary boundaries are fundamentally societal, rather than solely environmental issues, that viable solutions to the global challenges mentioned above can be developed and most effectively implemented at a regional to local scale in conjunction with substantive changes in the education systems at all levels, and that these considerations require a complex adaptive systems approach to seeking and implementing solutions. We call for rethinking, finding creative approaches, and acting to make scholarship more capable of effectively creating just and equitable sustainable futures in diverse cultures and contexts. Intelligence BriefingsThese can be short reflections or longer perspective pieces. They should not surpass the limit of 3000 words in the text, not counting title, abstract, text boxes, figures, tables and references.

Sustainable agrifood systems for a post-growth world

“…From early childhood through life-long learning, education is essential in the evolution of knowledge. Creative pedagogies are essential in transforming how future agrifood system professionals, including agrifood researchers, are educated-especially in relation to transformational policies, practices and infrastructures necessary for sustainable post-growth agrifood systems 83 .…”

Knowledge co-production for decision-making in human-natural systems under uncertainty

“…Collaborative action. Understanding the plurality of perspectives that different actors provide needs to be accompanied by social learning between them (e.g., for raising awareness, changing people's perspectives) to enable broader societal impact (98). It should also lead to collaborative decision-making, not only in establishing priorities or analysing solutions together, but also supporting action on the ground with actors who have a deeper understanding of human complexities in practice and better know the embeddedness of proposed solutions in the society's cultural and institutional settings (62).…”

“…Despite this, most cases describe little or no collaboration among actors in acting on decisions (e.g., 91% and 88% of Innovation and Implementation cases respectively were at Levels 1 or 2 of the Acting axis in Figures 3a and 3b). This is an important gap for maintaining the long-term effectiveness of decisions as actors support them if they can see the relevance in terms of social identities and cultural traditions (98). The limited inclusion of actors in the implementation of decisions may also promote scepticism and damage the sense of ownership, resulting in a backlash against change (99).…”