Evolution of the polycrisis: Anthropocene traps that challenge global sustainability

Søgaard Jørgensen, P., R. E. V. Jansen, D. I. Avila Ortega, L. Wang-Erlandsson, J. F. Donges, H. Österblom, P. Olsson, M. Nyström, S. J. Lade, T. Hahn, C. Folke, G. D. Peterson, and A.-S. Crépin. 2023. Evolution of the polycrisis: Anthropocene traps that challenge global sustainability. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 379(1893):20220261.

The Anthropocene is characterized by accelerating change and global challenges of increasing complexity. Inspired by what some have called a polycrisis, we explore whether the human trajectory of increasing complexity and influence on the Earth system could become a form of trap for humanity. Based on an adaptation of the evolutionary traps concept to a global human context, we present results from a participatory mapping....

Response diversity as a sustainability strategy

Walker, B., A.S. Crepin, M. Nyström, J.M. Anderies, E. Andersson, T. Elmqvist, C. Queiroz, S. Barrett, E. Bennett, J.C. Cardenas, S.R. Carpenter, F.S. Chapin III, A. de Zeeuw, J. Fischer, C. Folke, S. Levin, K. Nyborg, S. Polasky, K. Segerson, K. Seto, M. Scheffer, J.F. Shogren, A. Tavoni, J. van den Bergh, E.U. Weber, and J.R. Vincent. 2023. Response diversity as a sustainability strategy. Nature Sustainability 6:621-629.

Financial advisers recommend a diverse portfolio to respond to market fluctuations across sectors. Similarly, nature has evolved a diverse portfolio of species to maintain ecosystem function amid environmental fluctuations. In urban planning, public health, transport and communications, food production, and other domains, however, this feature often seems ignored. As we enter an era of unprecedented turbulence at the planetary level, we argue that ample responses...

Reshaping a resilient future in response to COVID-19

Rockström, J., A.V. Norström, N. Matthews, R. Biggs, C. Folke, A. Harikishun, S. Huq, N. Krishnan, L. Warszawski, and D. Nel. 2023. Reshaping a resilient future in response to COVID-19. Nature Sustainability 1-11.

Science today defines resilience as the capacity to live and develop with change and uncertainty, which is well beyond just the ability to ‘bounce back’ to the status quo. It involves the capacity to absorb shocks, avoid tipping points, navigate surprise and keep options alive, and the ability to innovate and transform in the face of crises and traps. Five attributes underlie this capacity: diversity,...

Foreword.

Folke, C.. 2023. Foreword. In: Damania, R. et al. (eds). Nature’s Frontiers: Achieving Sustainability, Efficiency, and Prosperity with Natural Capital. World Bank Publications, The World Bank, Washington D.C., USA.

Insurance value of biodiversity in the Anthropocene is the resilience value?

Hahn, T. et al. 2023. Insurance value of biodiversity in the Anthropocene is the resilience value?. Ecological Economics 208:107799.

Recently two distinctly different conceptualisations of insurance value of biodiversity/ ecosystems have been developed. The ecosystem framing addresses the full resilience value without singling out subjective risk preferences. Conversely, the economic framing focuses exactly on this subjective value of risk aversion, implying that the insurance value is zero for risk neutral persons. Here we analyse the differences conceptually and empirically, and relate this to the...

Transnational corporations, biosphere stewardship, and sustainable futures

Österblom, H., J. Bebbington, R. Blasiak, M. Sobkowiak, and C. Folke. 2022. Transnational corporations, biosphere stewardship, and sustainable futures. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 47:609-635.

Corporations are perceived as increasingly powerful and critically important to ensuring that irreversible climatological or ecological tipping points on Earth are not crossed. Environmental impacts of corporate activities include pollution of soils, freshwater and the ocean, depletion of ecosystems and species, unsustainable use of resources, changes to air quality, and alteration of the global climate. Negative social impacts include unacceptable working conditions, erosion of traditional...

The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) – A decade of deepening social-ecological research

Norström, A.V. et al. 2022. The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) – A decade of deepening social-ecological research. People and Ecosystems 18(1):598-608.

The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of the major international social-ecological systems (SES) research networks. During this time, SES research has undergone a phase of rapid growth and has grown into an influential branch of sustainability science. In this Perspective, we argue that SES research has also deepened over the past decade, and helped to...

Cross-scale social-ecolog­ical stewardship for navigating toward more sustainable and just futures

Chapin III, F.S., R. Biggs, N. Sitas, C. Folke, and G.P. Kofinas. 2022. Cross-scale social-ecolog­ical stewardship for navigating toward more sustainable and just futures. In: Gunderson, L.H., C.R. Allen, and A. Garmestani (eds.). Applied Panarchy: Applications and Diffusion across Disciplines. Island Press, Washington DC, USA. Pp. 275-288.

Scientific mobilization of Keystone Actors for Biosphere Stewardship

Österblom, H., C. Folke, J. Rocha, J. Bebbington, R. Blasiak, J.-B. Jouffray, E.R. Selig, C. C. Wabnitz, F. Bengtsson, B. Crona, R. Gupta, P.J. Henriksson, K.A. Johansson, A. Merrie, S. Nakayama, G.O. Crespo, J. Rockström, L. Schultz, M. Sobkowiak, P.S. Jørgensen, J. Spijkers, M. Troell, P. Villarru­bia-Gómez, and J. Lubchenco. 2022. Scientific mobilization of Keystone Actors for Biosphere Stewardship. Scientific Reports 12(3802).

The biosphere crisis requires changes to existing business practices. We ask how corporations can become sustainability leaders, when constrained by multiple barriers to collaboration for biosphere stewardship. We describe how scientists motivated, inspired and engaged with ten of the world’s largest seafood companies, in a collaborative process aimed to enable science-based and systemic transformations (2015–2021). CEOs faced multiple industry crises in 2015 that incentivized novel...

Capacities for navigating large-scale sustaina­bility transformations: Exploring the revolt and remembrance mechanisms for shaping collapse and renewal in social-ecological systems

Olsson, P., C. Folke, and M.-L. Moore. 2022. Capacities for navigating large-scale sustaina­bility transformations: Exploring the revolt and remembrance mechanisms for shaping collapse and renewal in social-ecological systems. In: Gunderson, L., C.R Allen and A. Garmestani (eds.) . Applied Panarchy: Applications and Diffu­sion across Disciplines. Island Press, Washington DC, USA. Pp. 155-180.