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A heart model of Earth stewardship: Shaking up science for positive futures
Scheffer, M., J. Anderies, T. Bjordam, J. Bollen, S. Carpenter, T. Chapin, C. Folke, F. Gazitua, M. Holmgren, J. Marcone, S. Polasky, E. Weber, and F. Westley. 2024. A heart model of Earth stewardship: Shaking up science for positive futures. Earth Stewardship 1(1): e12019.
Few disagree that we should pass on the Earth in good shape to future generations, and many scientists want their work to contribute to that goal. Recent work has shown that hopelessness stands in the way of people taking an active attitude. At the same time, it is becoming clear what can be done about that: providing compelling visions of attractive futures and highlighting feasible...
Nurturing gastronomic landscapes for biosphere stewardship
Jonsson, A., J. Haider, L. Pereira, A. Fremier, C. Folke, M. Tengö, and L. Gordon. 2024. Nurturing gastronomic landscapes for biosphere stewardship. Global Food Security 42: 100789.
As a result of years of increased rationalization and consolidation of food systems, the knowledge and skills of many actors in food value chains, especially those linked to smaller-scale traditional and artisanal production, processing, and cooking, have rapidly been eroded. Despite the resilience that such knowledge and skills can offer. In this paper, we use the lens of gastronomy to highlight how culinary craftsmanship and...
A cautious approach to subsidies for environmental sustainability
Segerson, K., S. Polasky, M. Scheffer, R. Sumaila, J.-C. Cardenas, K. Nyborg, E. P. Fenichel, J. M. Anderies, S. Barrett, E. M. Bennett, S. R. Carpenter, B. Crona, G. Daily, A. de Zeeuw, J. Fischer, C. Folke, N. Kautsky, C. Kremen, S. A. Levin, T. Lindahl, M. Pinsky, A. Tavoni, B. Walker, and E. U. Weber. 2024. A cautious approach to subsidies for environmental sustainability. Science 386(6717).
Tackling climate change and biodiversity loss will require government policies to reverse environmental destruction and align economic activity with sustainability goals. Subsidy-based policies feature prominently in current national and international policy discussions about ways to address these challenges. Given this, now is a critical moment to reassess the role of subsidies to ensure that not only their benefits but also their potential drawbacks are at...
Malin Falkenmark: water pioneer who coined the notion of water crowding and coloured the water cycle
Rockström, J., L. Wang-Erlandsson, C. Folke, D. Gerten, L. J. Gordon, and P. W. Keys. 2024. Malin Falkenmark: water pioneer who coined the notion of water crowding and coloured the water cycle. Ambio 53:657-663.
“Water is the bloodstream of the biosphere” is a wise insight coined by Professor Malin Falkenmark, a world-leading international hydrologist, who passed away on 3 December 2023, at the age of 98 years . Falkenmark was a scientific visionary, calling for global water stewardship as a fundamental step towards human development, even before modern thinking on sustainable development was established through the 1987 Brundtland Commission...
Anticipating the global redistribution of people and property
Scheffer, M., W. N. Adger, S. R. Carpenter, C. Folke, T. Lenton, G. Vince, F. Westley, and C. Xu. 2024. Anticipating the global redistribution of people and property. One Earth 7(7):1151-1154.
Climate change will worsen conditions for people in the Global South, while conditions in large parts of the North will improve. Migration seems an effective adaptation strategy. However,making that a win-win for migrants and receiving communities requires revision of the food system, rules for mobility, and strategies for social integration.
Triple bottom line or trilemma? Global tradeoff s between prosperity, inequality, and the environment
Wu, T., J. C. Rocha, K. Berry, T. Chaigneau, M. Hamann, E. Lindqvist, J. Qiu, C. Schill, A. Shephon, A.-S. Crepin, and C. Folke. 2024. Triple bottom line or trilemma? Global tradeoff s between prosperity, inequality, and the environment. World Development 178:106595.
A key aim of sustainable development is the joint achievement of prosperity, equality, and environmental integrity: in other words, material living standards that are high, broadly-distributed, and low-impact. This has often been called the “triple bottom line”. But instead, what if there is a “trilemma” that inhibits the simultaneous achievement of these three goals? We analysed international patterns and trends in the relationships between per-capita gross national income, the Gini coefficient for...
Utilizing basic income to create a sustainable poverty-free tomorrow
Sumaila, U. R., C. C. C. Wabnitz, L. S. L. Teh, L. C. L. Teh, V. W. Y. Lam, H. Sumaila, W. W. L. Cheung, I. Issifu, K. Hopewell, J. E. Cinner, N. J. Bennett, C. Folke, S. Gulati, and S. Polasky. 2024. Utilizing basic income to create a sustainable poverty-free tomorrow. Cell Reports Sustainability 1: 100104.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020 was a reminder of society’s vulnerability in the face of natural upheavals, leading to widespread unemployment and increased poverty. Simultaneously, human activities have precipitated large-scale environmental degradation and catastrophic climate change. Here, we conduct a global-scale, 186-country analysis examining the potential impact of basic income (BI) as a two-pronged solution to both sustainability and social resilience. We reveal BI’s potential to bolster...
The Planetary Commons: A new paradigm for safeguarding Earth’s regulating systems in the Anthropocene
Rockström, R., L. J. Kotzé, S. Milutinović, F. Biermann, V. Brovkin, J. Donges, J. Ebbesson, D. French, J. Gupta, R. E. Kim, T. M. Lenton, D. Lenzi, N. Nakićenović, B. Neumann, F. Schuppert, R. Winkelmann, K. Bosselmann, C. Folke, W. Lucht, D. Schlosberg, K. Richardson, and W. Steffen. 2024. The Planetary Commons: A new paradigm for safeguarding Earth’s regulating systems in the Anthropocene. PNAS 121(5): e230153112..
The Anthropocene signifies the start of a no-analogue trajectory of the Earth system that is fundamentally different from the Holocene. This new trajectory is characterized by rising risks of triggering irreversible and unmanageable shifts in Earth system functioning. We urgently need a new global approach to safeguard critical Earth system regulating functions more effectively and comprehensively. The global commons framework is the closest example of...
Moving from fit to fitness for governing water in the Anthropocene
Moore, M.-L., L. Wang-Erlandsson, Ö. Bodin, J. Enqvist, F. Jaramillo, K. Jónás, C. Folke, P. Keys, S. J. Lade, M. Mancilla Garcia, R. Martin, N. Matthews, A. Pranindita, J. C. Rocha, and S. Vora. 2024. Moving from fit to fitness for governing water in the Anthropocene. Nature Water 2(6):511-520.
We bring together two decades of research on cross-scale spatial and temporal connectivity of water in the Anthropocene to understand the implications for institutional fit and water governance, with a focus on river basin organizations and watershed-based bodies. There is strong evidence showing how hydrological cycles are tightly coupled across larger spatial scales than they were in the past, which implies a possible expansion of...
Titanic lessons for Spaceship Earth to account for human behavior in institutional design
Lindahl, T., J. M. Anderies, A.-S. Crépin, K. Jónás, C. Schill, J. C. Cárdenas, C. Folke, G. J. Hofstede, M. A. Janssen, J.-D. Mathias, and S. Polasky. 2024. Titanic lessons for Spaceship Earth to account for human behavior in institutional design. npj Climate Action 3(1):1-9.
Combating environmental degradation requires global cooperation. We here argue that institutional designs for such efforts need to account for human behavior. The voyage of the Titanic serves as an analogous case to learn from, and we use behavioral insights to identify critical aspects of human behavior that serve as barriers or opportunities for addressing the challenges we face. We identify a set of public goods...
