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The Future of Sustainability: Have Your Say! Week One - “Global Challenges to Sustainability in the Twenty-First Century”
Thank you to all those who participated in the first week of the IUCN Discussion Forum. Jeffrey McNeely’s statement: “Global Challenges to Sustainability in the Twenty-First Century: science and technology to mobilize people for conservation” generated a lively discussion which introduced many of the themes to be discussed over the next three weeks. We apologise for any technical problems that some of you may have experienced at the beginning of the first week. We are confident that these have now been addressed and that you can now enjoy a trouble free forum. Your comments are now posted at http://www.iucn.org/members/future_sustainability/, as well as circulated daily by email. We are pleased to report that we currently have 340 registered participants for the debate from every corner of the earth. This comment provides a brief overview of the week’s debate in relation to the four questions posed by Jeffrey McNeely in his statement. Many of you agreed with Jeff’s global challenges to sustainability in the 21st century, and made some important additions including the ‘double extinction crisis’ of cultural as well as biological diversity, fresh water shortages, depletion of marine resources, the impact of alien invasive species, the increasing divide between the ‘haves and have-nots’, unsustainable consumption, market and public policy failures and the impact of high-tech wars. This ever growing ‘litany of woes’ points to the inextricable links between human and natural systems and underscores the scale and urgency of the challenges that threaten to undermine our life support systems in the first decade of this new century. But your comments quickly pushed the discussion beyond the mere listing of the problems and scientific or technical fixes. This week brought alive the idea that sustainability is best conceived as a social paradigm, and that a sustainable future depends upon bringing about a radical transformation in human awareness and consciousness. Jeff invited comments on the key breakthroughs in conservation biology and environmental science in the 21st century that will help society address global challenges. Some participants are worried that sustainability seems to have lost something of its sharp edge from an ecological perspective, and the environmental sciences need to be re-centred in the debate if the concept of sustainability is to remain credible. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, despite some of its cultural shortcomings, was mentioned as a key breakthrough in the types of knowledge needed for advancing sustainability. Biology and ecological sciences were recognized as evolving and that an understanding of biosphere ‘resilience’ will be critical to guiding and transforming society. We were encouraged to think beyond protecting endangered species and spaces to conserving “backyard biodiversity” as a basic resources for sustainability. Significantly, your comments urged us to consider innovations in the role of science in society. Without loosing its essential properties the new scientific venture needs to engage with ethics and holistic perspectives. To overcome the sense of alienation people feel from science, the future of sustainability requires a better dialogue between the scientific community, citizens and policy makers. Education was repeatedly referred to as a fundamental mechanism to raise awareness and change human behaviour, with lessons to be learned from indigenous communities. Jeff’s third question addressed how we can ensure that key interest groups are involved in defining the priorities and applying new advances. Conservation and natural resource management involves the social values and choices of groups with many different perspectives and interests, and there was strong support during the week for better public participatory processes in defining those choices – including the involvement of the private sector and local communities. However the challenges in doing this were recognized. Some pointed out that conservation has often been at the expense of poorer rural groups in developing countries. Other recognized the critical role communities and indigenous peoples play in the sustainable management of resources, and the advances made by conservation organizations in developing participatory approaches at a local level. However, the involvement of stakeholders in equitable and meaningful ways is harder to achieve at larger geographical scales. We need innovations in planning and decision making frameworks, new governance and accountability models that empower citizens to hold those in power accountable, and new market mechanisms as we seek to manage resources at a larger scale. We hope that some of these themes will be discussed in more detail in the next few weeks. Jeff’s last question on how scientists can formulate more positive messages – and restore a sense of hope in the general public – sparked an interesting debate on the role of language and the right way of framing things in the sustainability movement. On the one hand, some participants felt that society needs to have some issues forcefully explained with the urgency of the current situation emphasised and the need for action to be taken quickly. Others felt that citizens should be motivated by more positive messages and energized by inspiring solutions. Towards the end of the week there seemed to be an emerging consensus that we need open critical debate, and ways of coping with the creative tension between fear and hope, pessimism and optimism, carrot and stick, as well as new, simple and resonant ways of communicating with society. One of the objectives of this Discussion Forum is to encourage and share inspiring and innovative solutions to sustainability. Participants highlighted the role of spirituality (rather than religion), ethics, education for sustainable development, ecology, policy, legislation, markets, incentives, investments, energy efficient technologies, partnerships and the relevance of workable, present-day, place-based solutions. A couple of participants provided some frameworks, principles and practical solutions, and even suggested new metaphors for the future of sustainability. Here are some of the links again: The Natural Step: One Planet Living: UNESCO “Educating for a Sustainable Future; A Transdisciplinary Vision for Concerted Action: We look forward to hearing your views in Week Two, and are delighted that the discussion is joined by Ashok Khosla. He will focus on human wellbeing and sustainability, and will help open up the debate on the links between environment, health, security, poverty eradication, social justice, and ask how we can more effectively scale up our efforts. He also asks for your help in redefining the ‘good life’. |