Environment strategy: transformative changes for sustainability
Independent report by Professor Valerie Nelson on behalf of the Scottish Government to inform the development of the forthcoming Scottish Government environment strategy.
Footnotes
1 Applying the Unlocking a Better Future framework for a just transition in Scotland | SEI
2 World-building refers to exploring and creating new futures that are pluriversal in nature (i.e. recognize that there are ‘many worlds in this world’, beyond dominant ones). Onto-epistemologies refer to ‘ontologies’, which refers to the ‘nature of being’ and ‘epistemologies’ which refer to theories of knowledge and how we come to know the world. Ontologies and epistemologies are interlinked.
4 2. Understanding - Climate change - public engagement: survey results 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
5 Refers to both direct and indirect drivers and notes the breadth of change required across multiple spheres, and importantly, involving values and paradigm shifts, as well as a systems science perspective.
6 E.g. Biodiversity strategy for 2030 - European Commission (europa.eu)
7 Vision 2050 - Time to Transform - WBCSD
8 Fisher et al (2022) also find some more nuanced understandings of human behaviour have been incorporated in recent efforts (e.g. Lamine 2015, Wiskerke and Van der Ploeg 2013, Shove et al. 2012).
9 While the concept of tipping points has now long been discussed in resilience of complex adaptive socio-ecological systems (e.g. Holling and Meffe, 1996; add), the notion of intentionally intervening in systems to create feedback loops for positive systemic change has more widely been called ‘leverage points,’ coined by Donella Meadows work in the 1970s, including policy changes, technological innovations, changes in social norms or changes in feedback loops to catalyse positive systemic changes. The recent Global Tipping Points assessment uses the concept of tipping points for both tipping points in complex adaptive systems and systemic interventions.
10 Note that this report essentially uses the term ‘positive tipping points’, but most social science research has focused on meadow’s leverage points as the terminology for responding to tipping points challenges.
11 Bill McKibben: Winning Slowly Is the Same as Losing (rollingstone.com)
12 Using an iterative expert deliberation process methodology, they asked about the most important dimensions of sustainability pathways as part of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment.
13 The LPs are (1) Visions of a good life, (2) Total consumption and waste, (3) Latent values of responsibility, (4) Inequalities, (5) Justice and inclusion in conservation, (6) Externalities from trade and other telecouplings, (7) Responsible technology, innovation and investment, (8) Education and knowledge generation and sharing. The levers are incentives and capacity building, coordination across sectors and jurisdictions, pre-emptive action, adaptive decision-making and environmental law and implementation.
14 https://steps-centre.org/publication/t-labs-practical-guide/
15 Pluricentric means having multiple forms; in relation to human-nature relations, it means recognizing plural ways of knowing and being, for example.
16 Five extraordinary turnarounds to achieve wellbeing for all (earth4all.life)
17 Beyond GDP: Bhutan’s pursuit of wellbeing and happiness revealed in latest GNH results | MPPN
18 https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/full/10.3828/idpr.2024.4
19 Source: Carmenta et al, 2023, p4. (0006-3207/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)).
20 Universal Declaration of River Rights (Draft) (google.com)
21 Laws of nature: could UK rivers be given the same rights as people? | Rivers | The Guardian
22 qe-03-20-586-en-n.pdf (europa.eu)
23 King’s College London Human Rights and Environment Law Clinic (2024) Rights of Nature Toolkit: How to Protect Rivers in England and Wales.
24 B-LiFE Document Template (vub.be)