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Transforming innovation for sustainability
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 12:07 authored by Melissa LeachMelissa Leach, Johan Rockström, Paul Raskin, Ian ScoonesIan Scoones, Andrew StirlingAndrew Stirling, Adrian SmithAdrian Smith, John ThompsonJohn Thompson, Erik Millstone, Adrian ElyAdrian Ely, Elisa Arond, Carl Folke, Per OlssonThe urgency of charting pathways to sustainability that keep human societies within a "safe operating space" has now been clarified. Crises in climate, food, biodiversity, and energy are already playing out across local and global scales and are set to increase as we approach critical thresholds. Drawing together recent work from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the Tellus Institute, and the STEPS Centre, this commentary article argues that ambitious Sustainable Development Goals are now required along with major transformation, not only in policies and technologies, but in modes of innovation themselves, to meet them. As examples of dryland agriculture in East Africa and rural energy in Latin America illustrate, such "transformative innovation" needs to give far greater recognition and power to grassroots innovation actors and processes, involving them within an inclusive, multi-scale innovation politics. The three dimensions of direction, diversity, and distribution along with new forms of "sustainability brokering" can help guide the kinds of analysis and decision making now needed to safeguard our planet for current and future generations.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Ecology and SocietyISSN
1708-3087Publisher
Resilience AllianceExternal DOI
Issue
2Volume
17Page range
11Department affiliated with
- SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes