Publication Date:
2011-10-10
Description:
Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere, with a significant imprint on the Earth System, challenging social–ecological resilience. This new situation calls for a fundamental shift in perspectives, world views, and institutions. Human development and progress must be reconnected to the capacity of the biosphere and essential ecosystem services to be sustained. Governance challenges include a highly interconnected and faster world, cascading social–ecological interactions and planetary boundaries that create vulnerabilities but also opportunities for social–ecological change and transformation. Tipping points and thresholds highlight the importance of understanding and managing resilience. New modes of flexible governance are emerging. A central challenge is to reconnect these efforts to the changing preconditions for societal development as active stewards of the Earth System. We suggest that the Millennium Development Goals need to be reframed in such a planetary stewardship context combined with a call for a new social contract on global sustainability. The ongoing mind shift in human relations with Earth and its boundaries provides exciting opportunities for societal development in collaboration with the biosphere—a global sustainability agenda for humanity. Content Type Journal Article Category Invited Paper Pages 1-20 DOI 10.1007/s13280-011-0184-y Authors Carl Folke, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Åsa Jansson, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Johan Rockström, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Per Olsson, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Stephen R. Carpenter, Center for Limnology, University of Madison, Madison, WI, USA F. Stuart Chapin, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA Anne-Sophie Crépin, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Gretchen Daily, Department Biology and Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA Kjell Danell, Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden Jonas Ebbesson, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Thomas Elmqvist, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Victor Galaz, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Fredrik Moberg, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Måns Nilsson, Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm, Sweden Henrik Österblom, Stockholm Resilience Centre and Baltic Nest Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Elinor Ostrom, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA Åsa Persson, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Garry Peterson, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Stephen Polasky, The Beijer Institute, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, PO Box 50005, 10405 Stockholm, Sweden Will Steffen, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Brian Walker, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden Frances Westley, Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada Journal AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment Online ISSN 1654-7209 Print ISSN 0044-7447
Print ISSN:
0044-7447
Electronic ISSN:
1654-7209
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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