Transformative change has increasingly become an imperative in global sustainability science and policy. It is foregrounded in the UN 2030 Agenda, and assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and in an increasing number of research publications. The need for change concerns several of the interconnected major issues of our time, including environmental impacts, climate change, biodiversity, public health, resource use, urbanization, digitalization, peace and conflicts, and poverty and inequality. Sustainability transformations involve social, technological, political, economic, cultural, and ecological changes and thus necessitate interactions between multiple scientific perspectives.
The purpose of the seminar is to shed light on the state of scientific knowledge regarding how complex societal changes can occur. The seminar seeks to increase understanding of the prospects for and challenges of sustainability transformations. We hope to achieve this by stimulating dialogues across research fields.
Preliminary Schedule
11:00
Welcome
Jan Pettersson & Helena Nordenstedt, National Committee for Global Environmental Change
11:05
The Concept of Transformation in Relation to Global Environmental Change
Victoria Wibeck & Björn-Ola Linnér, Linköping University
11:20
Transformative Change is Possible: Key Insights from the IPBES Assessment
Karen O’Brien, Oslo University
12:00
Networking Lunch in the Rosling Foyer
13:00
Perspectives on Transformation
Presentations by:
- Rolf Lidskog, Örebro University
- Per Olsson, Stockholm Resilience Center
- Speaker to be confirmed
14:15
Group Discussions
15:15
Coffee Break
15:40
Report-back Session
16:10
Panel Discussion – Pathways Forward
16:50
Reflections and Closing Remarks
