TY - JOUR

T1 - Leverage points for sustainability transformation

AU - Abson, David J.

AU - Fischer, Joern

AU - Leventon, Julia

AU - Newig, Jens

AU - Schomerus, Thomas

AU - Vilsmaier, Ulli

AU - von Wehrden, Henrik

AU - Abernethy, Paivi

AU - Ives, Christopher David

AU - Jager, Nicolas W.

AU - Lang, Daniel J.

PY - 2017/2/1

Y1 - 2017/2/1

N2 - Despite substantial focus on sustainability issues in both science and politics, humanity remains on largely unsustainable development trajectories. Partly, this is due to the failure of sustainability science to engage with the root causes of unsustainability. Drawing on ideas by Donella Meadows, we argue that many sustainability interventions target highly tangible, but essentially weak, leverage points (i.e. using interventions that are easy, but have limited potential for transformational change). Thus, there is an urgent need to focus on less obvious but potentially far more powerful areas of intervention. We propose a research agenda inspired by systems thinking that focuses on transformational ‘sustainability interventions’, centred on three realms of leverage: reconnecting people to nature, restructuring institutions and rethinking how knowledge is created and used in pursuit of sustainability. The notion of leverage points has the potential to act as a boundary object for genuinely transformational sustainability science.

AB - Despite substantial focus on sustainability issues in both science and politics, humanity remains on largely unsustainable development trajectories. Partly, this is due to the failure of sustainability science to engage with the root causes of unsustainability. Drawing on ideas by Donella Meadows, we argue that many sustainability interventions target highly tangible, but essentially weak, leverage points (i.e. using interventions that are easy, but have limited potential for transformational change). Thus, there is an urgent need to focus on less obvious but potentially far more powerful areas of intervention. We propose a research agenda inspired by systems thinking that focuses on transformational ‘sustainability interventions’, centred on three realms of leverage: reconnecting people to nature, restructuring institutions and rethinking how knowledge is created and used in pursuit of sustainability. The notion of leverage points has the potential to act as a boundary object for genuinely transformational sustainability science.

KW - Human–environment systems

KW - Institutional change

KW - Knowledge creation and use

KW - Social–ecological systems

KW - Sustainability science

KW - Transdisciplinarity

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Transdisciplinary studies

KW - Sustainability sciences, Communication

KW - Politics

KW - Law

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976324462&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s13280-016-0800-y

DO - 10.1007/s13280-016-0800-y

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 27344324

AN - SCOPUS:84976324462

VL - 46

SP - 30

EP - 39

JO - Ambio

JF - Ambio

SN - 0044-7447

IS - 1

ER -