Reconnecting to the biosphere

Carl Folke; Åsa Jansson; Johan Rockström; Per Olsson; Stephen R. Carpenter; F. Stuart Chapin; Anne Sophie Crépin; Gretchen Daily; Kjell Danell; Jonas Ebbesson; Thomas Elmqvist; Victor Galaz; Fredrik Moberg; Måns Nilsson; Henrik Österblom; Elinor Ostrom; Åsa Persson; Garry Peterson; Stephen Polasky; Will Steffen; Brian Walker; Frances Westley

doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0184-y

Reconnecting to the biosphere

Carl Folke, Åsa Jansson, Johan Rockström, Per Olsson, Stephen R. Carpenter, F. Stuart Chapin, Anne Sophie Crépin, Gretchen Daily, Kjell Danell, Jonas Ebbesson, Thomas Elmqvist, Victor Galaz, Fredrik Moberg, Måns Nilsson, Henrik Österblom, Elinor Ostrom, Åsa Persson, Garry Peterson, Stephen Polasky, Will SteffenBrian Walker, Frances Westley

Applied Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

459 Scopus citations

Abstract

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 biospherea global sustainability agenda for humanity.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	719-738
Number of pages	20
Journal	Ambio
Volume	40
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0184-y
State	Published - Nov 2011

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The article is based on Folke et al. (). Reconnecting to the Biosphere, Working Paper No.1. Prepared for the “3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability: Transforming the World in an Era of Global Change”, in Stockholm, 16–19 May 2011. Stockholm Resilience Centre, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Stockholm Environment Institute, the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact. We acknowledge support from Stiftelsen Futura, Ebba och Sven Schwartz Stiftelse, Kjell and Märta Beijer Foundation, Formas, and Mistra through a core grant to the Stockholm Resilience Centre, a cross-faculty research centre at Stockholm University.

Keywords

Adaptive governance
Ecosystem services
Natural capital
Planetary stewardship
Resilience
Socialecological systems

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1007/s13280-011-0184-y

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Folke, C., Jansson, Å., Rockström, J., Olsson, P., Carpenter, S. R., Stuart Chapin, F., Crépin, A. S., Daily, G., Danell, K., Ebbesson, J., Elmqvist, T., Galaz, V., Moberg, F., Nilsson, M., Österblom, H., Ostrom, E., Persson, Å., Peterson, G., Polasky, S., ... Westley, F. (2011). Reconnecting to the biosphere. Ambio, 40(7), 719-738. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0184-y

Folke, C, Jansson, Å, Rockström, J, Olsson, P, Carpenter, SR, Stuart Chapin, F, Crépin, AS, Daily, G, Danell, K, Ebbesson, J, Elmqvist, T, Galaz, V, Moberg, F, Nilsson, M, Österblom, H, Ostrom, E, Persson, Å, Peterson, G, Polasky, S, Steffen, W, Walker, B & Westley, F 2011, 'Reconnecting to the biosphere', Ambio, vol. 40, no. 7, pp. 719-738. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0184-y

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AU - Daily, Gretchen

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AU - Galaz, Victor

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Reconnecting to the biosphere

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access

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