Karen O'Brien, Susanne Moser, Ioan Fazey and others from Future Earth's Transformations Knowledge-Action Network discuss mobilising research around the social challenge of a 1.5°C target for climate action.

1. Transformations in
Global Governance
for Sustainability
Frank Biermann
Chair, Earth System Governance Project
Utrecht University

2. Why do we need a
transformation in
global governance for
sustainability?

3. “The earth operates well outside the normal state
exhibited over the past 500,000 years. ...
Human activities could … trigger severe consequences
for Earth’s environment …
… potentially switching the Earth System to alternative
modes of operation that may prove irreversible and
inhospitable to humans.” 2001 Amsterdam Declaration of the
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
Sustainability: An Accelerating Global Crisis

4. Crisis of Sustainability Governance

5. Multilateral system is outdated

6. Towards a Transformation of
(Global) Governance for Sustainabilty

7. Calls for Action
2011 Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global
Sustainability urgently called for “strengthening
earth system governance”.
The 2012 State of the Planet Declaration called
for “[f]undamental reorientation and
restructuring of national and international
institutions … and … to move to effective earth
system governance.”
International Council for Science in 2012
requested governments to fundamentally
“overhaul” the entire UN system.

8. Earth System
Governance Project
 A “Core Project” of “Future Earth”, launched in 2009
 Main global research network on environmental
governance
 Developed through a 2-year global consultation and
review process
 ~250 researchers and 12 institutes in closer network
 ~2500 researchers in broader network
 450,000 unique URL visits in 2014

9. Governance reform at all levels:
Local through global
Global governance
National governance
Local governance
•9

10. Scientific Steering
Committee
Chair
International
Project
Office
Lead Faculty
Research Fellows
Research Centres
The Network

11. 11
A Global Alliance of Research Centres
 Australian National University, Australia
 Chiang Mai University, Thailand
 Colorado State University, United States
 University of Ghana, Ghana
 Keio University, Japan
 Lund University, Sweden
 Norwich, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
 Slovak Academy, Slovak Republic
 Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden
 University of Toronto, Canada
 Utrecht University, Netherlands
 VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands
 Yale University, USA
International Project Office hosted by
Lund University, Sweden

12. We organize and endorse numerous
workshops and conferences
Flagships are our annual Earth System
Governance open science conferences.
Conferences and other events

13.  Book Series with MIT Press
 Special Issues of journals
 Peer Reviewed Working Paper series
Publications

15. 15
Agency
→ The key agents in governance
Architecture
→ Institutional arrangements in earth system governance
Accountability and Legitimacy
→ Conditions for democratic earth system governance
Allocation and Access
→ Who gets what in earth system governance
Adaptiveness
→ Adaptation, resilience, social learning
Research Framework

16. •16
ESG ©2009

17. Frequently Asked Misconceptions
Earth system governance is
– … not about world government;
– … not about governing the earth
system – it is about governing
societal interactions with the
earth system;
– … not necessarily technocratic,
top-down, and centralized;

18. •18
Effective global governance for
sustainability will be polycentric,
involve private and public actors, and
integrate local and global governance
processes.

19. •19

20. www.earthsystemgovernance.org
facebook.com/earthsystemgovernance
twitter: @ESG_Project
LinkedIn: Earth System Governance Project
IPO@earthsystemgovernance.org
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