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. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V.
Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies
IASS in Potsdam Germany
Ilan Chabay, Ph.D.
Professor and Senior Advisor for Global Sustainability Research, Institute
for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam Germany
Chair of Knowledge, Learning, and Societal Change Research Alliance
(www.KLASICA.org)
Transformation KAN webinar June 22, 2016
Seeking Collective Behavior Change:
The KLASICA action research agenda
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KLASICA: The Knowledge, Learning, and Societal Change
International Alliance
Heinz Gutscher, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, University of Zürich;
Member of the Future Earth Scientific Committee

2. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V.
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Mission:
1) enable collective behavior change (CBC) toward just and
equitable sustainable futures by
• engaging or developing cohesive communities of
purpose,
• making meaning of knowledge from diverse sources,
and
• collaboratively establishing priorities for policies and
actions,
2) understand the occurrence or failure of CBC at different
spatial and temporal scales and in diverse contexts, and
3) use that understanding to advance solutions for and
promote actions on pathways to sustainable futures.
KLASICA: the Knowledge, Learning,
and Societal Change Alliance
The KLASICA office is based at and supported by IASS, Potsdam

3. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V.
Why Collective Behavior Change?
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1. Individuals generally lack a strong sense of agency when the
• issue is complex and has large temporal and social scales
• causality and impacts are uncertain and not apparently personal
• outcomes of individual actions are difficult or impossible to assess
2. Individual behaviors may be insufficient for transformation
because they are often uncoordinated, inconsistent, or in
opposition to each other
3. Governance (e.g., policies and regulations) may be insufficient
for meaningful, sustained compliance without a strong base of
support, including establishment of concordant social norms
4. Broad societal engagement is essential for making strategic
short-term decisions, rather than deferring difficult, value-based
decisions to a future time with damaging long-term outcomes

4. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V.
IASS KLASICA Workshop, Feb. 2016
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KLASICA seeks to identify sufficient conditions for collective
behavior change toward sustainable futures:
• in different spatial and temporal scales and cultural settings
• spontaneous/emergent or intentional processes,
• fast and slow change,
• potential or actual unintended consequences
• secondary or follow-on impacts
“It’s not enough to adopt policies or negotiate agreements (e.g.
the Paris Agreement) and hope for the best. What we need is
CBC or shifts in actual social practices. So, the question then
becomes a matter of directing attention to identifying the
conditions that can generate or produce CBC in response to
situations of the sort we now confront.”
comment by Oran Young after the KLASICA Workshop

5. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V.
KLASICA Workshop Outputs
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Produced a framework and portfolio that expanded and improved
the original IHDP science plan (2011) and consisted of
• concepts
• terminology
• methods
• examples of relevant case studies
Formed an excellent international group to support the further
development of KLASICA and from which a scientific steering
committee will be formed in Fall 2016
In process: a paper on workshop output for a major journal

6. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V.
KLASICA Collective Behavior Change
Workshop February 2016
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host: IASS, Potsdam

7. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V.
Next: KLASICA Taipei Symposium
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November 21-24, 2016 at the NTU Global Change
Research Center in collaboration with NTNU and IASS
Theme: “Collective Behavior Change For Sustainable
Futures In Asian Island and Isolated Communities”
Facilitated by Ortwin Renn and Viola Gerlach (IASS)
Chairs: Jiun-Chuan Lin (NTU), Shin-Cheng Yeh (NTNU), and Ilan
Chabay (IASS)
Goals:
• new insights on CBC for transformation to sustainability
• framework for implementation and empirical tests
• links with Future Earth projects and KANs, especially TKAN
• papers for a special issue of a journal or an edited book
• identify funding opportunities for future KLASICA events