Institut für sozial-ökologische Forschung (ISOE)
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The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development stresses the fundamental role science should play in implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals endorsed by the global community. But how can and should researchers respond to this societal demand on science? We argue that answering this question requires systematic engagement with the fundamental normative dimensions of the 2030 Agenda and those of the scientific community—and with the implications these dimensions have for research and practice. We suggest that the production of knowledge relevant to sustainable development entails analytic engagement with norms and values through four tasks. First, to unravel and critically reflect on the ethical values involved in sustainability, values should increasingly become an empirical and theoretical object of sustainability research. Second, to ensure that research on social–ecological systems is related to sustainability values, researchers should reflect on and spell out what sustainability values guide their research, taking into account possible interdependencies, synergies, and trade-offs. Third, to find common ground on what sustainability means for specific situations, scientists should engage in deliberative learning processes with societal actors, with a view to jointly reflecting on existing development visions and creating new, contextualized ones. Fourth, this implies that researchers and scientific disciplines must clarify their own ethical and epistemic values, as this defines accountability and shapes identification of problems, research questions, and results. We believe that ignoring these tasks, whether one is in favor or critical of the 2030 Agenda, will undermine the credibility and relevance of scientific contributions for sustainable development.
Demographic change is supposed to be the most important indirect driver for changing biodiversity. In this article, a systematic review of 148 studies was conducted to examine the scientific evidence for this relationship and to identify potential gaps in research. We explored the spatial distribution of studies, the categories addressed with respect to biodiversity and demographic change, and the ways in which their relationships were conceptualised (spatially and temporally) and valued. The majority of studies were carried out in Africa, Europe and North America. Our analysis confirms the trend that demographic phenomena were mostly found to negatively influence biodiversity. However, a considerable number of studies also point towards impacts that were context dependent, either positive or negative under certain circumstances. In addition to that we identified significant gaps in research. In particular, there is a lack of addressing (1) other demographic aspects such as population decline, age structure or gender differences, (2) spatial variability of, e.g. human population growth, (3) long-term effects of demographic processes, and (4) the context dependency (e.g. regulations/law enforcement, type of human activities, and choice of scale or proxy). We conclude there is evidence that the relationship between biodiversity and demographic change is much more complex than expected and so far represented in research. Thus, we call for a social–ecological biodiversity research that particularly focusses on the functional relation between biodiversity and human activities, namely the different types, context, and interdependent dynamics (spatial and temporal) of this complex relation.
ISOE-Newsletter 05/2019
(2019)
Zukunft gestalten im Anthropozän: Gestaltungsprinzipien für eine kritische Nachhaltigkeitsforschung +++ Institutsbericht 2019 des ISOE erschienen +++ 30 Jahre ISOE: Aufbruch in die Gegenwart. Die sozial-ökologische Zukunft heute gestalten +++ Das ISOE auf Instagram +++ Forschungsergebnisse aus der Schweiz zu nachhaltigem Mobilitätsverhalten +++ Klimaanpassung in den Städten: Was Infrastrukturen dazu beitragen können +++ Kipppunkte in Ökosystemen: Maßnahmen zum Erhalt der Savannen im südlichen Afrika +++ Termine +++ Publikationen
ISOE-Newsletter 04/2019
(2019)
Alltagsprodukte aus Plastik: Chemikalienmix aus schädlichen und unbekannten Substanzen +++ Kooperationen zwischen Kommunen sichern Lebensqualität im ländlichen Raum +++ IAA im gesellschaftlichen Wandel: Wenn die Verkehrswende der Leitmesse die Show stiehlt +++ „Wasserwende“ gegen Versorgungsengpässe +++ Zielgruppengerechte Ansprache für energieeffizientes und sicheres Wohnen im Alter +++ Wasser in Plastik – Plastik im Wasser. Warum es schwierig ist, die Ökobilanz von PET-Flaschen zu erstellen +++ Lehrveranstaltungen im Wintersemester 2019/20 +++ ISOE unterstützt „Globale Aktionswoche gegen die Klimakrise“ +++ Aus dem ISOE +++ Termine +++ Publikationen