The burgeoning literature on sustainability transformation agrees that values play a key, albeit unelucidated, role on the transformation research agenda. Recent literature linking values and transformation increasingly points toward the hypothesis that values may act as leverage points for sustainability transformation. However, how transformation research can engage with values as leverage points remains a critical knowledge gap. Here, I argue that transformation research needs to distinguish between two modes of ...

In this paper, we argue that leveraging plural values into action for biodiversity requires a focus on transforming the biodiversity governance system. We draw on Donella Meadows’ concept of Leverage Points, which outlines the “depth” of intervention in order to shift a system toward sustainability. Engaging with deep leverage points (system intent and goals) is argued to lead to greater transformation than engaging with shallow leverage points (system design and materials). We outline how embracing plural values of ...

Amplifying the impact of sustainability initiatives to foster transformations in urban and rural contexts, has received increasing attention in resilience, social innovation, and sustainability transitions research. We review the literature on amplification frameworks and propose an integrative typology of eight processes, which aim to increase the impact of such initiatives. The eight amplification processes are: stabilizing, speeding up, growing, replicating, transferring, spreading, scaling up, and scaling deep. ...

Sustainability transformations call forth new forms and systems of knowledge across society. However, few tools and processes exist for promoting dialogue among different interests and normative stances in knowledge co-creation. In this article, we build on the notion of thought collectives to argue that understanding and moderating normative tensions are necessary if sustainability science is to provide successful solutions. Drawing on an analysis of the normative tensions between rival high-tech and low-tech thought ...

Many things have changed in Southern Transylvania over the last 30 years – communism ended, the Saxons have all but left, Romania is now part of the European Union (EU), and people use mobile phones and computers. With this small book, we invite our readers to think about, and discuss, what might happen in Southern Transylvania over the next 30 years. What will communities feel like in 2043, what will the landscape look like, and what will happen to wild nature in the process? Nobody can predict precisely what the ...

The draft Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework commits to achievement of equity and justice outcomes and represents a “relational turn” in how we understand inclusive conservation. Although “inclusivity” is drawn on as a means to engage diverse stakeholders, widening the framing of inclusivity can create new tensions with regard to how to manage protected areas. We first offer a set of tensions that emerge in the light of the relational turn in biodiversity conservation. Drawing on global case examples applying ...