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Georgina Mace introduced a compelling perspective on the major shifts in conservation science's framing and purpose from 1960 to 2010. A decade ago, she proposed that the conservation community had begun to move into a new framing of 'people and nature' based on changes in perspectives on the relationships between people and nature and new interdisciplinary concepts and methods used in conservation. Progress in using this frame is clear as 'two-way dynamic relationships between people and nature' have since taken centre stage in science, practice and policy. Now, responding to concerns raised that current approaches to conservation are still not meeting the scale and complexity of the challenges of the Anthropocene, we explore a newly emerging framing of 'people with nature'—an inextricably intertwined perspective on people–nature relationships. This framing builds on Mace's recognition of interconnections and change, as well as new directions offered by conservation's recent transdisciplinary engagements, to go beyond the notion of two-way flows connecting people and nature to emphasize the relationships and inseparability of 'people with nature'. This emerging framing suggests new directions for conservation science and practice to make visible, improve and reimagine degraded people–nature relationships needed to bend the curve of biodiversity loss. This article is part of the discussion meeting issue 'Bending the curve towards nature recovery: building on Georgina Mace's legacy for a biodiverse future'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to present the third position statement from the International Learning Collaborative (ILC). The ILC is the foremost global organization dedicated to transforming fundamental care. Internationally, fundamental care is reported to be poorly delivered, delayed or missed, negatively impacting patients, their families/carers and healthcare staff and systems. Overcoming this global challenge requires profound transformation in how our healthcare systems value, deliver and evaluate fundamental care. This transformation will take both evolutionary and revolutionary guises. In this position statement, we argue how this [r]evolutionary transformation for fundamental care can and must be created within clinical practice. Design: Position paper. Methods: This position statement stems from the ILC's annual conference and Leadership Program held in Portland, Maine, USA, in June 2023. The statement draws on the discussions between participants and the authors' subsequent reflections and synthesis of these discussions and ideas. The conference and Leadership Program involved participants (n = 209) from 13 countries working primarily within clinical practice. Results: The statement focuses on what must occur to transform how fundamental care is valued, prioritized and delivered within clinical practice settings globally. To ensure demonstrable change, the statement comprises four action‐oriented strategies that must be systematically owned by healthcare staff and leaders and embedded in our healthcare organizations and systems: Address non‐nursing tasks: reclaim and protect time to provide high‐value fundamental care.Accentuate the positive: change from deficit‐based to affirmative language when describing fundamental care.Access evidence and assess impact: demonstrate transformation in fundamental care by generating relevant indicators and impact measures and rigorously synthesizing existing research.Advocate for interprofessional collaboration: support high‐quality, transdisciplinary fundamental care delivery via strong nursing leadership. Conclusion: The ILC Maine Statement calls for ongoing action – [r]evolution – from healthcare leaders and staff within clinical practice to prioritize fundamental care throughout healthcare systems globally. Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care: We outline four action‐oriented strategies that can be embedded within clinical practice to substantially transform how fundamental care is delivered.Specific actions to support these strategies are outlined, providing healthcare leaders and staff a road map to continue the transformation of fundamental care within our healthcare systems. Impact: Fundamental care affects everyone across their life course, regardless of care context, clinical condition, age and/or the presence of disability.This position statement represents a call to action to healthcare leaders and staff working specifically in clinical practice, urging them to take up the leadership challenge of transforming how fundamental care is delivered and experience globally. Patient or Public Contribution: Patients, service users and caregivers were involved in the ILC annual conference, thus contributing to the discussions that shaped this position statement. What Does this Paper Contribute to the Wider Global Clinical Community?: The strategies and actions outlined in this position statement are relevant to all clinical settings globally, providing practical strategies and actions that can be employed to enhance fundamental care for all patients and their families/carers.By outlining the importance of both evolutionary and revolutionary change, we identify ways in which healthcare systems globally can begin making the necessary steps towards radical fundamental care transformation, regardless of where they are in the change journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science–policy interfaces (SPI), such as IPCC and IPBES, are key mechanisms by which scientists can contribute to policy making to tackle socio-environmental problems. To capture recent and ongoing developments, we examine the evolution of global and European SPI landscapes in the biodiversity domain grounding a novel concept of "transformative science–policy interfacing", which is a collective effort to enable fundamental societal change by enhancing connectivity between co-production of knowledge and policy implementation. We consider that transformative science–policy interfacing is not in conflict with, but rather extends the currently prevailing co-production paradigm into directions that rethink the relationships between science, SPI, and policy. It shifts the balance of knowledge co-production from "making sense together" towards "enabling transformative change". It employs the Science & Technology Studies concept of "co-production of science and social order" by focusing on orchestration of the science–policy interface landscape with a normative agenda leaning towards transformative change. Based on the overview of the evolution of SPI landscape in global and European biodiversity domains, we identify and discuss eight key directions for transformative science–policy interfacing. Further work will be needed to test whether the development towards transformative science–policy interfacing can be observed also in domains beyond environmental topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural landscapes are facing a loss of biodiversity. To deal with this challenge, landscape governance is seen as an alternative and addition to sectoral policies and a potential way of realizing transformative change for biodiversity. To study transformative change in the Bulb Region, the Netherlands, this study uses a discursive-institutional perspective. A mixed methods approach was used including 50 interviews, participant observation and document analysis. The structuration and institutionalization of three competing landscape discourses were analyzed: a hegemonic discourse rejecting any changes in bulb farming; an emerging discourse aiming to enhance sustainability through innovation; and an unstructured discourse questioning the sustainability of bulb farming. The paper shows that the emerging sustainability discourse strengthens the hegemonic discourse by providing an action repertoire for farmers to deal with changing societal demands, while not questioning the hegemonic view on the landscape. Moreover, an institutionalized landscape discourse can be very stable if discursive (relation between naturalized landscape perspectives, identity and the articulated economic interests) and non-discursive factors (natural-spatial conditions, structure of agricultural sector, embeddedness in international trade) are strongly intertwined, leaving little room for alternative discourses. The sustainability discourse was induced by changes outside the Bulb Region (e.g., legislation), thus raising the question whether landscapes are the appropriate level to expect the initiation of transformative change. For rural transformations to come about, solely relying on policies on the landscape level is not sensible. A mix of policies at both the landscape and higher levels offers more perspective for transformative change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, low-income rural black youth are assumed to exhibit endurance in their higher education agency while yet not really being agentic, because they accommodate an oppressive university and settle for less ambitious aspirational horizons. Drawing on illustrative empirical data from a longitudinal study of black youth without hot knowledge of higher education to deploy from their families' biographies, the project explored students' accessing, participating in and moving on from their studies at five South African universities. In exploring youth aspirations and agency, the concept of repair is employed to position aspirations as reparative and temporal where past injustices, present and future intersect in shaping agency and in projecting imagined futures for youth. The cultural lens of aspiration offers a space to interrogate and dismantle past exclusions and unsettle norms of the "disadvantaged student" to avoid reinscribing past injustice in ways which are globally relevant to marginalised university students from poor backgrounds compared to better off students. It shows how day to day negotiated conditions of living in universities by these students are agentic; enduring poverty and exclusion is an active aspirational struggle for dignity and recognition, even if these students are not able to undo relations of power. Ubuntu is mobilised as an ontological means to further deepen how we understand aspirations and agency as interdependent and interacted between person and community and as refusal of the neoliberal university. Finally, features of universities as potential spaces of aspirations and repair for transformative change and transformative futures are sketched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how top-down policy direction setting is interpreted and implemented within horizontal networks of practice. This is an under-investigated issue, yet vital for delivering ultimately transformative outcomes. It seeks to unpack how actionable directionality can influence progress and introduces the idea of nascent or partial missions. Options for identifying and nurturing these missions to expand in scale and scope are then discussed. Utilising Wales as an illustrative case study, we draw upon a unique dataset of circular economy (CE)-related interventions, networks and participants. Finally, the paper outlines implications for policy-making and proposes avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Humans are significantly impacting ecosystems worldwide. Scientists of the IPBES Global Assessment are therefore calling for a transformative change that includes all aspects of society in order to address drivers of biodiversity loss. However, these calls are rather abstract, and thus it remains unclear how this goal can be achieved. With this conceptual contribution, we present an analytical framework for evaluating existing processes of societal change which are enhancing biodiversity, and we illustrate its application using three case studies in Germany. We argue that an empirical analysis provides insights into the causal mechanisms that initiate or promote change processes. In doing so, we can draw recommendations for future transformative change processes with regard to biodiversity conservation. In our analysis, we are dealing with questions concerning the following three areas: the drivers and context of societal change processes, the change processes themselves and finally their impacts. Subsequently, we generate recommendations on how to enhance and support the process of future societal transformation that aims at biodiversity conservation: (a) Retaining co‐benefits for biodiversity with goals that are primarily focussing on other objectives; (b) harmonising biodiversity use and conservation by turning conflicts into drivers of transformation; (c) prioritising biodiversity conservation by taking advantage of windows of opportunity. With our conceptual framework, we provide an analytical tool to learn from existing processes of societal change how to support future transformative change. This is an important step that contributes to the generation of relevant knowledge of promoting transformative change for nature and people. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Abstract To investigate whether and how Social Innovation (SI) can contribute to transformative change, we explored nine Native Seed Collectors Networks (NSCNs) in Brazil. Employing Social Network Analysis, we delved into the organisational structure of four NSCNs. Additionally, we identified five instances of social innovations (SIs) using the guiding questions of the Social Innovation—Forest and Landscape Restoration (SI‐FLR) framework. These networks, which received a total of US$ 12 million in investments from 2018 to 2021, have not only contributed to the production of 180 tonnes of native seeds but also had a significant socioeconomic impact. They have generated a total income of US$ 1.01 million for 997 seed collectors, 46% of whom are from traditional communities and marginalised groups. Furthermore, 55% of these collectors are women, and 23% rely solely on seed collection as their only source of income. While the NSCNs represent a fledgling economy, they have effectively activated local agency capacity. With the support of the NSCNs' social capital, a favourable context and clear motivations, this agency capacity can trigger SIs. By generating positive impacts, these SIs are changing values and empowering local agents (scaling deep), inspiring agents in other geographies (scaling out) and even influencing policies favourable to socially inclusive landscape restoration (scaling up). This three‐dimensional scaling underscores the catalysing power of SI in NSCNs and their potential contribution to transformative change. We also emphasise the role of public bodies in promoting enabling conditions, the vital role of local experimentation and the rarely evidenced local agency capacity to leverage SIs in FLR. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) persists as a global health challenge, with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) constituting over 85% of all cases. India, with its distinctive demographic challenges, bears a significant burden, especially impacting the economically vital age group of 15 to 60 years. Methods: Our prospective study, conducted at the National Institute of Medical Science & Research, Jaipur, Rajasthan, encompassed a comprehensive reassessment of PTB subjects. Clinical evaluations, laboratory investigations, and radiological assessments, including chest X-rays (CXR) and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), were employed. A sample size of 320 cases underwent meticulous statistical analysis, adhering to ethical considerations. Results: Analysis revealed no significant association between gender and PTB cases (χ² = 0.186, df = 1, p = 0.666) or between age, gender, and PTB diagnosis (χ² = 4.651, df = 3, p = 0.266). Radiological findings demonstrated noteworthy correlations, emphasizing their diagnostic significance. Chest X-ray findings associated significantly with patchy infiltrate, mediastinal lymphadenopathy, fibrosis, and pleural effusion (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our study unravels the complex tapestry of PTB, highlighting its historical significance and contemporary challenges. The pivotal role of radiological precision in diagnosis is underscored, especially in India's high-burden context. The findings emphasize the need for nuanced approaches and ongoing research to enhance our understanding and management of TB. As we confront the radiological intricacies of PTB, this study contributes to the discourse aimed at fostering transformative change in TB care and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article describes the development and validation of a survey designed to measure the vision of European agricultural advisors towards innovation. Design/Methodology/Approach: The items of the instrument were developed based on the conceptual framework provided by the position paper for the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium. The resulting instrument was completed by 656 advisors recruited through the network of the European Horizon 2020 i2connect project. The data was divided into two random subsets. The structure of the instrument was explored using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using one subset and convergent validity was tested by applying confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to the second subset. Findings: The EFA resulted in a three-factor solution. In accordance with the conceptual framework, these factors were labelled (a) linear innovation, (b) innovation systems and (c) transformative change. The CFA demonstrated an adequate fit and a satisfactory level of internal consistency. Practical implications: The instrument can assist in eliciting advisors' views on innovation, which could be used in advisors' selection and recruitment. Theoretical implications: Building on a strong conceptual basis, the paper presents a theoretically robust instrument for assessing advisors' views on different innovation models. Such assessments could in turn lead to further expand and elaborate concepts on this aspect. Originality/Value: The survey is the first instrument to include the emerging policy paradigm of transformative change and as such allows measuring the degree to which European advisors are willing to support transformative innovation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate whether and how Social Innovation (SI) can contribute to transformative change, we explored nine Native Seed Collectors Networks (NSCNs) in Brazil. Employing Social Network Analysis, we delved into the organisational structure of four NSCNs. Additionally, we identified five instances of social innovations (SIs) using the guiding questions of the Social Innovation—Forest and Landscape Restoration (SI‐FLR) framework.These networks, which received a total of US$ 12 million in investments from 2018 to 2021, have not only contributed to the production of 180 tonnes of native seeds but also had a significant socioeconomic impact. They have generated a total income of US$ 1.01 million for 997 seed collectors, 46% of whom are from traditional communities and marginalised groups. Furthermore, 55% of these collectors are women, and 23% rely solely on seed collection as their only source of income.While the NSCNs represent a fledgling economy, they have effectively activated local agency capacity. With the support of the NSCNs' social capital, a favourable context and clear motivations, this agency capacity can trigger SIs. By generating positive impacts, these SIs are changing values and empowering local agents (scaling deep), inspiring agents in other geographies (scaling out) and even influencing policies favourable to socially inclusive landscape restoration (scaling up). This three‐dimensional scaling underscores the catalysing power of SI in NSCNs and their potential contribution to transformative change.We also emphasise the role of public bodies in promoting enabling conditions, the vital role of local experimentation and the rarely evidenced local agency capacity to leverage SIs in FLR. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Resumo: Para investigar se e como a Inovação Social (IS) pode contribuir para a mudança transformativa, exploramos nove Redes de Coletores de Sementes Nativas (RCSNs) no Brasil. Empregamos a Análise de Redes Sociais para investigar a estrutura organizacional de quatro RCSNs. Além disso, identificamos cinco casos de inovações sociais (ISs) usando as perguntas orientadoras da estrutura analítica Restauração Socio‐Inovadora e Paisagens (RESIP).De 2018 a 2021, essas redes receberam um total de US$ 12 milhões em investimentos, e não apenas contribuíram para a produção de 180 toneladas de sementes nativas, mas também tiveram um impacto socioeconômico significativo. Elas geraram uma renda total de US$ 1,01 milhão para 997 coletores de sementes, 46% dos quais são comunidades tradicionais e grupos economicamente marginalizados. Além disso, 55% desses coletores são mulheres e 23% dependem exclusivamente da coleta de sementes como sua única fonte de renda.Embora essas RCSNs representem uma economia incipiente, eles efetivamente ativaram a capacidade de agência local. Com o apoio do capital social das RCSNs, um contexto favorável e motivações claras, essa capacidade de agência pode desencadear inovações sociais. Ao gerar impactos positivos, essas ISs transformam valores e empoderam agentes locais ('scaling deep'), inspiram agentes em outras regiões ('scaling out') e influenciam políticas favoráveis à restauração de paisagens socialmente inclusivas ('scaling up'). Esse escalonamento tridimensional ressalta o poder catalisador de ISs nas RCSNs e sua contribuição potencial para a mudança transformativa.Também enfatizamos o papel dos órgãos públicos na promoção de condições favoráveis, o papel vital da experimentação local e a, raramente evidenciada, capacidade de agência local, em alavancar ISs na Restauração de Paisagens e Florestas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans are significantly impacting ecosystems worldwide. Scientists of the IPBES Global Assessment are therefore calling for a transformative change that includes all aspects of society in order to address drivers of biodiversity loss. However, these calls are rather abstract, and thus it remains unclear how this goal can be achieved.With this conceptual contribution, we present an analytical framework for evaluating existing processes of societal change which are enhancing biodiversity, and we illustrate its application using three case studies in Germany. We argue that an empirical analysis provides insights into the causal mechanisms that initiate or promote change processes. In doing so, we can draw recommendations for future transformative change processes with regard to biodiversity conservation. In our analysis, we are dealing with questions concerning the following three areas: the drivers and context of societal change processes, the change processes themselves and finally their impacts.Subsequently, we generate recommendations on how to enhance and support the process of future societal transformation that aims at biodiversity conservation: (a) Retaining co‐benefits for biodiversity with goals that are primarily focussing on other objectives; (b) harmonising biodiversity use and conservation by turning conflicts into drivers of transformation; (c) prioritising biodiversity conservation by taking advantage of windows of opportunity.With our conceptual framework, we provide an analytical tool to learn from existing processes of societal change how to support future transformative change. This is an important step that contributes to the generation of relevant knowledge of promoting transformative change for nature and people. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Zusammenfassung: 1. Der Mensch hat weltweit erhebliche Auswirkungen auf die Ökosysteme. Die Wissenschaftler*innen von IPBES fordern daher einen transformativen Wandel, der alle Aspekte der Gesellschaft einbezieht, um die Ursachen für den Verlust der biologischen Vielfalt zu bekämpfen. Allerdings ist noch immer unklar, wie dieses Ziel erreicht werden kann. 2. Mit diesem konzeptionellen Beitrag stellen wir einen analytischen Rahmen für die Bewertung von gesellschaftlichen Veränderungsprozessen vor, die die biologische Vielfalt fördern. Darüber hinaus illustrieren wir dessen Anwendung anhand von drei Fallstudien in Deutschland, denn eine empirische Analyse kann Einblicke in die kausalen Mechanismen liefern, inwieweit transformative Prozesse initiiert oder gefördert werden können. In unserer Analyse befassen wir uns mit Fragen zu den folgenden drei Bereichen: den Triebkräften und dem Kontext gesellschaftlicher Veränderungsprozesse, den Veränderungsprozessen selbst und schließlich ihren Auswirkungen. 3. Anschließend erarbeiten wir Empfehlungen, wie der Prozess eines gesellschaftlichen Wandels gefördert werden kann, um die biologische Vielfalt zu erhalten: (1) Wahrung des Co‐Benefits für die biologische Vielfalt bei Zielen, die sich in erster Linie auf andere Ziele konzentrieren; (2) Harmonisierung von Schutz und Nutzung der biologischen Vielfalt durch Umwandlung von Konflikten in Triebkräfte des Wandels; (3) Priorisierung des Schutzes der biologischen Vielfalt durch Nutzung von Gelegenheitsfenstern. 4. Mit unserem konzeptionellen Rahmen stellen wir ein analytisches Instrument zur Verfügung, mit dem sich untersuchen lässt, wie gesellschaftliche Veränderungsprozesse gestaltet und umgesetzt werden können, die einen Beitrag zum Schutz der biologischen Vielfalt leisten. Dies ist ein wichtiger Schritt zur Generierung von relevantem Wissen, mit dem Ziel, einen transformativen Wandel für Natur und Menschen zu fördern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has considered agriculture–wetland interactions, but without linking policy responses to agricultural drivers of change. Aims: Assess the disconnect between the rhetoric of analysing and reporting on the role of agriculture in wetland loss and degradation (the 'drivers') with actions on the ground (the 'responses'). Methods: An analysis of almost 400 Convention documents was undertaken to understand how the Convention has addressed agriculture and what responses were identified. The documents were filtered through a word search for their relevance to the direct and indirect drivers of degradation in wetlands. Key results: Although there was a focus on issues and problem framing and generic responses, they were insufficient to address the range of drivers underpinning agriculture–wetland interactions. They also present a generic and partial view of agriculture and broader food systems. Conclusions: We make the following four recommendations for addressing the driver–response gap: deepening our understanding of the drivers in agriculture that affect wetlands; exploring and exploiting windows of opportunities within agriculture that are aligned with wetland use; enhancing our ability to work with indirect drivers; and ensuring that resolutions agreed through the Convention are more specific on key drivers of adverse change in wetlands. Implications: The current impetus for 'agriculture transformation' creates an opportunity for the Convention to broaden its engagement in wetland–agriculture interactions and close the driver–response loop. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has addressed wetland–agriculture interactions, but without linking policy responses to agricultural drivers of change. An analysis of Convention documents led to four conclusions to close the loop. These covered deepening our understanding of how agriculture affects wetlands; exploring appropriate opportunities within agriculture to reduce impacts on wetlands; enhancing our ability to work with indirect drivers such as the demands for food; and ensuring that Convention documents were specific about the drivers of change and possible responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the leadership, scholarship, and activism of Indigenous Peoples, there are growing calls to transform and decolonize Canadian institutions that govern fisheries research in Canada. As a predominantly non-Indigenous group that works at the intersection of fisheries and justice, we encounter questions daily about how to act as allies in these efforts and take up this urgent call in our own work. Our goal with this perspective is to synthesize and share some of what we have learned about encountering and combatting colonialism in the hope that it may offer something to other non-Indigenous and settler fisheries researchers who are grappling with colonization in their own work. This synthesis is based on both Indigenous scholarship and our own experiential learning. We look to actions fisheries researchers may take to advance Indigenous sovereignty in fisheries research. We offer this to our fellow non-Indigenous researchers who likely also struggle with similar questions, and hope that in doing so, we can help move towards decolonial fisheries futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence is presented that innovation across aquaculture value chains can contribute to poverty reduction through income generation and increased consumption of nutritious aquatic foods. Innovation is defined and contextualized in relation to aquaculture development. Opportunities for aquaculture innovation across value chains for poverty reduction and sustainable production are described. Contemporary trends in aquaculture development in Bangladesh and India, with a focus on 2011-2020, are reviewed, as understanding transformative change to aquatic food systems during this period could benefit millions of poor and marginal consumers. Market-led commercial production, instigated by private sector entrepreneurs for domestic markets, has underpinned the surge in freshwater fish culture in key geographical locations. In contrast booms in shrimp production have been associated with export opportunities and related cycles of boom-and-bust have been described, with busts attributed to falling market prices and disease outbreaks. Innovation could safeguard supplies of affordable fish to poorer groups (especially young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women) and enable better health management of aquatic animals including coordination of surveillance and disease control measures. Innovation to effectively promote better management practices and integrated services provision to large numbers of small- and medium-scale producers could contribute to poverty reduction. Opportunities for future innovation to ensure that aquaculture development is sustainable are critically reviewed. Innovative strategies to add value to byproducts and utilize waste resources could avoid negative environmental impacts, recycle nutrients and create income generating opportunities. A new paradigm for development assistance that identifies and supports promising innovation trajectories across jurisdictions, product value chains, institutional regimes and food systems is needed. Government agencies must be responsive to the needs of businesses throughout aquatic food systems and devise policies and regulatory regimes that support transformative and sustained growth of the aquaculture sector. Investment in capacity-building, education, research and training and action to promote an enabling institutional environment must be regarded as essential elements to maximize and share equitably the benefits arising and avoid potential negative impacts of inappropriate innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within governance agencies, academia, and communities alike, there are increasing calls to recognize the value and importance of culture within social‐ecological systems and to better implement Indigenous sciences in research, policy, and management. Efforts thus far have raised questions about the best ethical practices to do so. Engaging with plural worldviews and perspectives on their own terms reflects cultural evolutionary processes driving paradigm shifts in 3 fundamental areas of natural resource management: conceptualizations of natural resources and ecosystems, processes of public participation and governance, and relationships with Indigenous Peoples and communities with differing worldviews. We broadly describe evolution toward these paradigm shifts in fish and wildlife management. We then use 3 case studies to illustrate the ongoing cultural evolution of relationships between wildlife management and Indigenous practices within specific historical and social‐ecological contexts and reflect on common barriers to appropriately engaging with Indigenous paradigms and lifeways. Our case studies highlight 3 priorities that can assist the field of wildlife management in achieving the changes necessary to bridge incommensurable worldviews: acknowledging and reconciling historical legacies and their continued power dynamics as part of social‐ecological systems, establishing governance arrangements that move beyond attempts to extract cultural information from communities to integrate Indigenous Knowledges into dominant management paradigms, and engaging in critical reflexivity and reciprocal, accountable relationship building. Implementing these changes will take time and a commitment to processes that may initially feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar but have potential to be transformative. Ethical and culturally appropriate methods to include plural and multivocal perspectives and worldviews on their own terms are needed to transform wildlife management to achieve more effective and just management outcomes for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, cities and municipalities are involved in urban experimentation to meet current societal challenges. The expectations on local authorities to implement new ways of dealing with current challenges are high and raise questions of municipal capacity and governance structures, challenging more traditional ways of planning and policymaking. In this paper we have analysed three urban experiments related to transport and mobility in three Swedish municipalities and how they are governed and planned for. The study builds on qualitative interviews and document analysis. Our results show that the municipalities are working with urban experiments on different scales. All experiments are top-down experiments run by the municipalities, with limited citizen involvement. All experiments have become part of placemaking activities in the municipalities with the aim to support and promote both future visions and municipal sustainability work related to transport and planning. However, to date, the experiments have had limited outcomes, and planners express a concern for implementation and limited knowledge transfer within and between cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian ski tourism destinations face increasing climate and carbon risks yet are not currently prepared to adapt to climate change or a decarbonized future. Considering the urgency of climate change and complexity of tourism systems, ski destinations need research identifying stakeholder-held climate and carbon risk perceptions, wider socioeconomic determinants of climate preparedness, and opportunities to accelerate climate decision-making and responsiveness. Using socioeconomic system frameworks, this study analyses secondary research including academic literature, climate action plans, alongside primary qualitative research collected from industry, government and community stakeholder narratives to investigate climate change and climate responsiveness in five Canadian ski tourism destinations. Despite localized climate and carbon risks, results highlight patterns impeding climate preparedness including rapid tourism growth, recreation resource corporatization, externalized climate action and sustainability, inequities, and lack of aspirational collective visioning. Conversely, stakeholders' pluralistic tourism and recreation values, sense-of-place, and interdependent relationships reveal pathways for mountain tourism destinations to transform towards climate resilient, sustainable, and just futures.

This article offers a synthesized perspective on a future-oriented process for transformational change makers, here called transformation catalysts, to catalyze systemic change through processes of connecting, cohering, and amplifying the transformational change work of multiple initiatives in numerous social-ecological contexts. Oriented towards purposeful or deliberate system change towards just, equitable, inclusive, and thriving social-ecological systems, the outlined processes of connecting, cohering, and amplifying provide a template or framework for organizing co-creative approaches. This process brings multiple, typically independent individuals and initiatives into alignment, connecting them through shared understanding of the system and determining what is already happening and who is doing what through mapping key stakeholders and their activities. Through visioning and similar processes, transformation catalysts enable different actors to align and cohere their shared aspirations and develop joint and individual action plans in what can then emerge as a self-aware and potentially more effective transformation system comprised of these actors. The amplification process involves the implementation of planned actions, both independently and in concert with others, evaluating and learning from those processes, and adapting future efforts. The latter includes developing, if appropriate, additional transformational efforts and catalysts in different parts of the system to create ongoing momentum. The example of WE All, the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, with information drawn from the website, is used to illustrate these ideas.

There is an urgent need for transformational change in global and UK agriculture. Current practices undermine the long-term future of farming and impoverish ecosystems in the UK and elsewhere. However, change is not happening at the scale and pace which is needed. Work by David Abson, drawing on ideas by Donella Meadows, explored this failure of progress and proposed a research agenda focused on transformational leverage points which influence sustainability. These points are centred on three realms of leverage: reconnecting people to nature, restructuring institutions and rethinking how knowledge is created and used in pursuit of sustainability. In this paper, these ideas are explored through a combined researcher/stakeholder workshop focused on transformational change in UK livestock systems. Workshop participants were asked to discuss and identify potential levers of change under the three realms identified by Abson. The multiplicity of levers identified and the interactions across realms emphasise the need for new kinds of knowledge creation which are highly transdisciplinary, as well as emphasising the complexity of levers which are likely to play a role in the transformation of livestock food systems in the UK and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments are heralded as beacons of hope for transformative change. But how effective can ephemeral micro-interventions be in achieving comprehensive structural change? This question is particularly relevant for non-technological experiments that are typically more place-bound than their technology-oriented counterparts. We argue that non-technological experiments may very well be impactful endeavors, but that knowledge and reflexivity about their contexts are key capacities for realizing their potential. Based on the literature, we define three context dimensions: structural conditions, political-institutional embedding, and imagined eco-social futures. By empirically delving into Graetzlmarie, an impactful governance experiment in Vienna, we show how "navigating context" in all the three dimensions has been a key capacity for the experiment's success. It enabled adapting practices, self-conceptions, and objectives to specific but varying contexts, herewith ensuring the experiment's impactful realization. Given the uneven distribution of such knowledge among actors in transformation processes, we discuss what this implies for experimentation. We argue for coordinating actors that serve as knowledge brokers and intermediaries between institutionalized policy and planning and ephemeral micro-interventions to achieve eco-social transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transforming Wisconsin's dairy production from annual crop-based to perennial grassland-based is critical for human health and well-being, but the ramifications for land use under this scenario have not been explored. I considered whether the amount of milk currently produced (~14.4B kg yr−1) with the confinement model (~2.57 AU ha−1) could be produced with a grassland model (~1.6 AU ha−1) without displacing production of other food and feed crops. Converting all land currently producing grains and forages for dairy (~796k ha) to grazed grassland would result in ~57% less milk production because there would be fewer cows producing less milk per animal. While the current system efficiently feeds dairy cattle when considering only milk yield per animal, it does so at the expense of environmental and social well-being, which are fundamental to the agroecological equation. To match current milk production exclusively on grassland would require ~1.04 M additional hectares, displacing other land uses in ways that would be initially very disruptive with significant transition costs, but eventually would improve ecosystem, community, and individual well-being. Planning for and realizing this vision requires major investments in markets, policies, and technical support of place-making and enterprise transitions to make Wisconsin America's Dairy Grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As dominant approaches to biodiversity loss and climate change continue to fail in mitigating current socio‐environmental crises, scholars and activists are exploring novel conceptual frameworks to drive transformative change in conservation. Among these, more‐than‐human care has emerged as a concept at the intersection of feminist debates about care and post‐humanist discussions around the more‐than‐human. Although more‐than‐human care is increasingly referenced in the literature, it remains sparsely situated in the Global South. This article investigates the concept's potential to articulate care relations that can foster more plural, respectful, and transformative biodiversity conservation practices in local communities. Our research is situated in an artisanal fishing village in Brazil, where we engaged with both human and non‐human members of the community to engage with their perspectives on more‐than‐human care and its relevance to their local concerns. From our analysis, four key dimensions emerged: the vital and everyday nature of caring; the relationality between humans and non‐humans; reciprocity; and the fostering of flourishing for as many as possible. Our core argument is that the interaction between community practices and care theory enables new perspectives that center on daily and reciprocal care relations often overlooked in mainstream conservation approaches. By situating the conceptual potential of more‐than‐human care within the Global South, we underscore its ability to make the invisible visible and to inspire action for transformative change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy action for sustainability transformation faces inherent and ever-present sources of conflict, pushback, and resistance (i.e., discord). However, conceptual frameworks and policy prescriptions for sustainability transformations often reflect an undue image of accord. This involves simplified assumptions about consensus, steering, friction, discreteness, and additiveness of policy action, conferring an unrealistic view of the potential to deliberately realize transformation. Instead, negotiating discord through continuously finding partial political settlements among divided actors needs to become a key focus of policy action for sustainability transformations. Doing so can help to navigate deeply political settings through imperfect but workable steps that loosen deadlock, generate momentum for further policy action, and avoid complete derailment of transformation agendas when discord arises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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‘New economics’ discourses – comprising diverse approaches advocated as more just and sustainable replacements of dominant neoclassical and neoliberal economic perspectives – have been criticised as insufficiently coherent to form the ‘discourse coalitions’ necessary to enter the mainstream. To date there has been little systematic exploration of the agreement or divergence in new economics discourses. Here, we conduct a qualitative systematised review of new economics literature in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic to analyse stances towards the economic status quo and the depth of change advocated in it, such as fundamental and systemic transformation or more superficial reformist or accepting types of change that mostly maintain current economic systems. We interpreted authors’ stances towards six key status quo themes: capitalism; neoliberalism; GDP-based economic growth; debt-based money; globalisation; and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the 525 documents analysed, there was relative consensus that neoliberalism needed transforming, stances towards GDP-based growth substantially diverged (from transformative to reformist/accepting), and stances towards the SDGs were mostly accepting, although the status quo themes tended to be infrequently mentioned overall. Different new economics approaches were associated with diverging stances. We suggest that alignment against neoliberalism and towards the SDGs may provide strategic coalescing points for new economics. Because stances towards core problematised aspects of mainstream economics were often not articulated, we encourage new economics scholars and practitioners to remain explicit, aware and reflexive with regard to the economic status quo, as well as strategic in their approach to seeking economic transformation.

This study aims to investigate the extent to which transformative innovation policy contributes as an integrated approach to achieving transformative change in managing transitions towards sustainability, in light of the need for public policy making to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study concluded that despite the crucial role played by transformative innovation policy (TIP) in the process of shifting towards sustainability in the context of the 2030 Agenda, its adoption as an integrated approach for systemic transformation requires addressing numerous practical and political challenges. Furthermore, this policy needs to be integrated within a broader regulatory and political framework as part of the overall policy mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gap between what is known about climate change and the action taken to prevent it has instigated debates around how to reconfigure global environmental assessment organizations to better inform and foster transformative change. One recurring request involves the need for a broader and better inclusion of social scientific knowledge. However, despite such intentions, the inclusion of social scientific research remains limited. How can this be explained? Through a detailed analysis of the IPCC special report on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, this article reveals how the institutional conditions of global environmental assessments condition and shape what knowledge is included in these assessments, as well as how this knowledge is represented. It discusses how and why the understanding of social processes and structures remains underdeveloped, despite such knowledge being critical for transformative change. To integrate such knowledge into environmental assessments would require substantial changes to the current epistemic infrastructure used by global environmental assessments. It is therefore time to think beyond global environmental assessments and consider complementary institutional science–policy relations through which social scientific research can assist policy actions to promote deep transformative change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As major policy actors (e.g. governments, global organisations) grapple with 'wicked' sustainability challenges, the use of demonstration projects or 'living labs' has promise in showcasing potential solutions. However, these projects can struggle to realise enduring change, with initial experimental deliverables tending not to be replicated and remaining as once-offs. As well as demonstrating solutions, projects also need to overcome the considerable inertia in the complex systems of organisations and institutions that govern (or indeed generate) sustainability problems. Here we argue that demonstration projects, while initially impactful, could be more likely to realise transformative change if they were designed more thoroughly as action research projects, working with partners to not only deliver and measure demonstrations of solutions, but also demonstrate changes to organisations and institutions to remove barriers and facilitate replication. We note the important role of both engaged leadership and explicitly-stated theories of change in maximising the potential of projects designed in this way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exotic pet trade poses a major threat to biodiversity conservation. To combat biodiversity loss, it is essential to reduce demand for exotic pets and engage people in civic actions for wildlife conservation. Although messaging has been extensively used in conservation practice, little is known about how it can influence attitudes and various types of actions pertaining to the exotic pet trade. This study examined the impact of conservation messaging in the context of exotic pet ownership and wildlife entertainment visitation as common practices of the exotic pet trade. We randomly assigned participants in the United States to one of five messaging conditions: biodiversity loss and animal abuse (M1), zoonotic disease risks (M2), illegality (M3), social disapproval (M4), and neutral biological information as a control condition (M5). We found that all conservation messages (M1–M4) significantly decreased people's favorable attitudes toward the exotic pet trade and their desire to visit wildlife entertainment. However, conservation messaging did not influence the desire for exotic pet ownership or intentions to take civic actions. Our findings highlight the potential of conservation messaging for attitude change and demand reduction for wildlife entertainment, but different approaches are necessary for promoting more effortful actions such as exotic pet ownership and civic actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shift from a linear economy to a circular bioeconomy comes with many challenges in culture, behavior, business, technology and institutions, requiring transformative change. Circular initiatives are considered starting points for such a transformation as they demonstrate tangible alternatives to a linear, fossil-based economy. However, detailed insights into the progress of circular impact made by these initiatives have been lacking. Furthermore, conceptualizations of their development have primarily focused on upscaling, neglecting the diverse and dynamic development trajectories these initiatives might take in practice. The research aim of this paper was to better understand how circular initiatives contribute to transformative change. This study empirically explored three different development trajectories of circular initiatives; deepening (become more radical and circular), broadening (connecting with other domains and agendas) and spreading (becoming larger and more numerous). Based on interviews and desk research, 31 circular initiatives in the Netherlands were studied– in the domains of agriculture, biobased materials, marine research, and nature. The results revealed eight configurations, which are combinations of mechanisms that together guided initiatives’ development: deepening of initiatives was triggered by 1) focus and 2) reorganization: broadening was driven by 3) unusual collaboration, 4) aligning interests and 5) establishing a focus; and spreading occurred through 6) increasing capacity, 7) credibility and 8) offering perspective. These eight configurations provided in-depth insights into the diverse and dynamic development of circular initiatives. The configurations highlighted the significance of the interplay of mechanisms in studying the development of initiatives and in designing strategies to guide current and future circular initiatives.

There is an urgent need for transformational change in global and UK agriculture. Current practices undermine the long-term future of farming and impoverish ecosystems in the UK and elsewhere. However, change is not happening at the scale and pace which is needed. Work by David Abson, drawing on ideas by Donella Meadows, explored this failure of progress and proposed a research agenda focused on transformational leverage points which influence sustainability. These points are centred on three realms of leverage: reconnecting people to nature, restructuring institutions and rethinking how knowledge is created and used in pursuit of sustainability. In this paper, these ideas are explored through a combined researcher/stakeholder workshop focused on transformational change in UK livestock systems. Workshop participants were asked to discuss and identify potential levers of change under the three realms identified by Abson. The multiplicity of levers identified and the interactions across realms emphasise the need for new kinds of knowledge creation which are highly transdisciplinary, as well as emphasising the complexity of levers which are likely to play a role in the transformation of livestock food systems in the UK and elsewhere.

Abstract In the pathway toward environmental sustainability, it is important that we understand how individuals can make a difference through diverse types of engagement. Theories suggest that transformative change toward a sustainable future requires individuals to engage in not only private actions (e.g. household energy saving, recycling) but also social‐signalling and system‐changing civic actions (e.g. opinion sharing, voting, petition signing and protesting). Yet, past research on pro‐environmental behaviour has primarily focused on private actions, while overlooking individual contributions to facilitating widespread change through civic actions. We use the exotic pet trade as a focal case to understand how individuals may act to promote environmental sustainability through different patterns of engagement and what factors might explain these distinct patters of action. Results from an online survey about behavioural intentions in the United States (n = 527) revealed three types of individual action that could transform the exotic pet trade. Private actions clustered separately from civic actions. Within the category of civic actions, a distinction emerged between lower social‐commitment actions and higher social‐commitment actions, based on the perceived level of social engagement and personal efforts involved. We also found that each type of action was associated with unique factors, highlighting the importance of attitudes, perceived social norms, and relational values for variously promoting individual engagement among the U.S. public. Our findings suggest that these distinct types of action should be treated differently when designing future wildlife conservation campaigns and behaviour change interventions. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

On March 6, 2024, JAFSCD conducted its sixth annual general meeting of members of the JAFSCD Shareholder Consortium, which includes shareholders who support JAFSCD as an open-access journal through annual contributions. The theme of this year’s meeting was how JAFSCD could become a more transformative journal—that is, a journal that effectively rallies scholars, activists, and change agents to collaboratively build bridges to a better food system, locally and globally. JAFSCD takes its cues on this critical subject from its fiscal sponsor, the Center for Transformative Action, a nonprofit affiliate of Cornell University. . . .

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Anthropogenic planetary disruptions, from climate change to biodiversity loss, are unprecedented challenges for human societies. Some societies, social groups, cultural practices, technologies and institutions are already disintegrating or disappearing as a result. However, this coupling of socially produced environmental challenges with disruptive social changes—the Anthropocene condition—is not new. From food-producing hunter–gatherers, to farmers, to urban industrial food systems, the current planetary entanglement has its roots in millennia of evolving and accumulating sociocultural capabilities for shaping the cultured environments that our societies have always lived in (sociocultural niche construction). When these transformative capabilities to shape environments are coupled with sociocultural adaptations enabling societies to more effectively shape and live in transformed environments, the social–ecological scales and intensities of these transformations can accelerate through a positive feedback loop of 'runaway sociocultural niche construction'. Efforts to achieve a better future for both people and planet will depend on guiding this runaway evolutionary process towards better outcomes by redirecting Earth's most disruptive force of nature: the power of human aspirations. To guide this unprecedented planetary force, cultural narratives that appeal to human aspirations for a better future will be more effective than narratives of environmental crisis and overstepping natural boundaries. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]