Global Science-Policy Initiative Aims to Supercharge Planetary Resilience

 

Republished from Future Earth here. 

With a “Key Must-Knows in Resilience Science” report, sustainability researchers from across the world are coming together in a new science-policy initiative. The report will inform UN agencies, governments, civil society, and businesses to build resilience to safeguard the planet.

Climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics and conflicts are leading to unprecedented costs for economies, societies and the planet, threatening the future of humanity. In this new global crisis landscape, practicing resilience is critical to manage high uncertainty and turbulence. But in most cases, resilience is used as a general attribute for recovery or as a path to ‘bounce back’ as fast as possible.

At Climate Week NYC 2024, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Global Resilience Partnership and Future Earth, announce a new initiative between science and policy with the ambition to integrate resilience science in decision-making and governance.

The first outcome of the science-policy initiative will be presented at COP30 in Brazil in 2025. The “Key Must-Knows in Resilience Science”  report will be complemented and informed by a series of policy dialogues to better understand practical challenges and ways of operationalizing resilience in various contexts, called “Road to Brazil COP30”.

“Resilience is the superpower of our Biosphere, that support societies to deal with climate impacts in ways that make it possible to thrive within the Planetary Boundaries. We just can’t take this superpower for granted anymore” says Line Gordon, Director at Stockholm Resilience ‘Centre at Stockholm University.

”Although advances in resilience science and practice have been substantial, we need to urgently start translating this progress into action across scales and sectors in ways that allow for embedding resilience thinking in our day-to-day human activities” says Jesper Hörnberg, CEO of Global Resilience Partnership. 

“We hope to gather sustainability researchers from across the globe to distill the latest from resilience science to underpin policy, meeting an increased demand from policymakers and practitioners in understanding how to implement resilience in their work” says Wendy Broadgate, Global Hub Director, Sweden, Future Earth.

CONTACTS for interview requests and further information:

Marcus Lundstedt
Head of communications Stockholm Resilience Centre
Marcus.Lundstedt@su.se
Tel: +46 (0) 72 070 97 21

Frank Radosevich
Strategic Communications Lead, Future Earth Sweden
Frank.radosevich@futureearth.org
+46 (0)73 821 688 

Ida Gabrielsson
Head of Communications, Global Resilience Partnership
igabrielsson@globalresiliencepartnership.org
+46 72 083 00 15

FACTS: A planet on the brink of a “poly-crisis”

• Six of the nine planetary boundaries have been transgressed.
• In 2021 and 2022, the number of people impacted by extreme weather events such as floods, droughts or heat waves increased about 53%.
• During its duration, the COVID-19 pandemic led to losses of human lives, disruptions in supply chains, restricted mobility and access to food.
• Between 2010 and 2020, the number of conflict related deaths has nearly doubled, as has the number of forcibly displaced people.
• The simultaneous occurrence of climate change, conflict and the COVID-19 pandemics, has sparkled one of the largest food crisis of modern time, with 2.4 billion people currently suffering of food insecurity
• Resilience is defined by the project as “the capacity to cope, adapt and transform in the face of environmental, and socioeconomic change and uncertainty, while ensuring and further developing its vital functions”

References: 

2. IPCC. Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contributions of working groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core writing team, H.Lee and J. Romero (eds.)]. IpCC, Geneva, Switzerland, pp.35-115 (2023)
3. Zurayk, R. Pandemic and Food Security: A view from the Global South. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Developmen, 9 (3), 17-21 (2020)
4. Mukiibi, E. COVID-19 and the state of food security in Africa. Agric Hum Values 37, 627-628 (2020).
5. Black, R. et al., Environment of Peace: Security in a New Era of Risk (SIPRI: Stockholm, 2022).
6. Queiroz, C., Jonsson, A., Wood, A. & Norström A. 2023 The current food crisis: Building Resilience at the nexus of food insecurity, climate change and conflict. Brief. Stockholm Resilience Centre & Global Resilience Partnership.
7. Rockström, J., Norström, A. V., Matthews, N. et al., Shaping a resilient future in response to COVID-19. Nat Sustain 6, 897-907 (2023).