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European Research on Sustainable Development pp 187–203Cite as

Risks and Opportunities for Sustainability Science in Europe

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Abstract

This chapter explores some of the issues around the topic of “sustainability science”. In doing so, it attempts to draw a distinction between the wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research that can be called “research to support sustainable development” and an approach, here referred to as “sustainability science”, that is much more strongly oriented towards the development of strategies and the implementation of measures to deal with problems of unsustainable development. Before discussing the different approaches, however, the chapter examines the need for this kind of research, which arises because of the increasing amount of evidence that despite international agreements and action plans at all scale levels, there has been no success over the past few decades in reconciling human development with the environmental limits of Planet Earth and in securing well-being for all people on this planet now and in the future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.matisse-project.net/projectcomm/uploads/tx_article/Working_Paper_4_01.pdf

  2. 2.

    See for example, Moll and Zander (2006), Adger and Jordan (2009), Kasemir et al. (2003), Spangenberg (2008), Ehlers and Krafft (2006). Journals include Sustainability Science (http://www.springer.com/environment/environmental+management/journal/11625), the sustainability science section of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (http://www.pnas.org/site/misc/sustainability.shtml), Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/P09.cws_home/cosustnews).

  3. 3.

    The MATISSE project (www.matisse-project.net) provides an example of the design and running of such a strategic process.

  4. 4.

    This was confirmed by discussions at the International Conference on Sustainability Science in Rome, June 2010. The European approach was discussed at a small workshop in Brussels in October 2009 (http://ec.europa.eu/research/sd/pdf/workshop-2009/report_workshop_sustainability_science_october_2009.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none). US research was discussed at a workshop in Airlie House, near Washington DC, in November – December 2009 (http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0955699)

  5. 5.

    http://ec.europa.eu/research/sd/index_en.cfm?pg=fp7-sustainability

  6. 6.

    www.essg.eu

  7. 7.

    Research for sustainable development – How to enhance connectivity. http://ec.europa.eu/research/sd/pdf/background_info/report_halfman.pdf

  8. 8.

    The report is available at http://ec.europa.eu/research/sd/pdf/rd4sd/rd4sd_final_report.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none

  9. 9.

    For an example of such processes, see the MATISSE project (www.matisse-project.net)

  10. 10.

    See, for example, http://www.seri.at/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=839&Itemid=408

  11. 11.

    Probably best exceptions are transitions research networks in the Netherlands detail and at least as a model the LTSER expand

  12. 12.

    A conclusion also reached by the working group on the Science-Policy Interface of the ESF RESCUE project (www.esf.org/rescue)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vienna, Austria

    Jill Jäger (Independent scholar)

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  1. Jill Jäger
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Correspondence to Jill Jäger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Impact Research, Transdisciplinary Concepts & Methods, Potsdam Institute for Climate Change, Telegrafenberg A31, Potsdam, 14473, Germany

    Carlo C. Jaeger

  2. , Institute of Environmental Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Campus UAB, Cerdanyola del Valles, 08193, Spain

    J. David Tàbara

  3. European Climate Forum, Potsdam, 14406, Germany

    Julia Jaeger

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Jäger, J. (2011). Risks and Opportunities for Sustainability Science in Europe. In: Jaeger, C., Tàbara, J., Jaeger, J. (eds) European Research on Sustainable Development. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19202-9_13

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