Framing natural assets for advancing sustainability research: translating different perspectives into actions

• DOI: 10.1007/s11625-018-0599-5
• Publication Date: 2018-07-17T14:59:05Z
• Authors: Maria Jose Martin...; Stefan Gelcich; Rainer M. Krug; Fleur J. F. Maseyk; Hannah Moersberger; Archi Rastogi; Geoffrey Wambugu; Cornelia B. Krug; Eva M. Spehn; Unai Pascual
• Keywords: lMedio ambiente - Aspectos sociales; Sociology and Political Science; UFSP13-8 Global Change and Biodiversity; Economics; FOS: Political science; 2306 Global and Planetary Change; Urban Metabolism and Sustainability Assessment; 580 Plants (Botany); Sustainability Transitions; 551; Engineering; 2308 Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law; Special Feature: Overview Article; Sustainability science; Sustainable development; Natural capital; 11. Sustainability; 910 Geography & travel; Quantifying Sustainability; Environmental resource management; Political science; Desarrollo sostenible; Global and Planetary Change; 0303 health sciences; Energy; Geography; Policy and Law; Ecology; Management; Social sustainability; 10122 Institute of Geography; Sustainability; Physical Sciences; 2308 Management; 3306 Health (social science); Global Energy Transition and Fossil Fuel Depletion; Environmental Engineering; 330; Monitoring; Structural engineering; FOS: Law; Human actions; 650; Economía; 2309 Nature and Landscape Conservation; Health(social science); Engineering ethics; 12. Responsible consumption; Knowledge exchange; 03 medical and health sciences; 3305 Geography, Planning and Development; 3312 Sociology and Political Science; Ecosystem services; Sustainability Transitions and Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems; Framing (construction); Biology; Nature and Landscape Conservation; Planning and Development; 3305 Geography; Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment; FOS: Environmental engineering; 15. Life on land; Política ambientalGestión ambienta; 13. Climate action; FOS: Biological sciences; Environmental Science; Sustainability Assessment; 2303 Ecology; Law

AbstractSustainability is a key challenge for humanity in the context of complex and unprecedented global changes. Future Earth, an international research initiative aiming to advance global sustainability science, has recently launched knowledge–action networks (KANs) as mechanisms for delivering its research strategy. The research initiative is currently developing a KAN on “natural assets” to facilitate and enable action-oriented research and synthesis towards natural assets sustainability. ‘Natural assets’ has been adopted by Future Earth as an umbrella term aiming to translate and bridge across different knowledge systems and different perspectives on peoples’ relationships with nature. In this paper, we clarify the framing of Future Earth around natural assets emphasizing the recognition on pluralism and identifying the challenges of translating different visions about the role of natural assets, including via policy formulation, for local to global sustainability challenges. This understanding will be useful to develop inter-and transdisciplinary solutions for human–environmental problems by (i) embracing richer collaborative decision processes and building bridges across different perspectives; (ii) giving emphasis on the interactions between biophysical and socioeconomic drivers affecting the future trends of investments and disinvestments in natural assets; and (iii) focusing on social equity, power relationships for effective application of the natural assets approach. This understanding also intends to inform the scope of the natural asset KAN’s research agenda to mobilize the translation of research into co-designed action for sustainability.