SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE PARTNERSHIPS Tim O’Riordan Barcelona 9 July 2009

Operating within the bounds of nature Principles of Sustainable Development Designing a safe, secure and robust society Paying our way Acting on best science in precaution Creating virtuous governance Limits Not exempt Social justice Equality MeasuringMonitoringJoy in planetary living Responsible EvaluatingLevying Integrated knowledgeResponsibleAware PenalisingRewarding Worked problems Burden of proof PrudentEmpathetic

Science Policy Trans- science independence peer tribalism verification measurement power relations political negotiation legitimacy dispute over evidence

bureaucratic culture economic culture scientific culture civic culture legitimacytechnology public understanding of science regulation consumption social behaviour policy politics ethics, values and social justice

wicked problems uncomfortable knowledge clumsy solutions no comprehensive framework for analysis of “problem definition”, social justice and the long term information is “institutionally framed” so it is uncomfortable for other “institutional cultures” as problem interpretation varies from culture to culture solutions are messy because they are created in familiar practice and comfortable institutions. Step change is almost impossible

WHAT ARE WE LEARNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE? large scale : long term : no obvious link between personal behaviour and global outcomes too big to handle! Sustainability Science scenarios: joint endeavour, learning and adapting, experimenting and replicating Innovation : creativity : imagination abrupt change in ecosystem functioning means that scientific prediction and economic discounting are of limited value too indeterminate to handle! connectivities mean no system of governance can predict or cope too complex to handle!

Sustainability Science Partnerships Co-ordinating Knowledge and Learning Experimenting and Progressing Future Proofing and Justice Proofing Crossing the Boundaries of Familiarity Clear languageListening Sharing interpretations Joint endeavour PilotingPromoting Recalibrating Ecological/Electorial Democracy New alliancesNew measures New experimentsOvercoming obstacles

Outcomes National adaptation toolkit is stalling & negligible funds available to finance adaptation Regional Government Office unsure of what to do; commissioning more research Local Authorities acting independently, little co-ordination Active citizens groups mobilised as communities are left in limbo Legacy of past defence: perceptions of entitlement to protection Expectation of compensation if cliff top property is lost Difficulty to implement strategic plans with individual buy-in, in the absence of enabling adaptation mechanisms Coastal landscapes offer symbols of security, identity and belonging to communities and individuals Reluctance to change and fear of loss Who has the right to decide if a place is ‘not worth saving’? Adaptation must offer some sense of security and assurance; none at present in the absence of deliverable adaptation Developing mutually agreeable visions of different futures is difficult Science is probabilistic and depends on a range of uncertain factors Coastal processes will respond to the management options pursued Uncertain coasts Undervalued coastal cultures and icons Individual and social factors Adaptation to what exactly, by whom, when, how? Comprehensive or segmented approaches to managing coastal change and tension between scales No dialogue, diverse values, an impasse in some places, e.g. adjustment vs. compensation Unclear goals of adaptation

SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE Conversing opening up hearts and minds via new companionships Companioning working and learning together: opening up academia to new learning outcomes creative and innovative institutions beyond familiarity : evaluating and evolving empathy : intuition : communication Knowing Imagining creativity : preparing each cultural shift for the next comprising civic and formal governance