Suchergebnisse

Systems thinking competence is one of the key sustainability competences to make the future more sustainable by focusing on individuals' capability to analyse sustainability problems across different sectors and scales. The other competencies to foster systems thinking are futures thinking competence, values and critical thinking competence, action-oriented competence, and collaboration competence. In this study, we examined Finnish people's systems thinking competence and its connections to sustainable transformation. The survey data collected from Finns (n = 2006) were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical regression analysis. The study showed that the sustainability component loaded reliably into principal components. In particular, the Cronbach's alpha (0.91) and Spearman–Brown (0.90) were high for systems thinking competence. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that Finns' values, critical thinking, and individual action-oriented competence predict their systems thinking competence. The results indicate that Finns' ideas of climate change and biodiversity loss mitigation arise from their individual values and opinions that actions are implemented in an ethically just way.

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles are absolutely vital in maintaining sustainable food systems. Human activities disturb the natural balance of these cycles by creating enormous additional nutrient fluxes, causing eutrophication of waterways and pollution in land systems. To tackle this problem, sustainable nutrient management is required. This paper addresses sustainable nutrient management in two countries: The Netherlands and Finland. We adopt a critical perspective on resource politics, especially towards opportunistic policy strategies for the pollutant management of N and P. Two research questions are considered. First, what are the key systemic and policy failures that occurred in the N and P systems in the Netherlands and Finland between 1970 and 2015? And second, which lessons can be drawn when addressing the policy responses in the two countries to cope with these failures? The cases are analyzed within Weber and Rohracher's framework that addresses "failures" preventing sustainable transitions. The results show that a number of failures occurred, besides market failures (over-exploitation of the commons, externalization of costs): lack of directionality, policy coordination, institutions, capabilities, infrastructure, demand articulation, and reflexivity. Policy responses in both countries resulted in ponderous policy frameworks that were adequate to tackle nutrient problems from the industrial sector and municipalities. However, both countries provided only a moderate response in terms of system-wide integrated policy frameworks to cope with sectoral-transcending issues. The agricultural use of N and P, in contrast to detergents, has not been subjected to strong regulatory measures.

It is uncertain how the traditional forest sector can respond to the changing political environment, evolving markets, and global environmental problems. This study focuses on the development of forest-based bioeconomy (BE) in Finland from the perspective of three forest-based value networks (wooden multistory construction, fiber-based packaging, and biorefining) and thus breaks the tendency of siloed discussions. The study of expert opinions applies a collaborative interdisciplinary research method that combines group discussions and follow-up survey data. The results indicate that transformational regulation, proper incentives, and ways of increasing interaction at the business-consumer interface are required to support the creation of new practices and the destruction of old practices in the industry renewal. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. ; Peer reviewed

While climate change and biodiversity loss have exposed humanity to major systemic risks, policymakers in more than 40 countries have proposed the transition from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy as a solution to curb the risks. In the boreal region, forests have a prominent role in contributing to bioeconomy development; however, forest-based bioeconomy transition pathways towards sustainability and the required actions have not yet been identified. Participatory backcasting was employed in this study to 'negotiate' such pathways among Finnish stakeholders by 2060 in three forest-based value networks: forest biorefineries, fibre-based packaging and wooden multistorey construction. There are many alternative pathways, ranging from incremental to more radical, to a forest-based bioeconomy within a framework of ambitious climate and biodiversity targets. Path dependence can support incremental development on bioeconomy transition pathways, and this should be considered when planning transition towards sustainability. Orchestration of the more radical changes requires actions from legislators, raw material producers, consumers and researchers, because the possibilities for business development vary between different companies and value networks. The envisioned actions between the pathways in and across the networks, such as forest diversification and diverse wood utilisation, can offer cobenefits in climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection. ; Peer reviewed