Heide Hackmann

Stockholm, 31 January 2014

1. Introduction: process, objectives and audiences

2. Why a world social science report on global environmental change?

3. Content of the report

4. Key messages

5. Conclusion

Introduction1. Achievements2. Resources3. Challenges and opportunities

• International Editorial Team and Scientific Advisory Committee

• Global call for contributions and commissioned papers: 150+ authors from 23 disciplines and all regions of the world

• External peer review (40+ reviewers)• Co-published with UNESCO and the OECD• Publication formats: print, OECD iLibrary• Interactive blog

Process

Objectives

• Develop a social science understanding of global environmental change

• Showcase unique social science contributions

• Assess capacities, also to link science with policy and action

• Influence research programming and funding

• Mobilise the wider social science community

Audiences

• Social scientists• Their colleagues in other

fields• International scientific

organisations and programmes

• Research funders• Decision makers, policy

shapers, practitioners and other users

Why a World Social Science Report on global environmental change?

1. Achievements2. Resources3. Challenges and opportunities

Climate change “threatens our planet, our only home”

Thomas Stocker,IPCC Co-Chair, 27 September 2013

Timely knowledge

Indispensable knowledge

• The inseparability of environmental and social problems

• The centrality of people

• The urgent need for social transformation

Content of the report1. Achievements2. Resources3. Challenges and opportunities

Conceptual framework

The Transformative Cornerstones of Social Science Research for Global Change(ISSC Report: Hackmann and Lera St Clair, 2012)

Social science questions that have to be asked regardless of the concrete problem being addressed

• The complexity and urgency of global environmental change and sustainability

• Real-world consequences of global environmental change in different geographic, cultural and personal contexts

• The role of values, worldviews and belief systems in interpreting and responding to threats

• Conditions and visions for change in a rapidly changing world

• Ethical approaches and concerns about justice in developing policy solutions to global environmental change problems

• New approaches to governance and decision-making at different scales

• Social science capacities to undertake research on global environmental change

• Annexes:• Statistics on the production of social science research• Bibliometric analysis of social science research on climate

change and global environmental change

Key messagesand priority action steps

1. Achievements2. Resources3. Challenges and opportunities

A new social science for sustainability

• Bolder in reframing global environmental change as a social process

• Better at infusing social science knowledge into real-world problem-solving

• Bigger in terms of having more social scientists addressing the issue

• Different in terms of its thinking and practice

Environmental change as social change

Frame the

change

Enable the

change

Build capacity

for change

• Developing social lenses• Revealing the social,

economic, political and cultural nature of the challenge

• Highlighting the role of people, behaviours, practices, institutions

• Opening up spaces for social innovation

Solutions that work for people and the planet

Frame the change

Enable the

change

Build capacity for

change

• Closing the gap between the pace of global environmental change and social responses

• Leading engagement with decision makers

• Working with societies in specific social-ecological settings

• Building open knowledge systems and networks of mutual learning

Meeting growing knowledge needs

Frame the change

Enable the

change

Build capacity

for change

• Increasing research production: human capital and institutional resources

• Building critical mass and communities of practice

• Communicating effectively and using what is already known

• Leading in integrated, solutions-oriented research

Transforming knowledge production and use

Frame the change

Enable the

change

Build capacity

for change

• Embracing interdisciplinarity• Integrating across scales• Building bridges across

different forms of knowledge• Getting serious about the co-

design and co-production of knowledge and action with policy makers, practitioners, civil society and private sector actors

Conclusion1. Achievements2. Resources3. Challenges and opportunities

The 2013 World Social Science Report

• A starting point for rallying further social science engagement

• A basis for discussion and the development of mobilisation and resource strategies

Moving in the right direction …

“Transformations to Sustainability” global funding programmeto be launched by the ISSC in 2014

www.oecd-ilibrary.org/