Defra’s areas of responsibility cover a wide range of interacting natural and human systems. Changes that affect one outcome are often likely to have knock-on implications for others. Policy in areas such as land management, biodiversity conservation, pollution prevention, food security, fisheries, and waste management, need to be designed in the absence of perfect knowledge of how human and natural processes interact. It can be particularly difficult to attribute cause and effect in such complex systems where evidence is often partial and fragmented.
Consideration of the issues that Defra deals with as parts of systems, i.e. in terms of relationships between the parts can help us to unpick complex or seemingly chaotic situations, and better deliver robust positive outcomes for society. To facilitate more effective decision making, a range of approaches and specialties need to be applied to the above challenges.
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This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
As an ESRC Legacy Centre, the Future Natures initiative builds on the past 15 years of ESRC STEPS Centre (STEPS) work around the politics and possibilities of pathways to sustainability and takes it in new and exciting d...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: Institute of Development Studies
The project aims to challenge assumptions about pathways to sustainability and explore diverse experiences and knowledge, which aligns with the question's focus on developing an inclusive societal vision for a just transition towards sustainability.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are governance techniques and models that directly and cost-effectively benefit both nature and humans. Despite the progress in NBS design and implementation, the socio-political challenge is...
Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee
Lead research organisation: THE JAMES HUTTON INSTITUTE
The project addresses the development of inclusive and resilient communities through nature-based solutions, but does not explicitly discuss the spatial scale or polycentric governance.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are offered as a comprehensive strategy to guide and promote sustainable development, nationally and internationally. Furthermore, through the development of indicators associated...
Funded by: NERC
Lead research organisation: University of Southampton
The project analyzes the synergies and conflicts between the SDGs in complex socio-ecological systems, which partially addresses the question's focus on managing polycentric governance to implement inclusive societal visions for sustainability.