Skip to content

´Earth system governance´ as a crosscutting theme of global change research

Biermann, Frank. 2007. ´Earth system governance´ as a crosscutting theme of global change research. Global Environmental Change, 17 (3-4): 326-337.

Abstract

In 2001, the four global change research programmes ´urgently´ called for ´an ethical framework for global stewardship and strategies for Earth System management´. Yet this notion of ´earth system management´ remains vaguely defined: It is too elusive for natural scientists, and too ambitious or too normative for social scientists. In this article, I develop an alternative concept that is better grounded in social science theory: ´earth system governance´. I introduce, first, the concept of earth system governance as a new social phenomenon, a political programme and a crosscutting theme of research in the field of global environmental change. I then sketch the five key problem structures that complicate earth system governance, and derive from these four overarching principles for earth system governance as political practice, namely credibility, stability, adaptiveness, and inclusiveness. In the last part of the article, I identify five research and governance challenges that lie at the core of earth system governance as a crosscutting theme in global change research. These are the problems of the overall architecture of earth system governance, of agency beyond the state, of the adaptiveness of governance mechanisms and of their accountability and legitimacy, and of the modes of allocation in earth system governance – in short, the five A´s of earth system governance research.

keywords: Global change; Climate policy; Global governance; Adaptation; Sustainability science; Earth system analysis; Research programmes; Earth system science partnership; International human dimensions programme on global environmental change; Equity; Accountability; Governance architectures; Institutions.

  • All
  • International Project Office
International Project Office

You might like these publication categories

Recent publications

2022 Annual Report

Curious to know about the various parts of the Earth System Governance Project, and what has been achieved in 2022?…

Global Shifts: Business, Politics, and Deforestation in a Changing World Economy

What global shifts in markets and power mean for the politics and governance of sustainability. In recent years, major shifts…

Earth System Governance – Volume 16

We are delighted to present the sixteenth volume of Earth System Governance, the new open-access journal for all those interested…