Transdisciplinarity for social learning? The contribution of the German socio-ecological research initiative to sustainability governance

Abstract Governance depends upon inputs from science. Whereas the conventional view portrays science as advisor of policy makers, more recent understandings see knowledge creation processes and decision processes as highly interrelated and intermingled. Against this background, we analyse the new research programme on socio-ecological research set up in Germany. In doing so, we firstly discuss current conceptual approaches to redefining the role of science in society. Secondly, we identify five challenges for scientific activities and apply these as criteria for an assessment of the socio-ecological research initiative. Thirdly, we analyse the potential limits and opportunities of this programme for social learning towards sustainable development. We also indicate what can be learned for ecological economics. 2

[1]  T. Webler,et al.  Public Participation in Impact Assess-ment: A Social Learning Perspective , 1995 .

[2]  C. S. Holling,et al.  Barriers and bridges to the renewal of ecosystems and institutions , 1997 .

[3]  B. Siebenhüner.  The changing role of nation states in international environmental assessments—the case of the IPCC , 2003 .

[4]  S. Rayner,et al.  Human choice and climate change , 1998 .

[5]  R. Kasperson,et al.  Sustainability Science , 2019, Critical Skills for Environmental Professionals.

[6]  R. Pielke,et al.  Prediction : science, decision making, and the future of nature , 2000 .

[7]  Sabine U. O'Hara,et al.  Discursive ethics in ecosystems valuation and environmental policy , 1996 .

[8]  Paul J. Crutzen,et al.  Science for Global Sustainability: Toward a New Paradigm , 2005 .

[9]  M. Gibbons,et al.  Re-Thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty , 2003 .

[10]  A. Grunwald.  Strategic knowledge for sustainable development: the need for reflexivity and learning at the interface between science and society , 2004 .

[11]  F. Biermann.  Institutions for Scientific Advice: Global Environmental Assessments and Their Influence in Developing Countries , 2002 .

[12]  D. Price.  The Scientific Estate , 1966, Nature.

[13]  Simon Joss,et al.  Public participation in science : the role of consensus conferences in Europe , 1995 .

[14]  F. Luks.  The rhetorics of ecological economics , 1998 .

[15]  S. Funtowicz,et al.  The worth of a songbird: ecological economics as a post-normal science , 1994 .

[16]  B. English.  Ecological Economics: The Science and Management of Sustainability , 1991 .

[17]  Bernd Siebenhüner,et al.  Policy instruments for sustainability-oriented organizational learning , 2007 .

[18]  Ronald B. Mitchell,et al.  Global environmental assessments : information and influence , 2006 .

[19]  S. Schwartzman,et al.  The New Production of Knowledge: The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies , 1994 .

[20]  Rohit Parikh,et al.  States of Knowledge , 2002, WoLLIC.

[21]  S. Funtowicz,et al.  A New Scientific Methodology for Global Environmental Issues , 1991 .

[22]  T. Gieryn,et al.  Boundaries of Science , 1995 .

[23]  Elizabeth L. Malone,et al.  The societal framework , 1998 .

[24]  S. Jasanoff.  States of Knowledge: The Co-production of Science and the Social Order , 2004 .

[25]  John Stone,et al.  Handbook of Science and Technology Studies , 2007 .

[26]  Maria Carmen Lemos,et al.  The co-production of science and policy in integrated climate assessments , 2003 .

[27]  Au.  Learning to Manage Global Environmental Risks: A Comparative History of Social Responses to Climate Change, Ozone Depletion, and Acid Rain , 2001 .

[28]  David W. Cash,et al.  Knowledge systems for sustainable development , 2003, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[29]  C. West Churchman,et al.  Science and Decision Making , 1956, Philosophy of Science.

[30]  Fred Luks,et al.  Post-normal science and the rhetoric of inquiry: deconstructing normal science? , 1999 .

[31]  Manfred A. Max-Neef.  Foundations of transdisciplinarity , 2005 .

[32]  S. Jasanoff.  Contested Boundaries in Policy-Relevant Science , 1987 .

[33]  Policy Division.  Our Common Journey:: A Transition Toward Sustainability , 1999 .

[34]  B. Siebenhüner.  Social learning and sustainability science: which role can stakeholder participation play? , 2004 .

[35]  A. Elzinga.  The science-society contract in historical transformation: with special reference to “epistemic drift” , 1997 .

[36]  S. Funtowicz,et al.  Science for the Post-Normal Age , 1993, Commonplace.

[37]  M. Gibbons.  Mode 2 society and the emergence of context-sensitive science , 2000 .