TY - JOUR
T1 - On the discovery and enactment of positive socio-ecological tipping points
T2 - insights from energy systems interventions in Bangladesh and Indonesia
AU - Tàbara, J. David
AU - Lieu, Jenny
AU - Zaman, Rafia
AU - Ismail, Cynthia
AU - Takama, Takeshi
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Notions, such as leverage points, sensitive interventions, social tipping points, transformational tipping points, and positive tipping points, are increasingly attracting attention within sustainability science. However, they are also creating confusion and unresolved questions about how to apply these concepts when dealing with urgent global challenges such as rapid decarbonisation. We propose a relational methodology aimed at helping how to identify and support the emergence of positive ‘Social-Ecological Tipping Points’ (SETPs) that could bring about sustainability transformations. Our approach emphasises the need to pay attention to processes of social construction and to time dynamics. In particular, in a given social-ecological system, three key moments need to be considered: (1) The building of transformative conditions and capacities for systemic change, (2) A tipping event or intervention shifting the system towards a different trajectory or systems’ configuration, and (3) the structural effects derived from such transformation. Furthermore, we argue that the discovery and enactment of positive SETPs require considering multiple ontological, epistemological, and normative questions that affect how researchers and change agents define, approach, and assess their systems of reference. Our insights are derived from examining the implementation of household renewable energy systems at regional level in two rural areas of Indonesia and Bangladesh.
AB - Notions, such as leverage points, sensitive interventions, social tipping points, transformational tipping points, and positive tipping points, are increasingly attracting attention within sustainability science. However, they are also creating confusion and unresolved questions about how to apply these concepts when dealing with urgent global challenges such as rapid decarbonisation. We propose a relational methodology aimed at helping how to identify and support the emergence of positive ‘Social-Ecological Tipping Points’ (SETPs) that could bring about sustainability transformations. Our approach emphasises the need to pay attention to processes of social construction and to time dynamics. In particular, in a given social-ecological system, three key moments need to be considered: (1) The building of transformative conditions and capacities for systemic change, (2) A tipping event or intervention shifting the system towards a different trajectory or systems’ configuration, and (3) the structural effects derived from such transformation. Furthermore, we argue that the discovery and enactment of positive SETPs require considering multiple ontological, epistemological, and normative questions that affect how researchers and change agents define, approach, and assess their systems of reference. Our insights are derived from examining the implementation of household renewable energy systems at regional level in two rural areas of Indonesia and Bangladesh.
KW - Bangladesh renewable energy
KW - Indonesia renewable energy
KW - Renewable energy systems
KW - Social-ecological tipping points (SETPs)
KW - Systems transformations
KW - Transdisciplinary methodologies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117956801&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11625-021-01050-6
DO - 10.1007/s11625-021-01050-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85117956801
SN - 1862-4065
VL - 17 (2022)
SP - 565
EP - 571
JO - Sustainability Science
JF - Sustainability Science
IS - 2
ER -