WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW …
As the world looks to COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021, it’s clear that the time for sitting on the side-lines is over – and so is thinking that ill-conceptualised tradeoffs and compromises are going to cut it. UFRIEDA HO
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he what-next in tackling the climate crisis faces a new reckoning that focuses less on calibrating trade-offs but more on shoring up transdisciplinary enquiry and systemic transformation. It’s diving deeper into how systems work to find where solutions may lie and nailing one’s colours to the mast, because mass mobilisation and active citizenship is going to matter as the planet burns hotter. The late Professor Bob Scholes* (1958-2021), former Director of the Global Change Institute at Wits, said trade-offs are often poorly conceptualised. By treating particular interventions as if they were independent of one another, solutions to curb increasing temperatures globally get missed.
understanding the interactions, you can work out where the sweet
SYSTEMS NOT SILOS
action and more meaningful dialogue – but there are blind spots
“Systems theory looks at how thing are connected to one another. It recognises that solutions to different parts of the challenge do not necessarily have to be in opposition to each other. In
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spot might lie,” he said. Getting to grips with systems means looking at the whole in all its complexity. It’s not about seeing a win in one area as an inevitable loss somewhere else. As an example, Scholes pointed to the debate that continues to cast the protection of nature and the avoidance of dangerous climate change as competing interests. He said both challenges are crucial, and each comes with the backing of international frameworks and agreements. This may lend weight when it comes to getting high-level buy-in and commitment, and in shaping and enforcing policy, collective when different agendas are pursued in silos. Inadvertently it can become a doomed battle for a top spot on a priority list, when there shouldn’t have been a competition to begin with.
