Solutions-oriented research for sustainability: Turning knowledge into action: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Solutions-oriented research

In this perspective, we reflect upon the question: what processes may help transition scientific insights on sustainability issues into practice and thus contribute to tackling the complex, systemic sustainability problems of today? We use five forerunners in the field of providing and brokering knowledge for science informed real world solutions, all published in Ambio and highlighted in this Anniversary collection, as our starting point. We discuss how the authors present solutions, whom they tried to reach, and what was suggested—implicitly or explicitly—as the potential uptake processes for turning scientific knowledge into practice. With this as the starting point, we discuss how sustainability science, as a field vowed to action, has evolved in its views of actors, pathways for impacts, and the potential roles of research and researchers to promote sustainability transformations.     

Coastal management research: a personal reflection on the conference outcome

Communication between scientific disciplines related to coastal management is difficult but essential. Different views on the role of science in coastal management were key elements of many discussions at the conference. In this personal impression the author looks back and reflects on the arguments which participants with different scientific back-ground exchanged.     

‘Tolerable’ hillslope soil erosion rates in Australia: Linking science and policy

This paper reviews water-borne soil erosion in Australia in the context of current environmental policy needs. Sustainability has emerged as a central tenet of environmental policy in Australia and water-borne hillslope soil erosion rates are used as one of the indicators of agricultural sustainability in State of the Environment reporting. We review attempts to quantify hillslope erosion rates over Australia and we identify areas at risk of exceeding natural baseline rates. We also review historical definitions of sustainable, or ‘tolerable’ erosion rates, and how to set these rates. There are many ways to estimate hillslope erosion and these can create confusing results. Moreover their application for land management purposes requires nuanced interpretations that ultimately depend on the desired objective of decision-makers. Soil is the earth surficial material that serves as a medium for plant growth and the notion of tolerable soil erosion arose historically to assess the impact of soil loss on agricultural uses. However now that the impact of erosion on aquatic ecosystems been recognized as a major concern for Australia, the concept of tolerable erosion needs to be revised. Here we discuss three definitions of tolerable soil erosion, following recent literature. We derive estimates of long-term agricultural sustainability based on natural soil production rates and discuss this in relation to other defined land-management objectives such as aquatic ecosystem health. We conclude that the desired objectives of land managers must be clearly articulated before questions of ‘where to invest to control erosion’ and ‘how to assess return-on-investment’ can be answered.     

Researchers’ Experiences, Positive and Negative, in Integrative Landscape Projects

Integrative (interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary) landscape research projects are becoming increasingly common. As a result, researchers are spending a larger proportion of their professional careers doing integrative work, participating in shifting interdisciplinary teams, and cooperating directly with non-academic participants. Despite the growing importance of integrative research, few studies have investigated researchers’ experiences in these projects. How do researchers perceive the outcomes of integrative projects, or career effects? Do they view the projects generally as successes or failures? This study analyses researchers’ experiences in integrative landscape studies and investigates what factors shape these experiences. The data stems from 19 semi-structured qualitative interviews and a Web-based survey among 207 participants in integrative landscape research projects. It finds that researchers experience participation in integrative projects as positive, in particular discussions among participants, networking, teamwork, and gaining new insights and skills. Furthermore, most researchers perceive the projects as successful and as having a positive effect on their careers. Less positive aspects of integration relate to publications and merit points. Factors found to contribute to positive experiences include reaching a high degree of integration amongst the involved disciplines, common definitions of integrative research concepts, and projects that include a large share of fundamental research as well as projects with many project outcomes. Based on these findings, we advise future projects to plan for integration, facilitate discussions, and reach agreement on integrative concepts. We suggest that aspects of fundamental research be included in integrative projects. We also suggest that planning be done at an early stage for peer-reviewed publications, to ensure that participants gain merit points from their participation in integrative research efforts.     

Sustainability science: an ecohealth perspective

Sustainability science is emerging as a transdisciplinary effort to come to grips with the much-needed symbiosis between human activity and the environment. While there is recognition that conventional economic growth must yield to policies that foster sustainable development, this has not yet occurred on any broad scale. Rather, there is clear evidence that the Earth’s ecosystems and landscapes continue to degrade as a consequence of the cumulative impact of human activities. Taking an ecohealth approach to sustainability science provides a unique perspective on both the goals and the means to achieve sustainability. The goals should be the restoration of full functionality to the Earth’s ecosystems and landscapes, as measured by the key indicators of health: resilience, organization, vitality (productivity), and the absence of ecosystem distress syndrome. The means should be the coordinated (spatially and temporally) efforts to modify human behaviors to reduce cumulative stress impacts. Achieving ecosystem health should become the cornerstone of sustainability policy—for healthy ecosystems are the essential precondition for achieving sustainable livelihoods, human health, and many other societal objectives, as reflected in the Millennium Development Goals.