Each of these stories embodies Buen Vivir: the understanding that socio-eco wellbeing arises when we live in harmony with all life. From Antarctic waters to the Amazong, people are re-imagining progress not as extraction, but as regeneration.
UK Retailer Ends Krill Sales for Antarctic Conservation
Holland & Barrett, a major UK health retailer, has stopped selling krill-based supplements to protect the Southern Ocean ecosystem. The move supports marine biodiversity by reducing harvest pressure on krill — the foundation of the Antarctic food web. Source:Sea Shepherd Global – Positive Waves October 2025
Buen Vivir connection: Recognising the rights of ocean life to flourish, not merely to serve human markets.
Why it matters: Small consumer-market shifts can ripple outward to protect critical species and foster corporate accountability grounded in ecological ethics.
2. Wild Animals Officially Recognised as Critical Enablers of Climate Solutions
In a landmark move last month, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has officially recognised wild animals as essential allies for nature-based climate solutions. Thriving populations — from whales and fish that store carbon in the ocean to elephants and birds that regenerate forests — stabilise the planet’s systems.
This resolution sparks a significant turning point in international law, reframing wildlife not just passive victims of climate change, but as active participants, through seed dispersal, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem balance.
Researchers at the University of Exeter show that voluntary, community-based agreements can outperform rigid regulations in protecting marine ecosystems. By respecting local autonomy and cultural context, communities sustain conservation more naturally.
Buen Vivir connection: Harmony through collaboration, not domination.
Why it matters: Empowering coastal communities affirms that ecological wisdom lies not only in science, but in the lived experience of those most connected to the sea.
4. Brazil: Forest Protection and Local Prosperity Intertwined
At the Instituto Arapyaú, Renata Piazzon and partners are demonstrating that healthy forests and thriving local economies can coexist. Their projects link sustainable production, community wellbeing, and biodiversity.
In Boulder, community members are collaborating with local Nature-Based Solutions teams to expand urban farms, restore pollinator corridors, and build climate resilience. Source:City of Boulder
Buen Vivir connection: Food security re-roots the idea of nourishment in place, community, and reciprocity.
Why it matters: Demonstrates how cities can regenerate ecosystems while improving food access, transforming concrete into care.
Buen Vivir in Practice — Restoration, Innovation & Community Resilience
Buen Vivir teaches that ecological wellbeing and human dignity are intertwined. This week’s stories, from Australian rivers to Indian streets, Tanzanian hills to Toronto’s buried soils show how communities are regenerating life through care, knowledge, and reciprocity.
1. AI-Driven Coral Reseeding on the Great Barrier Reef (Australia)
Scientists have developed AI-powered coral re-seeding devices that autonomously identify and plant coral substrates across the reef, dramatically increasing restoration speed and accuracy. Read more →
Buen Vivir connection:Reciprocity with ecosystems, technology as ally, holistic wellbeing.
Why it matters: Manual coral restoration is slow and resource-intensive. These autonomous tools accelerate recovery and extend human care to otherwise unreachable reef areas — a model for coexistence between technology and nature.
2. Noongar-Led Restoration of Collie River Pools (Australia)
The Danju Noongar Landcare group has restored two at-risk river pools in Western Australia’s Upper Collie River, reviving native fish and crustacean habitats while protecting culturally significant waters. Read more →
Buen Vivir connection:Community stewardship, kinship with land and water, intergenerational care.
Why it matters: These river pools act as ecological refuges during dry spells. The project strengthens biodiversity, cultural continuity, and local stewardship. This is proof that restoration led by Traditional Owners brings enduring ecological and social health.
Three innovators from IUCN’s restoration incubation program are transforming degraded lands into sustainable enterprises, from seed banks to soil-health ventures, linking livelihoods and landscape renewal. Read more →
Buen Vivir connection:Economy rooted in ecology, regeneration through creativity and cooperation.
Why it matters: When communities profit from restoration rather than exploitation, ecological healing becomes self-sustaining. These entrepreneurs show how local enterprise can scale regeneration and resilience from the ground up.
4. Rediscovering Life in 130-Year-Old Soil (Toronto, Canada)
Archaeologists uncovering Toronto’s old waterfront found living seeds, roots, and microorganisms in soil buried for over a century, a testament to nature’s persistence. Read more →
Buen Vivir connection:Ecological memory, respect for the unseen, continuity across time.
Why it matters: The discovery shows how ecosystems retain latent vitality even after decades of disturbance, a humbling reminder that life endures and can be revived through mindful restoration.
Local volunteers in Pune are using open-data mapping tools to measure street-level heat, identify shaded routes, and promote community tree planting, creating cooler, more livable neighborhoods. Read more →
Why it matters: As urban heat rises, bottom-up innovations like this protect vulnerable residents, democratise climate data, and show how adaptation can be citizen-driven, not top-down.
Great Barrier Reef Cleanup 2025 (Australia) Communities along Queensland’s coastline are participating in beach & reef cleanups, removing marine debris and collecting data to inform future pollution reduction. Read more →
Buen Vivir connection: Reciprocity with ecosystems, local stewardship, holistic wellbeing. Why it matters: Marine debris degrades coral, harms wildlife, and inhibits reef recovery. Local clean-ups not only reduce degradation but empower communities with knowledge and agency over their seascapes.
Schmidt Sciences Launches Antarctic Drone Fleet Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is funding a fleet of autonomous surface drones to map ocean CO₂ and improve understanding of the Southern Ocean’s carbon cycle. Read more →
Buen Vivir connection: Knowledge as reciprocity, global commons care, scientific guardianship. Why it matters: The Southern Ocean plays a huge role in absorbing CO₂. Better data helps us understand climate feedbacks, improve climate models, and protect key carbon sinks.
Urban Climate Science Strengthening in Australia New research points out critical gaps in Australia’s urban climate modelling and observational systems and calls for local capacity building. Read more →
Buen Vivir connection: Local capacity, context-sensitive knowledge, community resilience. Why it matters: Most Australians live in cities. Without accurate urban climate models and monitoring, adaptation plans may fail. Strengthening this capacity helps societal resilience to heat, storms, and other extremes.
Bio-tar to Bio-carbon: Turning Waste into Carbon Solutions Scientists have found ways to transform bio-tar (a waste product) into a bio-carbon material that can help capture emissions and degrade pollutants. Read more →
Buen Vivir connection: Transforming waste into regenerative resource, ecological reciprocity, innovation for good. Why it matters: Many waste streams are overlooked. Turning bio-tar into a functional carbon-capturing material could reduce emissions, detoxify environments, and close material loops.
Coral & Mangrove Restoration Led by Pacific Communities In parts of the Pacific, local community science projects are growing corals and restoring mangroves, combining local ecological knowledge with regenerative practices. Read more →
Buen Vivir connection: Community-led restoration, plural ecological knowledge, cultural ties to sea. Why it matters: Coastal communities rely on healthy reefs & mangroves for food, storm protection, and identity. When they lead restoration, outcomes tend to be more durable, locally adapted, and ethically grounded.
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This week’s good news round-up on September 25, 2025, “Buen Vivir in Action” highlights global community projects promoting ecological balance and reciprocity. From Kolkata’s heritage restoration to Cuba’s microgreen initiative, these stories illustrate efforts in sustainability, cultural identity, and community resilience across diverse locales, emphasizing the vital connection between human dignity and ecological wellbeing.
Date: Thursday, September 25, 2025
Buen Vivir in Action — Community, Reciprocity, and Ecological Balance
No news is good news – besides this good news round-up bringing you a dose of positivity and hope.
Buen Vivir reminds us that ecological wellbeing and human dignity are inseparable. This week’s stories show how communities in all parts of the globe are co-creating futures of reciprocity and resilience, from Havana rooftops to Thai lakes, Australian bushlands to PNG rainforests
Community donations light up Raj Bhavan, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and more, sparking civic pride and ecological urban renewal. 🔗 Read more →
Buen Vivir principles: Community-led, cultural identity, reciprocity with place. Why it matters: Heritage revival enhances urban ecological identity, strengthens community pride, and fosters stewardship of public spaces.
Photo: Times of India
2. Cuba’s Microgreen Revolution
A Havana start-up grows nutritious microgreens in shipping containers, training neighbors and creating new food pathways. 🔗 Read more →
Buen Vivir princples: Food sovereignty, endogenous innovation, holistic wellbeing. Why it matters: In crisis, communities can seed local resilience — nutritious food, livelihoods, dignity.
3. April Salumei Rainforest Conservation (Papua New Guinea)
An innovative new five-year Sustainable Development Plan for the April Salumei Rainforest Community Conservation Project in Papua New Guinea has been developed to provide long-term community benefits. 600,000 hectares of rainforest preserved by landowner-driven conservation and sustainable development planning. 🔗 Read more →
Buen Vivir principles: Holistic rights, ecological reciprocity, plural context. Why it matters: Avoids 22.8 million tonnes of CO₂, preserves habitat, and strengthens community voice in global climate finance.
4. Indigenous Fire Stewardship Revives Country (Australia)
First Nations fire practices are reviving habitats, reducing catastrophic bushfires, and strengthening cultural ties to land. 🔗 Read more →
Buen Vivir : Knowledge sovereignty, harmony with nature, collectivewellbeing Why it matters: Indigenous fire practice reduces catastrophic bushfire risk, restores biodiversity, and reconnects people with Country.
Local communities restore 50 hectares of mangroves, forming a Mangrove Rehabilitation Club to sustain long-term care. 🔗 Read more →
Buen Vivir: Community-driven, participation, reciprocity with ecosystems, shared wellbeing. Why it matters: Restored mangroves stabilize coastlines, nurture fish nurseries, and empower communities to govern local ecosystems.
🌊 Marereni, Kenya: A Community-Led Mangrove Revival
What happened In Marereni, Kilifi County, a collaborative effort between Seatrees, Community-Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC), and local communities has led to the restoration of over 640 hectares of mangrove forests. The project has engaged over 600 community members, predominantly women, in establishing and maintaining mangrove nurseries. Participants earn income from selling mangrove seedlings and engaging in restoration activities. The initiative has resulted in improved fish stocks and enhanced coastal resilience. 🔗 Read more →
Buen Vivir Principles:
Community-led & endogenous: Local communities are at the forefront of the restoration efforts, utilizing traditional knowledge and practices.
Holistic wellbeing: The project addresses ecological health, economic stability, and cultural values.
Reciprocity with nature: The restoration of mangroves enhances biodiversity and provides ecosystem services that benefit the community.
Why it matters This project exemplifies how community-led initiatives can effectively restore ecosystems while providing sustainable livelihoods and enhancing resilience to climate change.
🌿 Lamu County, Kenya: Integrating Restoration with Community Development
What happened The Lamu County Mangrove Restoration Initiative, led by Eden People+Planet, restored over 1,120 hectares of mangrove forests from 2020 to 2024. The project integrated mangrove restoration with inland forest protection and community development across multiple ecological zones. Innovative restoration techniques were developed, providing valuable foundations for future carbon-eligible mangrove projects in similar landscapes across the region. 🔗 Learn more →
Buen Vivir Principles
Holistic wellbeing: The project addressed ecological health, economic stability, and cultural values.
Alternative economies: The initiative promoted sustainable livelihoods through eco-friendly practices.
Plural/local context: Restoration techniques were tailored to the local ecological zones and community needs.
Why it matters This initiative demonstrates the effectiveness of integrating ecological restoration with community development, leading to sustainable and resilient ecosystems.
🌊 Gazi Bay, Kenya: Restoring Ecosystems and Livelihoods
What happened The Aga Khan Foundation, in partnership with the Kenya Forest Service, is restoring 226 hectares of degraded mangrove forests in Gazi Bay, Kwale County. The three-year project aims to rehabilitate vital ecosystems while fostering sustainable livelihoods. It aligns with AKF’s commitment to integrating environmental restoration with community development, ensuring long-term ecological health and economic stability. 🔗 Discover the project →
Buen Vivir Principles
Community-led & endogenous: Local communities are engaged in the restoration efforts, utilizing traditional knowledge and practices.
Holistic wellbeing: The project addresses ecological health, economic stability, and cultural values.
Reciprocity with nature: The restoration of mangroves enhances biodiversity and provides ecosystem services that benefit the community.
Why it matters This project highlights the importance of integrating environmental restoration with community development to build resilience and ensure sustainable livelihoods.
🌊 Kolkata’s Heritage Revival: A Community-Led Transformation
What happened Between November 2023 and September 2025, Kolkata, India has undergone a transformative heritage revival driven by a citizen-powered initiative named Kolkata Restorers. What started modestly with crowdfunding to light up the dome of Maniktala Market has grown into a vibrant movement revitalizing 94 historic buildings across the city. Through small donations—often Rs 500 to Rs 1,000—from individuals, families, and NRIs, residents have embraced preservation as a shared civic responsibility. Iconic landmarks like Raj Bhavan, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and New Market now glow at night as symbols of civic pride and historical continuity. The initiative fosters a “democracy of memory,” where even small contributions allow citizens to feel personally connected to Kolkata’s cultural narrative. By mirroring global heritage cities like Paris and Istanbul, this movement demonstrates how collective action can redefine urban pride and inspire hope. The Times of India
Buen Vivir Principles
Community-led & endogenous: Residents are at the forefront of the restoration efforts, utilizing traditional knowledge and practices.
Holistic wellbeing: The project addresses cultural preservation, community pride, and environmental sustainability.
Reciprocity with nature: The restoration of historic buildings enhances the city’s aesthetic value and fosters a deeper connection to the environment.
Why it matters This initiative exemplifies how community-led efforts can effectively restore cultural heritage while promoting environmental sustainability and fostering a sense of collective identity.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games aimed to be the greenest ever, hosting a summit to accelerate sport’s contribution to sustainable development goals by reducing emissions and implementing carbon mitigation projects. Critics labeled the event a “greenwashing nightmare,” citing vague methods and limited accountability. Despite challenges, the event’s focus on pre-game carbon mitigation represents a significant paradigm shift for major sporting events globally.
Changing the Paradigm of Major Sports Events
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games promised to be the greenest in history. On the Eve of the games, French President Emmanual Macron and the French Development Agency hosted the first Sport for Sustainable Development Summit, which gathered Heads of State, the International Olympic Committee, and the World Health Organization to accelerate the contribution of sport to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
The Olympic Games is one of the largest, most logistically complex global events. Host countries spend billions on new infrastructure, stadiums, athlete accommodation, Olympics venues, and upgrading transport. It is a mammoth undertaking, but it is also carbon intensive. Since Paris started planning for this year’s games in 2017, Paris 2024 aimed to be a game changer in the way that sports approaches its climate impacts.
The aim was to halve the emissions of this year’s games compared to the average of London 2012 and Rio 2016. There were two main goals: to reduce Games-related emissions and support carbon mitigation and capture projects. The former was the most significant. The organising committee pulled out all stops to comprehensively control and assess the entire carbon ecosystem of the event with both direct and indirect scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions from the carbon footprint from athletes and biodiversity impacts, to infrastructure, catering, waste, and even spectator travel.
The organising committee included a world-first Ecological Transformation Committee, setup to control, reduce, and reassess its carbon emissions throughout the run-up to the Games. The Ecological Transformation Committee was chaired by Gilles Boeuf and included nine experts across the areas of carbon impact, biodiversity, circular, economy, energy, catering, digital technology, temporary construction, innovation, and change management. The Committee was joined by representatives from Paris City Council, the French Ministry of Sport, the French Ministerial Delegation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (DIJOP), the Ile-de-France Region, the Seine-Saint-Denis Department, Métropole du Grand Paris, the National Olympic and Paralympic Committees, and the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME), and a representative from the Paris 2024 Athletes’ Commission. This breadth of expertise gave strength to the objectives they were trying to achieve.
Have we been greenwashed?
The pure scale of any Olympic Games dictates that it will always have a colossal effect on climate and host communities. This has led Paris 2024 to be labelled a ‘greenwashing nightmare’ by many who argue that this event is awash with vague methodology and limited accountability. There seems to be a lack of transparency and third-party monitoring in these Games that only contributes to the image of the Olympic Games being an “Olympic sustainability smokescreen”, as dubbed by Christine O’Bonsawin, an Indigenous sport scholar and member of the Abenaki Nation at Odanak in Quebec. Because of this lack of transparency, climate and sustainability watchdogs argue that we cannot verify claims that Paris 2024 is carbon-neutral or climate positive.
Researchers contend that the International Olympics Committee is one of the biggest greenwashing institutions in the world. Past attempts to assess and compensate the massive environmental and ecological impacts of the Games have been said to perpetuate “carbon colonialism”—offloading emissions through uncertain projects in the Global South that mainly service the Global North.
While I tend to agree with the transformative limitations of unclear climate accounting methodologies and stoic adhesion to market fixes, changing the status quo, especially of a dominant global event and institution such as the Olympics is impossible to achieve overnight. All change has to start somewhere, and the mindset behind such change promises a great deal for future direction.
The difference between the climate approach to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and other previous major sporting events is that Paris 2024 sought to change the model of carbon assessment from post-games to a pre-game carbon mitigation model. Through this model, Paris 2024 undertook a holistic vision of offsetting emissions in a major carbon impact reduction target and strategy. This paradigm shift, flipping the mitigation hierarchy to avoiding and reducing emissions first rather than a pure offset and compensation strategy is highly significant.
Throughout modern history, the neoliberal approach to climate change has been more focused on offsets and carbon markets. It is a doctrine that believes in the power of commodities over conservation and that there are limits to environmentalism within the sphere of economic growth.
This ‘ARO’ – avoid, reduce, offset (last) – approach makes it difficult to skip over the typically harder and more expensive, bottom-of-the-pyramid mitigation priorities of avoid and reduce, which can happen when relying on a post-diem assessment that leaps straight to compensation as a first tactic.
What does this mean for other major sporting events?
Major sporting events are responsible for a whopping 50 to 60 billion tonnes of tCO2e globally every year. The most logical approach to reducing the climate impact of sport is to reduce the size and scale of these events. As with the Olympics, in their current formats, these events can never be truly sustainable and will always have a large environmental impact. However, avoiding them altogether is not black and white.
Sports – both taking part and being a spectator – has a proven social and economic benefit that goes beyond socio-economic, geographic, and cultural barriers. Sporting events strengthen social networks and build a sense of belonging for participants, fostering identity and building a sense of community character and cohesion for those involved. They can stimulate economic development for disadvantaged communities and inspire social change. Conversely, they can also be the root cause of human rights violations, slavery, unbridled nationalism, and massive-scale pollution.
To help address the entire carbon footprint of the Games, Paris 2024 declared that it developed an online tool, Climate Coach for Events for event organisers to understand and reduce the climate impact of major sporting events. This app is free for organisations to use and estimates the carbon footprint across ten categories including catering, accommodation, travel, infrastructure and energy, sports equipment, logistics, site preparation, promotional items, digital material, and waste; and provides a breakdown of the biggest source of emissions. In the same psychology of sports coaching, the app then provides a customised programme of over a hundred tangible measures that organisers can then implement in their planning to reduce their event’s carbon footprint.
Addressing climate impacts at the scale and complexity of something like the Olympics before the event demonstrates that it’s not too farfetched for other large sporting events to follow suit. Assessing the achievement of pre-emptive change rather than just rely on post-diem assessments to understand event impacts is a positive move.
Reinventing mega sporting events to realign them with international climate goals sounds like an impossible task. Of course, there is plenty more that could have always been done at the 2024 Olympics, by all – organisers, spectators, and athletes. The sheer scale of such events needs to be re-evaluated as a matter of urgency, but this event has opened pathways for thinking differently about the impacts and contributions of major sporting events, and other large events in general. Perhaps one of the greatest legacies of the Paris 2024 Olympics is that the opportunity to pioneer sustainable transformative thinking about major events proved not only possible, but even desirable.
In the ever-wise words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it is done”. No other thoughts resonate better with how we can address the world’s most challenging climate issues. The reinvention of future climate action in sport is on the horizon.
The ocean, she breathes life into the earth, into you, into me. The ocean, this ultimate vessel for the ‘Elixir of Life’ unto which we are all ultimately connected, needs us so that she may continue to sustain us. You see, this vast blue and us, we are inextricably interconnected.
The ocean covers the majority of the planet – 97 percent, in fact. The world’s four major oceans are interconnected making the vast blue at one with the earth. This vast amount of liquid water is what makes our planet unique and the primary contributor to life on Earth. Yet, we have lost respect for her and her significance, polluting 88 percent of her surface with our debris, with the vast majority of it sinking to the bottom of our precious marine ecosystems.
The ocean began her life three billion years ago and we may never fully understand the mysteries that have evolved since then. She is wise this old girl. While the earth may not look the same, her duty to birth and sustain life has remained constant.
Never one to keep still, she is always in movement. In a tangled cycle of heat and vapour, the ocean gives herself to the atmosphere and disguises herself as bright clouds that give us shade from the scorching sun, and rain that waters our crops and provides us with water to drink. The ebbs and flows of the ocean current allow life everywhere across the globe to perpetuate, to flourish and to reproduce. The sea floor is locked in a perpetual cycle of birth and destruction that shapes our earth and even influences our DNA.
The Enlightenment assumption that natural resources were simply property to be exploited is naïvely nonsensical – if we deplete and destroy nature, we ultimately damage ourselves. Our estuaries, salt marshes, mangrove forests, coral reefs, open and deep seas all depend on an ocean thriving and in good health.
For the world’s indigenous peoples, the ocean, like all forces of nature, is a living being, and must be respected, revered, and cared for. Beliefs anchor in facts: nature sustains us, guides us, gives us life and health. The ocean provides us with food, medicine, minerals, oxygen, and freshwater.
However, today we exercise our dominion over the sea and all of her creatures and organisms, and we are paying the price.
First civilizations had a transactional relationship with the ocean, riding the seas through ancient trade routes importing and exporting knowledge, tools, spices, minerals, and other riches, and expanding empires. The seas supported our livelihoods, helping society to become what it is today. Humanity has used the ocean against itself – the very reliance civilizations had on her for expansion and progress became the driving forces that are destroying her by impacting the earth’s climate.
In modern life, the threats of climate change and human destruction have forever changed the way our ocean and her ecosystems exist and evolve. Evolution is a slow process, usually, but with our consumerist and extractive mindsets we have taken so much of the earth’s riches and given it back in waste that it has caused mass extinctions in all life forms, not least in the ocean. If we continue the way we are, in the time to come all marine life from the deepest depths to the sandy shores could suffer one of the biggest mass extinctions in the history of our planet from warming seas and changing currents.
Our polar regions are warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. The Arctic Ocean once glistened with snow and ice under a pale sun, atop with glaciers so large that humans had little knowledge of what went on in life underneath. Now plankton, scores of fish, walruses, whales and seals all are fighting to adapt to warming seas. Polar bears that completely depend on the ocean to survive are drowning, and starving with nowhere to go. It is a case of fight or perish. Through our actions though, the ocean has little say in how she changes. The ice that once gleamed in varying hues of pale blue and white protecting her from above is giving way to deep blues. As the darkest depths of the ocean reveal themselves to our polar regions, so does our future become obscure.
We humans are so intelligent that we have long studied and understood geological processes of the past, yet we are so far inept at changing the forces that will stop it from happening again. We write the history books, what is stopping us from editing them to allow for a legacy sequel?
The ocean is the most powerful force on earth – she is a mother, a killer, a healer, and a peacemaker – lest she have the power to rest in good health. As humans we have inherited the universal right to clean water because of its importance to sustaining life. Though, some interpret that as the right to exploit at all costs, that the ocean and its supported water forms are a commodity to fulfill our needs and desires first. As a living being, she deserves agency to pursue redress if it is damaged or destroyed.
The Rights of Nature is a movement that catalyzes the connection between us and the earth. The idea of giving rights to the ocean and all water sources is to protect them against destructive and exploitative human activity – that we may live in harmony with nature and not against it. It acknowledges the inherent intimate connection we have with her, how she has helped form this planet we call home, and that she may continue to endure and sustain us with her most important work flowing through life every day. It may reorient the way we live towards our responsibilities to nature. The ocean deserves her right to be recognised and respected.
If we retrieve reverence for our ocean, we can recover respect for ourselves and our future. Honouring the reciprocal relationship we have with Mother Ocean is key to hope for times to come. While climate change is obscuring the outlook for the future state of our planet, one thing is certain: our ocean is worth fighting for.
A new study published in Nature Journal last Wednesday 31 May by the international scientist group Earth Commission created a holistic measurement framework of quantifiable boundaries for climate, air pollution, phosphorus, and nitrogen contamination of water from fertilizer overuse, groundwater supplies, fresh surface water, the unbuilt natural environment, and the overall natural and human-built environment.
The holistic measuring of the earth’s interlocking ecosystems considers not only the point at which environmental conditions become harmful for people but also the risks for each environmental element, while also considering justice on a local and regional scale. Elements of justice are important for climate change because the groups most vulnerable to climate impacts are those who have contributed least to the climate crisis.
As the authors state, “The stability and resilience of the Earth system and human well-being are inseparably linked, yet their interdependencies are generally under-recognized; consequently, they are often treated independently” – particularly at the policy level – and, “rapid changes to the Earth system undermine critical life-support systems with significant societal impacts already felt, and they could lead to triggering tipping points that irreversibly destabilize the Earth system. These changes are mostly driven by social and economic systems run on unsustainable resource extraction and consumption. Contributions to Earth system change and the consequences of its impacts vary greatly among social groups and countries. Given these interdependencies between inclusive human development and a stable and resilient Earth system (Rockström et al)”.
The Earth Safe Boundaries (ESB) proposed in the framework set out by over 40 scientists, do not represent ‘tipping points’ (although tipping points inform the ESBs), but rather set out safe scientific boundaries for “maintain[ing] and enhanc[ing] the stability and resilience of the Earth system over time, thereby safeguarding its functions and ability to support humans and all other living organisms”.
Climate justice and social justice are inextricably linked. This fact is becoming increasingly recognised on a global stage. In praxis, it requires addressing historic injustices such as colonialism, resource exploitation, and land access that have driven the climate crisis while destroying ecosystems, and livelihoods, and wiping out local economies, biodiversity, culture, and displacing communities. Systems change in local and regional scale development is an important leverage to ensure that we stay within these holistic earth boundaries and address injustices through systems change.
The study concludes that meeting the just boundaries without significant harm to humans and ecosystems requires transformation. While they provide a good tool for the measurement of the earth’s safe boundaries and the threshold for crossing those limits, they do not provide any practical suggestions for that transformation.
“Nothing less than a just global transformation across all ESBs is required to ensure human well-being. Such transformations must be systemic across energy, food, urban and other sectors, addressing the economic, technological, political and other drivers of Earth system change, and ensure access for the poor through reductions and reallocation of resource use. All evidence suggests this will not be a linear journey; it requires a leap in our understanding of how justice, economics, technology and global.”
Rockström et al
In that respect, the ESBs can be seen to complement more practical frameworks for local-level environmental and social wellbeing.
There are many alternative concepts that can empower communities at the local level to address these issues. Many are being embraced on larger scales such as regenerative economies, circular economies, and the doughnut model. In fact, the study authors state that the ESBs look to build upon policy and research on Planetary Boundaries (PBs) framework, doughnut economics, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, if we take a more holistic view of these interlocking systems, it is not only economic models that should be considered but whole-of-society models.
Frameworks like Buen Vivir that seek to address social, economic, and environmental factors at the local levels by empowering local communities to act within ecological and social boundaries can be effective local solutions to the climate crisis while at the same time addressing issues of justice and wellbeing. Models that connect the whole-earth systems including social and environmental wellbeing are best placed to start achieving long-term change that is scaled up to include national and global level policies and consumer market change. They provide viable points of action that is easily implemented and correlated with policy.
In short, scientifically quantifiable boundaries are vital for the future of the planet and humankind, but these must go hand-in-hand with actionable and practical solutions that can be translated on the ground. Transformation of all systems is thus where we must start to ensure that we approach the safe and just boundaries with caution for the future stability and resistance of earth’s interconnected systems.
If there is any time to focus on the positive it is now, with the news this week that humankind faces the double threat of extinction from climate change and AI. In that was the promise that we can still steer the course of our own fate. Some recent positive advances give hope for doing so. So, here is a roundup of the latest good environmental news.
First up is a story close to my heart. If you follow my research, you will know that my interest in Buen Vivir grew from living and working with communities in Ecuador’s Intag Valley, which have battled threats to their social and environmental wellbeing for decades. Part of the struggle was captured in my book through interviews with key people in Cotacachi County (where Intag is located). So, this victory has moved me to tears, and I hope it is the start of some positive momentum for the Rights of Nature.
Rights of Nature upheld in Ecuador Court
Communities in Ecuador’s Intag Valley had a major win in March after more than 30 years of mining resistance in the region. On March 29, 2023, communities in the Intag Valley won a court case against mining companies Codelco and ENAM. The Imbabura Provincial Court ruled in favour of the Rights of Nature upheld in the Constitution since 2008 and revoked the companies’ mining licenses for the project. The win helps preserve the natural integrity of the Tropical Andes and upholds local communities’ constitutional right to consultation. The victory also expands the case law for the Rights of Nature and sets a precedent for future cases. It also demonstrates the willingness to uphold the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and rural communities in the face of extractivism demand.
2. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen by 68 percent
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell 68 percent in April compared to April 2022. One of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva presidential promises when taking office at the start of this year was to combat illegal deforestation, which rose significantly under former President Jair Bolsonaro.
3. Ecuador’s ‘debt for nature’ deal to help protect the Galápagos Islands
To Ecuador again, as the country has converted $1.6 billion (€1.5 billion) of debt into a loan to be used for conservation in the Galápagos Islands in the world’ biggest ‘debt for nature’ deal.
“The world’s biggest ocean-friendly debt swap is coming together in Ecuador to protect its unique natural resources,” says Pablo Arosemena Marriott, Minister of Economy and Finance.
4. Renewables to hit a major milestone
The renewable power sector is passing a series of important positive tipping points in 2023. Thinktank Ember’s fourth annual Global Electricity Review has found that greenhouse gas emissions from the global power sector are expected to fall for the first time because an expansion in renewable energies outstrips the growth in demand. The report analyses data from 78 countries representing 93% of global power supply. Not only that but experts predict that new solar and wind generation will become cheaper than existing fossil fuel generation.
5. Australia’s first Regenerative Food and Farming Map
Non-for-profit organisation Sustainable Table has developed Australia’s first Regenerative Food and Farming map. Regenerative agriculture helps mitigate the environmental impacts of farming and food systems. According to the Climate Council, Australian agriculture is responsible for around 13% of our greenhouse gas emissions each year. The map is a ‘first of its kind’. Taken from the website Sustainable Table state that the “map gives visibility across the industry, allows for connection and collaboration in ways never before possible, and catalyses the transformation of food and farming systems in Australia.” This also has public advantage “Connecting regenerative change makers, ethical funders and conscious humans to change Australia’s farming, food and fibre systems”. CEO of Sustainable Table Jade Miles said. “Until now there hasn’t been a national map or database of Australia’s regenerative food and farming industry…There is huge potential to learn from each other, leapfrog failures and grow the regenerative agriculture movement, and the map will play a really important role in facilitating this.” Agricultural change-makers and growers can add their businesses to the map for free by filling out the Australian Regenerative Food and Farming Map application: https://www.sustainabletable.org.au/map.
WOMEN are changemakers, caregivers, teachers, creators, partners, economists, health carers, organisers, entrepreneurs, leaders, pillars of strength and support for those around us. Women truly are the foundation of society.
Yet, we still live in an age of gender inequality. Today on International Women’s Day 2023, we celebrate women. But we should recognise the important role women and girls play in society every day.
Women play a particularly vital role in environmental care and climate action. Women are also more likely to suffer the impacts of climate change, future and present. That is a fact. Climate impacts disproportionately affect women. Statistically women still do the bulk of unpaid domestic care, childcare and care for elderly, which will increase in burden with the fallout of climate-related disasters and related social and health emergencies. The IPCCC acknowledges the vulnerability of gender in these events and how they affect women’s lives and economic circumstances. Notably, the Paris Agreement called for a “gender-responsive” approach to climate action.
Women are not only at the forefront of the impacts, but also at the forefront in finding viable and innovative solutions
Today I’d like to acknowledge but a few of these outstanding female leaders past and present (especially those from the Global South), and pay homage to the rest who are working behind the scenes (as women often do) to make this world habitable, and more equitable, for our future generations. Despite two amazing Kenyan women below, this is neither an exhaustive nor biased list, rather it is just to highlight some of the inspiring contributions that women around the world are making in the fight for our planet. I’d also like to take this moment to honour all women everywhere, for all that we are.
Dr Vandana Shiva Dr Shiva is a leading environmental activist, policy advocate and philosopher who has also been a major source of inspiration for my own work. Dr Shiva believes in the inseparability of nature and society, at the intersection between feminism and ecology. She says, “Diversity creates harmony, and harmony creates beauty, balance, bounty, and peace in nature and society, in agriculture and culture, in science and in politics.”
Dr Wangarĩ Maathai The late inspirational Kenyan woman Wangarĩ Maathai “the Mother of trees” was famous for her environmental and sociopolitical work. Among her many, many accomplishments, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. In 1976, Dr Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an organisation planting of trees with women groups in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life, planting more than 20 million trees on farms, schools and compounds.
Dr Jane Goodall Dr Goodall is a globally-renown primatologist, conservationist, environmentalist and activist. She is considered the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees. She has also spent much of her career supporting environmental projects in both climate change and radical animal rights activism. Dr Goodall says, “Fortunately, nature is amazingly resilient: places we have destroyed, given time and help, can once again support life, and endangered species can be given a second chance. And there is a growing number of people, especially young people, who are aware of these problems and are fighting for the survival of our only home, Planet Earth. We must all join that fight before it is too late.”
Sônia Guajajara Indigenous Brazilian activist Sônia Guajajara is passionate about ensuring Indigenous rights, best known for her strong positions on Indigenous land rights and policies in Brazil. Her organisation, the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) focuses strongly on preventing deforestation.
Winona LaDuke Duke is an Indigenous environmentalist, political activist, and program director for Honor the Earth who works on issues of climate change, renewable energy, sustainable food systems, and environmental justice for Indigenous communities. Duke was named one of Time magazine’s 50 most promising leaders under 40 years old.
Rachel Carson Rachel inspired a global environmental movement in 1962 with her ground-breaking book Silent Spring – still fundamental text of environmentalists today.
Amelia Telford Amelia is a Bundjalung and South Sea Islander woman originating from Northern New South Wales. Inspired by a lack of Indigenous youth participation in climate action, she co-founded Indigenous youth climate network Seed in 2014 bring First Nations voices to climate discussions. She is known for her role in fighting fracking in the Northern Territory.
Eunice Foote Eunice was the first to predict rising temperatures from CO2 emissions with her experiments on greenhouse gases in 1856 being some of the earliest known. Eunice proved that raising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would increase temperatures.
Christina Figueres Costa Rican diplomat Christina was the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010-16 and is credited with leading the UNFCCC to achieve the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Greta Thunberg As the global public face for youth climate action, Greta needs no introduction. She is known for catapulting youth voices for advocating for stronger climate action in policy. Greta’s work inspired the global school climate strike movement Fridays for Future.
Dr. Corinne Le Quéré French-Canadian Le Quéré is a climate change scientist best known for investigating carbon cycles to understand the drivers of carbon emissions and how climate change and variability affects the land and ocean carbon sinks.
Prof. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe focuses her research on understanding how disturbances in the environment affect the natural cycles of soil. She is credited for her work on understanding how land restoration could play an important role in sequestering CO2 and slowing climate change.
Dr Rose M. Mutiso Kenyan born activist and materials scientist Dr. Rose M. Mutiso works with experts worldwide to find solutions to the energy crisis in developing countries, particularly specialising in renewable energy. Mutiso co-founded the Mawazo Institute, an institution committed to the next generation of female scholars and opinion leaders in East Africa.
Meghan Spoth The Master’s student was instrumental in an expedition that has been said to have changed the face of Antarctic research, in which she and a group of other women, to Amundsen Sea, a rarely explored corner of the Antarctic continent, to better understand the rate at which the Thwaites Glacier disintegrated in the past. Her research will help future modellers make more accurate estimates of how fast sea levels will rise in the coming century.
Dr Kate Marvel Dr Marvel uses compelling storytelling to debunk misinformation about climate change. In her postdoctoral research, Marvel discovered that human activity almost definitely changed global rainfall patterns.
Rumaitha Al Busaidi Rumaitha Al Busaidi is an Omani marine scientist and activist who is best known for her work on how seawater is changing the Monai agricultural landscape. As both a climate change and female rights activist, Al Busaidi demonstrates how women are more likely to be impacted by climate change. “Other approaches are necessary, which have to do with how our societies are structured. The most important of them is educating and empowering women and girls,” she said.
Dr Catherine Nakalembe Dr. Nakalembe is a Ugandan remote sensing scientist who uses sensors to capture and analyze data to do with natural resource management, urban planning, and climate and weather prediction. Her work focuses on food security in Africa, helping smallholder farmers make decisions about their agricultural activities, particularly to prevent the disaster of crop failure. Nakalembe won the Africa Food Prize for her work in 2020.
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