Research from Welsh university says a global sustainability ‘reset’ is needed

A scientist from a Welsh university is calling for a ‘systems reset’ in how sustainable development is understood and pursued following new research.

The research from a global team of scientists and co-written by an academic from Aberystwyth University, says that to better address today’s environmental and social crises there must be a fundamental shift in how we understand sustainable development.

In the traditional three tier model, nature, economy, and society are treated as separate domains. However, the authors of this research argue that this method is no longer “fit for purpose” in a world facing climate change and social inequalities.

Instead they propose a new model which views sustainable development as a single dynamic system with nature forming the foundation, the economy operating within society, and society governing through shared values.

Professor Mike Christie, Professor of Environment and Ecological Economics at Aberystwyth Business School and co-author of the paper, said: “Despite decades of work on sustainability, we continue to see rising inequality, accelerating biodiversity loss, and a climate in crisis. Treating nature, the economy, and society as separate issues has led to disconnected and often conflicting priorities, and a worsening of the problems we are trying to resolve.”

The research suggests that sustainability is dependent on keeping natural, economic, and social systems in balance – when they are out of balance the whole system becomes unstable.

Lead author and Director of CORDIO East Africa, Dr David Obura said: “We need to move beyond the idea that nature, economy, and society are separate domains. Our model sees them as inter-connected layers of one integrated system. With it, any company, community or country can track the flow of benefits from nature through economic sectors to people, and the ways in which our choices impact on nature.”

The work concludes that today’s global sustainability crises stem from a ‘values failure’ where narrow economic worldviews based on extraction, privatisation, and short-term profit, have neglected other values such as care and respect for nature and others.

The authors call for the integration of diverse worldviews into global and national sustainability frameworks.