System Innovation for Environmental Sustainability: Concepts, Policies and Political Economy

Abstract

Given the scale of contemporary environment and resource challenges in relation to climate change, energy and other resources, and biodiversity, it is common to hear international bodies and policy makers at both international and national levels call for major changes in most aspects of contemporary resource use and interactions with the natural environment. To give just one example, in 2005 the Synthesis Report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) concluded: "The challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystems while meeting increasing demands for their services … involve significant changes in policies, institutions, and practices that are not currently under way" (MEA 2005, p. 1).