Sustainable development through discourse on integration, coherence, mainstreaming
“Fragmented governance is inevitable, hence we need a global constitution.”
Joyeeta Gupta’s narrative is a critical one, and one not everyone wants to hear. Yet, it is vital to listen. “If we want to provide basic needs to all people worldwide within the planetary boundaries, we must radically transform the global system. Especially because climate change is having a disproportionate impact on countries in the Global South, although they bear little of the blame for causing it”, says Joyeeta Gupta, winner of this year’s Spinoza prize. In her presentation: ‘Sustainable development through discourses on integration, coherence, mainstreaming’, she will argue that, because it is very difficult to create a coherent systemic governance system, fragmentation is inevitable. Hence, we need a global constitution to transform global society so that we can live within safe and just Earth System Boundaries.
The Earth System Boundaries concern climate, the biosphere, water and nutrient cycles, and aerosols at global and subglobal scales. “The stability and resilience of the Earth system and human well-being are inseparably linked yet their interdependencies are generally under-recognized”, explains Gupta. “Consequently, they are often treated independently. We have already crossed seven out of eight of these boundaries at global level. Therefor a transformation of the global system is necessary. Without a just transformation, it will be impossible to live within these boundaries.”
Gupta is focusing on how to navigate systemic change through just transformations. “Sharing the limited resources and sinks with everyone requires a new understanding of the rules of such sharing, and the underlying causes of the systemic problems facing us today. That’s why, with ups and downs, I try to push my narrative forward.”