Quo vadis The state of social sciences a

UNESCO
Publishing
United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization

World
Social
Science
Report
2013

Changing Global Environments

UNESCO
Publishing
United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization

World

Social
Science
Report
2013

Changing Global Environments

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do
not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the ISSC or UNESCO
concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The World Social Science Report 2013 editorial team is responsible for the choice of articles,
the overall presentation and the conclusions. Each author is responsible for the facts contained in his/her article and the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily
those of the ISSC or UNESCO and do not commit either organisation.

doi :10.1787/9789264203419-en

OECD
ISBN 978-92-64-20340-2 (print)

ISBN 978-92-64-20341-9 (PDF)
UNESCO
ISBN 978-92-3-104254-6 (PDF and Print)

Photo credits: Cover © Photographer, Dirk Vermeirre
You Can Buy My Heart and My Soul, 2006 by Andries Botha

Published jointly by the United Nations Educational, Scientiic and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 7, place de Fontenoy,
75352 Paris 07 sp, France, the International Social Science Council (ISSC), UNESCO House, 1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris
Cedex 15, France and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2, rue André Pascal, 75775
Paris Cedex 16, France

First edition, 2013: © ISSC, UNESCO 2013
Graphic design: Corinne Hayworth and OECD
Cover design: Corinne Hayworth
This report should be cited as follows: ISSC and UNESCO (2013), World Social Science Report 2013, Changing Global
Environments, OECD Publishing and UNESCO Publishing, Paris

PrEFACE

Preface
by
Irina Bokova
The World Social Science Report captures a world undergoing deep change, rocked by
multiple crises, including in the environment. It builds on the previous World Social Science
Report, published in 2010, which addressed the challenge of knowledge divides in the social
sciences. On this foundation, the present report tackles the key theme of “Changing Global
Environments”. Like its predecessor, the new report highlights knowledge divides – not
just within the sciences, but also between the sciences and the social transformations
required to achieve sustainable development. The gap between what we know about the
interconnectedness and fragility of our planetary system and what we are actually doing
about it is alarming. And it is deepening.
Just as divided knowledge undermines the solidarity of humanity, so current
environmental challenges – if inadequately understood and inappropriately managed –
can impede achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, through their
negative impacts on poverty eradication and social inclusion as well as on realisation of
human rights for all. The major role of environmental change in shaping migration patterns
is just one of the key linkages that need to be understood and managed in this regard –
recognising both the potential contribution of voluntary migration to adaptation and its
potentially negative impacts if not set within appropriate policy frameworks, as the UN

Global Migration Group stated in 2011.
It was the geologists who irst proposed to call our current age the “Anthropocene” – an
age in which human activity is the major force shaping the planetary system. With roots
in scientiic understanding, the idea is essentially social and human. At its core, it is a call
to action, to better understand the world, to choose the future we want and to shape global
dynamics in this direction.
This World Social Science Report examines the social dynamics of the Anthropocene
and provides an overall vision to make sense of it. Environmental issues must no longer be
seen as peripheral or impacting externally on societies. Quite the contrary, environmental
change is interconnected with a multitude of other crises, risks and vulnerabilities
which confront every society today. These must be understood together in order to be
addressed together. The social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable
development are a single agenda. Water, forests, cities, agriculture, transport, housing,
energy – in each of these processes of contemporary society, aspects of the environment
are intertwined with human values, beliefs and behaviour. We shape our environment as
it shapes us.

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

3

PrEFACE

To move forward, we need scientiic approaches that overcome barriers between
disciplines and methods. This World Social Science Report meets this imperative and builds
movement towards more integrated knowledge systems – towards what is sometimes
called “sustainability science”. It reviews trends and their consequences, the conditions
for change in social practices and interpretations, along with responsibilities and ethics,
decision-making and governance issues. The report also shows how much more remains
to be done, especially to ensure equitable global participation in the creation and use of
knowledge.
Action to address global environmental change requires strong, dynamic and wideranging contributions from across the social sciences – to mitigate negative phenomena,
to adapt to others, and, more generally, to enhance social resilience in the face of uncertain
pressures. Technological, inancial or economic solutions are not enough. Values, beliefs
and behaviours are essential foundations for shaping greater sustainability. This is also
why the humanities are so important, alongside the social sciences, to help us imagine the
shape of a more sustainable future.
Knowledge is vital for effective action – but for this, we must more tightly link science,
policy and society and integrate scientiic understanding with action. Ultimately, achieving
sustainable development is a political challenge that involves making fundamental

choices about how we understand ourselves and the world we wish to inhabit and leave
for future generations. The social sciences have an important contribution to make in
supporting positive social transformations. This requires moving beyond the obstacles
of vested interests, the politicisation of science, and entrenched habits of thought and
behaviour.
This is why the World Social Science Report is so important – to understand changing
global environments and to formulate stronger policies in response. This is especially
important now, as the international community shapes a new sustainable development
agenda to follow 2015.
Linking knowledge to action is the objective of UNESCO’s intergovernmental
Management of Social Transformations (MOST) programme, which has made the social
dimensions of global environmental change one of its two thematic pillars, along with
social inclusion. In supporting this World Social Science Report, MOST has taken forward
a core objective – to mobilise social science for social change that is conducive to
sustainable development. Strengthening the knowledge base without applying it would
not be enough – which is why UNESCO’s activities under MOST also focus on bringing
together experts and policymakers to develop shared, scientiically-informed and
politically relevant agendas.
This report is the result of strong collaboration with the International Social Science
Council on global environmental change, for which I am deeply grateful. It also relects

a new partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD), which, as co-publisher, will take our messages to audiences across the world. I
welcome this opportunity for UNESCO and the OECD to work together to achieve common
objectives.
At a time when the world is seeking a new vision of sustainable development,
the World Social Science Report must be required reading – for scientists, policymakers,
activists, and all concerned citizens. To move forward, we must rally around a new

4

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

PrEFACE

vision of global environmental change as a core part of the crises facing the world today.
Poverty and environmental issues are integral to the sustainability challenge that must
be addressed – including through a new international sustainable development agenda.
This agenda must simultaneously protect human well-being and life-supporting
ecosystems in ways that are socially inclusive and equitable. This is our responsibility
and our aspiration.

Irina Bokova
Director-General of UNESCO

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

5

PrEFACE

Preface
A lighter carbon footprint, a greener world
by
Olive Shisana
As one of the most pressing of today’s global environmental problems, climate change
presents a complex and controversial challenge to industrialised and emerging economies.
Climate change is a recent concern, but has become one of the most critical issues for the
current generation. Since the rio Earth Summit in 1992, it has evoked a strong response
at both the community and governmental levels. Evidence of climate change is abundant,
yet a degree of denial persists at the community and government levels, and in many
countries, about its causes and consequences. Sceptics question whether climate change

results primarily from human activity, believing instead that it results only from natural
events independent of a human-caused carbon footprint.
Despite these doubts, a new and independent assessment of the evidence by Berkeley
Earth led to a series of papers in the period 2010 to 2013 that systematically addressed each
of the ive foremost concerns expressed by climate change sceptics, and concluded that
they did not unduly bias the record (Berkeley Earth, 2013).
Berkeley Earth conirmed what previous studies had claimed: planet Earth is
warming. The global mean land temperature had increased by 0.911 ºC since the 1950s,
which is consistent with the indings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) and with other studies. The scientiic community has now achieved
broad consensus regarding the reality and threats of climate change (Frumkin et al.,
2008). The major cause of climate change is understood as the emission of greenhouse
gases, which trap the sun’s heat within the Earth’s atmosphere and lead to increases
in global land and ocean surface temperatures. Though greenhouse gas emissions have
many sources, the major area of concern is the burning of fossil fuels. This happens
predominantly in the North, though China and India’s recent industrial development
has contributed signiicantly.
Climate change presents many complex problems, ranging from increased
morbidity caused by excess heat to the spread of infectious diseases and to ethical
concerns, because climate-change-related policy could limit economic development in

both emerging economies and resource-poor nations. Perhaps of greatest concern is
the reality that while high-income nations in the North are the leading contributors
to climate change, its effects disproportionately impact middle- and low-income
nations in the South. This creates the challenge of inding a sustainable path towards
development. High-income nations, having already developed, have the infrastructure
to withstand and the means to respond to the many issues related to climate change:

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

7

PrEFACE

higher temperatures, extreme weather events, loods and droughts, sea level rise,
infectious diseases, and a variety of other pertinent issues.
Increases in average and extreme temperatures, higher sea surface temperatures,
rising sea levels, and the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather, all present
nations with complex logistical, social and political problems. Still, it was not until the
1980s that the broader scientiic community began to address the issue of climate change.
The irst signiicant international effort to address the issue took place in 1992 with the

signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which
has 194 signatories to date, including the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, the
United States. A lack of substantial progress following the UNFCCC led to a series of efforts,
including the Berlin Mandate in 1995 and the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, which called for a
5.2% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels from industrialised countries
by 2012. Unfortunately in 2001, the United States rejected the Kyoto Protocol. But in 2009
world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, negotiated the Copenhagen Accord.
This called for a long-term goal of limiting increases in average land temperature to 2 ºC. To
date, many targets and objectives set forth in the Kyoto Protocol and Copenhagen Accord
remain unmet, and nations seem to lack the social and political movements needed to
force their leaderships to address climate change adequately.
One of the major challenges to addressing global climate change is that its primary
cause, for better or for worse, remains linked to current approaches to and patterns of
economic development. Fossil fuels, speciically coal, natural gas and oil, are used for
cooking, for cooling and heating households and workplaces, for transportation, and for
industrial development (EPA, 2013). This means that essential activities necessary in the
development of any nation remain highly dependent on the increased burning of fossil
fuels. These activities comprise an unsustainable model of economic development that
originates in the North and has set a trend for the wider world.
However, the recent global inancial and economic crises seem to have shifted the
North–South balance in carbon emissions, albeit slightly. For example, carbon emissions
grew in the EU countries by only 2.2% after the inancial crisis, and by 4.1% in the United
States and 5.5% in the russian Federation. These rates of growth are now lower than those
of China, which increased by 10.4%, and India, which grew by 9.4% (Peters et al, 2012).
Public perceptions of climate change seem to be connected to levels of economic
development. Evidence generated by a study of 46 countries suggests that there is a negative
association between public concern for global warming and gross domestic product. In
addition, there is a negative association between per capita carbon dioxide emissions
and public concern for global warming (Sandvik, 2008). This suggests that poor people are
more concerned about the effects of climate change than people in afluent societies. Their
concerns are warranted, as a study published in Eco Health demonstrated that morbidity
and mortality associated with climate change disproportionately impact resource-poor
nations, those least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions (Patz, Gibbs and Foley, 2007).
Popular discourse in the South tends to view a call for reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions as placing limitations on development at a time when the South is rising out
of poverty and beginning to enjoy similar socio-economic beneits to those that the North
continues to experience. Arguments for allowing the South to pollute until it achieves the
same level of economic development as the North are common, yet they are also oblivious
to the obvious consequences of this race to the bottom. While it is true that emerging

8

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

PrEFACE

economies in the South are least responsible for climate change, the negative impact of
a changing climate on these nations and ultimately on their economic development is
undeniable.
Communities and governments of the South recognise the impact of climate change
on their ability to earn a living, yet few are willing to address the deleterious effects of
increased population growth on carbon emissions. Perhaps the most obvious preventive
measure to a growing carbon footprint is to slow population growth. Still, few nations
have effective family planning policies and programmes aimed at slowing population
growth, which would reduce the need to extract resources to feed, clothe, transport, house,
and warm or cool growing populations without accelerating climate and environmental
change. Slowing population growth is the elephant in the room of climate change and
global sustainability more generally.
Still others in the South argue that because the North has contributed disproportionately
to greenhouse gas emissions, the South should not be prevented from reaching the same
levels of emissions as the North. They argue that they need more time to develop and lift
their populations out of poverty before they can be held to the same emission standards
as the North. While it is understandable that they too need to develop, the model of
development that they adopt need not necessarily mimic that of the North; instead a new
development path is needed that emphasises human well-being in its broadest sense
rather than focusing primarily on physical infrastructure development.
The disadvantages of the current dominant model of development should serve as an
impetus for the South to seek alternative growth and development models that include
harnessing renewable energies, slowing population growth, inding alternative ways of
transporting, cooking, heating and cooling the population, and ultimately leading to better
lives.
What is more, having recognised the negative impact of relying too heavily on fossil
fuels, and understanding the exponential growth in demand for them, economic powers
such as the United States and China have begun to invest heavily in green alternatives
to development. These efforts are viewed as a means to avert future economic crises for
economies that are too dependent upon fossil fuels. If nations in the South ignore this
shift in development, they may relegate themselves for several more generations to an
unsustainable and unsuccessful development path.
In either case, nations should question any economic model that deines prosperity
as simply an accumulation of material resources. A challenge to social scientists is to help
redeine prosperity, focusing more on the qualitative aspects of human development,
such as the provision of better education, learning how to promote health, and learning
regenerative approaches to the use of resources.
North or South, human behaviour contributes signiicantly to climate change. And
demands to maintain the lifestyles of the North and achieve similar lifestyles in the
South only complicate the issue. This suggests that reducing greenhouse gas emissions
is inextricably linked with human behaviour and the model of development we choose
to follow. The question before social scientists is how we direct human behaviour and
social practice away from a well-established development model and lifestyle that
continues to add to global greenhouse gas emissions. Transforming emissions from
industry is one thing, and by no means simple, but changing an entire nation’s lifestyle
is another. Perhaps before this question can be answered, social scientists must irst

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

9

PrEFACE

ask why human behaviours which add to greenhouse gas emissions are so resistant to
change. A Swiss study attempted to do just that, and found that although people were
anxious about the consequences of climate change, they erected a series of psychological
barriers against taking individual or collective action to mitigate it, arguing that they
wanted to maintain their comfortable and energy-intensive lifestyles (Stoll-Kleemann,
O’riordan and Jaeger, 2001).
The fundamentals of this model of development, which depends on generating carbon
emissions as a means to prosperity, continue to be emulated by emerging economies. In a
rush to get populations out of poverty in the 21st century, there is a move in some of the
emerging economies to promote policies that increase carbon emissions. Examples include
the Medupi project in South Africa, which will burn coal to generate energy, reductions in
the tax for buying cars in Brazil, which increase the car to population ratio, and the
introduction of fracking in South Africa to generate natural gas for heating and cooling.
recent evidence suggests that governments in the North are taking steps to reduce emissions,
including Germany’s Energie-Wende, which aims to transform the national energy system
to low-carbon sources, and the United States introducing energy-saving measures. But the
past several years have seen an increase in carbon emissions in the emerging economies of
China and India, offsetting any greenhouse gas reductions in Europe and the United States.
A simple question put to all nations is whether more concrete, more buildings, more
cars, more roads and more industry is really the best model we have for development. If
there is a better model, then the challenge before social scientists is to help deine and
understand it, and to contribute knowledge about effecting a shift in human behaviour and
social practice towards a model of development and a lifestyle that leaves a much lighter
carbon footprint and, it is to be hoped, a much greener world.
The social sciences are best placed to study the reasons why people who experience
the deleterious effects of climate change continue to participate in activities that accelerate
it. The context in which such decisions are taken needs to be studied and understood if
social and economic behaviours are to change. This will require a systematic effort with
global leadership. Such an initiative is currently being championed by the International
Social Science Council (ISSC), a global organisation representing the social, economic and
behavioural sciences at an international level. Through its efforts it has begun to bring the
pressing challenges of global environmental change and sustainability to the heart of the
social sciences, as relected in this World Social Science Report.
Underscoring the importance of these ISSC efforts, social scientists can be certain of
three things. First, the current model of economic development is simply unsustainable.
Second, human behaviour is paramount in achieving any signiicant progress and in averting
a continuing, growing global crisis. And third, social scientists are uniquely positioned to
help shift the current development paradigm to a more sustainable path by understanding
and inluencing human behaviour and the institutions and cultural systems within which
it emerges and inds expression.

Olive Shisana
President, International Social Science Council

10

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

PrEFACE

Bibliography
Berkeley Earth (2013), “About Berkeley Earth”, Berkeley Earth, Berkeley, Calif., http://berkeleyearth.org/
about/.
EPA (2013), “Causes of climate change”, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC,
www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/causes.html.
Frumkin, H. et al. (2008), “Climate change: The public health response”, Framing Health Matters, American
Journal of Public Health, Vol. 98/3, pp. 435-445, www.naccho.org/topics/environmental/climatechange/
upload/Article-Public-Health-and-Climate-Change.pdf.
Kleemann, S. S., T. O’riordan http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378000000613 - AFFB
and C. C. Jaeger http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378000000613 - AFFA (2001),
“The psychology of denial concerning climate mitigation measures: Evidence from Swiss focus
groups”, Global Environmental Change, Vol. 11/2, pp. 107=17, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/
S0959378000000613#AFFB.
Patz, J., H. Gibbs and J. Foley (2007), “Climate change and global health: Quantifying a growing ethical
crisis”, EcoHealth, Vol. 4/4, pp. 397-405, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10393-007-01411#page-1.
Peters, G. P. et al. (2012), “rapid growth in CO2 emissions after the 2008–2009 global inancial crisis”,
Nature Climate Change, Vol. 2/2–4, (2012) doi:10.1038/nclimate1332, www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/
v2/n1/full/nclimate1332.html.
Sandvik, H. (2008), “Public concern over global warming correlates negatively with national wealth”, Climatic
Change, Vol. 90, pp. 333-41, www.climateaccess.org/sites/default/files/Sandvik_public%20concern.pdf.
Stoll-Kleemann, S., T. O’riordan and C. C. Jaeger (2001), “The psychology of denial concerning climate
mitigation measures: Evidence from Swiss focus groups”, Global Environmental Change, Vol. 11, pp.
107-117, www.mnf.uni-greifswald.de/fileadmin/Geowissenschaften/geographie/angew_geo/Publikationen/
The_psychology_of_denial_concerning_climate.pdf.

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

11

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgements

T

he World Social Science Report 2013 is a collaborative effort made possible by the support
and contributions of many people.
The report was inanced as part of UNESCO’s framework agreement with the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and by generous contributions from several
organizations:

●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●

European Science Foundation (ESF)
Netherlands Organisation for Scientiic research (NWO)
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)
research Council of Norway (rCN)
São Paulo research Foundation (FAPESP)
South African National research Foundation (NrF)
Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (rJ)
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The ISSC is very grateful for this support, without which the report would not have
been possible. We also wish to acknowledge the support of Sida for much of the preparatory
work that enabled the ISSC to develop the research framework and networks from which
this report has beneited.
The editorial team owes a special debt of gratitude to members of the WSS report 2013
Scientiic Advisory Committee for their invaluable expertise and constant guidance.
The committee advised on the structure and content of the report, suggesting potential
authors and topics and assisting in articulating its recommendations and conclusions.
We particularly thank Olive Shisana, the committee chair and ISSC President, for her
leadership in this process.
We would also like to thank Pilar Álvarez-Laso, Assistant Director-General for Social
and Human Sciences, and her team at UNESCO, as well as the team from UNESCO
Publishing, for their support throughout the editorial and production process. We are
grateful too for the support of colleagues in UNESCO’s ield ofices, and for the provision
of statistical data by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for Annex A of this report.
Sincere thanks go to OECD and its publications unit for their timely contributions and
creative partnership.
A big thank you to all those who peer reviewed one or more contributions to the
report, as well as those who provided ideas and advice on speciic sections. There are
simply too many to name, but a speciic thank you goes to Hebe Vessuri, John Urry, Frank
Matose and Gilberto Gallopín for their detailed comments on the report as a whole.

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

13

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are immensely grateful to all ISSC members around the world who have been
involved since the beginning, helping to disseminate the call for proposals for contributions
to the report, nominating people for the Scientiic Advisory Committee, rallying authors,
and in many cases contributing short articles. We also thank ISSC partners and programmes
for their help, advice and contributions.
The report beneited enormously from the editorial expertise of Martin Ince, Jana
Gough, Ilse Evertse and Susan Curran. We are appreciative, as ever, of the constant assistance
provided by the ISSC Secretariat in Paris, and grateful also to Eleanor Hadley Kershaw, who
was a member of the Secretariat and part of the editorial team until mid-2012.
Finally, a very special word of thanks to all the authors of this report: for their
contributions and ongoing creative work, and for their patient co-operation throughout the
editorial process. A big thank you also to Andries Botha, the artist who created the amazing
elephants featured throughout the report, and to all the photographers who gave us kind
permission to use their photographs of his work.

WSS Report 2013 editorial team
report director

Heide Hackmann, ISSC

Senior advisor

Françoise Caillods, ISSC

Senior editorial advisors

Susanne Moser, Susanne Moser research
and Consulting and Stanford University
Frans Berkhout, King’s College London and
Interim Director of Future Earth

Project co-ordinator

Louise Daniel, ISSC

researcher

Diana Feliciano, ISSC

research assistant

Orla Martin, ISSC

researcher (part time)

Eduardo Marques, São Paulo research Foundation
- FAPESP

WSS Report 2013 Scientific Advisory Committee

14

Olive Shisana, Chair

Human Sciences research Council, South Africa

Craig Calhoun

London School of Economics, United Kingdom

Nazli Choucri

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States

John Crowley

UNESCO (Observer)

Sir Partha Dasgupta

University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Fatima Denton

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa,
Ethiopia

Peter Driessen

Utrecht University, the Netherlands

François Heran

Institut
France

Saleemul Huq

International Centre for Climate Change and
Development, Bangladesh, and International
Institute for Environment and Development,
United Kingdom

national

d’études

démographiques,

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Enrique Leff

National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

Thandika Mkandawire

London School of Economics, United Kingdom

Karen O’Brien

University of Oslo, Norway

Ursula Oswald Spring

National Autonomous University of Mexico,
Mexico

Jia Hua Pan

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China

Thomas Pogge

Yale University, United States

Thomas Anton reuter

University of Melbourne, Australia

Johan rockström

Stockholm resilience Centre, Sweden

Ismail Serageldin

Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt

John Urry

Lancaster University, United Kingdom

Oleg Yanitsky

russian Academy of Sciences, russia

Human Elephant Foundation, South Africa
“Think big, tread lightly”
The elephant is a metaphor that awakens the yearning for forgotten conversations
between humans, the Earth and all living things ... we made these life-size elephants out
of recycled materials ... they represent the world of nature from which we have removed
ourselves and for which we increasingly yearn.
The elephant is the largest land mammal and thus a symbol of the threat of our everincreasing industrial and commercial development to life on Earth. The elephant is
strong and powerful yet also very vulnerable. Elephants and human beings share many
characteristics and traits. They both have a highly developed sensibility, a deep-rooted
attachment to family, and similar emotional responses.
The Human Elephant Foundation tries to reignite and keep alive the relationship
between humans and nature that has been lost, and to encourage everyone to do
something meaningful with his or her life. It initiates and facilitates discussion and
innovative problem-solving for a more respectful and sustainable world. It aims to bring
individuals and businesses together to stimulate their imagination and creativity: the
huge problems we face, as this report shows, require the ability and desire to break new
ground and generate fresh ideas. Life-size elephants, made out of recycled materials in
different regions of the world, could help mobilize communities to get involved in broader
human and environmental issues.
The artist and creator of the elephants featured in this report, Andries Botha, lives
and works in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He is very conscious of the fragile
coexistence of people with other forms of life, and has tried to unravel the mystery and
responsibilities of living alongside plants and animals. This led to the formation of the
Human Elephant Foundation in 2006. www.humanelephant.org

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

15

ACrONYMS AND ABBrEVIATIONS

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

CEPT
CFCs
CJA
CLACSO
CNCCP
CNKI
CNPq
CO2
CODESRIA
CONACyT
CONICYT
COP
CRS
CSIR
CSSCI
CWTS
CYCLES
DAC
DFID

Ten-year Framework of Programmes
Association of Asian Social Science research Councils
Adapting to Climate Change in China
Arab Council for the Social Sciences
Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change
Acquired immunodeiciency syndrome
European Federation of National Academies of Sciences and Humanities
Assessment report
Brazil, russia, India and China
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Convention on Biological Diversity (United Nations)
Center of Excellence for Climate Change Knowledge Management
Carbon (dioxide) capture and storage
Climate and Development Knowledge Network
Clean Development Mechanism
Center for Environment and Development for the Arab region and
Europe
Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad
Chloroluorocarbons
Climate Justice Action
Latin American Council of Social Sciences
China’s National Climate Change Programme
China National Knowledge Infrastructure
National Council for Scientiic and Technological Development (Brazil)
Carbon dioxide
Council for the Development of Social Science research in Africa
National Council of Science and Technology (Mexico)
National Commission for Scientiic and Technological Investigation (Chile)
Conference of the Parties
Creditor reporting System
Council of Scientiic and Industrial research (India)
Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index
Centre for Science and Technology Studies, University of Leiden
Children and Youth Lifestyle Evaluation Survey
Development Assistant Committee
Department for International Development (United Kingdom)

DG CLIMA
DG ENV

Directorate-General for Climate Action (European Union)
Directorate-General for the Environment (European Commission)

10YFP
AASSREC
ACCC
ACSS
AIACC
AIDS
ALLEA
AR
BRIC
CASS
CBD
CCKM
CCS
CDKN
CDM
CEDARE

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

17

ACrONYMS AND ABBrEVIATIONS

DoA
DOE
EC
ECLAC/CEPAL
EEA
ELSA
EMERCOM
ESCWA
ESF
ESMAP
EU
FAPESP
FORIN
FP
FSC
GCP
GDP
GEC
GECAFS
GECHH
GECHS
GEF
GFCS
GGCA
GHG
GIZ
GLP
GM
GNP
GRB
GSSL
GWSP
HDGEC
IAC
IAC
ICARDA
ICMR
ICSSR
ICSU
IDRC
IEA
IFPRI
IGBP
IGU
IHDP
IHOPE

18

Discipline of anticipation
Department of Energy (United States)
European Community/executive committee
UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
European Environment Agency
Ethical, legal, social aspects
Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster relief (russia)
UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
European Science Foundation
Energy Sector Management Assistance Program
European Union
São Paulo research Foundation
Forensic Investigations of Disasters
Framework Programme (European Union)
Forestry Stewardship Council
Global Carbon Project
Gross domestic product
Global environmental change
Global Environmental Change and Food Systems
Global Environmental Change and Human Health
Global Environmental Change and Human Security
Global Environmental Facility
Global Framework for Climate Services
Global Gender and Climate Alliance
Greenhouse gas
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (Germany)
Global Land Project
Genetic modiication
Gross national product
Gender-responsive budgeting
Global Survey on Sustainable Lifestyles
Global Water System Project
Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
Integrative agent-centred
InterAcademy Panel Council
International Center for Agricultural research in the Dry Areas
Indian Council of Medical research
Indian Council for Social Science research
International Council for Science
International Development research Centre (Canada)
International Economics Association
International Food Policy research Institute
International Geosphere Biosphere Programme
International Geographical Union
International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental
Change
Integrated History and Future of People on Earth

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

ACrONYMS AND ABBrEVIATIONS

ILO
IPCC
IPSA
IRDR
ISA
ISDR
ISSC
ISSP
IT
IUPsyS
IWR
IYGU
JSPS
JST
JWC
LA RED
LERU
LOICZ
MDG
MENA
MEXT
MNCS
MOE
MOST
MOST
MSA
MSC
NDRC
NELSI
NE³LSI
NEPA
NEPO
NGO
NIES
NRF
NSF
NSFC
NXDRC
OECD
OSSREA
PERL
PES
PRECIS
PTS
REDD
RESCUE

International Labour Organization
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
International Political Science Association
Integrated research on Disaster risk
International Sociological Association
International Strategy for Disaster reduction
International Social Science Council
International Social Survey Program
Industrial Transformation
International Union of Psychological Science
Inclusive Wealth report
International Year of Global Understanding
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Japan Science and Technology Agency
Joint Water Committee
Network of Social Studies in the Prevention of Disasters in Latin
America
League of European research Universities
Land–Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone
Millennium Development Goal
Middle East and North Africa
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan)
Mean normalised citation score
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Science and Technology (China)
Management of Social Transformations, UNESCO
Mean species abundance
Marine Stewardship Council
National Development and reform Commission (China)
Nano, ethical, legal, social implications
Nanoethical, environmental, economic and legal and social issues
National Environmental Policy Act (United States)
Ningxia Ecological Planning Ofice
non-governmental organisation
National Institute of Environmental Studies (Japan)
National research Foundation (South Africa)
National Science Foundation (United States)
Natural Science Foundation of China
Ningxia Development and reform Commission
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Organization for Social Science research in Eastern and Southern Africa
Partnership for Education and research about responsible Living
Payments for ecosystem services
Providing regional Climates for Impacts Studies
Post-traumatic stress
reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
responses to Environmental and Societal Challenges for our Unstable
Earth

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

19

ACrONYMS AND ABBrEVIATIONS

RIA
risk Interpretation and Action
RIHN
research Institute for Humanity and Nature
Roshydromet Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of Environment
(russia)
SCJ
Science Council of Japan
SCP
Sustainable consumption and production
SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals
SEIN
Social, ethical implications or interactions of nanotechnology
SLRG
Sustainable Lifestyles research Group
SMS
Short message service
SSFC
Social Sciences Foundation of China
STI
Science, technology and innovation
TB
Tuberculosis
TERI
The Energy and resources Institute (India)
TRC
Truth and reconciliation Commission
UGC
University Grants Commission (India)
UGEC
Urbanization and Global Environmental Change
UN
United Nations
UNDESA
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UNEP
United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientiic and Cultural Organization
UNFCCC
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
UNGC
United Nations Global Compact
UNICEF
United Nations Children’s Fund
UNISDR
United Nations Ofice for Disaster risk reduction
UNU
United Nations University
USGCRP
US Global Change research Program
VARC
Vulnerability assessment for rural communities
WCED
United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development
WCRP
World Climate research Programme
WHO
World Health Organization
WMO
World Meteorological Organization
WoS
Web of Science
WRF
Weather research and forecasting
WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature

20

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of contents
Preface .........................................................................................................................................
Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO

3

Preface – A lighter carbon footprint, a greener world.........................................................
Olive Shisana, President, ISSC

7

Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................

13

Acronyms and abbreviations ..................................................................................................

17

Changing global environments ........................................................................................
1. Social sciences in a changing global environment: General introduction
by Heide Hackmann and Susanne Moser ........................................................................
2. Global environmental change changes everything: Key messages
and recommendations by Susanne Moser, Heide Hackmann and Françoise Caillods ...

31

Part 1 – The complexity and urgency of global environmental change
and social transformation .................................................................................................
3. Social and environmental change in a complex, uncertain world:
Introduction to Part 1 by Heide Hackmann and Susanne Moser .................................
4. What’s the problem? Putting global environmental change into perspective
by Karen O’Brien ..................................................................................................................
5. The challenge of sustainable development and the social sciences
by Jeffrey D. Sachs ...........................................................................................................
6. Between social and planetary boundaries: Navigating pathways
in the safe and just space for humanity by Melissa Leach, Kate Raworth
and Johan Rockström ..................................................................................................
7. Inclusive wealth and the transition to sustainability by Anantha Kumar
Duraiappah, Pablo Muñoz and Elorm Darkey .................................................................
8. Gender and environmental change by Bina Agarwal ...............................................
9. Social science understandings of transformation by Katrina Brown,
Saffron O’Neill and Christo Fabricius..............................................................................
10. Changing the conditions of change by learning to use the future
differently by Riel Miller....................................................................................................
11. A new vision of open knowledge systems for sustainability:
Opportunities for social scientists by J. David Tàbara ..............................................
12. Viewpoint: Open knowledge and learning for sustainability by Tim O’Riordan .....

33
46
65
67
71
79

84
90
93
100
107
112
119

Part 2 – Social science capacity in global environmental change research .................. 123
13. regional divides in global environmental change research capacity:
Introduction to Part 2 by Françoise Caillods ................................................................ 125

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

21

TABLE OF CONTENTS

14. The social sciences and global environmental change in the United States
by Thomas J. Wilbanks, Thomas Dietz, Richard H. Moss and Paul C. Stern ...................
15. Social sciences at the crossroads: Global environmental change
in Latin America and the Caribbean by Julio C. Postigo, Gustavo Blanco
Wells and Pablo Chacón Cancino ........................................................................................
16. Brazilian studies on environmental activism by Angela Alonso
and Débora Maciel ..........................................................................................................
17. Social sciences and global environmental change research
in Latin America by Andrea Lampis (CLACSO) ............................................................
18. Quo vadis? The state of social sciences and climate and global
environmental change in Europe by Carolina E. Adler and Katharina Rietig ...........
19. The state of social sciences and global environmental change in russia
by Oleg Yanitsky with boxes by Boris Porfiriev and Arkady Tishkov ..............................
20. Global environmental change and the social sciences in the Arab world
by Ismail Serageldin ........................................................................................................
21. Social science perspectives on global environmental change
in sub-Saharan Africa by Coleen Vogel ........................................................................
22. African perspectives needed on global environmental change research
by James Murombedzi (for CODESRIA)...........................................................................
23. Global environmental change and the social sciences in eastern
and southern Africa by Paulos Chanie (for OSSREA)...................................................
24. Social science research and global environmental change in India
and South Asia by Aromar Revi and Neha Sami ..........................................................
25. Social science research on climate change in China
by Ying Chen and Laihui Xie ...........................................................................................
26. Social sciences in Japan after Fukushima by Aysun Uyar .......................................
27. Social science research on global environmental change
in the Asia-Paciic region by John Beaton (for AASSREC) ...........................................
Part 3 – The consequences of global environmental change for society .......................
28. The consequences of global environmental change: Introduction to Part 3
by Diana Feliciano and Frans Berkhout...........................................................................
29. Are Algerian agro-pastoralists adapting to climate change?
by Slimane Bédrani and Mohamed El Amine Benhassine ...............................................
30. relocation as a policy response to climate change vulnerability
in northern China by Yan Zheng, Jiahua Pan and Xiaoyu Zhang ................................
31. Climate change, looding and economic well-being in Nigerian cities
by Isaac B. Oluwatayo.....................................................................................................
32. resilience and adaptation in Dhaka, Bangladesh by Saleh Ahmed ........................
33. Population and land-change dynamics in the Brazilian Amazon
by Julia Cortes and Álvaro D’Antona ..............................................................................
34. The risks of global warming to coral reef ecosystems by Sabah Abdullah ............
35. Vulnerable and resilient children after disasters and gene–environment
interplay by Rainer K. Silbereisen, Marinus van Ijzendoorn and Kan Zhang ................
36. Migration as an adaptation strategy to environmental change by W. Neil Adger
and Helen Adams ............................................................................................................
37. The paradoxes of climate change and migration by Andrew Baldwin
and François Gemenne ....................................................................................................

22

133

142
152
155
158
168
177
184
192
196
198
207
215
220
223
225
230
234
242
246
250
255
257
261
265

WOrLD SOCIAL SCIENCE rEPOrT 2013: CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIrONMENTS © ISSC, UNESCO 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

38. The role of the social sciences in adapting to climate change
in northern Europe by Carina Keskitalo ...................................................................... 269
39. Women and climate change adaptation in Zimbabwe
by Donald Chimanikire ............................................................................................... 273
40. Ex-rubber tappers’ and small farmers’ views of weather changes
in the Amazon by Erika Mesquita ................................................................................ 277
Part 4 – Conditions and visions for change and sense-making in a rapidly
changing world ..................................................................................................................
41. Possibilities and prospects of social change in response
to the environmental crisis: Introduction to Part 4 by Susanne Moser ...................
42. Promises and pitfalls of the green economy by Ivan Turok
and Jacqueline Borel-Saladin ..........................................................................................
43. Viewpoint: Making sense of techno-optimism? The social science
of nanotechnology and sustainability by Mammo Muchie
and Hailemichael T. Demissie ..........................................................................................
44. Bringing new meanings to molecules by integrating green chemistry
and the social sci