Policy planning in the anthropocene

February 2019: Researchers have developed a new 7 point-plan promoting cross-departmental and international collaboration to combat global challenges in the ‘Anthropocene’, such as climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Earth’s systems will only be at a biophysical level favourable to human life if policy design moves from a short-term mind-set to long-term collaborative strategies.

Information

Humans are fundamentally changing nature, which is tipping the Earth’s geological era from the Holocene into the so-called ‘Anthropocene’. The Holocene lasted for approximately 12,000 years and provided climatic stability and predictability that allowed humans to settle, farm, trade, and connect on a global level. The impact humans have on earth defines the parameters of the Anthropocene, such as mass extinction of plant and animal species, pollution, and alterations in the atmosphere. Researchers have developed a new 7 point-plan that offers a roadmap for future policy designs in this emergent new geological age. Key features are a long-term perspective and the expansion of cross-departmental collaboration. The report is the result of collaboration between experts in land, environment, economics, and policy and offers coherent and collaborative strategies on how to manage competing interests, such as trade and conservation. It proposes that decision-makers should analyse current policies to explore the extent that humans are impacting upon nature and select the most robust ones to serve as future models. Further, it underlines the need for decisions to be consistent across regional, national, and global boundaries.

Implications & Opportunities

Despite threats and uncertainties within the Anthropocene being numerous and fast-paced, there are several opportunities for decision-makers. An integrated and collaborative policy strategy will be able to tackle the geographical, ecological, and socio-political complexities of climate change, pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Taking such an approach could aid re-designing food and other systems. Some argue that Brexit could be bring the potential to re-designing the UK’s food system, although it remains to be seen if this is towards a more sustainable path. Looking at existing policies and selecting robust policies in a cross-departmental collaboration could result in a UK food system that provides healthy diets that are sustainably produced and support the industry’s profitability.

Limitations

The challenges to the resilience of the Earth’s system in the Anthropocene are numerous, interconnected, long running, and uncertain. Consequential, there is no one straightforward solution but rather, solutions depend on decision-makers’ willingness to collaborate and to set aside short-termism. While it is possible to maintain Earth’s systems within the biophysical limits favourable to human life, challenges lie in moving away from short-term, highly visible, politically motivated and sometimes counter-productive policy decisions, towards collaborative structural policy decisions.

Sources

World Economic Forum. (2019). David Attenborough: „The Garden of Eden is no More”. Read his Davos Speech in Full. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/david-attenborough-transcript-from-crystal-award-speech

Sterner, T., Barbier, E.B., Bateman, I., et.al. (2019). Policy Design for the Anthropocene.  Nature Sustainability, 2(1), 14. DOI 10.1038/s41893-018-0194-x