According to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, ‘pathways to sustainability will require shifts from broad values of individualism and economic profit to sustainability-aligned values of collectivism, care, and equality.’ These lines direct humanity towards changing mindsets and cultures to resolve environmental issues. It is also here that the concept of systems thinking comes into play.
What is systems thinking?
In his book The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge, an American systems scientist, explains that systems thinking is a framework that helps view interrelations and not just things. It helps to understand the feedback loops, connections, and emergent properties that arise from various elements of nature. Systems thinking recognises that change happening in a particular part of the system also impacts its other parts. It assists in developing non-segregated and inclusive solutions for better environmental management.
Source: ecoHQ
For instance, systems thinking would focus on the interactions among the ecosystem’s components to determine its collective health and resilience instead of just managing the singular habitats or species.
How can systems thinking work for climate solutions?
Integrate local wisdom into the system implementation
Several tools related to systems thinking have made it possible to apply systems thinking in real-life practice. Loop diagrams, systems mapping, systems dynamic modelling, participatory group modelling, and feedback loops are a few of them. The tools mentioned can be shared with grassroots NGOs and local people with vast traditional knowledge.
Take the example of systems mapping, which can help map the food systems of the traditional Khasi community of Meghalaya and understand their relationships to act together in a complex system, drawing extraordinary findings and reaching policy decisions towards climate resilience.
Call for a Doughnut Economy
In the words of the Chief Environmental Economist of the United Nations Environment Programme, Mr Pushpam Kumar, ‘Climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss show us that a narrow focus on conventional economic growth cannot give us the quality of life for present and future generations.’
A nation’s most evident form of economic progress is its gross domestic product (GDP). It is equally valid that a sole focus on economic investments in fossil fuels has caused much environmental pollution. Then how do we save the environment and humanity at the same time? The answer is the Doughnut Economy concept given by Kate Raworth.
The concept seeks to display the social and planetary boundaries as a compass of human advancement. The 21st century is full of challenges to meeting human needs within the limits of the earth’s supplies. It is an attempt to ensure that nobody experiences a shortage of food, housing, healthcare services, etc., and at the same time, we don’t pressurise the earth’s resources, such as the water, air, soil, climate, and ozone layer. In short, the Doughnut Economic Model is a call for sustainable development.
Regen Melbourne is setting a fantastic example of the doughnut economic model. By 2030, the polluted Yarra River in Australia will be fit for swimming. Various work channels have been established, including river health, business, legal framework, capital, and swimming activation.
Source: Doughnut (economic model). Wikipedia
Create collaborative surroundings
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 is related to climate action and an essential part of the 2030 Agenda. Systems thinking can be vital to developing stakeholder collaborations for rapidly implementing the SDGs. And how does systems thinking help with this?
The systems framework paves a path for stakeholders and policymakers to shift their interest from linear policy decisions to integrated planning circles. Furthermore, stakeholder engagement opens the door for countable perceptions, knowledge exchanges, trust building, and positive commitment.
While stakeholder engagement comes later, it is equally important to identify them at first. Systems thinking also helps in stakeholder identification through stakeholder mapping, prototypes for exploring the system, system diagrams, etc.
Source: UN ESCAP
For issues like air pollution, businesses can deploy systems thinking to recognise different expert stakeholders and cooperate with them to devise solutions for environmental problems.
Conclusion
Climate change is a huge issue. It affects the environment, society, and economy in multiple ways. We require familiar people, communities, stakeholders, and organisations to integrate them into a resilient web against climate change. The web must be spun through the systems thinking tools to save society and the environment. A broader systems thinking-based perspective will help.
Credits
The article is authored by Sonali Sharma, a writer and researcher with a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Panjab University, Chandigarh. As a writer she has written for Down To Earth and green businesses; as a researcher she works on rural food security.
References
- Acaroglu, L. (2024, March 28). Tools for Systems Thinkers: The 6 Fundamental Concepts of Systems Thinking. Medium. https://medium.com/disruptive-design/tools-for-systems-thinkers-the-6-fundamental-concepts-of-systems-thinking-379cdac3dc6a
- Harnessing indigenous wisdom for climate resilience: Insights from Indian communities | Climate Connection. (n.d.). https://climateconnection.org.in/updates/harnessing-indigenous-wisdom-climate-resilience-insights-indian-communities
- Pfarr, B. B., NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Lamb, C. T., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, So, M. M., NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Rhodes, D. H., & Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (n.d.). Collaborative Systems Thinking: A response to the problems faced by Systems Engineering’s “middle tier” [Journal-article]. https://web.mst.edu/lib-circ/files/Special%20Collections/INCOSE/Collaborative%20Systems%20ThinkingCollaborative%20Systems%20Thinking.pdf
- United Nations Environment Programme. (n.d.). Beyond GDP: making nature count in the shift to sustainability. UNEP. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/beyond-gdp-making-nature-count-shift-sus
- Wikipedia contributors. (2024e, June 1). Doughnut (economic model). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_(economic_model)