Social innovation to support climate protection: polycentricity in action
8. 6. 2016 | 1280 visits
On 2 and 3 June 2016 the Department of Strategic Environmental Analysis at the Slovak Academy of Sciencesʼ Institute of Forest Ecology, together with the SPECTRA Centre of Excellence (CE) and the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (SUT) under Prof. Tatiana Kluvánková, hosted an international workshop on the COST-funded Innovations in Climate Governance (INOGOV) project, which was attended by 60 participants.
Polycentricity in Action was the central theme of the workshop. Polycentric decision-making is the effective involvement of actors in public life in making decisions (smart community) and is one of the priorities of the Slovak Republic in terms of its upcoming EU Presidency. At the INOGOV workshop polycentric decision-making was presented as an innovative tool to fulfil a commitment made at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and stop an increase in global temperature by 2 degrees Celsius. Taking responsibility for climate change requires reaching the stage of searching for mechanisms to change societyʼs behaviour.
"Social innovations are a commitment to secure the effective implementation of technological innovations", said Prof. Robert Redhammer, SUT Rector, in his introductory speech at the workshop. Prof. Marco Janssen from the Center for Behavior, Institutions and the Environment at Arizona State University explained polycentric decision-making to the attendees as part of the work of Prof. Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012), Nobel Laureate in 2009 and founder of the Center.
Part of the workshop was a demonstration of behavioural experiments by partnership workplaces the Ostrom Lab at Arizona State University and the VEEL Experimental Social Sciences Laboratory at the SPECTRA CE. The experiments showed the potential of social innovation in research into global decision-making and strategic risk management of climate change, health protection and environmental security, and proceed from joint research. The INOGOV Workshop was supported by the Earth System Governance international research programme, which is part of Future Earth.
Tatiana Kluvánková
Polycentricity in Action was the central theme of the workshop. Polycentric decision-making is the effective involvement of actors in public life in making decisions (smart community) and is one of the priorities of the Slovak Republic in terms of its upcoming EU Presidency. At the INOGOV workshop polycentric decision-making was presented as an innovative tool to fulfil a commitment made at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and stop an increase in global temperature by 2 degrees Celsius. Taking responsibility for climate change requires reaching the stage of searching for mechanisms to change societyʼs behaviour.
"Social innovations are a commitment to secure the effective implementation of technological innovations", said Prof. Robert Redhammer, SUT Rector, in his introductory speech at the workshop. Prof. Marco Janssen from the Center for Behavior, Institutions and the Environment at Arizona State University explained polycentric decision-making to the attendees as part of the work of Prof. Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012), Nobel Laureate in 2009 and founder of the Center.
Part of the workshop was a demonstration of behavioural experiments by partnership workplaces the Ostrom Lab at Arizona State University and the VEEL Experimental Social Sciences Laboratory at the SPECTRA CE. The experiments showed the potential of social innovation in research into global decision-making and strategic risk management of climate change, health protection and environmental security, and proceed from joint research. The INOGOV Workshop was supported by the Earth System Governance international research programme, which is part of Future Earth.
Tatiana Kluvánková