Reimagining the Human-Environment Relationship: A Stockholm+50 Associated Event

Stockholm+50 is a commemoration and a time for reflection on the interconnectedness of humans and the environment. UNU-CPR and the UN Environment Programme, supported by IDRC, have led a collaborative effort to capture, interrogate, and elevate alternative paradigms of the human/nature relationship, by inviting a diverse community of thinkers and voices to supply evidence and shape viewpoints in this important global conversation.

The sources of alternative paradigms are both extraordinarily diverse and still unfamiliar to most. Widely differing religious practices offer a range of environmental ethics that could underpin a shift in how the human-nature relationship is conceptualized. Forms of traditional ecological knowledge and indigenous knowledge propose sophisticated and deeply symbiotic frameworks that can also broaden understandings through key ideas such as reciprocity and intergenerational fairness. Paradigm shifts may also come from innovations in more traditional domains. Legal scholars and someStates are exploring how the environment and the interests of future generations might be given a legal personality, alongside contemporary humans. Biology and ecosystems research offer non-anthropocentric models for sustainable coexistence, while astrophysics can shift the starting point for many of these conversations, moving beyond the human-environment binary as we identify potentially infinite forms of life.

At a 2 June Stockholm+50 Associated Event, a distinguished panel of experts reflected on ten academic contributions developed in support of Stockholm+50, linking the key ideas advanced by the authors with the global policy challenges and processes that feature prominently on global environmental agendas. The project authors offered responses and reflections, elaborating their proposals and the connections drawn to policy.

The background papers are now available here. Read more about the project on the Stockholm+50 website.

A recording of this event can be accessed here.

This project is supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), however, the views expressed do not necessarily represent IDRC or its Board of Governors.