The World Sustainability Conference Paper Series is a platform where faculty and graduate students are given the opportunity to share unpublished, pre-publication, and conference drafts of research, reports, commentaries and other findings with other researchers and the general public who have an interest in sustainability issues related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

From the Editorial Desk: 

The World Sustainability Conference 2021, WSC, gathered several renowned sustainability experts and academics working to devise actionable solutions to sustainability challenges. This forum focused on the theme: Repositioning and Transitioning Global Sustainability Beyond COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to the world that ‘What happens over there will impact us here’ now that the most serious environmental threats are now international in scope. We must come together as an international community to analyze humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Markets, politics, and lifestyles are privileged above, and too often set in opposition to natural systems that make up the environment in which we live and rely on for sustenance and other necessities. Yet, modern lifestyles, market forces, and political calculations sidestep the problems caused by pollution, resource extraction and development and the destabilization of natural ecosystems.  

The COVID-19 pandemic is a glaring example of the consequences of human indifference toward, and continued dominance over the natural environment. Careless disregard for nature and the gifts it provides human society created the context in which the virus was able to jump from the animal kingdom to human hosts. There are many more examples in which the relationship between humanity and nature has churned out of balance. 

Imbalance, inequity, and lack of access characterize many facets of human society. Alleviating these challenges is a core objective of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Green Institute convened the World Sustainability Day conference to bring thought leaders together to share their ideas around solutions to eradicate extreme poverty, foster cooperation among stakeholders, and ensure the sustainability of the planet. 

These working papers were presented by their authors at the 2021 WSC. We share them with our community in their draft form so that these positive ideas may spread and influence other thought leaders so that we may contribute to the rebalancing between human society and our natural world.

All WSC’s Papers are available via the links below. Copyright of materials in this community reside solely with the author.