Social Science and Sustainability

Sustainability policies shape the ways that society and the economy interact with the environment, natural resources, and ecosystems, and they address issues such as water, energy and food security, and climate change. These policies are complex and are, at times, obscured by contestation, uncertainty, and sometimes ignorance. Ultimately, sustainability problems are social problems and they need to be addressed through social and policy change.

Social Science and Sustainability draws on the wide-ranging experience of CSIRO’s social scientists in the sustainability policy domain. These researchers have extensive experience in addressing complex issues of society-nature relationships, usually in interdisciplinary collaboration with natural scientists. This book describes some of the evidence-based concepts, frameworks, and methodologies they have developed, which may guide a transition to sustainability.