Swedigarch Inspirational Lecture #5 with Dr. Sjoerd Kluiving, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam: TERRANOVA and a Multi- to Interdisciplinary Theory of the Anthropocene

Warmly Welcome to our fifth inspirational lecture with Dr Sjoerd Kluiving, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The lecture will be delivered on Zoom [https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/67940613049]

TERRANOVA: To inform the urgency of current and future landscape management, and towards a Multi- to Interdisciplinary Theory of the Anthropocene – Review of overarching disciplines and research addressing planetary boundaries and social and humanitarian crises

In this presentation the results of TerraNova (A) will be presented, discussing ow landscape management can contribute to the needed transition to a low carbon society. Second the lecture discusses the search for an Anthropocene theory (B) and what is needed in a wholistic sense in three broad transitions and what is needed for that. In conclusion the two parts will be combined in order to strive for a healthier future world in sustainability.

A: The three main research objectives that contributed to the overall aim of the ITN TerraNova are: 1: Reconstruct the deep history of Europe’s cultural landscapes and corresponding changes in coupled human-nature interactions within subsequent human energy regimes and their transitions. 2: Rethink the outcomes of human environmental interactions over the past three energy regimes on the present-day landscape in Europe, in order to inform future energy transitions from a long-term environmental and social perspective. 3: Design landscape management strategies, i) provide scientific guidance on threats and opportunities for natural and cultural values of Europe’s landscapes, ii) define criteria for assisted restoration of ecosystems of former (abandoned) agricultural areas, and iii) to generate future scenarios for cultural landscape change, with integrated landscape, cultural heritage and biodiversity models, to inform current planning initiatives, e.g. for the transition to a low-carbon society.

B: The Anthropocene is the time in which humanity has a greater influence and impact on our planet than all natural forces combined. The dominant influence of human forces on our planet’s land, water and atmosphere has already overstepped biophysical planetary boundaries and is threatening to increase and worsen its conditions if politics, society and economy are not adjusting their forces. The problem we face in the Anthropocene can be summarised in the most recent international reports and publications spanning from the IPCC, IPBES, UNESCO, ENECE and United Nations. Three ‘broad and deep transitions’ needed to address this huge societal problem are the energy transition, current use of space, and the total greenhouse emissions of the food system. How can disciplines become overarching in breaking loose big societal problems of climate change, biodiversity loss, soil and water contamination, social unrest, pandemics and inequality?

We are discerning two different types of transformations: 1. The three ‘broad and deep transitions’, and 2. A call for transformation that is supported by a multi- to inter- to transdisciplinary theory of the Anthropocene. The distinction between the two types of transformations is between practice and theory: Is the theoretical transformation (2) needed to support the practical transformation (1)? How can disciplines become overarching and supporting to each other? How can results of overarching and supporting disciplines contribute to potential solutions?

The current Anthropocene socio-ecological system is (or resembles) a runaway super-organism, the question being to what extent it can still be tamed. The driving force of this super-organism seems to be a dysfunctional, potentially self-destructive capitalist/extractivist, infinite growth, ideology of survival of the fittest. To what extent might this evolving super-organism still be capable of self-reflection and self-direction, via (geopolitical) cultural evolution and self-domestication, mindfully directed? Towards a multi- to inter- to transdisciplinary Anthropocene theory is a call for transformation that needs incremental steps and which needs to be acknowledged by all academic, governmental, corporal and societal actors.