Governments, organizations and individuals require
a long-term outlook and a comprehensive approach
to build resilience to the adverse effects of climate
change. In practice, this raises numerous questions:
how can we think long term without envisioning the
challenges and opportunities associated with the
fourth industrial revolution, including the evolution
of frontier technologies and their ethical, social,
political, and environmental implications? What
will be the possible evolution of emerging social
trends powered by a sustainability ethos, such
as local and organic production and consumption
practices, or the growing recognition of indigenous
knowledge systems and practices? Can we merge
climate change impacts scenarios with various
scenarios of socially and economically transformed
versions of today’s world so as to inform climate
change adaptation plans? Can we go beyond
the extrapolation of current trends so as to best
mitigate and/or preempt risks that could increase
the vulnerability of various population groups to
climate change? Can we consider that frontier
technologies and emerging social trends will play a
major part in enhancing climate-resilience, if this is
what society values, aims for, and undertakes?
The Resilience Frontiers brainstorming
conference utilized strategic foresight methods,
and mobilized innovative collective intelligence
processes to bring answers to those questions.
Imagining the multiplicity of possible future
scenarios opened up a space to co-create visions
of a desirable climate-resilient future, as well
as discuss the underlying changes in values,
institutions and complex support systems.
Numerous risks that we need to address today
could also be reduced by a change in trajectory
towards a world economic system that would be
regenerative by design instead of degenerative
by default. Co-creating engaging visions of the
future is thus critical to both designing ambitious,
transformative and policy-relevant pathways
towards climate-resilience, and to catalyzing action
to foster their emergence.
1.
INTRODUCING
RESILIENCE
FRONTIERS
The purpose
a.