The Belmont Forum is excited to announce the newly funded projects through two of our collaborative research actions (CRAs). These 12 multilateral, transdisciplinary, collaborative  projects seek to understand challenges and find solutions associated with global environmental change. We are excited to see what these teams create in the coming years!

Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production CRAs

Current patterns of global development based on people’s continuous extraction and exploitation of natural resources are not sustainable, and a societal transition to systems of sustainable consumption and production (SSCP) is urgently needed. International teams of researchers take new transdisciplinary approaches to address sustainable consumption and production as a socio-technical system, rather than focusing on singular, micro-political issues. The projects are looking towards better informed government and industry policies and more sustainable, resilient, and just systems of consumption and production.

CRA Sponsored by: Ministry of Science & Technology (Chinese Taipei), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), Japan Science & Technology Agency, Research Council of Norway, Formas (Swedish Research Council for the Environment, Agricultural Sciences & Spatial Planning), Program Management Unit for Human Resources & Institutional Development, Research & Innovation (Thailand), The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Türkiye, National Science Foundation (USA)

Below are brief descriptions of the funded projects.

• AquaponicsOpti: Aquaponics optimization in a local climatic, economic and cultural context: maximizing the benefits of a circular bioeconomy for food production

AquaponicsOpti will contribute to the optimization of aquaponics food production systems (AP) and work with stakeholders to adapt the systems to different climate, technology levels, cultural contexts and other challenges of different countries. Lead PI: Alyssa Joyce, Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden

• DISCo: Digital infrastructures for sustainable consumption: Redirecting, reorganizing, reducing and reimaging consumption

DISCo aims to produce knowledge on how consumption can move in a more sustainable direction by applying digital technologies to inform and assist consumers to make better decisions and change consumers’ behavior toward sustainable consumption. Lead PI: Arne Dulsrud, OsloMet, Norway

• Circularity3: Conceptualizing, implementing and measuring the Circular Economy from the micro to the macro level 

Circularity3 will conduct comparative case studies on circular economies in different countries, on different levels, and with different application cases. Then, collaborate with stakeholders to develop recommendations for a successful implementation of environmentally beneficial circular economy measures. Lead PI: Antonia Loibl, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Germany

• SuperSustain: The role of supermarkets as key agents in systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production

SuperSustain aims to understand supermarkets, one of the most powerful actors for sustainable consumption and production, as part of complex socio-technical systems and develop solutions to improve supermarkets’ sustainability behavior. Lead PI: Tilman Altenburg, German Institute of Development and Sustainability, Germany

• Co-SFSC: Co-Creating Sustainable Transformations of Food Supply Chains through Cooperative Business Models and Governance

Co-SFSC will collaborate with local groups of diverse stakeholders on how to innovate, convert, and strengthen food supply chains in different socio-cultural-political contexts, to learn how food supply chains can be successfully transformed towards sustainability. Lead PI: Oliver Parodi, Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis – Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Germany

BEDROCK: Building an evidence-base for deforestation-free landscapes: supporting equitable outcomes in and beyond commodity supply-chains

BEDROCK will co-create a robust analytical framework for assessing the effectiveness and equity of policies to halt commodity-driven deforestation. Then, evaluate existing supply-chains initiatives for key commodities and countries, providing an informed portfolio of policy options for promoting deforestation-free commodity landscapes. Lead PI: Martin Persson, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

• JUST GROW: Co-designing justice-centric indicators and governance principles to intensify urban agriculture sustainably and equitably

JUST GROW aims to improve sustainable urban agricultural intensification (UAI) by helping diverse city regions holistically design justice and equity into food system policy and governance structures. Lead PI: Patrick Baur, University of Rhode Island, USA

Integrated Approaches to Human Migration/Mobility in an Era of Rapid Global Change CRA

Climate-related events, both slow and rapid onset, are linked in the way in which humans migrate and where they ultimately live. Environmental change, natural disasters, and modern forms of conflict have played a role in how the population is distributed on our planet throughout history. While migration is not a new phenomenon, the critical moment at which we stand with climate change means that migration is likely to become a more prominent challenge in the world, with wide-reaching repercussions. We need to accurately characterize migration and mobility and its intersection with Global Change.

CRA Sponsored by: Austrian Science Fund, São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), National Research Agency (France), Research Council of Norway, National Research Foundation (South Africa), Swedish Research Council, Formas (Swedish Research Council for the Environment, Agricultural Sciences & Spatial Planning), Trinidad and Tobago Research and Development Impact Fund, The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye, National Science Foundation (USA), Future Earth, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

Below are brief descriptions of the funded projects.

• PHOENIX: Human Mobility, Global Challenges and Resilience in an Age of Social Stress 

PHOENIX links various drivers of global change (climate, demographic shifts, changing consumption patterns, energy and land-use, changes in food systems and mental health) to (im)mobility, modeling these interactions remains novel and will be an important contribution, especially given that the proposed work spans nine countries & case studies. By identifying tipping points and migration hotspots the team will be able to make translatable policy recommendations. Lead PI: Susan Beth Rottmann, Ozyegin University, Turkey

• CLIMB: Climate-Induced Migration in Africa and Beyond: Big Data and Predictive Analytics

CLIMB aims “to develop a machine model of climate- induced migration that is theoretically informed, tractable, explainable, and has a relatively high degree of predictive power” by combining high resolution data (e.g. from social media and mobile phones) with remotely sensed data, thereby maximizing their spatiotemporal resolution of their data set. Their innovative dataset and “bottom up” approach provides a more granular picture of within-country migration and should yield useful policy relevant insights. Lead PI: Haodong Qi, Malmö University, Sweden

• ITHACA: ImmobiliTy in a cHAnging ClimAte 

ITHACA aims to understand how (im)mobility impacts mechanisms of adaptation to climate change. The proposed research engages an international and interdisciplinary team that has already worked together and spans a wide geographic area. The focus on immobility itself, makes the proposed research innovative and novel; opening up new areas of research in promising ways. Lead PI: Emily Boyd, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Science, Sweden

• CHAIN: Climate Hazards and Migration in Madagascar: Towards an Integrated Monitoring and Modeling for Mitigation and Adaptation 

CHAIN, focused on a case study in Madagascar, includes agent-based and multi-hazard modeling to fill gaps in our understanding around climate driven migration. The investigators will use multiple approaches to build a cohesive data set (surveys, remote sensing, physical modeling) to address gaps in the literature. By including “knowledge-brokering” workshops the team plans on including stakeholder knowledge throughout the project, demonstrating a commitment to the co-production of knowledge. Lead PI: Abu Hatab, Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden

• Climate Change Migration Network: International migration, climate change and network effects: A worldwide study

The Climate Change Migration Network consists of an international team of geospatial, economic, and cognitive science experts that seek to identify the driving factors for migration flows (including sociopolitical, economic, and environmental factors). By modeling these relationships the team will be able to examine the impacts of migration in both the host and destination countries (as well as neighboring regions), allowing them to also model the effects of crises or other large events (e.g. natural disasters and war) on migration flows. Lead PI: Paula Margaretic, University Adolfo Ibañez, Chile