Publications

Maraja Riechers, Tamara Schaal‐Lagodzinski, Laura Pereira, Jacqueline Loos, Joern Fischer. 2025. ‘Chains of leverage’ as way to identify and foster transformative potential. People and Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70144

We propose the framework of ‘chains of leverage’. It is an operationalisation to understand and analyse the transformative potential of social-ecological systems and identify leverage points for sustainability transformations through a concrete four-step approach. Step 1 : Analysing the social-ecological system regarding its core elements across system depth. Elements in a system can be situated at different system depths (f...

Laura M. Pereira, Sally Archibald, Odirilwe Selomane, Kim Zoeller, Mohammed Armani, James Kairo, Barney Kgope, Duncan M. Kimuyu, Blandina R. Lugendo, Denise Nicolau, Mike I. Olendo, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Lynne J. Shannon, U. Rashid Sumaila. 2025. Six principles to get natural climate solutions right in Africa. Nature Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01652-3

Laura M. Pereira, Steven R. Smith, Lauren Gifford, Peter Newell, Sebastian Villasante, Therezah Achieng, Azucena Castro, Sara M. Constantino, Tom Powell, Ashish Ghadiali, Ben Smith, Coleen Vogel, Caroline Zimm. 2025. Beyond tipping points: risks, equity, and the ethics of intervention. Earth System Dynamics. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1267-2025

Earth system tipping points pose existential threats to current and future generations, both human and non-human, with those least responsible for causing them facing the greatest risks. “Positive” social tipping points (that we shorten to positive tipping points, or PTPs) are often deliberate interventions into social systems with the aim of rapidly mitigating the risks of Earth system tipping. However, the desire to interven...

Erle C. Ellis, Yadvinder Malhi, Hannah Ritchie, Jasper Montana, Sandra Díaz, David Obura, Susan Clayton, Melissa Leach, Laura Pereira, Emma Marris, Michael Muthukrishna, Bojie Fu, Peter Frankopan, Molly K. Grace, Samira Barzin, Krushil Watene, Nicholas Depsky, Josefin Pasanen, Pedro Conceição. 2025. An aspirational approach to planetary futures. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09080-1

Prevailing frameworks to address planetary environmental challenges tend to focus on setting goals, targets, or boundaries to limit human harm to ecosystems or species. Here we propose an aspirational approach aimed at empowering people to shape a better future for all of life on Earth. We do this by building on the human development approach and its supporting metrics, especially the Human Development Index (HDI), a broadly i...

Gerald Singh, Nancy Karigitu, Leopoldo Gerhardinger, Frank Mirobo, Laura Pereira, Samiya Selim, Anna Zivian, Heloise Jean. 2025. Fostering inclusion and equity in ocean sustainability through knowledge co-construction. One Ocean Science Congress. https://doi.org/10.5194/oos2025-432

Ocean science plays a critical role in decision-making processes with distributional effects, which inherently carry equity implications. At the same time, concerns about equity shape how ocean science is conducted, influencing which scientific questions are prioritized. Expanding participation in setting research agendas through inclusive processes can significantly alter the trajectory of ocean science. Recent initiatives pr...

Victoria Reyes-García, Sebastian Villasante, Karina Benessaiah, Ram Pandit, Arun Agrawal, Joachim Claudet, Lucas A. Garibaldi, Mulako Kabisa, Laura Pereira, Yves Zinngrebe. 2025. The costs of subsidies and externalities of economic activities driving nature decline. Ambio. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-025-02147-3

Economic sectors that drive nature decline are heavily subsidized and produce large environmental externalities. Calls are increasing to reform or eliminate subsidies and internalize the environmental costs of these sectors. We compile data on subsidies and externalities across six sectors driving biodiversity loss—agriculture, fossil fuels, forestry, infrastructure, fisheries and aquaculture, and mining. The most updated esti...

Paula Andrea Sánchez-García, Barbara Schröter, Torsten Krause, Andrew Sean Merrie, Laura Pereira, Jonas Østergaard Nielsen, Lasse Loft. 2025. A decolonial and participatory research approach to envision equitable transformations toward sustainability in the Amazon. Futures. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103638

How people relate to and see themselves as part of nature relations differs worldwide and often depends on culture and worldviews. Nonetheless, challenging the dominant Euro-Western epistemic domination is needed to attain more equitable and sustainable future visions. This change entails fostering decolonial mediation between different knowledge systems in a context of intersectional difference. The collective struggles of Bl...

Silvana Juri, Andrea Marais-Potgieter, Therezah Achieng, Ignacio Gianelli, Mulako Kabisa, Batlhalifi Nkgothoe, Joyce Ojino, Sènankpon Tcheton, Liam Carpenter-Urquhart, Laura M Pereira. 2025. Transforming towards what? A review of futures-thinking applied in the quest for navigating sustainability transformations. Environmental Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adcbc4

There is a growing call for transformations to remain within safe and just Earth system boundaries. Coherent visions of desired futures can help motivate and orient such transformations towards Sustainability, but the nature of these transformed futures is not well understood. This gap has inspired a growing body of research on 'preferable' or 'desirable' futures, which can help to unpack what endpoints such transformations to...

HyeJin Kim, Garry Peterson, Hyeonjeong Kim, Sanha Kim, Laura Pereira, Youngcheol Cho, SoEun Ahn, Paula A. Harrison, Junsoo Kim, Kyung Ah Koo, Lisay Yeonjung Gwon, Jaegyun Im, Gwanwoo Jin, Bohun Kang, Vitnia Lee, Seul-gi Lee, Chunhwa Park, Jiyeon Park, Soojin Park, Miyoung Yeo, Yea-Yl Yoon, Yukyong Jung Yun Cho, Mijung Im, Sook-Kyung Shim, Jae Chun Choe. 2024. Visioning ecologically diverse and harmonious futures of Korea in Good Anthropocene. SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/g3zb4

Korea's rapid economic development has positioned it as a key player in Asia's economy and globally, albeit with significant environmental and societal consequences. The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), serving as a buffer between North and South Korea, holds immense historical, cultural, and ecological value and conservation and transformation potential. This study presents visioning-based exploration of ecologically diverse and pea...

Amanda Jonsson, L. Jamila Haider, Laura Pereira, Alexander Fremier, Carl Folke, Maria Tengö, Line J. Gordon. 2024. Nurturing gastronomic landscapes for biosphere stewardship. Global Food Security. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100789

As a result of years of increased rationalization and consolidation of food systems, the knowledge and skills of many actors in food value chains, especially those linked to smaller-scale traditional and artisanal production, processing, and cooking, have rapidly been eroded. Despite the resilience that such knowledge and skills can offer. In this paper, we use the lens of gastronomy to highlight how culinary craftsmanship and...