Avec l'initiative pour la recherche sur le développement durable, la SCNAT, avec ses institutions sœurs, promeut la science sur le développement durable et l’Agenda 2030. Elle accorde une attention particulière au traitement conjoint des questions socialement prioritaires dans les consortiums globaux.en plus

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Des valeurs, visions et voies communes pour le développement durable

Shared Values, Visions, and Pathways for Sustainability - Priority themes sustainability research
Image : Hansjakob Fehr

S'appuyant sur six thèmes prioritaires, le "Livre blanc sur la recherche en développement durable" présente les besoins les plus urgents de la Suisse en matière de recherche afin d'atteindre les objectifs de développement durable de l'ONU.

Le «développement durable», loin d’être un concept objectivement défini, est sous-tendu par des hypothèses, des éléments discursifs, des valeurs et des paradigmes, dont beaucoup sont implicites et même contradictoires. Il faut les identifier et en débattre afin de développer une vision commune d’un avenir durable ainsi que la manière de la réaliser. La communauté scientifique peut soutenir ce processus sociétal grâce à une recherche collaborative et inclusive.

Key unresolved questions

When it comes to values there is usually broad agreement within stable societies such as Switzerland. However,
these societal values are typically not explicit, may not be held by everyone, and may not even be consistent.
It is necessary to clarify these value systems, especially because the discourse on ‘sustainability’ often involves competing values that are difficult to reconcile.
What remains to be studied:
– How are values (re)produced and how can they be justified against the background of social conditions? What
processes and institutions enable some values to take
precedence over others, especially in terms of material resources and power relations?
– Who has the power and who – from an ethical perspective – should have the power to define what values are at stake? How might changes undermine values of other groups? What does this reveal about inequalities?
– How can diverse values be brought together, including
concerns for societal well-being, human health, environmental and economic imperatives, etc.?
– Switzerland has long-standing experience with the protection of natural resources, but its biodiversity is declining – including the loss of critical pollination capacity. In certain areas, our drinking water is polluted with
pesticides, and glaciers are melting at a dramatic pace.
How can our social and economic values and norms be made to include much stronger stewardship of natural resources? How can values of human health and well-being be made more inclusive of ecological considerations?

When it comes to visions, unresolved questions remain about how visions emerge through societal processes, and how the development of coherent sustainability visions can be stimulated. The aim of this research should be to learn from bottom-up processes, so that visions of sustainabil-
ity can emerge collectively rather than being imposed by powerful actors.


What remains to be understood is:
– What are societal visions, and what role do these visions play, especially regarding intergenerational responsibilities? Do visions actually have a deeper meaning for people or are they merely ‘constructed’ as part of planning processes or historical narratives?
– What are compelling visions of ‘the good life’, what do they mean for different social groups, and how could related imaginaries be interpreted in practice?

- How can visions be distinguished from the means that intrinsically depend on specific socio-cultural settings and political contexts?
– How can sustainability visions be conceptualized in relation to environmental resources? How can theories of human needs, or systems of provision for material/energy resources, contribute to a sustainable well-being paradigm? What interdisciplinary approaches would be useful in developing such concepts?
– What social and political processes are necessary to develop sustainability visions for Switzerland in its global
context – acknowledging interrelations and interde -
pendencies – and how can science contribute to such
dynamics?

When it comes to pathways, it is important to translate values and visions into practical actions that diverse groups can relate to in their everyday lives. Switzerland’s direct-democracy system offers one important mechanism for evolving pathways, but other types of participatory engagement are also possible and deserve to be investigated. Examples include many bottom-up institutions for
protecting the local environment and managing resources held in common.


What remains to be uncovered is:
– What are the workings of social change processes in relation to complexity? What is the role of digitalization
in these processes? How can systems change be under-
stood and supported?
– What factors were responsible for major societal changes in the past, including both gradual and disruptive changes, and what factors produced stability (i.e. resist-
ance to change)? To what extent are apparent transformations the cumulative effect of many small changes?
– How are changes proposed in our society and in what
way are different measures taken? How can social
change towards ‘sustainability’ be further supported, accelerated, and amplified?
– How can change be understood at different scales and with multiple actors, from policymakers to civil society and the private sector? How can underprivileged groups be included more effectively?
– How can vehicles such as citizen-led and multi-stake -
holder panels help to support efforts towards sustainable pathways, e.g. by accompanying the elaboration of the research agenda presented here – from the early stages of design, through implementation and assess -
ment?
– How can the normative dilemmas of socio-economic
pressure and the destruction of ecosystems be reconciled, considering the stakes of diverse actors? How can
the need for integrated knowledge and societal consensus be met?

Lire le livre blanc sur la recherche en développement durable (Priority Themes for Swiss Sustainability Research):

Podcast sur les visions d'avenir durables - à quoi pourrait ressembler notre vie en 2035 (Des valeurs, visions et voies communes pour le développement durable)

Comment pouvons-nous vivre de manière plus durable sans renoncer massivement au confort et aux voyages? Comment notre vie peut-elle avoir moins d’impact sur le climat ? Pouvons-nous trouver un nouveau consensus pour répondre aux besoins légitimes de tous les êtres humains tout en protégeant le climat et notre environnement ? La communauté scientifique peut soutenir ce processus sociétal par une recherche collaborative et inclusive. L'Institut de recherche sociale de Genève mène des recherches sur la manière dont la vie quotidienne, l'utilisation de l'énergie et notre bien-être pourraient se présenter à l'avenir. À l'aide de Personas, l'équipe de recherche dirigée par le professeur Marlyne Sahakian a créé des exemples de vie qui représentent une vie ayant moins d’impact sur le climat en 2035.

Orlane Moynat est doctorante à l'Université de Genève et assistante de recherche et d'enseignement. Elle travaille en collaboration avec Antonietta Di Giulio, qui est chercheuse à Bâle pour l'interdisciplinarité et la transdisciplinarité et répond aux questions sur la durabilité. Toutes deux partagent le même credo : "Se priver de voyager à long terme, par exemple, ne peut pas être la solution. Nous devons créer des alternatives qui offrent un compromis pour nous les consommateurs, et qui nous permettent de profiter autant de nos déplacements que de nos voyages".

Dans cet reportage audio, Antonietta di Giulio vous explique pourquoi il est si important de parler de "restriction" plutôt que de "renoncement" en matière de durabilité et pourquoi nous ne devrions rien nous imposer ni même nous évaluer.

Cette vidéo a été réalisée par des étudiants de la filière Multimedia Production du module Corporate Communications de la Haute école spécialisée bernoise. Les projets multimédias ont été réalisés dans le cadre d'une collaboration entre le WWF Suisse et les trois classes de Multimedia Production des hautes écoles spécialisées des Grisons et de Berne.

Priority theme: Shared Values, Visions, and Pathways for Sustainability (German / French)