Global scientists call for ‘systems reset’ to redefine sustainable development
A new international study calls for a fundamental reset in how humanity understands and pursues sustainable development.
The paper argues that current sustainability frameworks – built on a three-pillar model separating nature, society and economy – have not been fit for purpose in a world facing accelerating climate change, biodiversity loss and inequalities.
The authors propose a new systems model that, bottom-up, positions nature as the foundation, supporting economies as the next level, which deliver benefits to the third level, society.
From a top-down perspective, societal values and governance systems determine how people organise their economies, and therefore how these affect nature, on which they are dependent.
This shift from isolated pillars to integrated layers, incorporating bottom-up and top-down perspectives, supports rebalancing global development within planetary limits and ensuring equitable outcomes for all.
“We need to move beyond the idea that nature, economy, and society are separate domains,” said lead author Dr David Obura, Director of CORDIO East Africa, and currently the Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
“Our model sees them as inter-connected layers of one integrated system. With it, any company, community or country can track the flow of benefits from nature through economic sectors to people, and the ways in which our choices impact on nature.”
New model
Since its introduction, the concept of sustainable development has guided global efforts to balance human well-being, economic growth and environmental protection.
Yet, after nearly four decades, evidence shows that the separation of nature, economy and society has produced fragmented, competing priorities that often deepen the very crises sustainability aims to solve.
In their new model, the authors integrate decades of research and practice to describe sustainable development as a single, dynamic system.
The model posits that three types of capital – natural, economic and social – underpin sustainability and are linked through feedbacks that determine whether societies thrive or decline.
When one type of capital is over-developed or depleted, the system destabilises.
The systems model argues that when all types of capital are maintained in balance, resilience and long-term well-being and security become possible.
Professor Helen Roy, from the University of Exeter and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said: “Acknowledging the interdependences of ecological and social systems and our dependency on biodiversity and ecosystems will undoubtedly have far-reaching benefits for people and nature.”
Dr Jean-Marc Fromentin, Ifremer and Univ Montpellier, and co-chair of the IPBES Assessment on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species, said: “Natural capital is often undervalued or overlooked, even though billions of people directly or indirectly depend on nature, particularly through the use of wild species.”
The model reveals that today’s sustainability challenges are not just market failures, as often described, but result from deeper “values failures”.
That is, the failure to account for the values and choices made across all three domains.
Narrow economic worldviews, rooted in extraction, privatisation and short-term profit, have sidelined other essential values such as care, reciprocity and respect for nature and other people.
“Sustainable development requires more than addressing market failures; it necessitates recognising and integrating the diverse values held by different societal groups, ensuring that all voices are considered in shaping our collective future,” said Prof Mike Christie, Aberystwyth University and co-chair of the IPBES Values Assessment.
Systems reset
By clarifying the relationships between nature, economy and society, the model provides both a conceptual and a pragmatic upgrade to the current framing of sustainable development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), supporting discussions for a post-2030 global sustainability agenda framed around systems balance and diverse values.
The paper calls for a “systems reset” to reorient development – not only from the perspectives of governments, but also for businesses and the whole of society, towards balance between nature, economy and society.
Achieving this transformation requires moving beyond fragmented, growth-driven approaches that focus solely on economic outcomes, towards strategies that safeguard the integrity of all three capitals – natural, social and economic.
Prof Paula Harrison, from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and co-chair of the IPBES Nexus Assessment, said: “Sustainability cannot be achieved by treating nature, economy and society as separate silos. A systems approach reveals them as parts of a single, interdependent whole – one in which balance, not growth alone, is the foundation of a thriving future.”
To achieve this, the authors recommend four key shifts:
- Reframe sustainability around systems balance – recognising that all human activity is dependent on ecological stability.
- Embed plural values – bringing Indigenous, cultural and relational worldviews into mainstream sustainability policy and measurement.
- Adopt systems-based governance – designing policies that recognise inter-dependencies and account for feedbacks between social, economic and ecological processes.
- Redefine progress – moving beyond GDP growth to measures that reflect the health of each of the capitals, and flows between them, including ecological health, equity and long-term human well-being.
The study provides practical guidance for governments, businesses and civil society to realign their policies with systems thinking.
It offers a framework for integrating sustainability reporting and planning across sectors, emphasizing accountability for maintaining natural and social capital alongside economic progress.
The paper, published in Nature Communications Sustainability, is entitled: “A Systems Reset for Sustainable Development.”
