Andrea

Downing

PhD

Researcher

andrea.downing@su.se

+46 8-16 20 00 (university switchboard)

@AndreaSDowning

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Profile summary

  • Cross-scale interactions, telecouplings
  • Social-ecological system dynamics
  • Causal-Loop Diagrams
  • Value chain analyses
  • Transformations
  • Sustainable Development Goals

Andrea Downing co-leads the Stewardship and Transformative Futures theme and studies sustainable development dynamics across-scales

As a Stewardship and Transformative Futures theme co-lead, Downing focuses on agents, processes and aims of sustainability transformations. Downing’s research projects address social-ecological dynamics across scales and sectors, investigating how local initiatives contribute to global sustainable development, and how global processes shape local opportunities for sustainability. Her research aims to identify novel ways of understanding, and thus potentially resolving unsustainability lock-ins.

Downing has a background in ecology, she holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University (Netherlands), and carried out her Master’s studies at James Cook University in Australia. For her PhD research she investigated the different roles of fishing and eutrophication on Lake Victoria (Africa)’s ecosystem from a purely ecological perspective and from a social-ecological system’s view, using multiple different modeling approaches.

Current projects

Key publications

Downing A.S., Kumar M., Andersson A., Causevic A., Gustafsson Ö., Joshi N.U., Krishnamurty C. K. B., Scholtens B., Crona B. (In press) Unlocking the unsustainable rice-wheat system of Indian Punjab: Assessing alternatives to crop residue burning from a systems perspective. Ecological Economics.

Downing, A. S., G. Y. Wong, M. Dyer, A. P. Aguiar, O. Selomane, and A. Jimenez Aceituno. 2021. When the whole is less than the sum of all parts – Tracking global-level impacts of national sustainability initiatives. Global Environmental Change 69(June).

Downing, A. S., M. Chang, J. J. Kuiper, M. Campenni, T. Haÿhä, S. E. Cornell, U. Svedin, and W. M. Mooij. 2020. Learning from generations of sustainability concepts. Environmental Research Letters 15(8).

Downing, A. S., A. Bhowmik, D. Collste, S. Cornell, J. F. Donges, I. Fetzer, T. Häyhä, J. Hinton, S. J. Lade, and W. M. Mooij. 2019. Matching scope, purpose and uses of planetary boundaries science. Environmental Research Letters 14:073005.

Downing, A. S., E. H. Van Nes, J. S. Balirwa, J. Beuving, P. Bwathondi, L. J. Chapman, I. J. M. Cornelissen, I. G. Cowx, K. P. C. Goudswaard, R. E. Hecky, J. H. Janse, A. B. G. Janssen, L. Kaufman, M. A. Kishe-Machumu, J. Kolding, W. Ligtvoet, D. Mbabazi, M. Medard, O. C. Mkumbo, E. Mlaponi, A. T. Munyaho, L. A. J. Nagelkerke, R. Ogutu-Ohwayo, W. O. Ojwang, H. K. Peter, D. E. Schindler, O. Seehausen, D. Sharpe, G. M. Silsbe, L. Sitoki, R. Tumwebaze, D. Tweddle, K. E. Van De Wolfshaar, H. Van Dijk, E. Van Donk, J. C. Van Rijssel, P. A. M. Van Zwieten, J. Wanink, F. Witte, and W. M. Mooij. 2014. Coupled human and natural system dynamics as key to the sustainability of Lake Victoria’s Ecosystem services. Ecology and Society 19(4):31.

Publications by Downing, Andrea

When the whole is less than the sum of all parts – Tracking global-level impacts of national sustainability initiatives

Journal / article | 2021

Downing, A., Wong, G.Y., Dyer, M., Aguiar, A. P., Selomane, O., Jimenez Aceituno, A. 2021. When the whole is less than the sum of all parts – Tracking global-level impacts of national sustainability initiatives. Global Environmental Change Volume 69, July 2021, 102306, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102306

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are described as integrated and indivisible, where sustainability challenges must be addressed across sectors and scales to achieve global-level sustainability. However, SDG monitoring mostly focuses on tracking progress at national-levels, for each goal individually. This approach ignores local and cross-border impacts of national policies and assumes that global-level ...

Investment in resilient food systems in the most vulnerable and fragile regions is critical

Journal / article | 2021

Queiroz, C., Norstrom, A.V., Downing, A., Harmackova, Z.V., De Coning, C., Adams, V., Bakarr, M., Baedeker, T., Chitate, A., Gaffney, O., Gordon, L., Hainzelin, E., Howlett, D., Krampe, F., Loboguerrero, A.M., Nel, D., Okollet, C., Rebermark, M., Rockström, J., Smith, M., Wabbes-Candotti, S. & Matthews, N. 2021. Investment in resilient food systems in the most vulnerable and fragile regions is critical. Nature Food 2(8), 546–551.

Reversing the alarming trend of rising food insecurity requires transformations towards just, sustainable and healthy food systems with an explicit focus on the most vulnerable and fragile regions. Global food insecurity fell for decades, but it is steadily rising again 1 . A primary driver of this alarming trend is the double burden of climate shocks and violent conflict in areas that are already food insecure. The recent ...

Learning from generations of sustainability concepts

Journal / article | 2020

Downing, A., S., Chang, M., Kuiper, J.,J., Campenni, M., Häyhä, T., Cornell, S., Svedin, U., Mooji, W. 2020. Learning from generations of sustainability concepts. Environmental Research Letters, Accepted Manuscript

Background: For decades, scientists have attempted to provide a sustainable development framework that integrates goals of environmental protection and human development. The Planetary Boundaries concept (PBc) – a framework to guide sustainable development – juxtaposes a 'safe operating space for humanity' and 'planetary boundaries', to achieve a goal that decades of research have yet to meet. We here investigate if PBc is suf...

Local lens for SDG implementation: lessons from bottom-up approaches in Africa

Journal / article | 2019

Jiménez-Aceituno, A., Peterson, G.D., Norström, A.V., Wong, G.Y., Downing, A.S. 2019. Local lens for SDG implementation: lessons from bottom-up approaches in Africa. Sustainability Science

The Anthropocene presents a set of interlinked sustainability challenges for humanity. The United Nations 2030 Agenda has identified 17 specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a way to confront these challenges. However, local initiatives have long been addressing issues connected to these goals in a myriad of diverse and innovative ways. We present a new approach to assess how local initiatives contribute to achievi...