Publications

Stenvinkel, P., Avesani, C.M., Gordon, L.J., Schalling, M. & Shiels, P.G. 2021. Biomimetics provides lessons from nature for contemporary ways to improve human health. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science 5(1), e128.

Homo sapiens is currently living in serious disharmony with the rest of the natural world. For our species to survive, and for our well-being, we must gather knowledge from multiple perspectives and actively engage in studies of planetary health. The enormous diversity of species, one of the most striking aspects of life on our planet, provides a source of solutions that have been developed through evolution by natural selecti...

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 ...

Folke, C., Polasky, S., Rockström, J., Galaz, V., Westley, F., Lamont, M., Scheffer, M., Osterblom, H., Carpenter, S.R., Chapin, F.S., III, Seto, K.C., Weber, E.U., Crona, B., I., Daily, G.C., Dasgupta, P., Gaffney, O., Gordon, L.J., Hoff, H., Levin, S.A., Lubchenco, J., Steffen, W. & Walker, B.H. 2021. Our future in the Anthropocene biosphere. Ambio 50(4, SI), 834–869.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed an interconnected and tightly coupled globalized world in rapid change. This article sets the scientific stage for understanding and responding to such change for global sustainability and resilient societies. We provide a systemic overview of the current situation where people and nature are dynamically intertwined and embedded in the biosphere, placing shocks and extreme events as part of t...

Porkka, M., Wang-Erlandsson, L., Destouni, G., Ekman, A.M.L., Rockstrom, J. & Gordon, L.J. 2021. Is wetter better? Exploring agriculturally-relevant rainfall characteristics over four decades in the Sahel. Environmental Research Letters 16(3), 035002.

The semi-arid Sahel is a global hotspot for poverty and malnutrition. Rainfed agriculture is the main source of food and income, making the well-being of rural population highly sensitive to rainfall variability. Studies have reported an upward trend in annual precipitation in the Sahel since the drought of the 1970s and early '80s, yet farmers have questioned improvements in conditions for agriculture, suggesting that intras...

Röös, E., Bajzelj, B., Weil, C., Andersson, E., Bossio, D., Gordon, L.J. 2021. Moving beyond organic – A food system approach to assessing sustainable and resilient farming. Global Food Security, Volume 28, March 2021, 100487, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100487

Organic farming aims to minimize negative impacts on the local environment, but its contributions to global food sustainability also depend on a resilient food supply. We studied a farm aiming to move beyond organic and become “a sustainable farm of the future”, in the farmer’s own words. This meant going beyond local impacts to consider how the farm could contribute to global food security by transitioning to production of mo...

Bennett, E.M., Biggs, R., Peterson, G.D., Gordon, L.J. 2021. Patchwork Earth: navigating pathways to just, thriving, and sustainable futures. One Earth, Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp 172-176, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.01.004

Wood A, Halloran A, Gordon L J.2021. Insight paper #4 of the Nordic food system transformation series. Stockholm Resilience Centre; Stockholm

This fourth Insight Paper of the Nordic food system transformation series explores the uncertainties associated with different food system futures. These uncertainties are mapped in relation to the three priorities of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Vision 2030: a green, competitive and socially sustainable Nordic Region. This Insight Paper discusses a variety of tools that can be used to inform decision-making in uncertain s...

Wood A, Halloran A, Gordon L J.2021. Insight paper #4 of the Nordic food system transformation series. Stockholm Resilience Centre; Stockholm

This third Insight Paper of the Nordic food system transformation series draws on the multi-stakeholder dialogues discussed in Insight Paper #1 to identify key barriers related to food system transformation in the Nordic countries. Insight Paper #3 looks at what it will take to overcome the barriers currently slowing down transformation to sustainable food systems in the Nordic region. Insight paper #1 provides an overview ...

Gleeson, T., Wang‐Erlandsson, L., Porkka, M., Zipper, S.C., Jaramillo, F., Gerten, D., Fetzer, I., Cornell, S.E., Piemontese, L., Gordon, L.J. and Rockström, J., 2020. Illuminating water cycle modifications and Earth System resilience in the Anthropocene. Water Resources Research, 56(4), p.e2019WR024957

Fresh water—the bloodstream of the biosphere—is at the center of the planetary drama of the Anthropocene. Water fluxes and stores regulate the Earth's climate and are essential for thriving aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as water, food, and energy security. But the water cycle is also being modified by humans at an unprecedented scale and rate. A holistic understanding of freshwater's role for Earth system resilie...

Wood A, Halloran A, Gordon L J.2020. Insight paper #2 of the Nordic food system transformation series: Eight opportunities for Nordic collaboration on food system challenges. Stockholm Resilience Centre; Stockholm

This second Insight Paper of the Nordic food system transformation series takes a Nordic perspective to food system challenges. Eight urgent food system challenges shared across Nordic countries are described that represent opportunities for regional collaboration. The benefits of Nordic collaboration on food systems are discussed, while acknowledging that not all food system issues are ‘Nordic’ in nature. Insight paper #1 ...