Toward an institutional architecture for Representing, Recognising, and Responding to tipping elements
Human institutions and earth system realities are out of sync. Individuals may be aware of ongoing environmental change, but evaluation metrics, decision frameworks, and regulations, are incomplete at best. Centuries of imagined separation from “nature” have also made it easy to ignore the ripple effects and the chemical, physical, or biological realities that surround our selves, our societies, our infrastructure, and our economies.
TIAL alongside many interested researchers and practitioners is developing the blueprint and demonstration of an “Interchange” — a new type of institutional architecture to reconnect knowledge with action. The project focuses on building the foundations for a closer connection between science and traditional ecological knowledge on the one hand, and political and economic decision-making as well as cultural narratives that drive action on the other. Our initial focus is around tipping elements, specifically emphasizing the interconnected dynamics of the Amazon and Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).
“The common governance toolkit is a poor match for dealing with tipping processes, especially non-linear change, and radical intertemporality”.
Milkoreit et al (2024)
In this project, we are focusing on societies’ ability to respond to urgent, nonlinear, irreversible, climate and ecological change — or tipping elements. It is part of a larger effort to advance “planetary governance”, or governance that can recognise and respond to environmental dynamics, in a time of fragmenting multilateralism.
The project Interchange is coordinated by TIAL with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation and is expected to run until June 2026. The project’s official kick-off is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. You can join us at this public event in collaboration with the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI).
For more information you can contact TIAL co-founder, Jessica Seddon at jessica [at] tial [dot] org.
Read more from TIAL
The climate convergence: Extreme heat as a catalyst for cross-sector innovation
Mobilising the collective intelligence of nature — Internet of animals
Redefining data sovereignty: Māori data governance in the digital age
New institutions for care: Rethinking systems for those who sustain society
Kyiv Digital and Diia – Reinvention in the face of war
