




































Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 2 (2): 41–44, July 2019 

 
CONVERSATIONS: Practising Sustainability Science: Challenges in 
Teaching and Research 
 

The Current State and Challenges to Advancing 
Sustainability Science and Education 
 

Rashid Hassan  
 
1. PREAMBLE 

Key circles and players in the global community, including the general 
public, policy makers, and scientists, have become convinced by the 
mounting scientific evidence over the past three decades that the viability of 
life on earth is seriously threatened by the accelerating pressures from 
population growth and urbanization rates, expansion in energy-intensive 
production and consumption activities, climate change, etc. The world has 
responded in various ways to these risks, recognizing the need for urgent 
action to prevent or ameliorate the expected disastrous consequences of 
crossing the boundaries of natural limits. Commitment to the emergent 
sustainable development (SD) agenda through several global initiatives, 
protocols, policy measures, and action programmes and strategies has, as a 
result, dominated the international political and professional debates and 
cooperative interactions. Examples of such responses include major 
intergovernmental processes such as the Intergovernmental Panel on 
Climate Change (IPCC) and its protocols (Kyoto, Paris, etc.), Millennium 
Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), Intergovernmental Platform on 
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), protection of biodiversity 
and combating desertification protocols, and UN Declaration on 
Sustainable Development, among others. 

                                                           
 Emeritus Professor, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa (CEEPA), 
Room 2-6, Agricultural Annex Building, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, 
University of Pretoria, Main Campus, Hatfield, Pretoria 0001, RSA; rashid.hassan@up.ac.za 

Copyright © Hassan 2019. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 
4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581-6152 (print); 2581-6101 (web). 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v2i2.76  

https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v2i2.76


Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [42] 

Emergence of sustainability science in research and education is one such 
important response. Scientific research has generated credible knowledge 
about the causes, nature, magnitude, and consequences of the various 
threats to the integrity of life on earth and potential technological, policy, 
and institutional innovations and intervention options to address them. The 
design and implementation of the above-mentioned global responses and 
initiatives have generally been informed by findings of scientific research 
relying primarily on inter and transdisciplinary collaboration, which has 
defined the principle foundations of sustainability science (Clark 2007, 
Salas-Zapata et al. 2017). Many challenges, however, remain in face of the 
need to advance the role and contributions of SS in research and education. 

 

2. CHALLENGES FACING THE PRACTICE OF 
SUSTAINABILITY IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION 

The rise of SS is evident from the vast volume of published research 
outputs and the large number of authors, journals, and networks (fora, 
conferences, societies, etc.) engaged in this field over the past two decades 
(Bettencourt and Kaur 2011). One key and novel feature of sustainability 
science is that it aims at finding solutions to societal problems associated 
with managing the complex dynamic interactions between nature and 
society. This requires transdisciplinary collaboration and engagement of 
affected communities and other non-academic entities (business, 
government, etc.) in all phases of the research undertaking, from framing 
the research questions, through implementing the scientific investigation, to 
reaching solutions (Spangenberg 2011, Lang et al. 2012). These principal 
features, however, present major challenges, many of which remain 
unresolved in the way of advancing the practice of sustainability science. 

The difficulty with integration across disciplinary boundaries in adaption 
and use of mixed methods for cogeneration of systemic knowledge and 
development and validation of solutions remains, maintaining a persistent 
divide, especially between natural and social sciences (Wehrden et al. 2017). 
This divide is also found in the still limited integration of normative 
knowledge from the diverse social, political and value systems of non-
academic stakeholders, leading to weak participation and ownership, 
especially in framing of problems and co-creation of solutions (Brandt et al. 
2013, Lang et al. 2012). In this conversation on sustainability science, Rai 
explains more, with examples, how academics and researchers can be 
discouraged from critical scientific examination of the underlying objectives 
of major state initiatives to preserve the status quo and protect interests of 
key stakeholders. 



[43] Rashid Hassan  

The SD agenda triggered a series of global, regional and national higher 
education declarations committing to sustainability, from the Talloires 
(1990) to the Ubuntu (2002) and Bonn (2009) Declarations and the 
UNESCU Conference on Higher Education in 2009 (Tilbury 2011). This 
led to an upsurge of various university alliances and networks committing 
to infusing sustainability in teaching and learning and emergence of 
specialised course modules, including tertiary degree training programmes 
on sustainability in a number of universities, particularly in the North 
(Kates 2011). Nevertheless, resistance due to disciplinary loyalties, fear of 
intrusion into academic freedom, weak structural incentives and low 
demand for specialized skills in sustainability science continue to hinder 
progress in transforming curricula and the practice of sustainability science 
in teaching and learning (Jones, Selby and Sterling 2010).  

 

3. SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE AND EDUCATION IN THE 
DEVELOPING WORLD  

Apart from a few exceptional cases, progress with practicing sustainability 
science in knowledge generation and education in the developing world has 
been very limited. Observed participation and engagement of developing 
countries in sustainability projects and initiatives has been primarily 
catalysed through support from international promoters (Tilbury 2011). 
There is a pressing need for home-grown initiatives and genuine national 
and regional level commitment to and sufficient investments by public and 
private sectors in advancing the practice of sustainability science through 
academies of sciences, universities and research institutions in these parts of 
the world. Successful experiences of the Southern African Development 
Community Regional Environmental Education Program (SADC-REEP) 
provide an example to be enhanced and replicated for effective promotion 
of the practice of sustainability science in research and education 
(Mandikonza and Lotz-Sisitka 2016). Purushothaman and Rai document 
valuable lessons from the experiences of Azim Premji University and 
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, respectively, 
in advancing sustainability science education in Asia.   

 

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https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1102712108


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