Regime Shifts and Transformations in Social-Ecological Systems: Advancing Critical Frontiers for Safe and Just Futures
Current research challenges in sustainability science require us to consider nonlinear changes—shifts that do not happen gradually but can be sudden and difficult to predict. Central questions are therefore how we can prevent harmful shifts, promote desirable ones, and better anticipate both. The regime shifts and transformations literature is well-equipped to address these questions. Yet, even though both research streams stem from the same intellectual roots, they have developed along different paths, with limited exchange between the two, missing opportunities for cross-fertilization. We here review the definitions and history of both research streams to disentangle common grounds and differences. We propose avenues for future research and highlight how stronger integration of both research streams could support the development of more powerful approaches to help us navigate toward safe and just futures.
Authors
- Emilie Lindkvist (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1546-0934)
- Romi Lotcheris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9784-1978)
- Garry Peterson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0173-0112)
- Per Olsson
- Maja Schlüter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7780-1039)
- André P. Silva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4722-8497)
- Michele‐Lee Moore
- Romina Martin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5321-000X)
- Carl Folke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4050-3281)
- Amanda Jiménez-Aceituno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5950-4751)
- Ingo Fetzer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7335-5679)
- Vanessa A Masterson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5379-9309)
- Anne‐Sophie Crépin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2973)
- Petr Matouš (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6140-6843)
- Uno Svedin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1737-8371)
- Reinette Biggs
- Thorsten Blenckner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6991-7680)
- Nielja Knecht (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4105-3251)
- Laura Pereira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4996-7234)
- Steven J. Lade (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9719-9826)
- Magnus Nyström (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3608-2426)
- Juan Rocha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2322-5459)
- Lan Wang‐Erlandsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7739-5069)
- Jan J. Kuiper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6655-9355)
- Hannah Zoller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1823-5249)
- Carla Lanyon-Garrido
- Caroline Schil
- Sasha Quahe
Institutions
- Vienna University of Economics and Business (AT)
- Leuphana University of Lüneburg (DE)
- Australian National University (AU)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (SE)
- Stockholm Resilience Centre (SE)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- Rhodes University (ZA)
- University of Victoria (CA)
- Stellenbosch University (ZA)
- Swedish Academy (SE)
- Sustainability Institute (ZA)
- Bolin Centre for Climate Research (SE)
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (DE)
- University of Chile (CL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Annual Review of Environment and Resources
- Published
- 2026-08-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-121124-042312
- Primary Topic
- Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00