Peter Søgaard Jørgensen

Stockholm University | SU · Stockholm Resilience Centre

Several transnational corporations, investors, international organizations and philanthropies have formed coalitions to respond to global social and environmental challenges. Do these coalitions, consisting of large-scale actors, have the capacities to contribute to the transformations that are needed, or do they perpetuate the same system dynamics...

Social and environmental challenges are combining to form a polycrisis with potential to delay or reset many sustainability efforts. These risks raise questions about what capacities will be needed for advancing sustainability during a time of interlinked crises. Here, we evaluate the adequacy of adaptive and transformative capacities for navigatin...

Background The world's governments have agreed both global and national actions to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance. This raises the importance of understanding to what degree national action so far has been effective. Answering this question is challenged by variation in data availability and quality as well as disruptive events s...

Polycrisis has emerged as a new property of the Anthropocene, driven by the co-interaction of multiple shocks and stressors. Although sector-specific studies offer insights into the changing frequency and intensity of these disruptions, a holistic, cross-sectoral analysis remains absent, limiting a more integrated understanding of the phenomenon. T...

The intensification of aquaculture industries around the globe has led to increased susceptibility and exposure to diseases. To ensure the well-being of animals and the profitability of the industry, many aquaculture farms resort to antibiotic treatments. However, with the increasing presence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), it has become importa...

Background Global biodiversity is rapidly declining, yet we still do not fully understand the relationships between biodiversity and human health and well-being. As debated, the loss of biodiversity or reduced contact with natural biodiversity may lead to more public health problems, such as an increase in chronic disease. There is a growing body o...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing One Health crisis that can be impacted by other challenges of sustainable development, such as climate change, but few interventions have been assessed with a systems-wide lens. The objectives of this study were to use a previously defined fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) of the Swedish One Health system to: 1)...

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) causes worsening health, environmental, and financial burdens. Modelling complex issues such as AMR is important, however, how well such models and data cover the broader One Health system is unknown. Our study aimed to identify models of AMR across the One Health system (objective 1), and data to parameter...

How did human societies evolve to become a major force of global change? What dynamics can lead societies on a trajectory of global sustainability? The astonishing growth in human population, economic activity and environmental impact has brought these questions to the fore. This theme issue pulls together a variety of traditions that seek to addre...

The Anthropocene is characterized by accelerating change and global challenges of increasing complexity. Inspired by what some have called a polycrisis, we explore whether the human trajectory of increasing complexity and influence on the Earth system could become a form of trap for humanity. Based on an adaptation of the evolutionary traps concept...

The rapid, human-induced changes in the Earth system during the Anthropocene present humanity with critical sustainability challenges. Social–ecological systems (SES) research provides multiple approaches for understanding the complex interactions between humans, social systems, and environments and how we might direct them towards healthier and mo...

Introduction Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a challenge to modern medicine. Interventions have been applied worldwide to tackle AMR, but these actions are often not reported to peers or published, leading to important knowledge gaps about what actions are being taken. Understanding factors that influence the implementation of AMR interventions a...

Background Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a global problem with large health and economic consequences. Current gaps in quantitative data are a major limitation for creating models intended to simulate the drivers of AMR. As an intermediate step, expert knowledge and opinion could be utilized to fill gaps in knowledge for areas of the system whe...

Social-ecological systems conceptualise how social human systems and ecological natural systems are intertwined. In this Personal View, we define the scope and applicability of social-ecological resilience to antimicrobial resistance. Resilience to antimicrobial resistance corresponds to the capacity to maintain the societal benefits of antimicrobi...

Transforming the rapidly growing ocean economy into a ‘blue economy’ based on principles of sustainability, equity and inclusivity is crucial. We contend that marine biotechnology is not on this trajectory and that a more holistic approach for people and nature is needed to bring marine biotechnology into the blue economy.

Background With AMU projected to increase, South East Asia (SEA) is at high risk of experiencing disproportionate health, social, and economic burdens due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Our objective was to identify factors influencing AMR in SEA’s food system and places for intervention by integrating the perspectives of experts from the regio...

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) causes worsening health, environmental, and financial burdens. Modeling complex issues such as AMR can help clarify the behaviour of the system and assess the impacts of interventions. While models exist for specific AMR contexts (e.g. on-farm, in hospital), due to inadequate collaboration and data availab...

Synthetic chemicals and biologically engineered materials are major forces in today’s food systems, but they are also major drivers of the global environmental changes and health challenges that characterize the Anthropocene. To address these challenges, we will need to increase assessment activity, promote alternative production practices with les...

The morphology, physiology and behavior of marine organisms have been a valuable source of inspiration for solving conceptual and design problems. Here, we introduce this rich and rapidly expanding field of marine biomimetics, and identify it as a poorly articulated and often overlooked element of the ocean economy associated with substantial monet...

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global crisis with long-term and unpredictable health, social and economic impacts, with which climate change is likely to interact. Understanding how to govern AMR amidst evolving climatic changes is critical. Scenario planning offers a suitable approach. By envisioning alternative futures, st...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) affects the environment, and animal and human health. Institutions worldwide have applied various measures, some of which have reduced antimicrobial use and AMR. However, little is known about factors influencing the success of AMR interventions. To address this gap, we engaged health professionals, designers, and imp...

The biosphere crisis requires changes to existing business practices. We ask how corporations can become sustainability leaders, when constrained by multiple barriers to collaboration for biosphere stewardship. We describe how scientists motivated, inspired and engaged with ten of the world’s largest seafood companies, in a collaborative process ai...

Purpose Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global One Health issue. Simulation modelling is used to understand AMR in many contexts but there is lack of integration of models across sectors. The purpose of our research is to explore whether it is possible to quantify an existing model consisting of 92 compartments deemed important to the emergence...

Purpose Our study purpose was to identify (1) the underlying causal system of factors influencing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) development and spread in South East Asia (SEA) and (2) places to intervene by integrating diverse perspectives to find context-specific solutions. Methods & Materials Using a complex adaptive systems lens and participat...

Introduction Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global crisis that evolves from a complex system of factors. Understanding what factors interact is key to finding solutions. Our objective was to identify the factors influencing AMR in the European food system and places to intervene. Materials and methods We conducted two workshops involving part...

We submit that the safe operating space of the planetary boundary of novel entities is exceeded since annual production and releases are increasing at a pace that outstrips the global capacity for assessment and monitoring. The novel entities boundary in the planetary boundaries framework refers to entities that are novel in a geological sense and...

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the most pressing One Health issues. While interventions and policies with various targets and goals have been implemented, evidence about factors underpinning success and failure of interventions in different sectors is lacking. The objective of this study is to identify characteristics of AMR int...

The current global systemic crisis reveals how globalised societies are unprepared to face a pandemic. Beyond the dramatic loss of human life, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered widespread disturbances in health, social, economic, environmental and governance systems in many countries across the world. Resilience describes the capacities of natura...

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an escalating global crisis with serious health, social, and economic consequences. Building social-ecological system resilience to reduce AMR and mitigate its impacts is critical. Objective The aim of this study is to compare and assess interventions that address AMR across the One Health spectrum and...

Background. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the most pressing One Health issues. While interventions and policies with various targets and goals have been implemented, evidence about factors underpinning success and failure of interventions in different sectors is lacking. The objective of this study is to identify characteristics of AMR in...

This policy brief aims to promote a holistic mindset about the COVID-19 pandemic by 1) applying a complexity lens to understand its drivers, nature, and impact, 2) proposing actions to build resilient societies to pandemics, and 3) deriving principles to govern complex systemic crises. Building resilience to prevent, react to, and recover from syst...

Background. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the most pressing One Health issues. While interventions and policies with various targets and goals have been implemented, evidence about factors underpinning success and failure of interventions in different sectors is lacking. The objective of this study is to identify characteristics of AMR in...

The current COVID-19 pandemic potentially threatens the foundation of societies worldwide. Con-temporary globalisation has brought many benefits but has also increased the risk that hazards arising in one part of the global system will more readily spread to other parts. Societal resilience to COVID-19 refers to the effectiveness of the public heal...

Objectives/purpose The costs attributable to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remain theoretical and largely unspecified. Current figures fail to capture the full health and economic burden caused by AMR across human, animal, and environmental health; historically many studies have considered only direct costs associated with human infection from a h...

The global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) requires coordinated actions by and across different sectors. Increasing attention at the global and national levels has led to different strategies to tackle the challenge. The diversity of possible actions to address AMR is currently not well understood from a One Health perspective. AMR-Interve...

Evolution of antimicrobial resistance, especially antibiotic resistance, results from complex dynamics between microorganisms, stressors and the environment itself with unpredictable impacts on society. While treatability opportunities decline, the novel Anthropocene operating space for antimicrobial resistance framework comprehends holistically an...

BACKGROUND Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an escalating global crisis with serious health, social, and economic consequences. Building social-ecological system resilience to reduce AMR and mitigate its impacts is critical. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to compare and assess interventions that address AMR across the One Health spectrum and...

Improving evidence for action is crucial to tackle antimicrobial resistance. The number of interventions for antimicrobial resistance is increasing but current research has major limitations in terms of efforts, methods, scope, quality, and reporting. Moving the agenda forwards requires an improved understanding of the diversity of interventions, t...

Significance The western corn rootworm, a major insect pest in the Midwestern United States, has evolved resistance to genetically engineered corn that produces insecticidal proteins derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). To evaluate tactics for reducing the damage caused by resistant rootworms, we analyzed field data for 2011 to 2...

Objectives/Purpose The costs attributable to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across human, animal, and environmental health remain theoretical and largely unspecified. Current figures fail to capture the full health and economic burden caused by AMR; historically many studies have considered only direct costs associated with human infection from a h...

Objectives/Purpose The costs attributable to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remain theoretical and largely unspecified. Current figures fail to capture the full health and economic burden caused by AMR across human, animal, and environmental health; historically many studies have considered only direct costs associated with human infection from a h...

Development of new biocides has dominated human responses to evolution of antibiotic and pesticide resistance. Increasing and uniform biocide use, the spread of resistance genes, and the lack of new classes of compounds indicate the importance of navigating toward more sustainable coevolutionary dynamics between human culture and species that evolv...

We consider two aspects of the human enterprise that profoundly affect the global environment: population and consumption. We show that fertility and consumption behavior harbor a class of externalities that have not been much noted in the literature. Both are driven in part by attitudes and preferences that are not egoistic but socially embedded;...

Development of new biocides has dominated human responses to evolution of antibiotic and pesticide resistance. Increasing and uniform biocide use, the spread of resistance genes, and the lack of new classes of compounds indicate the importance of navigating toward more sustainable coevolutionary dynamics between human culture and species that evolv...

The Anthropocene biosphere constitutes an unprecedented phase in the evolution of life on Earth with one species, humans, exerting extensive control. The increasing intensity of anthropogenic forces in the twenty-first century has widespread implications for attempts to govern both human-dominated ecosystems and the last remaining wild ecosystems....

Much of the Earth’s biosphere has been appropriated for the production of harvestable biomass in the form of food, fuel and fibre. Here we show that the simplification and intensification of these systems and their growing connection to international markets has yielded a global production ecosystem that is homogenous, highly connected and characte...

Antimicrobial use (AMU) in animal agriculture contributes to select resistant bacteria potentially transferred to humans directly or indirectly via the food chain, representing a public health hazard. Yet, a major difference triggering AMU in food animal production is that in addition to therapeutic cure, farmers use antimicrobials to keep their he...

A double intergenerational conundrum abounds in sustainability science as young generations of researchers have relatively little influence on current strategic decisions, but inherit their potential future consequences as professionals as well as human-beings. Collaborating with early career researchers (ECRs) in global sustainability initiatives...

Cooperative management of pest susceptibility to transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops is pursued worldwide in a variety of forms and to varying degrees of success depending on context. We examine this context using a comparative socioecological analysis of resistance management in Australia, Brazil, India, and the United States. We find tha...

Child health is taking the back seat in development strategies. In summarising a newly released collaborative report, this paper calls for a novel conceptual model where child health takes centre stage in relation to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It lays out five principles by which renewed effort and focus would yield the...

Rising levels of antimicrobial and pesticide resistance increasingly undermine human health and systems for biomass production, and emphasize the sustainability challenge of preserving organisms susceptible to these biocides. In this Review, we introduce key concepts and examine dynamics of biocide susceptibility that must be governed to address th...

Griggs et al. (2013) redefine sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present while safeguarding Earth’s life-support system, on which the welfare of current and future generations depend.” We recommend this as the end goal that the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) should strive to achieve. Integration...

Didier Wernli and colleagues discuss the role of monitoring in countering antimicrobial resistance.

The rising importance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to the global health agenda is associated with a growing number of parties voicing their concern about the issue. With more recommendations and policies appearing, understanding the policy process requires making sense of the views, values, interests and goals of each participant. Policy frame...

Decades of overuse, misuse, and environmental antibiotic pollution has increased the global pool of resistant bacteria. With estimates of hundreds of thousands of annual human deaths and a lack of new drugs to replace old ones, antimicrobial resistance probably constitutes one of the greatest human health and sustainability challenges of the 21st c...

The United Nations must reframe action on antimicrobial resistance as the defence of a common resource, argue Peter S. Jørgensen, Didier Wernli and colleagues. Link : http://www.nature.com/news/use-antimicrobials-wisely-1.20534

The Early Career Researchers Network of Networks (ECR NoN) was created in 2016 to facilitate cooperation between early career researcher organisations worldwide. Its goals and objectives are to: -- connect early career researcher organisations across the globe and serve as a platform for them to coordinate, (re)present, exchange information and sha...

Species attributes are commonly used to infer impacts of environmental change on multiyear species trends, e.g. decadal changes in population size. However, by themselves attributes are of limited value in global change attribution since they do not measure the changing environment. A broader foundation for attributing species responses to global c...

Insect responses to recent climate change are well documented, but the role of resource specialization in determining species vulnerability remains poorly understood. Uncovering local ecological effects of temperature change with high‐quality, standardized data provides an important first opportunity for predictions about responses of resource spec...

Advances in the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge over the last decade have dramatically reshaped the way that ecological research is conducted. The advent of large, technology-based resources such as iNaturalist, Genbank, or the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) allow ecologists to work at spatio-temporal scales previously u...

We present a case for using Global Community Innovation Platforms (GCIPs), an approach to improve innovation and knowledge exchange in international scientific communities through a common and open online infrastructure. We highlight the value of GCIPs by focusing on recent efforts targeting the ecological sciences, where GCIPs are of high relevanc...

The authors would like to add the following affiliation for Peter Søgaard Jørgensen of paper [1]: 8 International Network of Next-Generation Ecologists, Universitetsparken 15, Building 3, Copenhagen 2100, Denmark[...].

We present a case for using global community innovation platforms (GCIPs), an approach to improve innovation and knowledge exchange in international scientific communities through a common and open online infrastructure. We highlight the value of GCIPs by focusing on recent efforts targeting the ecological sciences, where GCIPs are of high relevanc...

Effective integration in science and knowledge co-production is a challenge that crosses research boundaries, climate regions, languages and cultures. Early career scientists are crucial in the identification of, and engagement with, obstacles and opportunities in the development of innovative solutions to complex and interconnected problems. On 25...

Two categories of evolutionary challenges result from escalating human impacts on the planet. The first arises from cancers, pathogens, and pests that evolve too quickly and the second, from the inability of many valued species to adapt quickly enough. Applied evolutionary biology provides a suite of strategies to address these global challenges th...

Proficiency in mathematics and statistics is essential to modern ecological science, yet few studies have assessed the level of quantitative training received by ecologists. To do so, we conducted an online survey. The 937 respondents were mostly early-career scientists who studied biology as undergraduates. We found a clear self-perceived lack of...

Capsule Summer weather affects reproductive success in the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio). Aims To investigate the relationship between reproductive success and weather conditions in the European breeding areas. Methods Using a Principal Component Analysis, we investigate how summer (July) weather affects reproductive success in two population...