Climate change is testing more than the environment. Explore how relationships, governance and community capacity shape our ability to respond to an increasingly complex world.
Climate change is not an isolated environmental problem. It is one expression of a much broader set of interconnected environmental, social and economic challenges that are placing increasing pressure on the systems we rely upon.
In this session, Dr Cathrine Dyer from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington steps back to examine the bigger picture. Why are climate change, biodiversity loss, food security, economic pressures and community resilience so closely linked? What happens when increasingly complex challenges begin to outpace the capacity of our institutions to respond?
Drawing on systems thinking and her research into governance and resilience, Cathrine explores the idea that governability is an emergent property of relationships. Declining state capacity does not necessarily mean declining societal capacity. New capabilities, knowledge and ways of working can emerge from communities through shared identity, collaboration and relational approaches, creating opportunities to influence governance from the bottom up and middle out.
This session offers a fresh perspective on resilience, inviting us to consider how stronger relationships may be one of the most important foundations for navigating an increasingly uncertain future.
YOUR SPEAKER
Lecturer in Climate Change at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington