Public Administration and Policy Group, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University & Research, 6700 EW, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Animal Production Systems, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University & Research, 6700 AH, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Ambio. 2023 Dec;52(12):1968-1980. doi: 10.1007/s13280-023-01894-5. Epub 2023 Jul 13.
Policymakers and scientists regard emerging circular initiatives as levers for transformations towards more sustainable food systems. However, it remains unclear how to determine the extent to which circular initiatives have transformative potential. That is, can these initiatives foster a transformation as a result of how they currently bring circularity into practice? In the transformation literature, the characteristics of transformative initiatives are conceptualised in a generic and abstract way. To address this gap, we develop a heuristic of five characteristics for potentially transformative circular agriculture initiatives, which we illustrate with examples of existing initiatives. The heuristic builds on the 'small wins' and circular agriculture literature. Initiatives that hold transformative potential contribute to circular agriculture principles with outcomes that are concrete, in-depth and both technological and social in nature. Additionally, these initiatives faced barriers and overcame them. The heuristic enables policymakers, who call for circular solutions, to identify truly transformative circular initiatives.
政策制定者和科学家将新兴的循环倡议视为向更可持续的食品系统转型的推动因素。然而，目前尚不清楚如何确定循环倡议具有转型潜力的程度。也就是说，这些倡议能否通过它们目前实施循环的方式来促进转型？在转型文献中，转型倡议的特征是以通用和抽象的方式概念化的。为了解决这一差距，我们为潜在的具有变革性的循环农业倡议制定了一个启发式的五个特征，并用现有的倡议示例来说明。该启发式基于“小胜”和循环农业文献。具有变革潜力的倡议通过具体、深入、技术和社会性质的结果为循环农业原则做出贡献。此外，这些倡议还面临障碍并克服了这些障碍。该启发式使呼吁循环解决方案的政策制定者能够识别真正具有变革性的循环倡议。
