Eco-Social Contracts for Sustainable and Just Futures

This groundbreaking open access volume explores the emergence and potential of eco-social contracts as a bold and actionable vision to address the interconnected crises of our time-climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality, and erosion of public trust and democratic institutions. Increasingly recognized by international bodies such as the UN and in global assessments like the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment, eco-social contracts resonate with calls from Our Common Agenda for renewed solidarity, intergenerational equity, and inclusive governance. They represent a holistic paradigm shift-challenging dominant economic paradigms and redefining how we relate to one another, to nature, and to the institutions that govern us. This book captures that momentum, offering both hopeful inspiration and hard-won lessons on how to unlock collective agency in the face of interconnected crises. Bringing together a remarkable diversity of voices and perspectives from around the world, it features contributions rooted in Indigenous and Local Knowledge systems, feminist and justice-based traditions, and case studies from the Americas, Africa, Europe, South Asia, and East Asia. Bridging theory and practice, the book offers compelling insights into how societies can build inclusive, regenerative, and just futures-including eco-social contracts that go beyond wellbeing economies by reimagining not only what economies are for, but how we relate to one another, to nature, and to the institutions that shape our lives. Inger Andersen - Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme: "This volume is a progressive and constructive contribution to building societies in harmony with nature." Kumi Naidoo - President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, Former Secretary-General of Amnesty International and Executive Director of Greenpeace International: "We must transition from systems that devalue life to economies that cherish well-being and shared prosperity." Carlos Alvarado Quesada - Former President of the Republic of Costa Rica: "The time has come to act collectively in reshaping our social contract-to ensure justice, regeneration, and sustainability." Mary Robinson - Chair of the Elders, Former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner: "This book makes clear that a new eco-social contract must be built on structural justice, intergenerational equity, and inclusive governance that respects cultural and ecological diversity." Jayati Ghosh - Club of Rome, UN High-Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs and WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All: "An incredibly timely and significant book that could not be more relevant for our current planetary emergency. Some light in the seeming darkness!" Karen O'Brien - Co-Chair of the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment: "Transformation is not only possible-it is already happening. This book shows how we can recognize ourselves as agents of change. When we do, new realities become thinkable and actionable."