Introduction: The Century of Accelerating Social and Ecological Change

Three forms of global change, the Great Acceleration, the Great Transformation, and Sustainable Development, are analysed in this book. The chapter summarises the analysis of the three global processes, the relations between them, and their interaction, to understand their effects on society and nature during the twenty-first century. Consequences of exponential growth transgressing the global limits to growth, climate change, biodiversity loss, and multiple social and ecological crises are to deal with in the social-ecological transformation towards a sustainable society and economy. The present forms of global sustainability policy are unable to solve the multiple problems, crises, and conflicts on the way to sustainability; a renewal and restructuring of global environmental governance is required.