Eco-Social Contracts for Sustainable and Just Futures : Mobilising Collective Power to Deal with the 21st Century Polycrisis (2025. xliii, 413 S. XLIII, 413 p. 47 illus., 43 illus. in color. 235 m)

This groundbreaking open access volume introduces eco-social contracts as a bold and actionable vision for addressing the major, interconnected crises of our time climate change, biodiversity loss, rising inequality, and the erosion of public trust and democratic legitimacy.

At its heart lies a fundamental realization that can no longer be ignored: the social contract has been broken for billions of people. As a result, the bonds between people, planet, and power must be rewoven.

Increasingly recognized by the UN, global assessments such as the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment, and by a growing international community of civil society leaders, youth movements, and NGOs, eco-social contracts call for renewed solidarity, systemic equity across generations and communities, inclusive governance, and a fundamental transformation of economic systems.

They challenge dominant economic paradigms and present a holistic and compelling alternative one that rebalances our relationships with nature, institutions, and one another. This book captures that momentum, blending visionary thinking and grounded inspiration with hard-won lessons on unlocking and mobilising collective agency.

Rooted in diverse knowledge systems from Indigenous cosmologies and feminist and care-based economics to regenerative development and post-growth thought it brings together contributions from leading scholars, practitioners, artists, and activists across the globe. Bridging theory and practice, it offers vital insights into how regenerative, inclusive, and just futures can be co-created.

For changemakers, students, and all those seeking hope, direction, and clarity in a time of global uncertainty, this book is both a call to action and a guide for transformation inviting readers to imagine and co-create sustainable and just futures our hearts and minds know are possible.

Selected Endorsements

Inger Andersen Executive Director, UNEP: This volume is a progressive and constructive contribution to building societies in harmony with nature.

Mary Robinson The Elders, and 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.

Eco social contracts for sustainable, regenerative and just futures: Introduction and overview.- Seaweed king: Weaving narratives of loss and renewal in the anthropocene.- Restoring planetary balance: Exploring Muslim eco-social covenants for the earth.- A New Pact with Nature: From Social to Eco-Social Contracts.- Beyond sustainable development, to sustainable societies: Insights from feminist and indigenous theories and praxis.- Advancing Earth system governance: Key achievements and propositions for meaningful progress towards a global eco-social contract.- The European Green Deal: An eco-social contract for Europe?.- Radical democracy, ecology, and justice in India: Experiences from four decades of activist research.- The role of the rights of nature in establishing eco-social contracts.- Eco-social Contracts as a Pathway Toward Inclusive and Sustainable Futures: opportunities, challenges, and lessons learned.- Eco-social Contracts as a Pathway Toward Inclusive and Sustainable Futures: opportunities, challenges, and lessons learned.- The Transformation Flower Approach for Eco-Social Contracting.- The Climate COP: Process and pathways for eco- and peace-promoting social contracts.- Between resistance and cooperation: A balancing act towards new eco-social contracts in Latin America.- Contestation Movements and the Emergence of Eco-Social Contracts in India and Nepal.- Eco-social contracts for sustainable and just futures: Varieties of eco-social contracts in Japanese ecovillages and coliving-coworking arrangements.- The economy we want: Exploring the potential of participatory mechanisms to catalyse economic transformations.- Epilogue.

Patrick Huntjens is Professor of Social Innovation and Sustainability Transitions at Inholland University of Applied Sciences and member of the Global Research and Action Network for a New Eco-Social Contract (GRAN-ESC). An award-winning scholar and practitioner, he received the 2022 Nautilus Book Award (Gold Medal) for Towards a Natural Social Contract and was named Professor of the Year in the Netherlands (2021). With over 25 years of global experience across academia, policy, and practice, Patrick focuses on eco-social contracts, regenerative and care-based economies, sustainability governance, and transformative change, with a strong commitment to social and environmental justice. He is a lead author for IPBES, whose globally recognized work received the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity and the 2024 Blue Planet Prize. Patrick has also served as a lead mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian water conflict and advised institutions including the World Bank, United Nations, and European Union.

Najma Mohamed leads UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre s work on nature-based solutions and is a Senior Atlantic Fellow in Social and Economic Equity and member of the Africa Europe Foundation s Women Leaders Network. Her work focuses on ideas and solutions that address climate change, fight inequality and restore nature to achieve systemic change. She has over two decades of experience translating knowledge into practice through research, advocacy, engagement and influence strategies in international development. From her early work on environmental justice in post-apartheid South Africa, she has maintained her long-standing interest working on nature, climate and equity, including transformative and inclusive approaches to governance, policy and practice.

Katja Hujo is head of the UNRISD Bonn office and leads the Transformative Social Policy Programme. Katja s academic work focuses on social policy, poverty and inequality, as well as s