Blogs / Essays

Waste management is a massive problem for many of the world’s fastest growing economies, as sacrifices are made on the altar of ever-expanding consumption. Ghana, a country in West Africa, is no different. In 2012, a World Bank report said that as many as 19,000 Ghanaians were dying p

Universities are increasingly entrepreneurial, working with partners across borders while navigating ever-more-complex international, national and regional policies. In an ideal world, universities would lead the “ecosystem of knowledge” in which researchers, business leaders and poli

In May 2019, the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a summary report for policymakers, “suggesting that around 1 million species already face extinction, many within decades, unless action is taken to reduce the intensity

Our researchers regularly meet and interact with policymakers, not only in New York and Geneva at UN level but also in Brussels for EU events. In March 2019, Maria Tomai joined an event on the Circular Economy, where she was able to brief EU policymakers on the work done at UNU-MERIT,

“The last lesson I learnt is that sustainability is not in the future but in the present. Personal experience taught me that most people want to be reassured that they are going to survive 2019.” Silvio Funtowicz, Philosopher of Science, University of Bergen During the first week of F

Part II: The evolutionary trajectory of SITE4Society (A Social Innovation) By Shyama V. Ramani, UNU-MERIT, ramani@merit.unu.edu For Citation: SITE4society Essay No. 2-2018 Phase 1: Born in UNU-MERIT In the United Nations University (UNU-MERIT), we study the evolutionary processes that

Part I: The systemic foundations and actor trajectory that triggered SITE4Society   (A social innovation) By Shyama V. Ramani, UNU-MERIT, ramani@merit.unu.edu For Citation: SITE4society Essay No. 1-2018 John Stewart Mills, the great economist and philosopher, defined a homo economicus