Harmonizing Humanity and Habitat: A New Paradigm of Transformative Co-Governance for Just and Resilient Socio-Ecological Futures
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64252/bnfpnc24Keywords:
Transformative Governance, Socio-Ecological Systems, Environmental Justice, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Co-Design, Climate Resilience, Biodiversity Conservation, Participatory Governance, Sustainability Transitions, Prefigurative JusticeAbstract
The interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequity demand fundamental departure from prevailing environmental governance paradigms. This paper introduces Transformative Co-Governance (TCG) as an integrated framework addressing these challenges through systematic integration of transformative environmental governance principles, ecological citizenship frameworks, participatory co-design methodologies, and Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) systems.Building on analysis of 847 peer-reviewed sources (2016-2025), TCG explicitly addresses power asymmetries, promotes epistemic pluralism, and embeds "prefigurative justice": integrating distributive, procedural, and recognitional justice from governance process onset. The framework operates through seven interconnected mechanisms: (1) participatory co-design, (2) ILK integration, (3) polycentric decision-making, (4) adaptive learning systems, (5) multi-scale coordination, (6) transformative capacity building, and (7) holistic outcome evaluation.Case study analysis of 34 empirical applications across six continents reveals TCG implementations achieve 67% better social-ecological outcomes compared to conventional approaches, with particularly strong performance in Indigenous self-determination (Cohen's d = 1.23) and ecosystem health indicators (Cohen's d = 0.89).
