IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2020 - 25

Collaborative Governance

environmental governance, espe-
cially in the absence of trust [47].
For informational governance to be
an effective lever of transformation
towards a climate-safe and equi-
table world, society needs a better
understanding of the social and
political contexts within which trans-
parency is used a governance mech-
anism, as these determine whether
and under what conditions they will
lead to positive outcomes [47].

Governance of Flows
Global society can be viewed as a
system of nodes (nations, corpora-
tions, communities) a nd f lows
(of goods, services, information,
power). Traditional governance
structures are designed to govern
the nodes of society and not the
flows among them. While mate-
rial flows are governed through the
World Trade Organization (WTO), it
has had limited effectiveness with
regard to sustainability issues, in
large part because it requires equal
treatment of "like products" without
a mechanism for accounting for how
the products were made [48], [49].
As a result, WTO does not regulate
the "virtual flows" of goods, ser-
vices, and information. An example
of a poorly-governed virtual flow is
"embedded carbon"- the carbon
emitted in the production of goods
and services - often referred to a
product's carbon footprint [50]-[52].
Other virtual flows that fall into a
governance gap are "teleconnec-
tions" or "telecoupling," the flows of
information in one region that influ-
ence production and consumption
decisions in another region of the
world [53]-[55]. Enhanced transpar-
ency, intelligent systems, and mass
collaboration have opened up new
oppor tunities to gover n flows.
Yet, more still needs to be done to
ensure that these schemes lead to
positive outcomes for the climate
and people.
JUNE 2020

Anticipatory Governance

Collaborative governance refers to
Futures analysis, alternatively referred
decision-making and management
to as foresight, entails the identifica-
that engage people across public,
tion of and reflection on alternative
private, and civic spheres [56]. Col-
potential futures using a range of
laborative governance approaches
available methods [65]. Given the
have proven difficult to scale due
high degree of uncertainty and high
to challenges of coordination and
risk associated with climate change,
problem-solving among multiple dif-
there is a proliferation of the use of
ferent authorities and heterogenous
both qualitative and quantitative
actors [57]. Digitally empow-
ered mass collaboration,
enhanced transparency, and
intelligent systems could help
to overcome some of these
Many conditions are needed to
constraints. New collabor-
ative governance structures
enable society to unleash positive
have been proposed, such as
a big data-driven "transna-
digital disruptions and steer
tional sustainability agency"
them towards transformative
[58] or digital "global partici-
patory platforms" [59], [60].
system changes.
Governments and -citizens
are already -experimenting
with putting these concepts
into practice. For example, Bit-
futures analysis methods for climate
Nation is an organization that is
change mitigation and adaptation
building a decentralized voluntary
[66], [67]. However, a deeper under-
"nation," with the explicit intent
standing of the implications of this
to "disrupt the nation-state oli-
proliferation for climate governance
gopoly through offering more con-
is still lacking [66].
venient, secure, and cost-efficient
Although the use of futures analy-
government ser vices" [61]. This
sis to inform decision-making is not
in--cludes services such as World
new, it has taken on new meaning in
Citizenship ID and a Refugee Emer-
the digital age. In today's world, every-
gency Response [62]. Blockchain
thing is becoming "smart." We have
is emerging as a potential tool for
smartphones, smart homes, and smart
overcoming the barriers to scal-
cities. This begs the question: Should
ing collaborative governance [63].
society build smart governance sys-
While there are many technical and
tems to tackle the climate crisis? If so,
social challenges to realizing this
how can this be done in an equitable
vision, these new digitally empow-
and ethical manner? Digitally empow-
ered tools for collaborative gover-
ered intelligent systems create new
nance could unlock new strategies
opportunities for anticipating future
for governing the climate com-
human behavior, weather patterns,
mons and scaling climate actions
or economic trends that could steer
society towards a low-carbon and
[57]. At this stage, the concept of
potentially less vulnerable world.
governing a "citizenship" beyond
the nation-state is so novel that the
However, these mechanisms risk
rules and regulations surrounding
undermining democracy if not imple-
its use are poorly understood or
mented effectively [68]. To leverage
lacking altogether [64].
the opportunities while managing
∕

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

25
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2020
