People’s movements embrace a number of alternative visions for society and concrete steps that must be taken in order to move towards a sustainable future while addressing the climate, water, food, and economic crises at the same time. Such a sustainable transition will begin by many different initiatives. Some of these steps towards sustainable transition are:

• Food sovereignty and ecological agriculture: Uphold the rights of people, communities, and countries to determine their own systems of production, including farming, fishing, food, forestry, and land policies that are ecologically, socially, economically, and culturally appropriate to the circumstances. People’s, especially women’s access to and control over productive resources such as land, seeds, and water must be respected and guaranteed. Agricultural production must rely principally on local knowledge, appropriate technology, and ecologically sustainable techniques that bind CO2 in the diverse and native plant systems, bind water, and return more nutrients to the soil than were taken out. Food and agricultural production must be primarily geared towards meeting local needs, encourage self-sufficiency, promote local employment, and minimize resource use, waste and GHG emissions in the process.

• Democratic ownership and control of economy: The reorganization of society’s productive units around more democratic forms of ownership and management, in order to meet people’s basic needs, such as employment creation; access to water, housing, land, health care, and education; food sovereignty; and ecological sustainability. Public policy must make sure that the financial system serves public interests and channel resources for the sustainable transformation of industry, agriculture, and services.

• Energy sovereignty: A dramatic reduction of energy consumption especially in the enriched countries, combined with a mix of renewable and public energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, mini-hydro, wave, and tidal; the development of off-the-grid electricity distribution to secure energy supplies to communities; and public ownership of the grid.

• Ecological planning of urban and rural zones: The aim is a radical reduction in the inputs of energy and resources and the outputs of waste and pollution, while encouraging locally based supply of basic needs of the citizens. An urban and rural planning built on social justice and equal service to all, reducing the need for transport. Promoting public transport systems such as light and high-speed rail-systems and bicycles, reducing the need for private motor vehicles and thus decongesting the roads, improving health and reducing energy consumption.

• Education, science and cultural institutions: Re-orientate public research and education to meet the needs of people and the environment, rather than the present bias for developing commercially profitable and proprietary technologies. Research and development should be primarily an open and collaborative endeavour in the common interest of humankind. Eliminate patents on ideas and technology. Fair and just exchange of appropriate technologies, traditional knowledge, and indigenous innovative practices and ideas between countries should be encouraged.

• An end to militarism and wars: The present fossil fuel based development model leads to violence, war, and military conflict over control of energy, land, water, and other natural resources. This is demonstrated by the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as militarization across the globe in regions rich in fossil fuels and other natural resources. Peasants and indigenous communities are also being violently displaced from their lands to make way for agrofuel plantations. Trillions of dollars are spent on the military-industrial complex, thus wasting enormous material and human resources, which should instead be devoted to implementing a sustainable transition.

By taking steps forward, we can learn by doing. These steps will help us to convince the broad majority of people that a sustainable transition entails the promise of a more fulfilling and good life. The social, political, economic, and environmental fields are closely interrelated. A coherent strategy must therefore address them all, which indeed is the central idea behind the concept of sustainable transition.

One aspect of this concept is the restoration of local communities rather than the global market as a basic social, political, and economic unit. Social cohesion, democratic participation, economic accountability, and ecological responsibility can only be accomplished by restoring decision-making at the lowest appropriate level. This is a basic lesson we have learned from ethnic cultures and local communities.

A community-based approach does not, however, contradict the need for extensive international cooperation. On the contrary, it will need stronger alliances within and across all borders between direct producers in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and industry. Alliances also built on the strength of gender equality and on recognizing and overcoming unjust power relations at all levels. It also includes the need for stronger regional and international cooperative arrangements to manage common and shared resources, such as cross-border water resources. Furthermore, international cooperation will promote the full mutual exchange of ideas, technologies, and expertise across all boundaries, as well as an open-minded dialogue between different cultures, based on mutual respect.