Sustainability science: research, education and participative processes

Sustainability science proposes including in research and actions knowledge and management techniques constructed by different sectors of the society. Such proposal recognizes that complexity of environmental problems exceeds approaches and rhythms of the predominant scientific research and provides the possibility of shortening time for action, making use of integral human experience. This work reviews a panorama of our work on: 1) participative-action research, 2) educational processes for participation, and 3) institutional processes of communication and participation. We address socio-ecological studies based on participative-actions involving technological innovation and exchange of technical and organizational experiences for solving environmental problems in Valle de Tehuacan, Sierra Tarahumara, Montana de Guerrero, and the southern coast of Jalisco, emphasizing the construction of alternatives. We also show our experiences of participative research with students of graduate programs and the Environmental Sciences undergraduate program at UNAM. In both cases, we direct our studies on real environmental problems in rural contexts collaborating with NGOs and communities. We finally summarize our view on proposals of institutional linking of the Institute of Research on Ecosystems and Sustainability (TIES) for assessing environmental problems along with ecosystem managers and decision makers. We discuss the importance of strengthening participative processes as a platform for enhancing the academic collaboration for constructing sustainable socio-ecological perspectives. (C) 2017 Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Biologia.