Description
As climate change and biodiversity loss intensify, Earth system tipping points are increasingly recognised as urgent governance challenges. While Earth System Science (ESS) has played a central role in understanding planetary processes and biophysical thresholds, World System Science (WSS) is emerging as a field concerned with the societal, political, ethical, and governance dimensions of planetary transformations. Yet social science approaches to tipping points remain underdeveloped, particularly regarding questions of justice, multispecies relations, and governance. This paper develops a conceptual framework for integrating multispecies justice into WSS research on Earth system tipping points. Drawing on political ecology, multispecies international relations, sustainability transformations, and decolonial scholarship, it argues that Earth system tipping points should be understood not only as biophysical thresholds, but also as situated socio-ecological systems in which ecosystems, territories, and forms of life are shaped by power relations, inequality, and human–non-human entanglements. The paper proposes a research agenda organised around five dimensions: tipping point perceptions, multispecies injustices, transformative possibilities, interspecies diplomacies, and tipping point futures. It argues that a multispecies justice perspective can generate more inclusive and relational forms of governance capable of addressing ecological collapse whilst supporting equitable and sustainable futures across species.