On March 25, 2026, the Municipality of Fundão, Portugal, hosted the Climate for All Festival, a community-centered event dedicated to inclusive climate action and sustainable rural development. A highlight of the morning sessions was a keynote address by Pavlína Schultzová, representing both the Global Change Research Institute (CzechGlobe) and the EU Horizon TRANSPATH Project.

Schultzová’s presentation, titled “Understanding food systems transformation across scales and contexts,” provided a scientific and strategic foundation for the day's discussions. Drawing on her work within the TRANSPATH Project, she highlighted the need for context-specific transformative pathways to achieve just and sustainable outcomes for people and nature.

According to the project’s research, these pathways often begin with shallow interventions, such as new regulations, energy savings, and innovation. However, TRANSPATH emphasizes that long-term change requires deep interventions, including the creation of new, inclusive narratives about what constitutes a "good life" and the active reconnection of people with nature.

Lessons from the Czech Case Study

Schultzová brought specific expertise from the TRANSPATH WP2 Czech case study. This research focuses on the food and energy sectors, identifying how to move from a starting point of low public support and populist influence toward a pro-transformative environment.

Key takeaways from this work that mirrored the festival's goals include:

• The importance of reaching out to consumers, involving children and youth, and working directly with vulnerable groups, in order to achieve bottom-up mobilisation.

• Nurturing diverse platforms, such as small farmers' initiatives and consumer movements, to pressure for systemic change.

• Leveraging the negotiation power of these movements to influence financial mechanisms and national legislation.

Find the deliverable 'Roadmap for Science-policy-practitioner Lab processes', linked to this research available for download here.