How is history relevant to the present, or indeed the future? Governments around the world have used history to inform planning and decision‐making in various fields for years, but more recently it has taken on a renewed importance as governments grapple with increasingly complex challenges arising from the impacts of climatic change. Yet identifying “lessons from the past” is not straightforward. Especially in the case of big questions about historical structures and social processes, establishing precise causal relationships is complex and interpretive, making consensus difficult among specialists. A second major challenge arises over the uses of history. Historical precedent can and does play a role in some contexts in helping formulate new strategies for addressing local environmental challenges. At the national level policy‐makers and politicians often look to the past for inspiration, guidance, or justification. In both respects, the cases and examples chosen are often highly selective and tend to align with pre‐existing assumptions. This article briefly reviews these challenges within the context of climate change and associated environmental and sustainability issues, comments on recent work in the field, and suggests some ways forward for historians.

中文翻译：

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过去的答案，现在的担忧。前现代过去对 21 世纪政策规划者的相关性：对该领域现状的评论


历史与现在或未来有何关系？多年来，世界各国政府一直利用历史为各个领域的规划和决策提供信息，但最近，随着各国政府努力应对气候变化影响带来的日益复杂的挑战，历史的重要性越来越大。然而，找出 “过去的教训” 并不简单。特别是在关于历史结构和社会进程的重大问题的情况下，建立精确的因果关系是复杂且具有解释性的，这使得专家之间难以达成共识。第二个主要挑战是关于历史的利用。在某些情况下，历史先例可以而且确实在帮助制定应对当地环境挑战的新战略方面发挥作用。在国家层面，政策制定者和政治家经常从过去寻找灵感、指导或理由。在这两个方面，所选择的案例和例子通常是高度选择性的，并且往往与预先存在的假设保持一致。本文简要回顾了气候变化和相关环境和可持续性问题背景下的这些挑战，评论了该领域最近的工作，并为历史学家提出了一些前进的方向。