Future Earth Transition Team proposes three research themes

Discussion of the overall research framework of Future Earth was informed by early responses from Scientific Committees of Global Environmental Change Programmes and projects during the month of September. The Team agreed on a conceptual framework and a set of three broad themes for the development of integrated research for global sustainability:

• Dynamic Planet
  • Observing, understanding, projecting Earth and societal system trends, drivers and processes, and their interactions; anticipating global thresholds.
• Global Development
  • Providing the knowledge for sustainable, secure and fair stewardship of food, water, health, energy, materials and other ecosystem services.
• Transformation towards Sustainability
  • Understanding and evaluating strategies for governing and managing the global environment across scales and sectors, and transformations to move towards a sustainable Future Earth.

The Transition Team will continue to test their thinking against further consultation responses.

Consultations will resume at a series of upcoming events, including three regional workshops held in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and a meeting with project representatives to be held in Paris at the end of November.

The Transition Team, which began its work in June 2011, will deliver an initial design report at the end of the year to guide the development of the initiative. It is expected that nominations for the Scientific Committee of Future Earth will open in November with a view to the body being appointed by April 2013. The Science and Technology Alliance for Global Sustainability, including the International Council for Science (ICSU), International Social Science Council (ISSC), Belmont Forum, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and United Nations University (UNU), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as observer, will provide interim governance until Future Earth is fully operational in 2014.

Future Earth YouTube channel

Please go to our brand new Future Earth YouTube channel to see the latest videos from the Transition Team meeting in Paris.

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