Future Earth is a new 10-year international research initiative that will develop the knowledge for responding effectively to the risks and opportunities of global environmental change and for supporting transformation towards global sustainability in the coming decades.
Future Earth Transition Team proposes three
research themes at final meeting in Paris
The Transition
Team, responsible for the initial design of
Future Earth, met in Paris on 20-21 September to agree on the broad outlines of
recommendations for the research framework, governance, stakeholder engagement
and communications strategy. In the wake of Rio+20, the Team also agreed on the
importance of strategically positioning Future Earth in the science-policy
landscape, as a key science provider for the definition of Sustainable
Development Goals.
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:
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, explaining, 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, 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.
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.
Upcoming regional
workshops
Future Earth seeks to
provide knowledge at multiple scales - global, regional and local – and to
address the connections among these scales. The Science
and Technology Alliance for Global Sustainability which is establishing Future Earth is keen to seek inputs which can
drive regional partnerships and engage a broad range of stakeholders. The
International Council for Science (ICSU) will organize an initial series of
three regional workshops in Cape Town (31 October-2 November 2012), Kuala
Lumpur (21-23 November 2012) and Mexico City (3-4 December 2012). Options to
organize meetings in the Middle East and Europe are still in planning.
The main objective of the workshops, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), is to engage regional stakeholders in the design of the initiative. Discussion will focus on issues such as how to link research priorities with regional development challenges, how to implement Future Earth in the regions, and the global research framework.
Each workshop will bring together around fifty regional scientists, development actors, funders and educators working on global and regional environmental change across disciplines. Key questions will include:
The main objective of the workshops, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), is to engage regional stakeholders in the design of the initiative. Discussion will focus on issues such as how to link research priorities with regional development challenges, how to implement Future Earth in the regions, and the global research framework.
Each workshop will bring together around fifty regional scientists, development actors, funders and educators working on global and regional environmental change across disciplines. Key questions will include:
- What are the main development challenges
of the region which could benefit from integrated and solutions-oriented
research?
- How can Future Earth help you deliver on
your priorities and needs?
- What are the options to implement Future
Earth and strengthen integrated and solutions-oriented Earth system
research in the region?
The recommendations from
these workshops will inform the strategic priorities of the Transition Team and
the to-be-appointed Scientific Committee of Future Earth, to ensure that the
regional perspective is firmly embedded in the overall strategy of Future
Earth.
IGFA/Belmont Forum
meeting
The International
Group of Funding Agencies (IGFA) [1] which has supported the international GEC programmes since the 1990s,
and its Council of Principals, the Belmont Forum [2], met in Stockholm in October. Also present at the meeting were the GEC
programme secretariats - Diversitas, the International Geosphere-Biosphere
Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP), the
World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the Earth System Science Partnership
(ESSP) as well as the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN),
the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) and START, the
global change System for Analysis, Research and Training.
The IGFA/Belmont Forum was asked, as a member of the Alliance, to prepare for the transition to Future Earth by scaling up research funds for the new initiative. A “Future Earth Funding Strategy” will therefore be developed in close collaboration with the GEC programmes and projects, as well as the GEC regional networks, leading to a shared vision and roadmap. This will help key GEC actors and funders to organize national and regional “Future Earth Funders’ meetings” to ensure a smooth transition to Future Earth in 2014.
A series of funding mechanisms were discussed from secretariat support to basic research. The new International Opportunity Fund, launched in April 2012 by the Belmont Forum, was endorsed as a flexible and effective tool to support Collaborative Research Actions (CRAs) across funding agencies and countries [3]. CRAs can provide support for the types of activities that Future Earth will undertake, such as networking, clustering, emergent research, capacity building, training and engaging new disciplines and users of scientific knowledge. The meeting highlighted the need for broader participation of funding agencies, within and beyond current IGFA members, in the scoping of a second round of CRAs in 2013.
IGFA members were keen to support interdisciplinary research projects, as well as interactions between environmental and development research. A workshop dedicated to linking GEC and development issues and strategies will be held in Africa in 2013.
[1] IGFA gathers about 20 funding agencies from 15 countries.
[3] The 2012 call has attracted around 130 pre-proposals, involving more
than one thousand partners from around 50 countries.
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