Evolution of natural and social science interactions in global change research programs
Open Access
- 7 January 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 110 (supplement), 3665-3672
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1107484110
Abstract
Efforts to develop a global understanding of the functioning of the Earth as a system began in the mid-1980s. This effort necessitated linking knowledge from both the physical and biological realms. A motivation for this development was the growing impact of humans on the Earth system and need to provide solutions, but the study of the social drivers and their consequences for the changes that were occurring was not incorporated into the Earth System Science movement, despite early attempts to do so. The impediments to integration were many, but they are gradually being overcome, which can be seen in many trends for assessments, such as the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as both basic and applied science programs. In this development, particular people and events have shaped the trajectories that have occurred. The lessons learned should be considered in such emerging research programs as Future Earth, the new global program for sustainability research. The transitioning process to this new program will take time as scientists adjust to new colleagues with different ideologies, methods, and tools and a new way of doing science.Keywords
This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- Biodiversity and ecosystem services science for a sustainable planet: the DIVERSITAS vision for 2012–20Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2012
- What kind of a science is sustainability science?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011
- The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: opportunities for the social sciencesInnovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 2011
- Earth System Science for Global Sustainability: Grand ChallengesScience, 2010
- A Brief HistoryPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,2010
- The Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: moving a step closer to an IPCC-like mechanism for biodiversityCurrent Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2010
- Understanding the Complexity of Economic, Ecological, and Social SystemsEcosystems, 2001
- Sustainability ScienceScience, 2001
- Institutions:Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change ProgramEnvironment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 1992
- Global changeGeocarto International, 1987