SlideShare a Scribd company logo
Soumettre la recherche
Mettre en ligne
S’identifier
S’inscrire
Lubchenco_etal_2015_Sustainibility_rooted_in_science
Signaler
Jessica Reimer
Suivre
5 Dec 2016
•
0 j'aime
•
225 vues
Lubchenco_etal_2015_Sustainibility_rooted_in_science
5 Dec 2016
•
0 j'aime
•
225 vues
Jessica Reimer
Suivre
Signaler
Lubchenco_etal_2015_Sustainibility_rooted_in_science
1 sur 5
Télécharger maintenant
1
sur
5
Recommandé
PNAS-2016-Lubchenco-1604982113
Jessica Reimer
155 vues
•
8 diapositives
Climate Change Jessie gomez
JessieGomez8
76 vues
•
23 diapositives
Eloi Laurent - SP Speakers Series: Social Ecology
Sustainable Prosperity
883 vues
•
25 diapositives
Introduction to Sustainability - Ar. Surya Prakash
School of Planning and Architecture, India.
121 vues
•
67 diapositives
The need for a global health ethic
Carol Daemon
379 vues
•
2 diapositives
Human-Environment Interaction
dmyen
3.2K vues
•
12 diapositives
Contenu connexe
Tendances
Chapter 1 ecology (2)
eruder
348 vues
•
18 diapositives
Water to tresure
Little Daisy
723 vues
•
68 diapositives
Wetland conservation
Sangita Ingole
541 vues
•
46 diapositives
Anthromes v1
Elsa Delgado
374 vues
•
26 diapositives
MULTIDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF ENVIRONMENT
Nisha Kalayil
352 vues
•
133 diapositives
Ecological Footprint (1).pptx
GAURAV. H .TANDON
4.1K vues
•
166 diapositives
Tendances
(20)
Chapter 1 ecology (2)
eruder
•
348 vues
Water to tresure
Little Daisy
•
723 vues
Wetland conservation
Sangita Ingole
•
541 vues
Anthromes v1
Elsa Delgado
•
374 vues
MULTIDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF ENVIRONMENT
Nisha Kalayil
•
352 vues
Ecological Footprint (1).pptx
GAURAV. H .TANDON
•
4.1K vues
Determinants of Households Willingness to Pay for Conservation of Natural Koo...
AI Publications
•
72 vues
Potential Socioeconomic Consequences of Climate Change
Rolph Payet
•
354 vues
Human environment system ppt
Gwen David
•
32.9K vues
Integrated Water Resource Planning - Water, Forests, People and Policy
GeoEngineers, Inc.
•
1K vues
Human footprint on environment
St.Xavier's College , Palayamkottai - 627 002
•
2.4K vues
File 6 important essay question -set 2
GURU CHARAN KUMAR
•
3.2K vues
Overview of water resources and sustainable development impacts in Senegal
AI Publications
•
23 vues
Limits to acceptable change and ecological footprint
AMALDASKH
•
755 vues
Environmental
Bobby Diohen
•
624 vues
Presentation IDRC 2014 AR
Global Risk Forum GRFDavos
•
452 vues
World Scientists'Warning to Humanity on the Health of Planet Earth- 16,000 sc...
Energy for One World
•
520 vues
Are Protected Areas Enough To Conserve Terrestrial Biodiversity Teldap Taiwan...
Decision and Policy Analysis Program
•
626 vues
Global warming in print July 31 15
M .B. Goli
•
198 vues
Human Adaptation in Socio Hydrological Cycle A Review in Geographical Perspec...
ijtsrd
•
73 vues
En vedette
IoT
Mphasis
984 vues
•
6 diapositives
2016-12-05 bchs announcements edit
Bchs Bchs
78 vues
•
22 diapositives
curso mariscador
isagg90
110 vues
•
6 diapositives
Using academic data to personalise support in a large faculty (NSW Learning A...
AdamBridgeman
292 vues
•
14 diapositives
Announcements Monday December 5, 2016
Ken Stayner
127 vues
•
9 diapositives
Afx portfolio4
Sean Gaines
120 vues
•
6 diapositives
En vedette
(12)
IoT
Mphasis
•
984 vues
2016-12-05 bchs announcements edit
Bchs Bchs
•
78 vues
curso mariscador
isagg90
•
110 vues
Using academic data to personalise support in a large faculty (NSW Learning A...
AdamBridgeman
•
292 vues
Announcements Monday December 5, 2016
Ken Stayner
•
127 vues
Afx portfolio4
Sean Gaines
•
120 vues
Final MBA dissertationT
Pooja .
•
263 vues
High school lesson ppt
flyersfan1
•
212 vues
Sistema nervioso autonomo
Ana Paula
•
127 vues
Leadership
Reynaldo (Rey) Lugtu
•
3K vues
Monitor transport
Deyvi Tavara
•
169 vues
Ambient Air Quality Monitoring in Southern Alberta
Kepa2014
•
2K vues
Similaire à Lubchenco_etal_2015_Sustainibility_rooted_in_science
WWF Living Planet 2018-Summary Report
Energy for One World
890 vues
•
19 diapositives
Essays On The Environment
Cheap Paper Writing Services
9 vues
•
20 diapositives
1Food and Water SecurityJasmine JonesUniversity
AnastaciaShadelb
2 vues
•
21 diapositives
Blog
Siduyy
247 vues
•
6 diapositives
Human and planetary health: towards a common language
Carol Daemon
3.3K vues
•
2 diapositives
Essay On Environmental Conservation
Paper Writing Service College
4 vues
•
21 diapositives
Similaire à Lubchenco_etal_2015_Sustainibility_rooted_in_science
(20)
WWF Living Planet 2018-Summary Report
Energy for One World
•
890 vues
Essays On The Environment
Cheap Paper Writing Services
•
9 vues
1Food and Water SecurityJasmine JonesUniversity
AnastaciaShadelb
•
2 vues
Blog
Siduyy
•
247 vues
Human and planetary health: towards a common language
Carol Daemon
•
3.3K vues
Essay On Environmental Conservation
Paper Writing Service College
•
4 vues
Toward Integrated Analysis of Socio- Ecological Data for Improved Targeting o...
CIAT
•
2.5K vues
Climate change in context of sustainable development
sajid ali
•
6.5K vues
Water textbook
Frank Cai
•
9.8K vues
An IChemE Green Paper - Getting to grips with the water-energy-food Nexus
Alexandra Howe
•
694 vues
Lesson 2.pptx
KristyDall
•
21 vues
Eco cultural factors and ecological footprint as variables and measure of env...
Alexander Decker
•
295 vues
A Response to a New Estimate of Planetary Boundaries
Earth Institute of Columbia University
•
1.9K vues
Ecological Footprint Report And Recommendations
Write My Sociology Paper California State University, Fullerton
•
4 vues
Analysis Of Nash The Water Warrior
Pay Someone To Write A Paper Methodist College
•
3 vues
COLLECTOR WELLS
Jegajothy
•
148 vues
Environment & Development.pdf
rashi39442
•
85 vues
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES UNIT 1.pptx
swetha38439
•
15 vues
Relationship Between Population,Environment and Development
eshamwata
•
13.2K vues
IPBES UN Report on Loss of Biodiversity
Energy for One World
•
372 vues
Lubchenco_etal_2015_Sustainibility_rooted_in_science
1.
NATURE GEOSCIENCE |
VOL 8 | OCTOBER 2015 | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience 741 commentary Rainfall is unevenly distributed throughout the year, and occurs mostly in summer. Furthermore, annual precipitation levels are far exceeded by evaporation. Combined with the increasing transpiration of soil water by planted vegetation, particularly trees, this imbalance already leads to soil drought in surface layers. Instead of being expanded, the existing vegetation needs to be thinned, and (where appropriate) replaced with native species that utilize less water. Water resources The wheat-producing region of the Yellow River downstream from the Loess Plateau provides food for about 400 million Chinese people. Both the quantity and quality of the water in the Yellow River affect crops and thus directly influence national food security. Over the past century, and particularly since the late 1960s, annual runoff from the Yellow River has declined11 . About 80% of this decline has been attributed to human activities, which include the Grain for Green project, but also river dam projects, terracing and other water conservation practices; the rest is a result of changes in precipitation12–13 . The growing population and expansion of industrial and agricultural activities along the Yellow River will only lead to greater demand for water. Sustainable future The Grain for Green project has successfully returned the Yellow River’s sediment load to historic levels. Instead of a further phase of vegetation expansion, with sediment declines beyond historical levels, now is a good time to take stock of what has been achieved. We argue that it is key to ensure that the achievements of the project so far are maintained and directed into sustainable future management. Vegetation management needs to focus on reducing uptake of limited soil water by vegetation. Plants should be thinned regularly in high- density areas, and species that need large amounts of water should be replaced with more suitable local species. Shortages of farmland and food can be ameliorated by the strategic creation of new farmland and modernization of existing agriculture facilities, while avoiding farmland expansion through deforestation. We propose that these strategies would together lead to the sustainable development of the Yellow River region. ❐ Yiping Chen, Kaibo Wang, Yishan Lin, Weiyu Shi and Yi Song are at the State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology and the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Science, Xi’an 710075, China. Y.C. is also at the State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processing and Resource Ecology, Beijing 100875, China. Xinhua He is in the School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Perth 6009, Australia. e-mail: Chenyp@ieecas.cn; xinhua.he@uwa.edu.au References 1. Ren, M. E. Adv. Earth Sci. 21, 551–563 (2006). 2. McVicar, T. R. et al. Forest Ecol. Manag. 251, 65–81 (2007). 3. Yellow River Sediment Bulletin 7 (Yellow River Conservancy Commission, Ministry of Water Resources, 2013); http://www.yellowriver.gov.cn/nishagonggao/2013/index.html 4. National Development and Reform Commission spokesperson answer to reporters’ request on launching a new round of Green for Grain. Xinhuanet.com (27 September 2014); http://news. xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-09/27/c_1112652394.htm 5. Tang, K. L., Zhang, K. L. Lei, A. L. Chinese Sci. Bull. 43, 409–412 (1998). 6. Lü, Y. et al. PLoS ONE 7, e31782 (2012). 7. Feng, Z. M., Yang, Y. Z. Zhang, Y. Q. Land Use Policy 22, 301–312 (2005). 8. Liu, Q., Wang, Y. Q., Zhang, J. Chen, Y. P. Environ. Sci. Technol. 47, 7589–7590 (2013). 9. Wang, Y. Q., Shao, M. A., Zhu, Y. J. Liu, Z. P. Agr. Forest Meteorol. 151, 437–448 (2011). 10. McVicar, T. R. Forest Ecol. Manag. 259, 1277–1290 (2010). 11. Li, E. H., Mu, X. M. Zhao, G. J. Adv. Wat. Sci. 2, 155–163 (2014). 12. Wang, Y., Ding, Y., Ye, B., Liu, F. Wang, J. Sci. China Earth. Sci. 56, 1398–1412 (2013). 13. Xu, J. X. Hydrol. Sci. J. 58, 106–117 (2013). Acknowledgements This work was supported by State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology fund. Published online: 7 September 2015 Sustainability rooted in science Jane Lubchenco, Allison K. Barner, Elizabeth B. Cerny-Chipman and Jessica N. Reimer The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals emphasize the importance of evidence-based decision-making. This is a clarion call for Earth scientists to contribute directly to the health, prosperity and well-being of all people. T hrough the United Nations, the international policy community has taken bold action to chart a new course for people and the planet by identifying 17 Sustainable Development Goals1 (SDGs), focused on society’s most urgent needs (Table 1). These SDGs and the accompanying 169 targets1 define the overarching agenda for international and national action for the coming 15 years. Achievement of the SDGs will be difficult, and scientific knowledge is urgently needed to guide, measure, monitor and attain these goals. Some of the science required is already available or research is underway. However, scientific business-as-usual will fall far short. Scientists must share what is already known more broadly, accelerate the discovery of relevant knowledge, devise useable indicators of progress, engage directly with users of information and knowledge, and embrace both transdisciplinary approaches, especially with social scientists, and non- traditional partnerships (with civil society or with industry, for example) to guide action2 . Earth scientists must also hone skills for communicating with non-scientists, empower young scientists, expand efforts to grow scientific capacity globally, and act to change the culture of institutions that do not value and reward these activities. In short, the Earth science community is being challenged to transform itself and deliver on its social contract with society3 . The geosciences are absolutely essential to the success of the SDGs, and Earth scientists are needed now more than ever before. Equitable use of the planet The SDGs tackle the challenge of meeting current needs of people around the world and enabling development. At the same time, they address the need to safeguard Earth’s life support systems on which the welfare of current and future generations depends. These challenges need to be met in an equitable fashion and in light of the © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
2.
742 NATURE GEOSCIENCE
| VOL 8 | OCTOBER 2015 | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience commentary massive environmental changes already underway in the Anthropocene4 . In short, the challenge is how to use the planet’s resources fairly without using them up. Society’s current appetite for goods and generation of waste are unsustainable. In the face of this, the daunting task will be to alleviate poverty, provide basic necessities, allow smart development, and reduce vulnerability to disasters while also tackling climate change, ecosystem disruption and depletion, loss of biodiversity, and pollution from nutrients, plastics and chemicals. The Earth sciences in particular are directly relevant to many of the SDGs: for example, goals focused on water, energy, resilient infrastructure and sustainable industrialization, safe and resilient cities and settlements, climate change, the ocean, and the land (Goals 6,7,9,11,13–15). Geoscience insights are also directly or indirectly needed for multiple other SDGs, to alleviate poverty and provide food security, for example. To achieve the SDGs we can draw on lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goals, the SDG’s predecessor as a UN-promoted international set of targets for a sustainable and equitable future. One such lesson was the importance of tackling all goals simultaneously, not sequentially. In particular, it is important not to delay consideration of the environment while more socially urgent goals demand attention. As emphasized in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment5 and elsewhere6 , the environment is a key pathway to achieving many SDGs, such as food or water security, alleviation of poverity and development of communities that are more resilient to disasters. Incorporating systems perspectives7 , and natural capital and ecosystem service concepts8 provide useful frameworks and methodologies for assessing trade-offs and synergies between different SDGs and targets. Thanks to experiences from the Millennium Development Goals, SDG documents repeatedly emphasize that the 17 goals are ‘integrated and indivisible’. Science can help achieve the integration needed across the SDGs. For example, research on ocean acidification can contribute to multiple social, environmental and economic goals (Box 1). The Earth science community understands many of the interrelationships across the goals and can assist with identifying indicators of progress that bolster the connectedness across goals and targets. But to be effective, they must connect with other sciences and with society. Pairing natural and social sciences, for example, can provide understanding of how coupled human–natural systems work and are changing, what the probable consequences of different policy or management choices might be, and which solutions might achieve the desired outcomes. Scientists can work to devise solutions and new technologies, propose indicators, monitor progress, and standardize and verify data9,10 . Human and natural systems are intimately interconnected, and the study of both must be integrated to understand constraints and opportunities as we progress towards the SDGs. Thus, Earth and environmental scientists are poised to have a large impact on the achievement of the SDGs: they study the natural world, whose health is critical for the health and well- being of global human populations. But a stronger focus is required, from individuals as well as institutions, on tackling problems that are relevant to societal needs, and on communicating insights to a broad range of audiences. Below we discuss how scientists may contribute to the achievement of the SDGs by leveraging existing science and research agendas to accomplish these goals through engagement and collaboration, developing new knowledge specific to the SDGs and their targets, building an equitable, collaborative and interdisciplinary environment for scholarship, and supporting other scientists who focus on sustainability research. Share what is already known Earth scientists already conduct research that is relevant and critical for achieving the SDGs, in areas as diverse as water management, sustainable energy, materials science, resource extraction, climate change, disaster risk vulnerability and reduction, and conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and the land. However, knowledge generated by the research community is often not accessible or understandable to potential users from policymakers to resource managers or society more broadly. The urgency of the SDGs makes it imperative that scientists escalate efforts to transfer knowledge to users. One vehicle for disseminating existing scientific knowledge is through formal scientific assessments. The Earth science community already participates actively in some assessments such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Additional intergovernmental assessments have recently been created to help provide input in parallel arenas, from the World Ocean Assessment (http://www.worldoceanassessment.org) to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (http://www.ipbes.net). A persistent Table 1 | The UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal Description 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts* 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development *Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change. © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
3.
NATURE GEOSCIENCE |
VOL 8 | OCTOBER 2015 | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience 743 commentary challenge with many of these is adequate funding to support scientists’ participation. Countries with expertise to share should do more to facilitate engagement by their scientists in international programmes. Other means of providing actionable, sustainability-relevant knowledge to users are proliferating. Professional scientific societies such as the American Geophysical Union are seizing opportunities to facilitate knowledge transfer, for example through their Thriving Earth Exchange (http://thrivingearthexchange.org), which is designed to connect scientists with local communities to solve local problems. But wherever they are, scientists can share science more broadly though writing and speaking in ways that are friendly to lay audiences, through social media, and by targeting local to global audiences. Sweet spot for science The Earth science community is needed to engage with society and generate new knowledge that is immediately relevant to achieving the SDGs. Such ‘use-inspired research’11 — fundamental, cutting-edge science that is also immediately pertinent to societal needs3,12 — is the sweet spot for SDG science. In particular, science that generates not only knowledge, but also real solutions to problems is desirable. Moreover, solutions need to be able to be deployed at a scale sufficient to address the problem, not just in a few locations. Understanding the importance of this kind of research, the International Council for Science created Future Earth (http://www.futureearth.org), an international research platform to pursue, synthesize and connect the scientific and traditional knowledge needed to accelerate the transformation to a sustainable world. In parallel, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (http://unsdsn.org) is designed to assist the UN and member countries achieve the SDGs by promoting practical solutions for sustainable development. In addition to formal programmes such as these, smaller teams are needed to tackle specific problems in innovative ways, to engage users from the outset to ensure relevance, credibility and utility and bring together the full range of relevant science. There are many new boundary efforts, such as the Science for Nature and People programme (http://www.snap.is), which sponsors working groups on diverse topics ranging from fracking to coastal defenses, data-limited fisheries, land-use decisions, drought and aquaculture. Box 1 | Benefits from ocean acidification research. ENRICSALA/NATIONALGEOGRAPHICSOCIETY Target 3 of Goal 14 aims to “minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels”1 . To achieve this target, basic research is needed to understand the dynamics of ocean acidification and its impacts on biogeochemical processes and biological systems. To minimize and address these impacts will require cross-sectoral collaborations between climatologists, oceanographers, biogeochemists, ecologists, social scientists, and economists to develop and implement geo-informed strategies for adaptation to and mitigation of ocean acidification. For example, one approach to protect vulnerable coral reefs (see photo) might entail placing fully protected marine reserves in biogeographic regions that are (or are predicted to be) less affected by ocean acidification. Designing such a marine reserve would require a range of expertise from different disciplines, including downscaling predictions of ocean acidification intensity from global climate change models, quantification of local biogeochemical and ecological resilience, bioeconomic input to the design and placement of the marine reserve, and cooperation with local stakeholders and policymakers. Additional ancillary benefits to such an effort might enhance achievement of other targets such as those described below. • Food security: if the stability of marine food webs is maintained, this will benefit harvested species that represent critical food resources for coastal populations (Targets 2.3 and 2.4). • Sustainable tourism: mitigation of ocean acidification to preserve marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs and kelp forests, will be an important step in the development of sustainable tourism ventures (Target 8.9). • Biodiversity: understanding the dynamics of ocean acidification and its impacts on ecosystems can improve the ability to recognize tipping points and regime shifts, which will be critical for conservation (Target 15.5). • Population resilience: minimizing the effects of ocean acidification on the provision of ecosystem services will improve the resilience of vulnerable human populations to extreme climatic events (Target 1.5). • Education: investment in local scientific research and infrastructure can forward targets related to the education of youth, women, and those in developing nations (Goal 4). In this way, multiple research avenues to contribute to a single SDG target cascade into manifold implications for connected goals. Scientists thus can have a broad impact on sustainable development beyond their immediate research expertise. © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
4.
744 NATURE GEOSCIENCE
| VOL 8 | OCTOBER 2015 | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience commentary Three important, progressive characteristics make programmes like this a showcase for societally relevant sustainability: users are engaged at the outset and scientists do not assume they know what users want and need; transdisciplinary teams integrate the relevant natural and social sciences; and the programme works with civil society as well as industry where relevant. The benefits of such multidimensional approaches are highlighted in Box 2 with a focus on fisheries, a renewable natural resource that is key to future food security, alleviation of poverty and new economic opportunities for many nations. National and international funders need to support innovative efforts like these in a more forceful fashion. Grow and spread capacity How research is conducted matters as much as what research is done. Scientists can directly contribute to many of the social goals of the SDGs through inclusive and equitable scholarship practices, and engagement with users of knowledge, with attention to capacity-building in developing countries. Academic researchers can redouble their efforts to focus on more inclusive education. Part of achieving inclusive and equitable quality education (Goal 4) means addressing implicit, explicit, and structural barriers to participation in science by underrepresented groups. Academic scientists can implement such practices in their teaching of undergraduate students and mentoring of graduate students and post-doctoral scholars. Further, if education is a means by which to achieve the goal of sustainable development (Target 4.7), scientists can educate not only scientists-in-training, but also promote equitable and science-based lifelong learning. Training tomorrow’s business leaders, politicians and managers is as important as educating future scientists. In addition, increasing participation of underrepresented groups in science contributes directly to more diverse representation and participation in decision-making and governance (Targets 10.6, 16.6 and 16.7). To use scientific information in policy, management or business, decision makers must see that scientific information is useful and relevant and have confidence in the science and its sources. The SDGs articulate the importance of evidence-based decision- making (Targets 1.b, 8.9, 11.b, 12.a, 12.b and 14.3–14.5), but attention is needed to enable decision makers to be comfortable with and use scientific knowledge. Doing so requires engaging them early on and often, listening to their needs, establishing relationships that engender trust, and providing information that is understandable and relevant. In some places, for science to be used in policy-making, significantly greater capacity to generate and appropriately use relevant knowledge is needed, especially in least developed countries, but also in middle-income countries. Often, general information needs to be tailored to specific conditions on the ground. One of the urgent needs of the SDGs is growing support for and the capacity to produce and use evidence-based information. Local leaders, policymakers, managers and decision makers all need to be open to using scientific information and consider it salient to their problems. Mechanisms to incorporate traditional knowledge and knowledge exchanges among communities or countries with similar experiences and interests can be useful, moving toward explicitly reciprocal engagement, and away from a North–South knowledge transfer paradigm13 (Targets 17.6–17.8). Hence, efforts by the international scientific community to contribute to growing this international capacity are of paramount importance. Incentives for scientists Investment in engagement with society will require not only the buy-in of scientists, but also the support of their colleagues and institutions. Despite the critical need for scientific guidance and expertise in SDG progress, the current academic incentive structure often acts as an impediment for scientists to engage. Decisions regarding tenure and promotion are structured to reward traditional scholarly endeavours such as research, publication and teaching without adequately accounting Box 2 | Fish smarter, not harder. Partial progress has been made towards sustainable fisheries in the past decade and a half. For example, the US has achieved remarkable turnaround in their fisheries14 . From 2000 to 2014, the number of overexploited stocks dropped from 92 to 37 and the number of rebuilt populations increased from 0 to 37. Moreover, in recent years, 23% more jobs have been created in commercial fishing, revenues are up by 30% and unwanted ‘bycatch’ of target species has plummeted14 . Interdisciplinary collaborations between ecologists, fishery scientists and economists from academia, government and civil society have led to novel solutions to address the root causes of overfishing. Smarter fishing has resulted in impressive results with social, economic and environmental benefits. From this example, we can learn how transdisciplinary scientific research and non-traditional partnerships can shape policies and practices for renewable resources that are immediately relevant to multiple SDGs. Marine fisheries globally provide approximately 260 million jobs, add more than US$270 billion to global GDP and provide 4.3 billion people with nutritious sources of protein14–17 . Industrial-scale fisheries are becoming more sustainable, but small-scale fisheries, mostly in developing countries, are declining and generally in poor condition. Sustainable fisheries are thus urgently needed to contribute to relieve poverty and deliver food security, healthy lives, economic growth and decent work, sustainable consumption and sustainable use of the ocean (Goals 1–3, 8, 12, 14). To achieve sustainable fisheries, innovative partnerships among managers, policymakers, fishers, civil society, other ocean stakeholders, and scientists are required to address existing perverse incentives, weak laws, poor enforcement, unreported catches, and widespread poaching. Reforms must also incentivize and empower fishers to be good stewards of the ocean. Policy reforms will require science, in the form of a better understanding of physical, chemical and ecological changes underway in the ocean. Research will be essential for determining and addressing how these changes are likely to affect fisheries. In addition, insights from economic and social science can provide understanding of the coupled human– natural system that fishing represents, as well as its links to other ocean uses such as aquaculture and renewable energy. Core elements of a successful strategy should include strong commitment and engagement by fishers, scientists, policymakers and civil society; firm policy mandates to end overfishing; a clear role for and process to use scientific information (for example, regarding sustainable catch levels and the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on fish stocks); strong attention to aligning economic and environmental incentives, that is, to incentivize fishermen to be good stewards. © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
5.
NATURE GEOSCIENCE |
VOL 8 | OCTOBER 2015 | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience 745 commentary for engagement with the public and policymakers or participation in assessments and transdisciplinary research efforts. Institutions that recognize the importance of these new ways of doing science will be better positioned to attract and retain cutting-edge scientists who are serving society in immediate, tangible ways. An academic culture that embraces and supports the full spectrum of research — starting from basic research, including use-inspired science and proceeding all the way to applied research — is sorely needed. Likewise, supporting transdisciplinary science in addition to more traditional approaches will draw talented students and funding, deliver useful knowledge to society, and enrich science. These cultural changes need to be addressed at the institutional level to form a strong scientific backbone for progress towards the SDGs. Earth scientists have great potential to contribute to the SDGs in myriad ways. We have outlined just a few possible routes: they can link existing knowledge and research to the SDGs, deliver new actionable and transdisciplinary research, expand capacity building, and engage with society and policymakers. We invite all scientists to take up this challenge, and make the world a better place. ❐ Jane Lubchenco, Allison K. Barner, Elizabeth B. Cerny-Chipman and Jessica N. Reimer are at the Department of Integrative Biology, Cordley 3029, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-2914, USA. e-mail: lubchenco@oregonstate.edu References 1. Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Annex A/69/L.85 (United Nations; 2015); http://go.nature.com/qcryu5 Sustainable early-career networks Florian Rauser, Vera Schemann and Sebastian Sonntag A truly global science community for the next generation of researchers will be essential if we are to tackle Earth system sustainability. Top-down support from funders should meet bottom-up initiatives — at a pace fast enough to meet that of early-career progress. T he importance of early-career networks has been declared to be high on the agenda of every significant funding agency and science coordination programme around the globe. Yet most existing initiatives for young scientists are limited in scope or reside within specific organisations, such as the American and European Geophysical Unions, the Future Earth programme or the World Climate Research Programme — and are thereby unwittingly splitting the field either geographically or by subject area (or both). However, the most pressing challenges for humanity span the entire Earth, and a multitude of scientific disciplines. To address Earth system science questions of the future, including those related to sustainable development, we need a global network of young scientists that covers all areas of the Earth system sciences and beyond. Such a network could support North–South interactions, interdisciplinary exchange with the social sciences and humanities, and career development, but only if it receives a basic level of secure funding for the foreseeable future. Mismatch of systems In response to the lack of a global, pan-organisational network for young geoscience researchers, we founded the Young Earth System Scientists (YESS) community (http://www.yess-community.org) as an independent bottom-up network for researchers in the Earth system sciences. It is open to anyone who researches processes and effects that influence the interaction between Earth and society: we believe that the challenges of a sustainable Earth require understanding of the full system of natural and human processes that defines the Earth system — and thus require a breadth and interdisciplinarity that goes beyond traditional subject area boundaries. In the past five years, the YESS community has grown from a local incubator in Germany to a global body with members in all continents. We have received flexible financial support from local partners, such as the Koerber Foundation and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, for special events or meetings, but we have operated so far without fixed institutional dependencies. We developed this community in a laborious and sometimes painful bottom-up process in order to establish an active global network for early-career scientists. In doing so, we also aimed to overcome ambivalent or competing relationships between the early-career branches of different organisations that had been mapped down from the senior level: segregation of early- career communities is endemic among top-down approaches. Despite some success and the tremendous growth of the Young Earth System Scientists 2. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 1737–1738 (2007). 3. Lubchenco, J. Science 279, 491–497 (1998). 4. Griggs, D. et al. Nature 495, 305–307 (2013). 5. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Ecosystems and Human Well-being (World Resources Institute, 2005). 6. Wood, S. L. DeClerck, F. Front. Ecol. Environ. 13, 123–123 (2015). 7. Liu, J. et al. Science 347, 1258832 (2015). 8. Guerry, A. D. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 7348–7355 (2015). 9. Lu, Y., Nakicenovic, N., Visbeck, M. Stevance, A.-S. Nature 520, 432–433 (2015). 10. Review of the Sustainble Development Goals: The Science Perspective (International Council for Science, Paris, 2015). 11. Stokes, D. E. Pasteur’s Quadrant – Basic Science and Technological Innovation (Brookings Inst. Press, 1997). 12. Lubchenco, J. et al. Ecology 72, 371–412 (1991). 13. National Research Council Increasing Capacity for Stewardship of Oceans and Coasts: A Priority for the 21st Century (National Academies Press, 2007). 14. Barner, A. et al. Oceanography 25, 252–263 (2015). 15. Teh, L. C. L. Sumaila, U. R. Fish Fish. 14, 77–88 (2013). 16. Hidden Harvest: The Global Contribution of Capture Fisheries (World Bank, 2012). 17. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2014 (FAO, 2014). Published online: 21 September 2015 © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved