This past week in London, scientists from a broad range of disciplines convened at the Planet Under Pressure Conference. Global environmental change was the topic of the event, with new integration of behavioral and social science into a research initiative dubbed Future Earth.
The Future Earth initiative acknowledges the human domination of Earth systems or the Anthropocene, it forecasts profound and destructive impacts to human well being due to global change, and indicates a new active role for science to inform and direct society. Among the challenges are solutions to address water shortages, food security, and human health.
Three priority research areas for this interdisciplinary approach are:
• Changing how urban and national infrastructure is planned and developed to deal with environmental change
• Improving forecasting and response to the risks of climate change to prevent further losses, and to reduce the economic impact
• Implementing full-cost accounting for planet-warming carbon emissions, in order to move toward a “decarbonized” economy
Read more about this initiative, including a framing document, here.
