Future Earth supports 27 Global Research Networks that together address the complex interactions between natural, social and technological systems, and how those interactions affect, across time and space, the planet’s life support systems, socio economic development, and human wellbeing.
Some of these networks were established under the support of previous global environmental change programmes: DIVERSITAS, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme(IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP).
These networks have a long history of generating research at the forefront of sustainability science, in some cases stretching back decades. These programs played a critical role in defining, advancing and forming the field of Earth system science – which considers how all of the parts of the planet, including human societies, connect to and shape each other.
Future Earth has also developed new networks to fill in critical knowledge gaps in line with the Future Earth 2025 vision and provides more opportunities for cross Global Research Network collaborations.
Together with the Future Earth secretariat and its partners, the Global Research Networks bring together innovators from academia, policy, business, civil society and more to address the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges. Together, they generate the multifaceted knowledge needed to inform solutions for complex societal issues.
The objectives of the Global Research Networks are to:
- Identify and respond to society’s needs for scientific knowledge to successfully undertake the transformation to sustainability
- Generate integrated knowledge that is relevant to decision-makers
- Develop and cultivate research that is solution-driven, inter- and trans-disciplinary
- Add value to research that is or has been carried out already