Addressing key sustainability and governance challenges requires inter- and transdisciplinary approaches. Future Earth works to advance and answer basic scientific questions regarding global environmental change, develop ways to integrate natural and social sciences, and strengthen the science-policy interface through transdisciplinary approaches.

In 2022, Future Earth opened a call to its community for a Special Issue in the journal Global Sustainability. “Charting the Course for the Next Decade of Sustainability Research and Innovation” is the Special Collection that emerged from that call. Featuring 12 manuscripts, it explores themes like cutting-edge sustainability knowledge, interdisciplinary methods, cultural and developmental issues, and strategies for sustainable transformations. This collection offers a forward-looking view on critical research to guide policy and funding for a sustainable world. Below you will find links to each paper and references.

Several contributions in the Special Collection expand the frontiers of scientific understanding and point towards the directions we aim to pursue tomorrow. These efforts have the potential to propel novel scientific advancements in sustainability science and influence the trajectory of funding allocations and policymaking.

The contributions highlight the expertise within Future Earth, covering natural and social systems and the interactions between them.

In October 2024, Future Earth and Global Sustainability hosted a webinar to discuss the findings featured in the Special Collection. You can watch the webinar below.

Key topics included:

• Turning climate science into climate action
• The future of knowledge co-production in the Anthropocene
• Research governance on the frontiers of the Sustainable Development Goals
• Transdisciplinary collaboration in planetary health
  
• Exploring how decades of research are accelerating transformations to global sustainability through innovative research and policy integration.

Question 1: Where are we and where are we going in addressing the first SDG (Eradicate poverty) considering the worsening economic status (inflation) of most countries especially in Southeast Asia.

Answer: Difficult to answer – but in general it is obvious that we are not on track to achieve the SDGs – also because of the difficult geopolitical environment. Unfortunately, we are even more off track than 4 years ago.

Question 2: Assuming that we will fall short of achieving the SDGs by 2030, will the SDGs be modified in any way? And, how can we support countries’ existing SDGs monitoring systems and means of implementation to achieve multiple, interrelated goals, taking advantage of synergies and using transdisciplinary approaches?

Answer: According to recent reports, it is indeed extremely unlikely that any of the SDGs will be met fully by 2030. My personal assumption is that the timeframe of the SDGs will be extended beyond 2030 with hopefully some acceleration of the ambitions. The question how countries enhance their national strategies to advance the SDGs are indeed key.

Question 3: It was mentioned the importance of being able to communicate across disciplines, basically make yourself understood. Sometimes I feel that very good research is well expressed (even I understand it), but it is not so explicit who it is directed to, and who is supposed to act on the research. This is perhaps a bit contentious, but it would be interesting to hear your view on if you think there are merits in more clearly suggesting a receiver of research results more explicitly.

Answer: This is an interesting point. Certainly there is a gap between research results and their interpretation and implementation in specific arenas. Its important that projects keep going until the results have been disseminated properly to those who need them, in a format that is useful to them.

Question 4: In my PhD defense, where I presented a novel systems theory of sustainability in regard to global ecology, all went well until the last question which was “how will you deal with the sociology of this”. I had no answer. I’d like to ask the same question here. It is common to say that “we” must do this or that good idea, but looking at world affairs it seems there is no “we” that can decide. I think the answer has to be focused on intervention strategies. How do we answer this question?

Answer: The science behind the causes, and potential impacts, of many sustainability science issues (eg climate change, biodiversity loss) is clear, but the challenge has been around behaviour change, and as the questioner asks, sociological issues. Science does not exist in a vacuum , and economics, politics and societal behaviour all impact on what we do with the science. Despite all the evidence for environmental issues, it has been very difficult to encourage social change within societies across the globe.

Question 5: How can we address the diversity of teams and knowledges considering that for many marginalised potential contributors (academic and otherwise) access to spaces transdisciplinary research spaces is limited?

Answer: It’s important to recognise the power dynamics within td projects-in terms of who is invited to join, and how interactions and dialogue among the team are supported. This is where facilitators can be so important, to ensure Everton’s voice, and perspective, is hear and valued. There are sometimes tacit assumptions about a hierarchy of different disciplines, as well as views on whether natural or social science should be leading the project. Further, questions about how you identify appropriate stakeholders and non-academic partners in the research. Our paper (Harris, Lyon, Sioen and E-bike, 2024) talks about projects allowing time to reflect, and revise if necessary, their plans as the project goes forward, even allowing ‘room to fail’ and then learn lessons from that experience.

Papers in the Collection:

• Towards integration? Considering social aspects with large-scale computational models for nature-based solutions
• Scoping article: research frontiers on the governance of the Sustainable Development Goals
• Recentering evolution for sustainability science
• Transdisciplinarity, tempocoupling, and the role of culture in zoonosis research
• Research into land atmosphere interactions supports the sustainable development agenda
• Working with the tensions of transdisciplinary research: a review and agenda for the future of knowledge co-production in the Anthropocene
• Towards a practice framework for transdisciplinary collaboration in planetary health
• Leveraging capacity for transformative sustainability science: a theory of change from the Future Earth Pathways Initiative
• From climate science to climate action
• Three perspectives on enabling local actions for the sustainable development goals (SDGs)
• Twenty-five rice research priorities for sustainable rice systems by 2050
• Why Not In My Backyard? (W-NIMBY): the potential of design-driven environmental infrastructure to foster greater acceptance among host communities
• Reflections on the past and future of whole Earth system science
• The surge for local innovative institutions for transformation: community-based monitoring in the Andes
• Charting the course for the next decade of sustainability research and innovation

Editorial Board:

• Sirkku Juhola, University of Helsinki, Future Earth Emergent Risks and Extreme Events Global Research Network
• Steven McGreevy, University of Twente, Future Earth Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production Global Research Network
• Faten Attig-Bahar, University of Carthage, Food Water Energy Nexus Knowledge-Action Network
• Giles B. Sioen, Sustainable Society Design Center – The University of Tokyo, Future Earth Global Secretariat
• Judit Ungvari, George Mason University, Future Earth Global Secretariat