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Earth System Governance Project

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Earth System Governance Project
Formation2009; 15 years ago (2009) (planning phase 2006-2008)
FounderOriginally developed under the auspices of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change
TypeNonprofit organization, network or alliance
FocusStimulate a vibrant research community for earth system governance
HeadquartersUtrecht University, The Netherlands (location of secretariat from 2019 to 2024)
Region served
Worldwide
MethodNetworking, task forces, working groups, annual conferences and workshops, publication series, research projects
Chair
Cristina Inoue and Jonathan Pickering (Scientific Steering Committee with rotating co-chairs)
FundingVarious (for example Lund University, Utrecht University, Earth System Governance Foundation)
Websitewww.earthsystemgovernance.org

The Earth System Governance Project is a research network or alliance that builds on the work from research centers and researchers studying earth system governance. It is a long-term, interdisciplinary social science research alliance originally developed under the auspices of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change.[1] The network started in January 2009.[1] Over time, it has evolved into a broader research alliance that builds on an international network of research centers, lead faculty and research fellows. It is now the largest social science research network in the area of governance and global environmental change.[2]

The secretariat, called International Project Office, has been hosted by Utrecht University, The Netherlands from 2019 to 2024.[3][4] Previously it was at United Nations University in Bonn, Germany (from 2009 to 2012) and Lund University, Sweden (from 2012 to 2018).

Aims

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The Earth System Governance Project aims to "Expand the global mobilization of earth system governance researchers; stimulate and facilitate research collaborations; Inform and advise at the science-policy interface."[4]: 5 

Its mission is to "to stimulate a vibrant, pluralistic, and relevant research community with the vision to understand, imagine and help realize just and sustainable futures".[4]: 5 

The project also aims to examine problems of the global commons, but also local problems such as air pollution, water pollution, desertification and soil degradation.[5] Due to natural interdependencies, local environmental pollution can be transformed into changes of the global system that affect other localities. Therefore, the Earth System Governance Project looks at institutions and governance processes both local and globally.[5]

Structure

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Members

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The Earth System Governance Project currently (as of 2024) has 557 members representing 57 different countries, from all continents. There are around 2500 scholars who engage with the network indirectly via social media.[6] This global network of experts consists of people from different academic and cultural backgrounds.

Secretariat

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The secretariat, called International Project Office is hosted at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at the Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.[3] It usually has three staff members.

The secretariat provides essential support to ensure the successful functioning of this virtual international network. It is the "focal point for management and administration, as well as for the communication and network development efforts of the Earth System Governance Project".

Scientific steering committee

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Since 2014, the Earth System Governance Project operates under the direction of a Scientific Steering Committee. The role of the Scientific Steering Committee is to guide the implementation of the Earth System Governance Science Plan.[7] The committee currently has 13 members (as of 2024), for example representatives of the main Earth System Governance Research Centres.[7]

Science and implementation plans

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An international group of experts came together in 2004 in the "Scientific Planning Committee", chaired by Prof. Frank Biermann. This committee wrote the "Science Plan". They began working on it in 2004, gathering input through various drafts discussed at global events and conferences. Many scholars and practitioners contributed ideas, advice, and feedback.[1]: 7  In 2009, the "Science and Implementation Plan" of the Earth System Governance Project was published.[1] In this plan, the conceptual problems, cross-cutting themes, flagship projects, and its policy relevance are outlined in detail.

Since 2014 first discussions were held at conferences around new directions and a new science and implementation plan. In 2016 lead authors were selected and invited. After reviewing by the Earth System Governance community, the final updated plan was launched at the 2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance.[8]: 8 

Funding sources

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The National Science Foundation of the United Sates provided about US$15,000 each year since 2015 via Future Earth, an international research program. This money supports annual meetings of the scientific steering committee.[9]

The project does not charge membership fees. It gets financial support by several universities. There is also a foundation, the Earth System Governance Foundation. This is a "non-profit charitable organization under Dutch law, created to help channel support from a variety of sources to the earth system governance research community".[10]

Funding for the secretariat has been provided from three universities so far who have each hosted the secretariat for several years:

  • 2009: in the first year, the secretariat was located within the secretariat of the International Human Dimensions Programme[9]
  • 2009 to 2011: United Nations University in Bonn, Germany
  • 2011 to 2018: Lund University, Sweden (with support by the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)[9]
  • 2019 to 2024: Utrecht University in The Netherlands (with core funding by Utrecht's Faculty of Geosciences)[9]

In 2023, the Earth System Governance Project launched an open call inviting institutions to submit bids to become the next host of the secretariat.[citation needed] Several institutions have indicated their interest to explore the prospect to either host the secretariat or to provide in-kind support to a decentralized secretariat model. This could be virtually based at multiple institutions (e.g. through dedicating a portion of existing staff member time towards IPO activities). A subgroup of the ESG Project's Scientific Steering Committee is currently in discussion with institutions to assess the bids.

Activities

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Global networking

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The project facilitates a global alliance of research centres, namely the University of Ghana; the University of Brasília; Utrecht University; the German Development Institute; the CETIP Network; VU University Amsterdam; the University of Amsterdam; the Australian National University; Chiang Mai University; Colorado State University; Lund University; the University of East Anglia; the University of Oldenburg; the Stockholm Resilience Centre; the University of Toronto; the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Yale University. In addition, strong networks on earth system governance research exist in China, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia.

Publications

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There are four major publication series of the Earth System Governance Project:

  • The Journal Earth System Governance was launched in 2019 (an open access publication with Elsevier). There are 24 volumes as of August 2024.[11] The journal is open access and designed to integrate discourses from local to global in governance research, with a focus on earth-system processes.
  • The book series on earth system governance by the MIT Press is about the research objections of earth system governance. Interdisciplinary in scope, broad in governance levels and the use of methods, the books are aimed at investigating earth governance systems and finding conceivable amendments. They are hence addressing the scientific community and professionals in politics.[12][13] There are 19 books in this series so far (as of July 2024).
  • The Earth System Governance Project is also collaborating with Cambridge University Press to summarize the research conclusions of 10 years Earth System Governance Project in 2019.[14] Eleven books were published in this series.
  • The Cambridge Elements series on Earth System Governance focuses on current governance research relevant for practitioners and scientists. The series is aimed at providing ideas for policy improvements and analyses of socio-ecological systems by interdisciplinary and influential scholars.[15]

Organizing conferences

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Since 2007, the Earth System Governance Project has organized major scientific conferences addressing the topics of governance and global environmental change, including:

  • 2007 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. 'Earth System Governance: Theories and Strategies for Sustainability'[16]
  • 2008 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimension of Global Environmental Change. 'Long-Term Policies: Governing Social-Ecological Change'[17]
  • 2009 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. 'Earth System Governance: People, Places, and the Planet'[18]
  • 2010 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. 'Social dimensions of environmental change and governance'[19]
  • 2011 Colorado Conference on Earth System Governance. 'Crossing Boundaries and Building Bridges'[20]
  • 2012 Lund Conference on Earth System Governance. 'Towards Just and Legitimate Earth System Governance'
  • 2013 Tokyo Conference on Earth System Governance. 'Complex Architectures, Multiple Agents'[21]
  • 2014 Norwich Conference on Earth System Governance. 'Allocation and Access in the Anthropocene'[citation needed]
  • 2015 Canberra Conference on Earth System Governance. 'Democracy and Resilience in the Anthropocene'[citation needed]
  • 2016 Nairobi Conference on Earth System Governance. 'Confronting Complexity and Inequality'[citation needed]
  • 2017 Lund Conference on Earth System Governance. 'Allocation & Access in a Warming and Increasingly Unequal World'[22] This conference was co-hosted by Lund University during its 350-year celebration.[23]
  • 2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance. 'Governing Global Sustainability in a Complex World'[24][25]
  • 2019 Mexico Conference on Earth System Governance. 'Urgent Transformations and Earth System Governance: Towards Sustainability and Justice'[26]
  • In 2020, Brastislava was meant to be the host, but the conference was rescheduled for 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[27]
  • 2022 Toronto Conference on Bridging Sciences and Societies for Sustainability Transformations[28]
  • 2023 in Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Radboud Conference on Earth System Governance[29]
  • 2024 online only event: Earth System Governance Forum on 'Re-imagining Earth System Governance in an Era of Polycrisis'[30][31]

Organizing task forces

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The Earth System Governance Project organizes task forces, which are international networks of senior and early career scholars with a series of working groups focused on particular ideas or idea clusters. There are currently seven Task Forces:[32]

  1. Planetary Justice Research of ESG
  2. New Technologies of ESG
  3. Ocean Governance of ESG
  4. Conceptual Foundations of ESG
  5. Earth System Law of ESG[33]
  6. Methodology for ESG Research[34]
  7. Accountability in Global Environmental Governance

Interacting with affiliated projects

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The ESG Project interacts with many affiliated projects.[35] Examples include Norms of Global Governance Initiative (NGGI),[36] Improving Earth Systems Governance through 'Purpose Ecosystems',[37] Governing the EU's Climate and Energy Transition in Turbulent Times (GOVTRAN),[38] and Global Goals,[39]

Further project examples are the ReSET Programme 'Governance of Global Environmental Change',[40] Governance 'of' and 'for' the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG),[41] Climate-Smart Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa.[42]

Impacts

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The Earth System Governance Project is a scientific effort, but also aims to assist policy responses to the pressing problems of earth system transformation.[citation needed]

Policy influence

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In 2011, the Earth System Governance Project launched an initiative on International Environmental Governance. This initiative aims to provide a forum for discussion of current and ongoing research on international environmental governance and the institutional framework for sustainable development, in the period leading up to the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, also known as Rio 20. In addition, the initiative aims to target decision-makers and to contribute not just to a better understanding but also to actual improvements in international environmental governance towards an institutional framework that enables sustainable development.[citation needed]

For example, in the run-up to the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, a group of twenty Nobel laureates called for "strengthening of earth system governance" as a priority for coherent global action

In 2011, more than twenty Nobel laureates, several leading policy-makers and some of the world's most renowned thinkers and experts on global sustainability met for the Third Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.[43] The Nobel Laureate Symposium concluded with the Stockholm Memorandum,[44] calling for "strengthening of earth system governance as a priority for coherent global action".[45] This memorandum has been submitted to the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability appointed by the UN Secretary General and fed into the preparations for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio 20).

In 2012, 33 leading scholars from the Earth System Governance Project wrote a blueprint for reform of strengthening earth system governance, which was published in Science.[46]

In 2014, the then project's chair Frank Biermann was invited to speak in the United Nations General Assembly during an Interactive Dialogue on Harmony with Nature[47] which fed into the Harmony with Nature report of the Secretary-General of the UN.[48]

There is widespread support for the Earth System Governance Project in the scientific community, which is reflected in the size of the research network and in various publications by experts.[49][50]: 210 

Challenges

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The ongoing funding of the secretariat (called International Project Office, or IPO, in this case) is a challenge from time to time, just like it is for many other knowledge networks or alliances. The 2022 Annual Report of the network stated: "We are also exploring possibilities for the next institutional home of the IPO as our funding partnership comes to a close with Utrecht University in 2023".[4]: 15 

In an internal report of the International Human Dimensions Programme in 2008 it was stated that the steering group of the Earth System Governance Project was too much dominated by experts from OECD countries.[51] This was quickly rectified. The scientific steering committee now has 13 persons from diverse disciplines and geographical regions.[4]: 7 [7]

History

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In 2001, the four then active global change research programmes (DIVERSITAS, International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), World Climate Research Programme, and International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) agreed to intensify co-operation through setting up an overarching Earth System Science Partnership. The research communities represented in this partnership said in the "2001 Amsterdam Declaration on Global Change" that the earth system now operates "well outside the normal state exhibited over the past 500,000 years" and that "human activity is generating change that extends well beyond natural variability—in some cases, alarmingly so—and at rates that continue to accelerate."[52] To cope with this challenge, the four global change research programmes have called "urgently" for strategies for Earth System management.[1]

In March 2007, the Scientific Committee of the IHDP mandated the drafting of the Science Plan of the Earth System Governance Project. The IHDP was the overarching social science programme in the field at that time. For this drafting work a Scientific Planning Committee was appointed and chaired by Professor Frank Biermann, who was affiliated with VU University Amsterdam. This committee drafted in 2006-2008 the ESG Project's first Science and Implementation Plan. Biermann also became in 2009 the chair of the Scientific Steering Committee, until he stepped down in 2018. Since then, the Project is led by a Scientific Steering Committee that operates with rotating co-chairs.[citation needed]

The Earth System Governance Project builds on the results of an earlier long-term research programme, the IHDP core project "Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change" (IDGEC).[53][54]: 235  In 2009, the Earth System Governance Project began.

After the termination of the IHDP in 2014, the activities of the Earth System Governance research alliance have been supported by a Scientific Steering Committee.

In 2015 the Earth system governance Project became part of the overarching international research platform Future Earth.[55] However, links between Future Earth and the Earth System Governance Project have remained weak on purpose, as the network stress autonomy over integration.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Biermann, Frank, Michele M. Betsill, Joyeeta Gupta, Norichika Kanie, Louis Lebel, Diana Liverman, Heike Schroeder, and Bernd Siebenhüner, with contributions from Ken Conca, Leila da Costa Ferreira, Bharat Desai, Simon Tay, and Ruben Zondervan (2009) Earth System Governance: People, Places and the Planet. Science and Implementation Plan of the Earth System Governance Project. Earth System Governance Report 1, IHDP Report 20. Bonn, IHDP: The Earth System Governance Project. Archived 7 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Dryzek, John S. (2016). "Institutions for the Anthropocene: Governance in a Changing Earth System". British Journal of Political Science. 46 (4): 937–956. doi:10.1017/S0007123414000453. ISSN 0007-1234.
  3. ^ a b "International Project Office". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e Earth System Governance Project (2022) Annual Report 2022 of Earth System Governance Project, University of Utrecht
  5. ^ a b "What is Earth System Governance? | Future Earth". Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  6. ^ Earth System Governance Project (2023) Annual Report 2023 of Earth System Governance Project, University of Utrecht
  7. ^ a b c "Scientific Steering Committee (SSC)". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  8. ^ Earth System Governance Project. 2018. Earth System Governance. Science and Implementation Plan of the Earth System Governance Project. Utrecht, the Netherlands
  9. ^ a b c d e Biermann, Frank; Betsill, Michele M; Burch, Sarah; Dryzek, John; Gordon, Christopher; Gupta, Aarti; Gupta, Joyeeta; Inoue, Cristina; Kalfagianni, Agni; Kanie, Norichika; Olsson, Lennart; Persson, Åsa; Schroeder, Heike; Scobie, Michelle (2019). "The Earth System Governance Project as a network organization: a critical assessment after ten years". Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 39: 17–23. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2019.04.004.
  10. ^ "Earth System Governance Foundation". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  11. ^ "Journal Earth System Governance". Science Direct. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  12. ^ "MIT Press Book Series Archives". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  13. ^ "Earth System Governance". MIT Press. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  14. ^ "Earth and Environmental Sciences". Cambridge Core. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  15. ^ "Earth System Governance". Cambridge Core. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  16. ^ "2007 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. 'Earth System Governance: Theories and Strategies for Sustainability'". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  17. ^ "2008 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimension of Global Environmental Change. 'Long-Term Policies: Governing Social-Ecological Change'". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  18. ^ "2009 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. 'Earth System Governance: People, Places, and the Planet'". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  19. ^ "2010 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. 'Social dimensions of environmental change and governance'". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  20. ^ "Colorado Conference on Earth System Governance: 'Crossing Boundaries and Building Bridges'". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  21. ^ "Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference: Complex Architectures, Multiple Agents". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  22. ^ "2017 Lund Conference on Earth System Governance – Allocation & Access in a Warming and Increasingly Unequal World". Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  23. ^ 2017 Lund Conference on Earth System Governance
  24. ^ "2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance". 28 November 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  25. ^ "2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  26. ^ "2019 Mexico Conference on Earth System Governance". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  27. ^ "2021 Bratislava Conference on Earth System Governance". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  28. ^ "Programme". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  29. ^ "The 2023 Radboud Conference – Key figures, session recordings and photos". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  30. ^ "2024 ESG Forum on 'Re-imagining Earth System Governance in an Era of Polycrisis'". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  31. ^ "2024 ESG Forum: "Re-imagining Earth System Governance in an Era of Polycrisis"". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  32. ^ "Taskforces". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  33. ^ Kim, Rakhyun E.; Blanchard, Catherine; Kotzé, Louis J. (1 January 2022). "Law, systems, and Planet Earth: Editorial". Earth System Governance. 11: 100127. Bibcode:2022ESGov..1100127K. doi:10.1016/j.esg.2021.100127. ISSN 2589-8116. S2CID 245312306.
  34. ^ "Methodology for Earth System Governance Research". PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  35. ^ "Affiliated projects". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  36. ^ "Norms of Global Governance Initiative (NGGI)". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  37. ^ "Improving Earth Systems Governance through "Purpose Ecosystems"". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  38. ^ "Governing the EU's Climate and Energy Transition in Turbulent Times (GOVTRAN)". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  39. ^ "GLOBALGOALS – Research for Sustainability". Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  40. ^ "ReSET Programme "Governance of Global Environmental Change"". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  41. ^ "Governance 'of' and 'for' the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  42. ^ "Climate-Smart Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa". Earth System Governance. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  43. ^ Folke, Carl; Rockström, Johan (2011). "3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability: Transforming the World in an Era of Global Change". Ambio. 40 (7): 717–718. Bibcode:2011Ambio..40..717F. doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0190-0. ISSN 0044-7447. PMC 3357755. PMID 22338711.
  44. ^ "Stockholm Memorandum: Tipping the Scales towards Sustainability". Archived from the original on 11 December 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  45. ^ Biermann, Frank (2022). "Chapter 21: Earth system governance – World politics in the post-environmental age". In Harris, Paul G. (ed.). Routledge handbook of global environmental politics. Routledge handbooks (2nd ed.). London ; New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-1-003-00887-3.
  46. ^ Biermann, F.; Abbott, K.; Andresen, S.; Bäckstrand, K.; Bernstein, S.; Betsill, M. M.; Bulkeley, H.; Cashore, B.; Clapp, J.; Folke, C.; Gupta, A.; Gupta, J.; Haas, P. M.; Jordan, A.; Kanie, N. (16 March 2012). "Navigating the Anthropocene: Improving Earth System Governance". Science. 335 (6074): 1306–1307. Bibcode:2012Sci...335.1306B. doi:10.1126/science.1217255. ISSN 0036-8075.
  47. ^ Earth System Governance TV (23 October 2014). Frank Biermann gives plenary presentation in UN General Assembly April 22, 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2024 – via YouTube.
  48. ^ UNGA – United Nations General Assembly (2014) Harmony with Nature. Report of the Secretary-General. United Nations Doc. A/69/322 of 18 August 2014.
  49. ^ Myanna Lahsen. 2007. Earth System Governance: Research in Aid of Global Environmental Sustainability. Global Change NewsLetter No. 70
  50. ^ Manton, Michael; Stevenson, Linda Anne, eds. (2014). Climate in Asia and the Pacific: Security, Society and Sustainability. Advances in Global Change Research. Vol. 56. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. Bibcode:2014caps.book.....M. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7338-7. ISBN 978-94-007-7337-0.
  51. ^ [1] Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 1st Earth System Governance Scientific Steering Committee Meeting
  52. ^ Pronk, Jan (2002), Steffen, Will; Jäger, Jill; Carson, David J.; Bradshaw, Clare (eds.), "The Amsterdam Declaration on Global Change", Challenges of a Changing Earth, Global Change – the IGBP Series, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 207–208, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-19016-2_40, ISBN 978-3-642-62407-0, retrieved 22 July 2024
  53. ^ Young, Oran R.; King, Leslie A.; Schroeder, Heike, eds. (2008). Institutions and environmental change: principal findings, applications, and research frontiers. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-24057-4. OCLC 212014719.
  54. ^ Shi, Peijun; Jaeger, Carlo; Ye, Qian, eds. (2013). Integrated risk governance: science plan and case studies of large-scale disasters. IHDP-integrated risk governance project series. Berlin ; New York: Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-31640-1.
  55. ^ "ESG – Earth System Governance | Future Earth". Retrieved 18 July 2024.
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