SGER: Expert Roundtable on Critical Research Priorities in Sustainable Development

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to hold a one-day focused Roundtable taking the form of a structured discussion among a diverse group of experts in the social, natural and applied sciences who are leading innovators in the study and practice of sustainable development. The objective is to take the first critical step toward defining the key elements of a research program in sustainable development at the National Science Foundation. By development the researcher means the challenges of spreading social, political and economic opportunity to the entire global community, particularly the most needy. By prefacing with sustainable the research refers to the objective of managing the world's development in a manner consistent with the continued healthy functioning of the Earth's ecosystems, oceans, atmosphere and climate. The researcher contends that few if any parts of the Earth today can be thought of as following a development trajectory that is, or should be sustained. For far too many people---Paul collier's Bottom Billion - - - development is in reverse, and that must not be sustained. For the top billion, aggressive development threatens the basic natural systems needed for growth. The researcher argues that those in between desire the prosperity of those at the top, but seem destined to inherit the same problems. The convener of the Roundtable argues that throughout the range of human development, including the extremes of poverty an prosperity, the future will be dominated by a suite of complex, non-linear codependencies between human wellbeing and the state of natural systems assets. Global climate change adds one new and potentially overwhelming perturbation. Understanding these complex interactions holds the key to finding a pathway toward sustainable development; a pathway that is presently unknown. While there are immense practical challenges involved, there are also a suite of fundamental unknowns in the basic processes of social dynamics and natural system functioning and their interactions that can only be answered through a program of basic research. The purpose of the Roundtable discussion is to formulate the elements of a research program that will begin to answer the major challenges of sustainable development.