SGER: Expert Roundtable on Critical Research Priorities in Sustainable Development

该项目的目的是举行为期一天的重点圆桌会议，在社会科学、自然科学和应用科学领域的各种专家之间进行有组织的讨论，这些专家是可持续发展研究和实践的主要创新者。目标是迈出关键的第一步，确定国家科学基金会可持续发展研究项目的关键要素。研究者所说的发展是指将社会、政治和经济机会传播给整个全球社会，特别是最需要帮助的人的挑战。研究以可持续为开头，是指以符合地球生态系统、海洋、大气和气候持续健康运作的方式管理世界发展的目标。这位研究人员认为，当今地球上几乎没有任何地方可以被认为是在遵循一种可以持续或应该持续的发展轨迹。对太多的人来说——保罗·科利尔（Paul collier）的《底层十亿人》（Bottom十亿）——发展是倒退的，这种情况决不能持续下去。对于最富裕的10亿人来说，激进的发展威胁着增长所需的基本自然系统。这位研究人员认为，那些处于中间地位的人渴望顶层人士的繁荣，但似乎注定要继承同样的问题。圆桌会议的召集人认为，在人类发展的整个范围内，包括极端的贫困和繁荣，未来将由人类福祉与自然系统资产状态之间的一系列复杂的非线性相互依赖关系主导。全球气候变化增加了一个新的、可能势不可挡的扰动。了解这些复杂的相互作用是找到可持续发展道路的关键；一条目前未知的道路。虽然涉及到巨大的实际挑战，但在社会动态和自然系统功能的基本过程以及它们之间的相互作用中，也有一系列基本的未知因素，这些问题只能通过基础研究项目来解决。圆桌会议讨论的目的是制定一项研究计划的要素，该计划将开始应对可持续发展的主要挑战。

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.