SGER: Expert Roundtable on Critical Research Priorities in Sustainable Development

该项目的目的是举行一次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的不同专家小组之间进行有条理的讨论，他们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计划的关键要素。通过发展，研究人员意味着向整个全球社会，特别是最有需要的人传播社会、政治和经济机会的挑战。这项研究以可持续发展一词开头，指的是以与地球生态系统、海洋、大气和气候持续健康运行相一致的方式管理世界发展的目标。研究人员认为，今天地球上几乎没有部分地区可以被认为遵循着正在或应该持续的发展轨迹。对于太多的人来说---保罗·科利尔最底层的10亿人---发展是相反的，而且这种情况不能持续。对于最富有的10亿人来说，激进的发展威胁到增长所需的基本自然系统。这位研究人员认为，介于两者之间的那些人渴望顶层的繁荣，但似乎注定要继承同样的问题。圆桌会议的召集人认为，在整个人类发展范围内，包括极端的贫困和繁荣，未来将由人类福祉和自然系统资产状态之间的一系列复杂、非线性的相互依存关系主导。全球气候变化增加了一个新的、潜在的压倒性扰动。了解这些复杂的相互作用是找到一条可持续发展道路的关键；这条道路目前尚不为人所知。尽管存在巨大的现实挑战，但在社会动力学和自然系统功能及其相互作用的基本过程中也存在一系列基本未知因素，只有通过基础研究计划才能得到答案。圆桌讨论的目的是制定一项研究计划的要素，开始回答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.