Human actions lie at the heart of global environmental changes. Present changes in the Earth’s climate system are due, in large part, to a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere resulting from human activities. Accelerating losses of biodiversity arise from over-harvesting of animals and plants together with human actions leading to the destruction of habitats and the spread of invasive species. These and other similar activities are triggering changes that threaten social welfare, raising questions about the resilience of the current world system. The impacts of global environmental changes will depend upon human responses ranging from the actions of individuals to the creation of multilateral environmental agreements and the reactions of global civil society. Avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference in the Earth’s climate system, for example, will require far-reaching changes in the production and consumption of energy. It is no exaggeration to say that the Earth is moving out of the era known as the Holocene and into a new era best described as the Anthropocene.

Efforts to understand, and to respond effectively, to global environmental changes will require major inputs from the social sciences. Policy makers at all levels need better knowledge of the demographic, economic, institutional, and technological roots of behavior leading to increases in emissions of greenhouse gases and the destruction of ecosystems essential to the survival of species. They also need a clearer picture of the determinants of human responses – both individual and collective – to global developments like climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Above all, they need a better understanding of the dynamics of the coupled human-biophysical systems that give rise to global environmental changes and constrain efforts to deal with their consequences. Meeting these needs will require a substantial increase in the contributions of the social sciences to understanding global environmental changes. It is no longer sufficient to engage in research on the biophysical elements of complex and dynamic systems on the assumption that human actions are largely exogenous to the workings of these systems or constitute only occasional perturbations that can be set aside safely for purposes of analysis. What is required is a science of coupled systems or, as many now call them, socio-ecological systems in which the impacts of human actions are fully integrated into analyses of global environmental changes.

Two consequences of this realization are critical to the development of a Strategic Plan to guide the work of the International Human Dimensions Programme during its second decade. The Programme must develop more effective means to attract the attention of leading social scientists and to bring to bear the knowledge and methods of the social sciences in efforts to understand global environmental changes. It must also make better use of collaborative mechanisms, like the Earth System Science Partnership and projects carried out jointly with the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, to develop effective means of integrating the contributions of the social sciences and the natural sciences to meet the challenge of understanding global environmental changes. Together, these propositions have guided the preparation of this Strategic Plan, which is intended to serve as a blueprint or roadmap for the growth and development of research on the human dimensions of global environmental changes.

Initiating and managing cutting-edge research about global environmental changes is the primary function of the International Human Dimensions Programme. Lessons learned from the experience of the last decade have made it clear that there is a need to couple knowledge production with an active effort to develop capacity around the world to engage in this work and to stimulate a mutually rewarding dialogue with the policy community. The goal of this Strategic Plan is to chart an innovative course in all three areas and show how they can be integrated into a coherent program in which the whole is substantially greater than the sum of the parts.

Oran R. Young
Chair, IHDP Scientific Committee

Download: IHDP Strategic Plan 2007-2015
Download: First IHDP Strategic Plan - September 2007