Visiting Address:

Lund University, LUCSUS, Geocentrum 1, Sölvegatan 10, 4th floor, Lund, Sweden

Postal Address:

Lund University, P.O. Box 170, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

T: +46 (0)46 222 4701

F:  +46 (0)46 222 0475

www.earthsystemgovernance.org

Humans now influence all biological and physical systems of the planet. Almost no species, no land area, no part of the oceans has remained unaffected by the expansion of the human species. Human activity is generating change that extends well beyond natural variability and at rates that continue to accelerate. It is apparent that the institutions, organizations, and mechanisms by which humans currently govern their relationship with the natural environment and global biochemical systems are not only insufficient—but are also poorly understood. More effective governance systems are needed.

This is the rationale and challenge for the Earth System Governance Project that defines earth system governance as the interrelated and increasingly integrated system of formal and informal rules, rule-making systems, and actor-networks at all levels of human society (from local to global) that are set up to steer societies towards preventing, mitigating, and adapting to global and local environmental change and, in particular, earth system transformation, within the normative context of sustainable development.

The Earth System Governance Project, while being essentially a scientific effort, is also designed to assist policy responses to the pressing problems of earth system transformation. Moreover, the Earth System Governance Project is designed as nodal point within the global change research programmes to guide, organize and evaluate research on governance in the various projects, thus strengthening and incorporating governance as a crosscutting theme within the international human dimensions of global environmental change research community.

The International Project Office is hosted by  Lund University, Sweden. Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) and the Faculty of Social Science, represented by the Department of Political Science provide support to the International Project Office and facilitate university-wide research engagement.

Further information on the background, concept, and network of the project, as well as its publications and event announcements, is available at www.earthsystemgovernance.org.

IHDP Core Project

Currently in Implementation Phase