History is full of stories of how environmental stress can hasten social and economic collapse. However, if you take a closer look, you find that the notion that environmental stress leads inevitably and directly to social collapse masks a more complicated, and often more hopeful model. For example, extreme drought has triggered both social collapse and ingenious management of water through irrigation. Human responses to the environment lead to the development of a complex web of multidirectional connections in time and space. This project will map the integrated record of biophysical and human system change on the Earth over the last 200 years. It will understand the social-ecological system models against this integrated history. Based on these historical insights,it will also develop credible options for the future of humanity.

IHDP Core Project

Currently in Initiation Phase