The emergence and evolution of Earth System Science

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordEarth System Science (ESS) is a rapidly emerging transdisciplinary endeavour aimed at understanding the structure and functioning of the Earth as a complex, adaptive system. Here, we discuss the emergence and evolution of ESS, outlining the importance of these developments in advancing our understanding of global change. Inspired by early work on biosphere–geosphere interactions and by novel perspectives such as the Gaia hypothesis, ESS emerged in the 1980s following demands for a new ‘science of the Earth’. The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme soon followed, leading to an unprecedented level of international commitment and disciplinary integration. ESS has produced new concepts and frameworks central to the global-change discourse, including the Anthropocene, tipping elements and planetary boundaries. Moving forward, the grand challenge for ESS is to achieve a deep integration of biophysical processes and human dynamics to build a truly unified understanding of the Earth System

Network of Cooperation Between Science Organizations

Appreciation of the fact that our planet functions as a system, i.e., the Earth System (ES), defined as “the interacting physical, chemical and biological global-scale cycles (often called biogeochemical cycles) and energy fluxes which provide the conditions necessary for life on this planet” (Oldfield F, Steffen W, The earth system. In: Steffen W, Sanderson A, Tyson PD et al (eds) Global change and the earth system: a planet under pressure. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg/New York, p 7, 2004) has emerged over the last approximately three decades. By definition, the study of this system – Earth System science – then relies on the convergence of traditional natural science disciplines. Furthermore, however, because a salient feature of the ES is that “human beings, their societies and their activities are an integral component of the Earth System, and are not an outside force perturbing an otherwise natural system” (Oldfield F, SteffenW, The earth system. In: SteffenW, Sanderson A, Tyson PD et al (eds) Global change and the earth system: a planet under pressure. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg/New York, p 7, 2004), Earth System science also relies on the convergence of disciplines from the social sciences and humanities. This convergence of disciplines has led to a current understanding of the function and behavior of our planet – as well as the role of human activities in that function – that would not have been possible using a traditional disciplinary approach. This chapter examines the role of international scientific networks in catalyzing the disciplinary convergence necessary for Earth System science to evolve and concludes that these networks have likely been of pivotal importance for this convergence