The International Council for Science (ICSU), within a global alliance of partners, has established a major 10-year initiative which aims to effectively deliver solution-oriented research on global environmental change for sustainability. This new international collaboration effort, Future Earth – research for global sustainability, (formerly knowned as the Earth System Sustainability Initiative -ESSI), will provide global coordination for science to respond to the most pressing societal and environmental challenges.
SSEESS strives to enhance Swedish involvement in international trans-disciplinary research efforts in Global Environmental Change, and will also provide a central, science-based, and independent source of information for Swedish policy and decision makers. SSEESS shall ensure that Swedish research in global environmental change issues is better integrated into international programs. Another aim is to facilitate collaboration and information exchange among researchers, institutions, programs, and across disciplines. SSEESS represents the Swedish National Global Environmental Change Committee.
In collaboration with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), SSEESS aims to provide links between Swedish scientists and science-based organizations and programmes in developing countries; linking global environmental change research with research on and for development. Strengthening the link between Swedish scientists and initiatives within the ICSU Regional Office of Africa (ICSU-ROA) is just one example.
Together with support from Sida, SSEESS seeks to promote participation of scientists from developing countries in conferences, workshops, panel discussions and other scientific events in Sweden, in order to encourage knowledge exchange and research collaboration.
SSEESS organizes a regular series of workshops to explore the relationships between the research, private and policy sectors on global environmental change (GEC) issues. We use different topics and issues in the GEC domain to discuss how these sectors can work together towards securing a sustainable future.
As part of our work to better link Swedish research to international global change programs, we visit Swedish universities and other research bodies to inform about the potentials of and for international research collaboration. We also seek direct involvement with Swedish scientists to assist with relevant contacts and networking support at individual and project levels. If you would like SSEESS to visit your research group or give a seminar at your university or organisation, do not hesitate to contact us!