Japan Geoscience Union

Global environmental research is being restructured under the framework of Future Earth, i.e. a grand international initiative for sustainability. Geoscience specializes in physical phenomena and human-nature interaction on the surface of the Earth, including natural disasters. Geoscience as such discipline has a special duty of contributing widely to Future Earth. IYGU (International Year of Global Understanding, 2016), a partner of Future Earth, is a scientific/educational initiative which is intended to contribute to Future Earth through its grass-route bottom-up practices. It offers a unique opportunity to geoscientists who are willing to contribute to Future Earth through its research, education and data programmes, as well as its symposia and publications.
Yuan-Tseh Lee, the former ICSU President, says “sustainable development is a global challenge, but solving it requires transforming the local – the way each of us lives, consumes, and works. While global negotiations on climate attack the sustainability crisis from above, the IYGU complements them beautifully with coordinated solutions from below.”
The paper discusses how the research/education/information programmes of IYGU can enrich Future Earth in the way Yuan-Tseh Lee expresses above from the standpoint of geoscience.