Synthesis Report - European Science Foundation

4Responses to Environmental and Societal Challenges for our Unstable Earth (RESCUE)its Belmont Forum, and the European Alliance ofGlobal Change Research Committees.While the RESCUE report was being finalised(in autumn 2011), the International Council forScience (ICSU), within a global alliance of partners,established the ‘Future Earth – research for globalsustainability’ initiative. This international, 10-yearcollaborative initiative aims to deliver solution-orientedresearch on global environmental change forsustainability and to provide global coordination forscience to respond to the most pressing societal andenvironmental challenges. This echoes markedlysome of the findings and conclusions of RESCUEregarding the global change research agenda setting.The RESCUE synthesis report is also a Europeancontribution to the preparation of the forthcoming‘Rio+20’ United Nations Conference on SustainableDevelopment (UNCSD, June 2012), which should bea key step forward at a global level for transitionstoward sustainability. RESCUE will also contributeto the ‘Planet under Pressure - New KnowledgeTowards Solutions’ Conference (March 2012). Whilesome progress has been made since the publicationof the report of the Club of Rome, Limits to Growth(1972) and of the report of the World Commissionon Environment and Development, Our CommonFuture (aka, the Brundtland report, 1987), there isstill so much to be done in response to the challengesof an unstable Earth.While the RESCUE foresight initiative was achallenge in itself, as it relies on a truly in-depthdialogue between communities not always familiarwith each other, it represents marked progressand we sincerely thank all active contributors, especiallythe RESCUE Working Group leaders and allCommittees involved, and in particular the RESCUEQuality Reference Group.In conclusion, we warmly encourage all keystakeholders to embark fully on the next RESCUEphase, i.e., the delivery of an open knowledge systemfor ensuring transitions toward sustainability.ProfessorMarja Makarow,Chief Executive, ESFProfessor AngelesRodriguez-Peña,President, COST