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strengthening the science and EU environment policy interface (Technical Report, 2012).; K. Jacobs, Connecting Science, Policy, and Decision-making: A Handbookfor Researchers and Science Agencies, (NOAA Office of Global Programs, 2002); D. Sarewitz, D., How science makes environmental controversies worse,(Environmental Science & Policy, 2004), vol. 7, pp. 385-403; Scientific Advisory Board of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Towards a strengthenedscience-policy interface (Background paper on item 1 of the Terms of Reference of the SAB, 2014).29 UNGA, Options for the scope and methodology for a global sustainable development report. Report of the Secretary-General, E/2014/87 (2014),http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/2014/87&Lang=E.30 All the submissions are available online at: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/gsdr2014.html.31 All the issues identified in this preliminary review are presented in more detail in a background paper prepared for this report, UN Division for SustainableDevelopment, 2015, Background paper 1 for chapter 1 of the Global sustainable Development Report, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York,March.32 Briefs and other inputs contributed for this chapter will be posted on the GSDR website.33 ICSU has recently created a network of national-level science advisors. A first conference of this network, entitled “Science advice to Governments: An emergingnetwork for leading practitioners”, was held in Auckland on 28-29 August 2014. A summary of the meeting and other documents can be found on the network’swebsite, www.globalscienceadvice.org.34 United Nations, Prototype Global Sustainable Development Report (UN-DESA/DSD, 2014), https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/globalsdreport/2014. Seechapter 3, Table 18 for the former, and chapter 6 for the latter.35 Including: collecting and synthesizing exiting evidence on the impacts of specific sectoral policies/actions on other sectors for the benefit of policy-makers.36 For example, its work contributed to the establishment of the United Nations Forum on Forests by ECOSOC in 2000. In addition, it was on the recommendation ofthe seventh session of the Commission that the General Assembly establish the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Lawof the Sea to review developments in ocean affairs. The recommendation of the second session of the Commission also led to the processes establishing theRotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and the StockholmConvention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.United Nations General Assembly. Lessons learned from the Commission on Sustainable Development, Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/757, February, 2013,10-11.37 Examples of non-UN reports mentioned by contributing experts included: The World's Water done by the Pacific Institute; annual reports of the WorldwatchInstitute; annual Living Planet Reports; reports of the World Resource Institute; and the First Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network:Climate Change and Cities.38 Another key question posed by contributing experts is how quantitative and able to detect change are existing assessments.39 Millennium Ecosystem Assessments. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Health Synthesis. 2005.http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.357.aspx.pdf.40 Examples of reports that have explored this approach are two reports prepared in 2012 for the project “Sustainable Development in the 21th century”. Thereports focused on agriculture and food systems (D. Giovannucci et al. Food and Agriculture: the future of sustainability: A strategic input to the “SustainableDevelopment in the 21st Century project”. New York: UN-DESA, Division for Sustainable Development, 2012) and on energy systems (M. Howells and R. Roehrl.Perspectives on Sustainable Energy for the 21st Century. Sustainable Development in the 21st Century (SD21) project: New York, UN-DESA, Division for SustainableDevelopment, 2012).41 One practical approach suggested by experts was formalised ‘intercomparison projects’ where the research community, preferably in conjunction with decisionmakers, compares different approaches to understand why they may produce different results, and to clarify where there is confidence in findings and where (andwhy) there is still divergence, and whether it actually matters for decision making.42 D. Cash et al. Knowledge systems for sustainable development (PNAS, 2003), 100, 14, 8086-8091; Scientific Advisory Board of the Secretary-General of the UnitedNations. UN system priorities related to science for sustainable development. Background paper on items 4 and 5 of the SAB Terms of Reference. 2014.43 This could include documenting lessons from national and regional experiences related to scientific research related to sustainable development carried out by abroad range of actors, in terms of coordination practices and mechanisms, including for example common criteria, standards, methodologies and tools that couldguide scientific research.44 An expert suggested that the nature of scientific material underlying findings from assessments needed to be made clearer better explained to non – experts,politicians and civil society, in particular the difference between data and extrapolations obtained through models and projections. One expert suggested theestablishment of working groups that could help translate new developments into understandable and context-relevant information, supporting the disseminationof new information and knowledge as well as helping officials to prepare adequately for international discussions, and finally translating such discussions intonational action plans.45 D. Cash et al. Knowledge systems for sustainable development (PNAS, 2003), 100, 14, 8086-8091; UNEP. Gap analysis for the purpose of facilitating the discussionson how to improve and strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services (UNEP/IPBES/2/INF/1, 2009); UN (2014b).46 For example, large programmes such as Future Earth, organizations such as ICSU, ISSC, the World Academy of Science (TWAS) are able to mobilize importantresearch capabilities, have long-standing experience with inter- and trans-disciplinarity, and play an interface role between science and policy. At the sector level,myriad organizations play a key role in the science-policy interface.47 This would also be helpful inasmuch as it would encourage those scientists to find new ways to integrate a broader range of dimensions in their research.48 More than 170 briefs were received, in 6 different languages. The range of topics addressed is extremely wide and spans natural sciences, social sciences, scienceand diplomacy, and other topics. See the GSDR 2015 website, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/science/crowdsourcedbriefs.49 D. Cash et al. Scale and cross-scale dynamics: governance and information in a multilevel world (Ecology and Society, 2006), 11, 2; Van den Hove and Chabason.The debate on an Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IDDRI Discussion Papers N° 01/2009 Governance, 2009); T.Wilbanks and R. Kates, Global change in local places: How scale matters (Climatic change, 1999), 43,3, 601-628; UN Division for Sustainable Development, Report ofthe Expert Group Meeting for the Global Sustainable Development Report – A prototype report, future directions and network of scientific contributors (Croatia:Dubrovnik, 2013), 20-21. http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/2713ReportDubrovnikGSDR.pdf.50 Including: universities; research agencies; academies of science; national science councils; committees on development and technology; national climate changecommittees; advisory committees to line ministries; national planning commissions; department for planning, evaluation and monitoring; and ad hoc stakeholdergroups.174