Who is IESP?
IESP is a diverse and open network of scientists, politicians, administrators, and entrepreneurs sharing a deep concern about the challenges humanity faces in the Anthropocene.
Many of these problems are literally “home-made”, which means that anthropogenic mismanagement of the Earth system, but also countries and businesses, are a root cause for
- global warming and extreme weather events,
- biodiversity decline and vanishing ecosystems,
- pollution of the atmosphere, oceans, terrestrial water and soils,
- social division through distributive injustice and access consumption.
Over the Great Acceleration since the 1950s, environmental and social problems have become more and more complex. Up until now, the majority of humans simply respond to life-threatening crises – such as pandemics or natural events – rather than prevent them in the first place.
With planetary boundaries being transgressed, extreme natural reactions challenging humanity are likely to increase in number and frequency. It is crucial to become more resilient as societies and individuals. To achieve this end, our political and everyday actions must evolve from simply reactive in case of a crisis to mitigating possible challenges forward thinking and proactively.
IESP understands the significance of today's Earth system crises for the survival of future generations.
IESP, therefore, aims to support urgently necessary civil and political action by sharing and exchanging its scientific knowledge and expertise, advocating for inter- and transdisciplinary research to enable a sustainable management of the Earth system through integrative thinking and problem solving.
IESP has grown into a global network of scientists, entrepreneurs, and members from governmental and non-governmental organizations, since 2008.
IESP contributes actively to current public debates and policy making by providing an independent platform for intellectual exchange, but most importantly its individual members engaging in professional committees and discourses.
IESP fosters networked thinking through events and publications, intending to inspire discursive exchange. The extended network consists of more than 50 international members with expertise spanning from economics to geography, sustainability to philosophy, or civil engineering to water management.
IESP spreads its ideas through individual and joint publications as well as active participation in academic exchange processes between various stakeholders of the human society.
IESP’s memoranda capture the network’s essence of thought, which summarize the results of IESP’s workshops. As individual and civil action are the main drivers towards a sustainable future, these papers aim to identify directions/ directive frameworks for social development, and are referred to as “recommendations for action”. Memoranda of past events are listed under the following link.
IESP strongly encourages any follow up research!